On Mar. 3, 1847, Governor Alpheus Felch resigned to become a U.S. Senator instead, and in the process served the shortest gubernatorial tenure in state history — 10 months.
Sources :
Michigan is Amazing
Stewards of the State The Governors of Michigan. George Weeks ; edited by Robert D. Kirk ; contributing authors: Paula L. Blanchard, Don Weeks. [Detroit, Mich.] : The Detroit News ; Ann Arbor, Mich. : Historical Society of Michigan, 1987. Basement Center Oversize Collection JK5851 .W443 1987
On March 3, 1875, just three years after the Yellowstone National Park was established, the second national park was designated on Mackinac Island. Twenty years later the park would be turned over to the State of Michigan.
Source: Pasty Central Day in Michigan
Less than a century ago, women in the United States were not guaranteed the right to vote. Many courageous groups worked hard at state and local levels throughout the end of the 19th century, making some small gains toward women’s suffrage. In 1913, the first major national efforts were undertaken, beginning with a massive parade in Washington, D.C., on March 3 — one day before the inauguration of President Woodrow Wilson. Organized by Alice Paul for the National American Woman Suffrage Association, the parade, calling for a constitutional amendment, featured 8,000 marchers, including nine bands, four mounted brigades, 20 floats, and an allegorical performance near the Treasury Building. Though the parade began late, it appeared to be off to a good start until the route along Pennsylvania Avenue became choked with tens of thousands of spectators — mostly men in town for the inauguration. Marchers were jostled and ridiculed by many in the crowd. Some were tripped, others assaulted. Policemen appeared to be either indifferent to the struggling paraders, or sympathetic to the mob. Before the day was out, one hundred marchers had been hospitalized. The mistreatment of the marchers amplified the event — and the cause — into a major news story and led to congressional hearings, where the D.C. superintendent of police lost his job. What began in 1913 took another seven years to make it through Congress. In 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment secured the vote for women.
Visit the “100 Years Ago, The 1913 Women’s Suffrage Parade”, the Atlantic (March 1, 2013) for photos.
Sheridan Harvey, “Marching for the Vote : Remembering the Woman Suffrage Parade of 1913”, Library of Congress.
Women’s Suffrage Parade of 1913 wikipedia entry.
One hundred years ago, suffragists marched on Washington to promote women’s rights. In recognition of the anniversary, the National Archives created a Pinterest board where you can view photos, letters, a cartoon, and other documents from that period.
Visit WomensHistoryMonth.gov to learn about generations of women who’ve contributed to American society.
On March 3, 1931, Congress authorized the creation of Isle Royale National Park.
The Chippewa called the island Minong or a “good high place”. By the twentieth century it had passed into the hands of private owners when state and federal funds were used to purchased the island as a national park. Due to World War II, the park was not dedicated until August 1947.
Sources :
Historical Society of Michigan
Zlati Meyer, This Week in Michigan History : First steps for Isle Royale National Park, Detroit Free Press, March 2, 2014.
Anyone who has ever viewed Escanaba in da Moonlight probably has his own mental images of deer camps in the Upper Peninsula. However, a State of Michigan Department of Conservation employee, Oscar Warbach, has also provided us with a wonderful depiction of a hunting lodge (1971).
Oscar “Ozz” Warbach was born on March 21, 1913 and grew up in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He liked to draw, but received little formal art training. Instead, he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Animal Husbandry from Rutgers University in 1935 and a Bachelor’s degree in Zoology from Michigan State University in 1938. In 1941, the Michigan Department of Conservation hired him as a game biologist. Ozz worked at the Department’s Rose Lake Wildlife Research Center until the outbreak of World War II. He then joined the First Army Evacuation Hospital, where he became a Captain. During his training, he met his future wife, Laura, who was then an Army nurse. After the War, he worked for the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the Patuxeut Research Refuge in Maryland. In 1954, the Michigan Department of Conservation created a “conservation illustrator” position, and Ozz returned to Michigan. He stayed in this position until his retirement from the DNR in 1977 (The Department of Conservation was renamed the Department of Natural Resources in 1968.) Afterwards, he continued to draw on a free-lance basis.
By 1990, Ozz was living in Florida. Much of his original art now resided within the Archives of Michigan. Archivist Helen Taylor phoned him that year to ask about those illustrations and whether he held any copyright on them. He seemed surprised and noted that he drew them as a State of Michigan employee. “All my drawings,” he said, “belong to the people of Michigan.” The following summer, Ozz stopped by the Archives to introduce himself. He seemed pleased that his art was being preserved and appreciated.
Oscar Warbach passed away on March 3, 2002. To the people of Michigan, he left one lasting gift: Approximately five hundred of his original illustrations are permanently housed within the Archives of Michigan. They represent the legacy of one who used his talents to educate as well as entertain.
Source: Helen Taylor and Bob Garrett, “Education Through Art”, Seeking Michigan, October 2, 2012.
