After news arrived regarding the signing of the Treaty of Ghent, officially ending the War of 1812, Detroiters and Canadians threw a Grand Pacification Ball at the Steamboat Hotel (formerly called the Woodworth Hotel) on March 29, 1815 to show the world that there were no hard feelings. British officers from Fort Malden, the leading citizens of Detroit, and civilian dignitaries from the Canadian side of the river attended. The fiddles played late into the night, glasses were filled and emptied many times as toasts to peace and brotherhood rang out. Uncle Ben Woodworth put on a feast that banished all remembrances of the famine that was experienced the year before.
To celebrate the 200th anniversary a “Grand Pacification Ball” Commemorative Remembrance Event is scheduled for the Detroit Historical Museum, Detroit (March 28, 2015). Updates will be posted at http://www.michigan.gov/war1812 as details are developed.
Sources :
Frank Bury Woodford, Arthur M. Woodford, All Our Yesterdays: A Brief History of Detroit, Wayne State University Press, 1969, p.125.
Michigan Commission on the Commemoration of the Bicentennial of the War of 1812
On March 29, 1823, Henry Schoolcraft married an Ojibwa woman from Sault Saine Marie name O-bah-bahm-wawa-ge-zhe-go-qua which translates “Woman of the Sound Which Stars Make Rushing Through the Sky”. Conveniently for most Michiganders, she was also known as Jane Johnston. While Henry Schoolcraft was known as a geographer, geologist, and ethnologist , noted for his early studies of Native American cultures, Jane Johnston was also a writer and poet of note, writing in both English and Ojibwa. In fact, many credit her as the source of many of Schoolcraft’s writing. Her writing is also credited as the inspiration for Longfellow’s poem “Song of Hiawatha”.
Source : Bill Loomis, On This Day in Detroit History (2016), p.53
The Detroit Free Press of 150 years ago was dominated by articles about the Civil War, including accounts of mishaps and victories around the country. The Drummer-Boy of Marblehead recounts the exploits of a young lad who met his maker on Roanoke Island, N.C. And as the editors assert, we have assurances that this story is literally true!
MARY MOORE.: THE DRUMMER-BOY OF. [PDF] Detroit Free Press, March 29, 1862, p.4.
Note : The Main Library now provides the MSU community online access to the historical Detroit Free Press from 1858 through 1922.
Due to growth of population and industry, Detroit’s manufacturers are facing problems of getting delivery of goods by train. Some companies are rebuilding factories elsewhere. A central railroad terminal might help solve the problem.
SUGGESTS TERMINAL CLEARING-HOUSE HERE: GEORGE H. BARBOUR OFFERS PLAN. THINKS CO-OPERATION BETWEEN MANUFACTURERS AND RAILROADS WILL SOLVE PROBLEMS OF TRAFFIC. GREAT GROWTH OF CITY TROUBLE CAUSE BELIEVES TERMINAL THROUGH WHICH ALL FREIGHT SHOULD PASS WOULD OBVIATE DIFFICULTIES. Detroit Free Press, March 29, 1912.
Note : The Main Library now provides the MSU community online access to the historical Detroit Free Press from 1858 through 1922.
The Michigan House passed a Women’s Suffrage Resolution. Voters will be allowed to vote on it in next general election.
WOMEN WIN OVER HOUSE: SUFFRAGE RESOLUTION FOR SUBMISSION TO PEOPLE PASSES, 75 TO 19, YAPLE TIPPING THE BALANCE AND CAUSING STAMPEDE OF ANTIS. SOME YEAS BASED ON FINAL DEFEAT OPPONBORN PRIMARY AND COPLEY CORRUPT PRACTICE ELECTION BILLS ALSO PASSED–BALL SALOON MEASURE COMES UP TODAY. Detroit Free Press, March 29, 1912.
Note : The Main Library now provides the MSU community online access to the historical Detroit Free Press from 1831 through 1922.
Michigan becomes the first state in the Union to ban fireworks when the legislature adopts a law banning the use of fireworks by the general public. The law only allows displays by licensed operators.
