The pioneer settler of Mt. Clemens owned a distillery, was a prisoner of the British during the War of 1812, and founded a city that loved dancing.
Read more →
In Michigan's 175th year as a state, celebrate the life of our first, youngest, and fieriest governor: the hotspur Stevens T. Mason. We gather to toast his memory this Thursday, 10/25, in Capitol Park.
Read more →Who’s celebrating his bicentennial tomorrow? THIS GUY! Stevens Thomson Mason is one of my all-time favorite characters from Detroit history. Determined! Dreamy! Stubborn! Stylish! Triumphant! Tragic! The boy governor had it all. This time last year we were re-interring Stevens T. Mason for the FOURTH time. Buried first in New York City after his...
Read more →Fake eviction notices in Detroit. From 1837.
Read more →James Monroe: the first President to visit Detroit. Also: last President to wear the old Revolutionary tri-corner. Unanticipated intelligence was received, about 8 A.M., that President Monroe, with Governor Cass and Generals Brown and Macomb with their suites, were at the mouth of the river, and would be within three miles of the city...
Read more →A small crowd gathered in Capitol Park yesterday to honor Stevens T. Mason, Michigan's first and America's youngest governor, on his 199th birthday.
Read more →How many opportunities do you have in a lifetime to attend the solemn rite of governor’s burial? How many of those opportunities involve a governor who died 167 years ago? A governor that fought to found your state? The youngest governor ever? A governor whose nickname was Young Hotspur? You see where we’re going with...
Read more →Yesterday, of course, the world was rocked by the announcement that Boy Governor Stevens T. Mason‘s remains, originally presumed to be — well, you know, in his grave — were MIA. The situation grew stranger by the hour as reports surfaced that no one even knew if they were looking for a coffin or an urn...
Read more →The Napoleon of Detroit auctioneers, a schooner on wheels, laughing gas at Michigan Gardens and the lost pomp of gubernatorial election season.
Read more →(From an 1835 atlas) On January 26, 1837, nearly 150 years after the earliest known use of the name “Michigan” on a map, Michigan was officially admitted to the Union. For a long time I had this confused, baseless idea that territories just sort of naturally, peacefully shook out into states, in rapid succession,...
Read more →