1949 in Michigan

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1949 in Michigan

Top stories
- The Associated Press’s outlets in Michigan named the top news of 1949:
1) The March 1 “lonely hearts” murders in Grand Rapids (a widow and her 3-year-old granddaughter, by Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck)
2) The shooting of UAW leader Victor G. Reuther
3) A landmark pension contract between the UAW and Ford
4) A 26-day speed-up strike against Ford in May
5) The death of former Michigan governor and Supreme Court Justice Frank Murphy
6) Record auto production and related steelworker strikes
7) Willard Dow and others killed in a plane crash
8) A Waterford farmer shooting 10 people
9) Governor G. Mennen Williams’s social reform program and political fights over it
10) The end of Michigan’s one-man grand jury system

Office holders
- State government
- Governor: G. Mennen Williams (Democrat)
- Lieutenant Governor: John W. Connolly (Democrat)
- Attorney General: Stephen John Roth
- Secretary of State: Frederick M. Alger Jr. (Republican)
- Speaker of the Michigan House: Victor A. Knox (Republican)
- Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice: Edward M. Sharpe
- Mayors of major cities
- Detroit: Eugene Van Antwerp
- Grand Rapids: George W. Welsh / Stanley J. Davis
- Flint: George G. Wills
- Dearborn: Orville L. Hubbard
- Saginaw: Harold J. Stenglein / Edwin W. Koepke
- Lansing: Ralph Crego
- Ann Arbor: William E. Brown Jr.
- Federal office holders
- U.S. Senators: Homer S. Ferguson (R), Arthur Vandenberg (R)
- U.S. Representatives (selected districts and parties): George G. Sadowski (D), Earl C. Michener (R), Paul W. Shafer (R), Clare Hoffman (R), Gerald Ford (R), William W. Blackney (R), Jesse P. Wolcott (R), Fred L. Crawford (R), Albert J. Engel (R), Roy O. Woodruff (R), Charles E. Potter (R), John B. Bennett (R), George D. O’Brien (D), Louis C. Rabaut (D), John D. Dingell Sr. (D), John Lesinski Sr. (D), George Anthony Dondero (R)

Population
- 1940 census: Michigan had 5,256,106 people
- 1950: population rose to 6,371,766 (about 21% increase)

Cities (populations of at least 20,000 in 1940)
- Detroit (largest), Grand Rapids, Flint, Saginaw, Lansing, Pontiac, Dearborn, Kalamazoo, Highland Park, Hamtramck, Jackson, Bay City, Muskegon, Battle Creek, Port Huron, Wyandotte, Ann Arbor, Royal Oak, Ferndale
- Detroit was the biggest city by far and continued to grow in the following years

Counties (populations of at least 75,000 in 1940)
- Wayne, Oakland, Kent, Genesee, Ingham, Saginaw, Macomb, Kalamazoo, Jackson, Muskegon, Calhoun

Companies
- Major Michigan-based companies in 1949:
- General Motors (Detroit) — automobiles
- Ford Motor Company (Detroit area) — automobiles
- Chrysler (Detroit area) — automobiles
- Studebaker Corp. — automobiles
- Briggs Manufacturing Co. (Detroit) — automobile parts
- S. S. Kresge (Detroit) — retail
- Hudson Motor Car Co. (Detroit) — automobiles
- Detroit Edison — electric utility
- Michigan Bell — telephone utility
- Kellogg’s (Battle Creek) — breakfast cereals
- Parke-Davis (Detroit) — pharmaceutical
- REO Motor Car Co. (Lansing) — automobiles
- Burroughs Adding Machine — business machines

Sports
- Baseball
- 1949 Detroit Tigers season
- Michigan Wolverines baseball: 18–9–2, Big Ten title tie; captain Harold Raymond
- American football
- 1949 Detroit Lions season
- 1949 Michigan Wolverines football team
- 1949 Michigan State Spartans football team
- 1949 Detroit Titans football team
- Basketball
- 1948–49 Michigan Wolverines men’s basketball
- Ice hockey
- 1948–49 Detroit Red Wings season
- Boat racing
- APBA Gold Cup (Bill Cantrell)
- Harmsworth Cup (Stan Dollar)
- Port Huron to Mackinac Boat Race
- Golf
- Motor City Open (winners: Lloyd Mangrum, Cary Middlecoff)
- Michigan Open (Al Watrous)

Births
- January 14: Lawrence Kasdan, Detroit-born screenwriter (films such as The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Big Chill)
- January 15: Bobby Grich, Muskegon-born MLB second baseman
- August 9: Ted Simmons, Highland Park-born MLB catcher

Deaths
- April 11: Chase Osborn, former Michigan governor (1911–1913), age 89
- June 16: William Comstock, former Michigan governor (1933–1935), age 71
- July 19: Frank Murphy, U.S. Supreme Court Justice and former Michigan governor, age 59

See also
- History of Michigan
- History of Detroit

This version condenses the key topics from 1949 in Michigan into easy-to-understand highlights.