Also available Mother Nature’s Michigan / Oscar Warbach. [Lansing, Mi.] : Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources, c1990. 96pp. Michigan Government Documents (3 West) QH48 .W37 1990
A new Michigan House resolution urges federal recognition of an Anishinaabek tribe in West Michigan, bolstering a multi-decade struggle by the Grand River Bands of Ottawa Indians (GRBOI) to become the state’s 13th federally recognized sovereign tribal nation.
House Resolution (HR) 246 was introduced Thursday by state Rep. David LaGrand (D-Grand Rapids). It states that the GRBOI, which was recognized as a historic Native American tribe by the state of Michigan in 1996, is also eligible for federal recognition and should be promptly granted the designation.
“We want to thank Rep. LaGrand for introducing this important resolution, and we hope the full Legislature will add its voice to our mission to achieve federal recognition,” said Ron Yob, chairman of the Grand River Bands.
“For too long, the lack of recognition has unjustly and unfairly deprived our tribal members of key resources such as health care and educational opportunities which are afforded to federally recognized tribes. We continue to urge federal officials to approve our petition as soon as possible,” Yob continued.
The GRBOI originally encompassed 19 Ottawa bands and now has about 600 enrolled members. It is based along waterways including the Grand River in present-day West Michigan. Most tribal citizens reside in Kent, Oceana and Muskegon counties.
The tribe has been working to attain federally-recognized status for about 30 years. In 2013, their petition to the U.S. Department of Interior was moved to the “active consideration” list, but it has not moved from there since. The COVID-19 pandemic has further delayed consideration.
The department is now led by U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the federal government’s first Indigenous cabinet member.
LaGrand’s resolution is not the first action by a lawmaker to assist the GRBOI in its long-fought bid to gain federal status. In November, two members of Congress and Michigan’s two U.S. senators also urged the Interior Department to make an expedited decision.
State recognition provides some benefits to tribes, but they are limited. Federally-recognized tribes are acknowledged as sovereign nations within states and are allocated with funds for resources including health care, tuition, housing assistance and more.
The 12 tribes in Michigan currently recognized by the federal government are the Bay Mills Indian Community (BMIC), Grand Traverse Bay of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Hannahville Indian Community, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Match-e-be-nash-she-wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians (Gun Lake Tribe), Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi Indians, Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan and Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians.
In addition to the GRBOI, other state-recognized tribes that continue to seek federal recognition include: the Burt Lake Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, also known as the Cheboiganing Band, located in Northern Michigan’s Burt Lake area (mostly Emmet and Cheboygan counties); the Mackinac Bands of Chippewa and Ottawa Indians, based in St. Ignace; and the Swan Creek Black River Confederated Ojibwa Tribes of Michigan, which is a standalone offshoot of the Mount Pleasant-based Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan.
“I am calling on my colleagues in the Michigan Legislature to approve this resolution in support of the Grand River Bands, a tribe with deep roots and amazing history in West Michigan,” LaGrand said in a statement.
Laina G. Stebbins, “House resolution urges feds to recognize Odawa tribe in West Michigan“, Michigan Advance, March 3, 2022.
The state law allowing drunks and disorderly persons to be whipped was repealed on this day in 1831.
Source : Historical Society of Michigan
The first house in Albion, with a thatched roof of grass from the banks of the nearby Kalamazoo River, was erected by Tenney Peabody, a New Yorker.
Peabody, a courageous New Yorker, used three yoke of oxen and two wagons to bring his wife and seven children to live in this house on March 4, 1833.
He subsequently helped organize a company to build a town near the “Forks of the Kalamazoo”, named Albion, after a town in New York.
Source: Albion Michigan’s Historical Markers : the First Home
On March 4, 1847, Lt. Governor William L. Greenly replaced Governor Alpheus Felch as Michigan Governor, who resigned to take a seat in the U.S. Senate. Born in New York, Greenly moved to Adrian, Michigan, in late 1836. Greenly was elected lt. governor in 1845. After completing Felch’s term, Greenly returned to Adrian where he served as mayor and justice of the peace. He died in 1883.
About two weeks into his term, Greenly signed into law legislation to move the state capital from Detroit into “the township of Lansing, in the county of Ingham.” Legislators feared that Detroit was too close to the border and feared it would be at the mercy of enemy gun in case of way.
Sources :
Michigan is Amazing
Stewards of the State The Governors of Michigan. George Weeks ; edited by Robert D. Kirk ; contributing authors: Paula L. Blanchard, Don Weeks. [Detroit, Mich.] : The Detroit News ; Ann Arbor, Mich. : Historical Society of Michigan, 1987. Basement Center Oversize Collection JK5851 .W443 1987
On March 4, 1853, former Gov. Robert McClelland was appointed U.S. Secretary of Interior by President Franklin Pierce, making him the third Michigan governor in 12 years to resign early in order to go to Washington.
Source: Stewards of the State The Governors of Michigan. George Weeks ; edited by Robert D. Kirk ; contributing authors: Paula L. Blanchard, Don Weeks. [Detroit, Mich.] : The Detroit News ; Ann Arbor, Mich. : Historical Society of Michigan, 1987. Basement Center Oversize Collection JK5851 .W443 1987