Michigan's Historic Timeline
| 1618-20 | Etienne Brule' and Grenoble, first white men in Michigan; Michigan Indian population about 15,000 |
| 1621 | Brule returns, explores Lake Superior coast, and notes copper deposits |
| 1634 | Jean Nicolet passed through the Straits of Mackinac |
| 1641 | Isaac Jokues and Charles Raymbault reached rapids, which they called Sault de Sainte Marie |
| 1660 | Father Rene' Mesnard established first 'regular' mission, held throughout winter at Keweenaw Bay |
| 1668 | Marquette and Dablon founded first permanent settlement in Michigan at Sault Ste. Marie |
| 1669 | Adrien Jolliet first white man in Lower Peninsula |
| 1671 | Francois Daumont claimed interior of
continent for French St. Ignace is founded when Father Marquette builds mission chapel First of the military outposts, Fort de Buade [later known as Forty Michilimackinac], is established at St. Ignace. |
| 1673 | June 17. Jolliet and Marquette discover the Mississippi River |
| 1675 | May 18. Father Marquette dies at site of present-day Ludington |
| 1679 | LaSalle builds Fort Miami on site of present-day St. Joseph |
| 1680 | LaSalle marches across Lower Peninsula, reaching Detroit River in 10 days; first white man known to have penetrated this territory |
| 1686-1697 | Daniel Greysolon built Fort St. Joseph at present-day Port Huron |
| 1701 | July 24. Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac
founded Detroit Cadillac moves garrison at Fort Michilimackinac to Fort Pontchartrain [Detroit] |
| 1712 | British-inspired Indian raids begin. April 24. Fort Pontchartrain [Detroit] is besieged by more than 1,000 Fox and Sauk Indians; defenders number 30 May 13. Detroit is relieved by arrival of Vincennes with reinforcements; friendly Huron and Ottawa, aid townspeople. Sauk and Fox are forced upriver, where 5-day battle ends in surrender of invaders. |
| 1715 | Spring. Fort Michilimackinac is re-established on south shore of Straits of Mackinac. |
| 1730 | October 18. Cadillac dies in France. |
| 1754 | Outbreak of French and Indian War; Michigan is drawn into war, although removed from chief fighting zone |
| 1756 | France and England formally declare war |
| 1760 | September 8. French surrender to British
at Montreal November 29. France surrenders Detroit to British |
| 1763 | May 7. Pontiac, Ottawa chief, and his followers enter
fort at Detroit in abortive effort to capture it from British by surprise attack June 2. Massacre occurs at Fort Michilimackinac, part of Pontiac's uprising |
| 1765 | August 17. Pontiac signs treaty with British at Detroit |
| 1771 | Alexander Henry heads first minig expedition in region of Porcupine Mountains |
| 1779 | Nearly 3,000 living in Detroit area |
| 1781 | Spanish flag raised over Fort St. Joseph for short time. |
| 1783 | September 3. Treaty of Paris - British forces are required to withdraw from all US lands. (British remain in territory to become Michigan; however, for 13 years.) |
| 1787 | Ordinance of 1787 established Northwest Territory |
| 1796 | July 11. British evacuated Detroit. Stars and Stripes is raised for first time on Michigan soil |
| 1802 | Detroit incorporated as a town |
| 1803 | Michigan under Territory of Indiana |
| 1805 | January 11. Michigan Territory created,
with Detroit as capital June 11. Detroit is completely destroyed by fire July 1. General William Hull, first territorial governor of Michigan, reaches Detroit and assumes control |
| 1805-6 | Commercial timbering begins, when sawmills are built on St. Clair River to aid in rebuilding Detroit |
| 1807 | November 17. Treaty of Detroit: Chippewa, Ottawa, Wyandot, and Potawatomi tribes meet with General Hull |
| 1809 | August 31. Michigan Essay and Impartial Observer, first newspaper, is printed by James M. Miller; only few copies sold |
| 1810 | Population 4,762; slaves, mostly captive
Indians, number 32. Methodist Episcopal Society is founded, first Protestant organization in Detroit and first permanent Protestant society in Territory. |
| 1812 | June 18. U.S. declares war against
England July 17. Fort Mackinac falls to British August 16. Hull surrenders Detroit to British without firing a shot |
| 1813 | October 29. Colonel [later General] Lewis Cass military governor at Detroit. Cass continues, under Presidential appointment as governor of Michigan Territory for 18 years. |
| 1814 | Treaty of Ghent ends War of 1812, British losing Mackinac Island [but occupying Drummond Island, to the north, for eight years] |
| 1817 | August 26. 'Catholepistemiad,' or University of
Michigania, is incorporated - first university, as distinguished from college, in the United
States John Jacob Astor establishes trading post at Mackinac Island, centering his fur-trading activities there |
| 1818 | Public land sales begin at Detroit;
immigration from East is under way March 31. Michigan's first Protestant church [Methodist Episcopal] is erected about 7 miles from Detroit, near banks of River Rouge August 27. First steamboat, Walk-in-the-Water, arrives at Detroit |
| 1819 | September 24. By Treaty of Saginaw, Governor Cass obtains for US about 6 million acres of Michigan land, a cession that marks beginning of Indian exodus from Territory |
