In his only recorded speech as territorial representative to Congress, Father Gabriel Richard asked for funds to build a road from Detroit to Chicago on this day in 1824. He had been elected as a nonvoting delegate of the Michigan Territory to the U.S. House of Representatives for the 18th Congress. Father Richard was the first Catholic priest to be elected to that body, serving a single term from 1823 to 1825. He successfully secured the first federal appropriation for the road, which came to be known as Michigan Avenue.