Source : Michigan is Amazing
Mr. Baseball, Bob Uecker, provided some comic relief for WrestleMania III, especially during his pre-match interview with Andre the Giant.
WrestleMania III was the third annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). The event was held on March 29, 1987 at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan.
For the record, Hulk Hogan defeated Andre the Giant in the final event.
The event is particularly notable for the record attendance of 93,173, the largest recorded attendance for a live indoor sporting event in North America. The event is considered to be the pinnacle of the 1980s wrestling boom. The record itself stood until February 14, 2010 when the 2010 NBA All-Star Game broke the indoor sporting event record with an attendance of 108,713 at Cowboys Stadium. The WWF generated $1.6 million in ticket sales. Almost one million fans watched the event at 160 closed circuit locations in North America. The number of people watching via pay-per-view was estimated at several million, and pay-per-view revenues were estimated at $10 million.
Source : Wikipedia entry
Eric Lacey, “Andre the Giant’s legendary drinking tales tied to Wrestlemania III match with Hulk Hogan at Pontiac Silverdome”, MLive, January 27, 2013.
Do You Have A Favorite Drunkard?, Modern Drunkard Magazine.
On March 29, 2013, a giant snowball created by Michigan Technological University students, with a circumference of 32.94 feet and weighing several tons, was certified as the world’s largest snowball by Guinness World Records.
Source Fritz Klug, “2 Michigan colleges are snowiest in the US”, Detroit Free Press, January 25, 2014.
Robert Mahoney was blind and suffering from a bad heart when his doctors said he had to find an easier job than going door to door in Detroit selling items like brooms and brushes. He went into politics and in 1954 was the first blind person elected to the Legislature, a post he held for 18 years.
After he was defeated for re-election in 1972, he served on the State Officers Compensation Commission and then was a lobbyist before he retired.
His was one of the more remarkable stories of legislators, made all the more remarkable because he and his wife, Jennie (who was also blind), raised 10 children and were able to run businesses from their home.
Mr. Mahoney was born in 1921 in Minnesota and his family later relocated to Detroit. He was blind from birth in one eye and then lost sight in his other eye after a skiing accident while he was a student at Holy Redeemer High School in Detroit. He met his wife Jennie at the Michigan School for the Blind. Ms. Mahoney lost much of her sight due to a high fever when she was three years old and then lost the rest when she was 11.
After graduating from the Michigan School for the Blind, Ms. Mahoney was the first blind student admitted to Adrian College. Mr. Mahoney graduated from Detroit Northern High School.
After they married and settled in Detroit, Mr. Mahoney took a job selling objects made by the blind, such as brooms and mops. He had earlier been one of the first persons in Michigan to get the help of a guide dog, named Patsy, and Patsy helped him in following his route.
Always interested in politics, Mr. Mahoney had run for Detroit Democratic precinct delegate but lost his first race. When his doctor encouraged him to seek a less stressful job, Mr. Mahoney ran again for precinct delegate and won. He said later that his days walking a sales route helped build his name recognition.
In 1954 he was first elected to the House. Toward the end of his tenure, Mr. Mahoney was chair of the House Policy Committee.
He probably was best known for sponsoring legislation that required young people getting hunting licenses to take hunter safety classes. Mr. Mahoney had a special interest in hunter safety issues. To emphasize the point, he went out and was able to buy a hunting license even though he was blind.
Mr. Mahoney got caught up in the racial tensions of the late 1960s and early 1970s, which ended his legislative career. He was a supporter of open housing and school busing. He had generally won his primaries easily, but in 1972 his district was changed and he lost his primary in a landslide to Thaddeus Stopszynski, a more conservative Democrat.
After he left the Legislature, Mr. Mahoney served on the SOCC and then became a lobbyist.
While he had been in Lansing, Ms. Mahoney operated a business out of their Detroit home.
In the 1990s he published an autobiography, “Living Out Of Sight.” Both the Mahoneys were strict Catholics, and Mr. Mahoney’s opposition to abortion led him eventually to switch parties. While he was in the Legislature, he would join other Catholic lawmakers for daily mass.
In an interview 20 years ago in The Michigan Catholic, Mr. Mahoney said, “Life is hard. People today want to think that everything can be easy and you don’t have to struggle or fight or work for anything. But half the joy in life is making some success out of it.”