| 1820 | Population of Territory, 8096. Detroit, Mackinac, Sault Ste. Marie are largest towns |
| 1821 | August 29. Cass negotiates Treaty at Chicago, gaining from 'big three' nations - Chippewa, Ottawa, Potawatomi - all Michigan territory south of Grand River that had not previously been ceded |
| 1825 | Opening of Erie Canal facilitates
settlement of Michigan and shipping of farm products to East Land values rise |
| 1828 | Michigan's first capitol building is completed [site Capitol Park, Detroit] |
| 1830 | Population 31,639 Severe depression strikes Michigan |
| 1831 | August 1. General Lewis Cass, appointed
secretary of war by President Jackson in July, resigns governorship Stevens T. Mason, at age of 19, becomes acting governor - a post he holds several times during following four years |
| 1832 | July 4. Seven-week cholera epidemic devastates Detroit; Belle Isle is used for quarantine |
| 1834ca | March. Territorial legislature petitions Congress for
permission to form State government. Southern States protest admission of another free State;
Ohio protests the boundary Michigan claims on the South; Congress refuses permission July 6. Second cholera epidemic at Detroit begins with death of Governor George B. Porter; wipes out one seventh of population |
| 1835 | February 23. Ohio legislature passes act
asserting claims to the 'Toledo strip,' along her northern boundary April. Acting Governor Stevens T. Mason calls out militia; Toledo War begins, with more anger than gunfire. Border incidents continue into September, jurisdictional wrangling through all of 1836 May 11. Convention at Detroit forms State constitution in preparation for statehood; approved by general electorate on October 5 |
| 1836 | Daily stages begin carrying mail and passengers to
Sandusky, Chicago, and Central Michigan; railroad to Jackson is under construction; ship
building becomes important along nearby rivers and lake shores - during 7 months of navigation,
200,000 persons pass through Detroit's port Quaker preacher employs underground railroad to bring slaves into Cass County, and movement of fugities and freed slaves into State begins |
| 1837 | January 26. Michigan admitted to the
Union as a free State Upper Peninsula [lost to Wisconsin Territory when that was created April 20, 1836] is restored to Michigan, substantially in exchange for accepting Ohio's boundary claims |
| 1840 | Cheboygan County created out of Mackinac County. |
| 1841 | February 1. Dr. Douglass Houghton, first State
geologist, reports on rich copper deposits of Superior region, and makes cautious mention of
possibility of iron ore in Marquette district Fall. University of Michigan opened at Ann Arbor |
| 1842 | Indians cede Keweenaw Peninsula and Isle Royale, rich in copper, also valuable iron districts - the last Indian holdings in State |
| 1844 | September 19. Iron ore discovered on site of present-
day city of Negaunee by surveyor William A. Burt [inventor of solar compass] November 18. Cliff Lode is discovered, first copper location to be opened in Keweenaw district |
| 1846 | September. Dr. A.C. Van Raalte, Dutch secessionist
pastor, sails for Rotterdam with 53 Hollanders; they form nucleus of western Michigan's large
Dutch settlements begun the following winter. The Jackson Mining Company begins operations on site of Burt's 1844 discovery; first iron-ore mining in State |
| 1847 | March 17. Old capitol of Detroit used for last time by State legislature, which directs that the capital be permanently located at Lansing |
| 1848 | Legislature met for first time in Capitol in Lansing |
| 1849 | Cliff Mine [of Cliff Lode] pays a dividend of $60,000,
first sum of this magnitude distributed in North America on copper investment There are 558 sawmills operating in State |
| 1850 | Population 397,654 |
| 1854 | July 6-8. Republican party first organized at Jackson |
| 1855 | May 21. Sault Ste. Marie ship canal opened; destined to be among world's most important waterways commercially |
| 1857 | Christian Reformed Church [in North America] is
founded by Michigan's Dutch settlers, following secession from Reformed Church Railroad is completed between Ishpeming and Marquette, speeding mineral output of Upper Peninsula |
| 1858 | Cheboygan County organized |
| 1860 | Population 749,113 Successful well-drilling of salt begins in Saginaw County |
| 1861 | April. Thomas A. Edison erects his first
electrical battery and begins experiments at Fort Gratiot [Port Huron] May 13. First Michigan Regiment leaves Fort Wayne; first western regiment to reach Washington during Civil War, in which 90,000 Michigan soldiers see service |
| 1864 | February 17. First Michigan Colored
Infantry [USCT] is mustered in. Black Michigan troops number 1,673 The copper lode at Calumet is discovered. Michigan's production of copper exceeds that of any other state until 1887 |
| 1870 | Population 1,054,670; chiefly rural |
| 1871 | Summer. Forest fires sweep across State, destroying
towns, leveling thousands of acres of pine, causing losses in the millions of dollars Calumet & Hecla Mining Company consolidates local [Calumet] mining interests, controlling one of the world's richest copper districts. Calumet becomes company town. Negaunee's average annual iron-ore production reaches 135,000 tons |
