Macomb County was the third county created in the Michigan territory — the first being Wayne County followed by Monroe County.
In 1819 and 1820 portions of the county were removed to form the counties of Oakland, Lapeer, Genesee and St. Clair.
Macomb County was named after local hero and victor the Battle of Plattsburgh, New York, where he defeated a British army over three times the size of his own.
After the fall of Detroit, Alexander Macomb was working with raw recruits in the backwoods of New York State. The better-trained British forces were walloping the American forces. It was Macomb’s job to hold off the British long enough for his naval peers to rally on Lake Champlain.
Here’s where Detroit ingenuity comes in: Outnumbered by a British force of 11,500, Macomb took his 3,500 men, ragged and undisciplined, and in perhaps the most creative use of landscape design to that date, he planted evergreens, moved trees, and built a false road to lure the British forces away from the actual site of battle. The British got lost. The American forces triumphed. Macomb was lauded by an ecstatic nation as “the hero of Plattsburgh.”
After the war was over, grateful Detroiters erected a statue to their hometown hero and Governor Lewis Cass proclaimed that the third Michigan county to receive a name would be called Macomb.
For the rest of the story, see Mickey Lyons, “Macomb’s Irish Legacy : Exploring the story behind a familiar statue, and why the man had a Michigan county named after him”, Hour Detroit, March 3, 2015.
Amy Elliott Bragg, “Detroit history in Washington, D.C.: Alexander Macomb“, Night Train, May 9, 2012.
For more information, see “Alexander Macomb Monument”, HistoricDetroit.org
Hazen S. Pingree took office on January 15, 1890, and would embark on a career that would earn him the nickname “the Idol of the People.”
But don’t take our word on his greatness: Pingree was named the fourth-best mayor in U.S. history by a poll of scholars published in “The American Mayor” by Melvin Holli (Penn State University Press, 1999).
“His role as an advanced social reformer was unmatched by any big-city mayor in the last half of the 19th Century,” Holli wrote. He “was one of the most important pre-Progressive reform mayors and made a national reputation for himself supporting a novel work-relief program for the poor and fighting for municipal ownership and for low utility and tax rates for the urban masses.”
Sources:
Dan Austin, “The day Detroit got its greatest mayor”, Detroit Free Press, January 15, 2015.
Detroit Historical Society Facebook Page
Bill Loomis, “Hazen Pingree: Quite possibly Detroit’s finest mayor; He changed the city’s structure for the people’s benefit”, Detroit News, January 6, 2013.
Don Lochbiler, “The Shoemaker Who Looked Like a King”, Detroit News, June 11, 1998.
Hazen S. Pingree Monument entry by Dan Austin of HistoricDetroit.org
When all-male juries twice were unable to determine the guilt or innocence of a Flint man charged with being intoxicated, the judge, defense attorney and prosecutor agreed to pick Michigan’s first all-woman jury. The six women quickly agreed on a guilty verdict and the man was ordered to pay a $50 fine and spend sixty days in jail.
Source : Michigan is Amazing.
On January 15, 1936, Edsel Ford started the Ford Foundation. During its early years, the foundation operated in Michigan under the leadership of Ford family members and their associates, and supported such organizations as the Henry Ford Hospital, Greenfield Village and Henry Ford Museum, among others.
After the deaths of Edsel Ford in 1943 and Henry Ford in 1947, the presidency of the Ford Foundation fell to Edsel’s eldest son, Henry Ford II. Under Henry Ford II’s leadership, the Ford Foundation board of trustees commissioned a report to determine how the foundation should continue. The committee, headed by California attorney H. Rowan Gaither, recommended that the foundation should commit to promoting peace, freedom, and education throughout the world.
Sources :
Ford Foundation Wikipedia entry
January 15, 1936 : Ford Foundation is born, History.com
On this day in 1954, Michigan State University launched a public television station, the third in the country. One of the first two has since folded, making WKAR the second oldest continually operating public television station.
Originally, channel 60, when few tv sets went beyond 13, WKAR is now channel 23.
In January 2016, MSU pondered selling the station. The initial price the FCC put on WKAR-TV’s spot on the spectrum was $206 million, although the reverse auction format was designed to produce prices lower than the starting point. Simon had said in an interview at WKAR radio that a $200 million payment could have created an endowment that would have produced $10 million in income per year. However, on January 12, 2016 Simon announced that MSU would not participate in the auction and instead pursue a partnership with Detroit Public Television, creating new, original programming, with most aimed at children.
For more information, see Mike Hughes, “WKAR 50 Years on the Air”, Lansing State Journal, January 15, 2004.
RJ Wolcott, “WKAR decision relieves viewers”, Lansing State Journal, January 12, 2016.