Mahoney died on March 29, 2017.
For the full article, see “Robert Mahoney, 95, First Blind Person Elected To Legislature, Dies“, MIRS, March 31, 2017.
Paul Egan, “Robert Mahoney, Michigan’s first blind state lawmaker, dead at 95“, Detroit Free Press, March 31, 2017.
February 1, 2018:
House Resolution No. 241.
A resolution of tribute offered as a memorial for Robert D. Mahoney, former member of the House of Representatives.
Whereas, The members of this legislative body were saddened to learn of the passing of former Representative Robert Mahoney. He was both a statesman and a self-starter, and his noteworthy contributions for the disabled and all residents of this state will be long remembered; and
Whereas, Born in Duluth, Minnesota, Robert Mahoney attended Detroit’s Northern High School. He and his wife, Jennie, settled in Detroit after they married to raise a family of ten children. Blind since the age of fifteen, he worked as a door‑to‑door salesman for twelve years to support his growing family. Advised to find a new profession due to health issues and at the urging of a friend, he successfully ran for Democratic precinct delegate. The Mahoneys also established the still-operating Michigan Notary Business, selling notary supplies by mail; and
Whereas, In 1954, Robert Mahoney was elected to represent northeast Detroit in the Michigan House of Representatives. A lifelong Catholic, Representative Mahoney strongly believed that God opened a new window with his venture into politics. As Michigan’s first blind legislator, Representative Mahoney introduced legislation requiring hunter safety classes for young hunters, successfully purchasing a hunting license himself to show the need for stricter regulations. Representative Mahoney also sponsored legislation to provide state identification for blind people who did not hold a driver’s license and to require that vending stands in state-owned buildings be run a by blind proprietors. He secured funding for WKAR radio to offer a sub-channel for the “Talking Book” program to serve the blind. During his tenure, Representative Mahoney chaired several committees including Aid to the Handicapped, Social Aid and Welfare, Social Services and Corrections, and House Policy. He was also a member of the Supplies and Expenditures, Education, Insurance, Public Safety, and Taxation committees; and
Whereas, After leaving the Legislature in 1972, Representative Mahoney was appointed as a Wayne County Commissioner where he served for three years and later he lobbied for the Michigan Hospital Association. He noted that computers made life easier for the blind and, using a special Braille computer, he would surf the web, read news, and send e-mails. In 1995, he self-published a book about his life titled “Living Out of Sight”; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives, That we offer this expression of our highest tribute to honor the memory of Robert D. Mahoney, a member of this legislative body from 1955 to 1972; and be it further
Resolved, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the Mahoney family as evidence of our lasting esteem for his memory.
The question being on the adoption of the resolution,
The resolution was adopted by unanimous standing vote.
The War of 1812 left Detroit impoverished. When word reached Michigan about the Treaty of Ghent, which ended America’s second war with Great Britain, Detroiters gathered at Ben Woodworth’s Hotel and held what is called a Pacification Ball to celebrate the war’s formal end.
Noe: One source says March 29th; others say March 30th. Maybe the ball began on March 29th and went on to the wee hours of the morning.
Source : Michigan is Amazing
The War of 1812 / a production of WNED-TV, Buffalo/Toronto and Florentine Films/Hott Productions, Inc., in association with WETA Washington, D.C. ; a film by Lawrence Hott and Diane Garey ; written by Ken Chowder. [United States] : PBS Distribution, 2011. 1 DVD videodisc (approximately 120 min.) : sound, color ; 4 3/4 in. Kline Digital & Multimedia Center (4 West) E354 .W37 2011 VideoDVD (Also available as part of ROVI Movie Collection) : For two and a half years, Americans fought Against the British, Canadian colonists, and native nations. The War of 1812 is worth remembering–a struggle that threatened the existence of Canada, then divided the United States so deeply that the nation almost broke apart. Some of its battles and heroes became legendary, yet its blunders and cowards were just as prominent. With re-enactments, evocative animation and the incisive commentary of key experts, this program presents the conflict that forged the destiny of a continent.