| 1876 | Ontonagon mine operator builds first telephone system [20 miles] in Michigan, after seeing Bell's invention at Philadelphia exposition |
| 1877 | Active operations begin in the mines of Menominee iron district |
| 1879 | New State Capitol dedicated at Lansing |
| 1880 | Population 1,636,937 with 75% living in
rural areas Discovery of Gogebic Range iron ore in large quantity at Bessemer |
| 1881 | October. Railroad ferry service connects Upper and Lower Peninsulas, making Upper Peninsula readily accessible for first time |
| 1883 | Compulsory school-attendance law is passed Half of copper mined in US since 1847 has come from Michigan Cherry orchards in the upper fruit belt first begin to bear |
| 1884 | Working of iron-ore deposits of Gogebic
Range begins, when transportation facilities are acquired John and Thomas Clegg build first self-propelled vehicle of Michigan manufacture, a four- wheeled steamer auto |
| 1885 | September 15. Michigan College of Mines opens [Houghton] |
| 1887 | Iron-ore shipments from Menominee Range
begin; at end of year, total shipments amount to 6,000,000 tons Ransome E. Olds' first auto steamer appears [steam generated by burning gasoline] |
| 1890 | Michigan's population is 2,093,889. Peak period for manufacture of patented road carts at Flint, laying foundations for automotive industry in that city |
| 1891 | October 1. Port Huron, Michigan, and Sarnia, Ontario, are joined by Grand Trunk R.R. tunnel under St. Clair River; first underwater railroad tunnel linking foreign countries |
| 1893 | Olds brings out a practical four-wheeled auto. The first practical Ford car is made |
| 1896 | First automobile at Detroit |
| 1899 | Olds Motor Works erects in Detroit first
factory built in America for manufacture of automobiles Detroit Automobile Company organizes to build Ford's car [this becomes Cadillac Company after Ford withdraws] |
| 1900 | Michigan's population has grown to 2,420,982 |
| 1902 | Packard Motor Car Company and Cadillac Motor Car Company are organized |
| 1904 | Organization of Buick Motor Company marks beginning of auto manufacture in Flint on large scale |
| 1906 | Timbering of second-growth forests begins in Upper Peninsula |
| 1908 | William C. Durant organizes General
Motors Company [later Corporation] Fisher Body Corporation is founded First Model T Fords |
| 1911 | November. Durant organizes Chevrolet Motor Car Company |
| 1913 | July 23. Western Federation of Miners
calls strike among 13,514 Upper Peninsula copper miners; violence and
bloodshed result There are 60,000 autos registered in Michigan |
| 1914 | January. Henry Ford announces adoption
of $5 minimum wage for 8-hour day Following the 1913, Finns initiate cooperative stores in the copper country First permanent and independent symphony orchestra organizes in Detroit |
| 1916 | WWI. Many Michigan men join Canadian
companies leaving for France. Annual copper production reaches peak of 270 million pounds refined copper; iron ore from Marquette Range alone at peak of 5.5 million tons |
| 1918 | Michigan men in World War service reaches total of 135,485 |
| 1919 | Influenza deaths in Detroit number 3,814 |
| 1920 | The population of Michigan is 3,668,412 |
| 1922 | Airline service is established between Detroit and Cleveland |
| 1926 | November 3. Worst disaster in Michigan iron mining occurs at Barnes-Hecker mine, when quicksands break through walls entombing 52 men 1,000 feet below surface; mine is sealed and abandoned |
| 1929 | Some large copper mines of Keweenaw
Peninsula close; 85% of Keweenaw County population goes on relief Ambassador Bridge opened between Detroit and Windsor, Canada |
| 1930 | Michigan's population 4,842,325. Indians in State
estimated at 7,000, about 1,214 full-bloods. Blacks number 169,453. Urban centers account for
68.2% of population, almost an exact reversal of 1880 Detroit-Windsor, Canada tunnel opened |
| 1932 | February 14. Governor William A. Comstock calls
State-wide 'banking holiday' to avoid bank runs after disclosure of condition of Union Guardian
Trust Company, Detroit March 7. "Ford Hunger March' riot occurs at Ford plant in Dearborn |
| 1935 | United Automobile Workers organized |
| 1936 | December. General Motors strike begins, affecting 150,000 workers and closing more than 60 plants in 14 states |
| 1937 | Keweenaw Peninsula copper mining again turns upward, production reaching 75,000 pounds |
| 1939 | August 9. Tornadoes and freak storms injure scores of persons and cause damage estimated at over a million dollars in Lower Peninsula. |
| 1940 | Population 5,256,106 July 15. The world's tallest man, Robert P. Wadlow, 8'9-1/2" tall, dies at Manistee at the age of 22 November 11. Coast Guard officials estimate 65 persons lost their lives in the waters of Lake Michigan in 78 mph gale; sixteen bodies washed ashore at Ludington |
| 1957 | Mackinac Bridge opened |
Sources:
Carpenter, Allan, Enchantment of America: Michigan. Chicago: Children's Press, 1964.
Work Projects Administration, Michigan: A Guide to the Wolverine State. New York: Oxford University Press, 1949.
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