On Jan. 15, 1968, Sgt. Dwight H. Johnson of Detroit earned the Congressional Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War. From the citation:
“For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Specialist 5 Johnson, a tank driver with Company B, was a member of a reaction force moving to aid other elements of his platoon, which was in heavy contact with a battalion size North Vietnamese force. Specialist Johnson’s tank, upon reaching the point of contact, threw a track and became immobilized. Realizing that he could do no more as a driver, he climbed out of the vehicle, armed only with a .45 caliber pistol. Despite intense hostile fire, Specialist Johnson killed several enemy soldiers before he had expended his ammunition. Returning to his tank through a heavy volume of antitank rocket, small arms and automatic weapons fire, he obtained a sub-machine gun with which to continue his fight against the advancing enemy. Armed with this weapon, Specialist Johnson again braved deadly enemy fire to return to the center of the ambush site where he courageously eliminated more of the determined foe. Engaged in extremely close combat when the last of his ammunition was expended, he killed an enemy soldier with the stock end of his submachine gun. Now weaponless, Specialist Johnson ignored the enemy fire around him, climbed into his platoon sergeant’s tank, extricated a wounded crewmember and carried him to an armored personnel carrier. He then returned to the same tank and assisted in firing the main gun until it jammed. In a magnificent display of courage, Specialist Johnson exited the tank and again armed only with a .45 caliber pistol, he engaged several North Vietnamese troops in close proximity to the vehicle. Fighting his way through devastating fire and remounting his own immobilized tank, he remained fully exposed to the enemy as he bravely and skillfully engaged them with the tank’s externally-mounted .50 caliber machine gun; where he remained until the situation was brought under control. Specialist Johnson’s profound concern for his fellow soldiers, at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself and the United States Army.”
He is believed to be the first soldier from Michigan and the first African American to receive the nation’s highest military honor for service in Vietnam.
Sadly, after returning from Vietnam, Johnson had difficulty adjusting to post-war life and was diagnosed with a depression caused by Post Vietnam adjustment problems, often referred to now as PTSD. In April 1971, he was shot and killed during an altercation/robbery at a convenience store near his home in Detroit. He is buried in the Arlington National Cemetery.
Sources:
Dwight H. Johnson wikipedia entry
“Medal of Honor veteran’s life had tragic ending”, Detroit Free Press, January 14, 2012.
With 76 students enrolled, Michigan’s 5th law school — and the only one outside Detroit or Ann Arbor — began classes on Monday night, January 15, 1973. It’s name honors a Michigan Supreme Court Justice of a century ago, Thomas McIntyre Cooley, who is remembered as one of the State’s outstanding jurists. On the Supreme Court bench from 1865 to 1885, Cooley was also Dean of the University of Michigan Law School, the first chairman of the Interstate Commerce Commission, and author of numerous legal textbooks. He died in 1898.
Since its beginnings, the Cooley Law School expanded and became one of the largest law schools in the country. In 2006, Cooley had more than 2,900 students at its Lansing campus alone. Last year, it had fewer than 1,800 spread across five campuses.
More recently, the school has renamed itself the Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School and has closed one campus in Ann Arbor (as of the end of 2014).
Sources :
State Journal, January 12, 1973.
Kem Palmer, “Law school plans to sell former Masonic Temple building”, Lansing State Journal, December 22, 2014.
On January 15, 1993, a front-page Detroit News article began to unravel an extensive legislative corruption scandal that led to felony convictions for 10 people, including a lawmaker from the Upper Peninsula. That Detroit News article and dozens that followed also helped push one of the state’s most powerful politicians — Dominic Jacobetti — onto the Capitol sidelines, uncovered political influence in the awarding of state contracts, and triggered tougher oversight of the House Fiscal Agency (HFA), the nonpartisan office that analyzes tax and budget issues for the House of Representatives.
By the way, the Detroit News won a Pulitzer Prize for its efforts.
Sources :
Jim Mitzelfeld, “State fiscal watchdog under fire”, Detroit News, January 15, 1993.
“Capitol Ethics Not ‘Sterling’ 20 Years After HFA Scandal”, Inside MIRS Today, January 18, 2013.
In January 2012, Kriste Kibbey Etue became the first female head of the Michigan State Police.
Kriste Kibbey Etue grew up listening to her dad’s stories about his Michigan State Police narcotics investigations, and she knew that wearing the blue uniform was in her future. She started her career with the state police working in the clerical unit of the department’s fire marshal division. From there she advanced steadily through the ranks to the top position.
Source : Lisa Roose-Church, “Kriste Kibbey Etue is first female chief of the state police”, Livingston County Daily Press and Argust, January 25, 2012.
Fadwa A. Hammoud, a resident of Dearborn, Michigan was appointed as Michigan’s Solicitor General by Michigan’s Attorney General Dana Nessel on January 15, 2019, becoming the first Arab American and Muslim Solicitor General in the history of U.S.A.
According to Attorney General Dana Nessel, “I am proud of the seasoned veterans who have chosen to return to state government – and to those who have already committed their careers to public service. Today’s appointments show a diverse cross-section of Michigan. I am proud of the team we have built to advocate for and protect all Michiganders. Together we will bring the Department of the Attorney General back to the people of our state.”
Fadwa A. Hammoud, served as lead attorney in the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, where she established the Business Protection Unit. Prior to her appointment as lead attorney, Hammoud prosecuted criminal enterprise, homicide, financial crime and identity theft.
Hammoud is a trustee and treasurer of the Dearborn Public Schools Board of Education and the Henry Ford College Board; a Snyder-appointee to the Commission on Middle Eastern American Affairs; and, sits on the Legislative Committee for the Hispanic/Latino, Asian Pacific American and Middle Eastern American Affairs Commissions.
A graduate of Wayne State University Law School and the University of Michigan-Dearborn, Hammoud clerked for the Honorable Judge George Steeh in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan and a 2018 member of the Harvard Business School’s Young American Leaders Program.
Source : ” Fadwa Hammoud appointed to Michigan’s Solicitor General, first Arab American and Muslim in the U.S.A.“, Arab American News, January 15, 2019.