April 2o, 1861 : Eight days after South Carolina fires on Fort Sumter, starting the Civil War, government officials in Detroit flood the Griswold Street post office to take an oath of allegiance. Photo courtesy of the University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library.
The nation’s first mile of concrete highway is laid.
With Detroit moving rapidly to become the nation’s automobile capital, residents demanded better roads. In response, the Wayne County Road Commission laid the first stretch of concrete highway on Woodward Avenue between Six and Seven Mile roads. Cost: $13,000.
Sources :
This Day in History, courtesy of the Clarke Historical Library at Central Michigan University.
Scott Pohl, “‘One Mile’ : The history of Detroit’s First Concrete Road“, WKAR, July 11, 2016
This Week in Michigan History, Detroit Free Press, April 20, 2008, B.4.
It’s long gone now, but 100 years ago today the Tigers moved into their new home at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull.
Navin Field — renamed Briggs Stadium in 1938 and Tiger Stadium in 1961 — opened on this date in 1912.
Before that, starting in 1896, the Tigers played in Bennett Park — also at The Corner. But Bennett Park was demolished to make way for the new stadium, which stood until 2009, nine years after the Tigers moved to Comerica Park.
Here’s an excerpt recalling the events of April 20, 1912, from the 1999 Free Press book “The Corner.”
“It was a sunny but chilly Saturday in Detroit. More than 24,000 filled a park designed to accommodate 23,000 in its yellow slat seats.
“Those not already standing in the roped-off outfield got on their feet in the bottom of the first inning when Ty Cobb, timing the Cleveland pitcher’s delivery perfectly, took off from third base and hook-slid around the lunging catcher to register the first run at Navin Field.
“Cobb later added another stolen base and a couple of nifty catches as the Tigers won, 6-5, in 11 innings.”
For the full article and pictures, see “Tiger Stadium centennial: Old park saw plenty of changes, glory”, Detroit Free Press, April 20, 2012.
On April 20, 1938, the Detroit Tigers opened its new season with a 20,000-seat expansion at Navin Field, pushing stadium capacity to more than 53,000 seats. The remodeled field was renamed after the Tigers’ owner, Walter O. Briggs, Sr. Eventually in 1961, it would become Tiger Stadium.
Outside View, Navin Field, Detroit, Michigan
Inside View, Navin Field, Detroit, Michigan
The Detroit Lions played there as well. Beginning in 1938, the Detroit Lions started playing their games at Briggs Stadium. They remained there until 1975, when the team moved to the Pontiac Silverdome.
Source: Jim Wohlenhaus, “April 20, 1912: Frank Navin’s field of dreams opens in Detroit”, SABR : Society for American Baseball Research.
This article appeared in “Tigers By The Tale: Great Games at Michigan and Trumbull” (SABR, 2016), edited by Scott Ferkovich. To read more articles from this book, click here.
On April 20, 1948, Walter Reuther was severely wounded in an assassination attempt at his home in Detroit. The 12-gauge shotgun blast shattered a kitchen window and nearly severed Reuther’s right arm. Doctors at Grace Hospital placed Reuther in an upper body cast for several weeks and managed to save his arm. Reuther, however, never fully recovered and his right arm and hand were virtually crippled the rest of his life.
Sources :
Detroit Historical Society Facebook page
“Reuther Shot!”, Detroit Free Press, April 21, 1948, cover.
April 20-25, 1952
In one of the worst riots in Michigan Department of Corrections history, prison guards were seized and fire broke out at the Jackson Maximum Security Prison. State Police were called in to help restore order. Damages was estimated in the millions.
The riot began when two maximum-security prisoners overpowered a guard and used his keys to release the other inmates in their wing. Damaging several wings and using the canteen for food, they held nine guards hostage at knifepoint for five days. The rioters wanted officials to agree to a list of eleven demands and that these be published in the local newspaper, and also asked for a personal guarantee of an investigation into the complaints by the Governor of Michigan. In all, 2,600 inmates participated, doing $2.5 million worth of damage. The episode came to an end when officials agreed to publication, to allow outside inspectors and not to punish the participants. However, the leaders were eventually indicted for conspiracy and the demands remained largely unmet. The 1954 film Riot in Cell Block 11 is closely based on the Jackson riot.
Kenneth McCormick and Jerome Hansen, “Uneasy Truce Reigns in Deadly Jackson Mutiny”, Detroit Free Press, April 22, 1952, cover page.
Louis Charles Rabaut (December 5, 1886 – November 12, 1961) was politician from the U.S. state of Michigan. He was a Democratic congressman representing Michigan’s 14th congressional district from 1935 to 1947, and from 1949 to 1961. He is best known for introducing legislation that added the words “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance.
On April 20, 1953, prompted by a letter from Brooklyn resident H. Joseph Mahoney, Rabaut submitted a resolution to amend the Pledge of Allegiance with the words “under God”. The practice had been adopted several years earlier by the Knights of Columbus. Rabaut’s bill was the first of many similar efforts, culminating in Representative Charles Oakman and Senator Homer Ferguson’s joint resolution in 1954. Speaking in support of the bill, Rabaut said:
You may argue from dawn to dusk about differing political, economic, and social systems, but the fundamental issue which is the unbridgeable gap between America and Communist Russia is a belief in Almighty God. From the root of atheism stems the evil weed of communism and its branches of materialism and political dictatorship. Unless we are willing to affirm our belief in the existence of God and His creator-creature relation to man, we drop man himself to the significance of a grain of sand and open the floodgates to tyranny and oppression.
The bill passed and was signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on June 14, Flag Day.
Sometime before midnight on April 20, 1993, two-year-old Jessica DeBoer of Ann Arbor, Michigan, is scheduled to disappear, leaving behind a heartbroken couple she calls Mommy and Daddy, a dog named Miles, her yellow bedroom and just about everything she has ever known, except perhaps a few favorite stuffed animals. Under court order, the dark-eyed, inquisitive girl will be transported 400 miles west to the small farming community of Blairstown, Iowa, to begin life anew as Anna Lee Schmidt.
For more information:
Jon D. Hull, “The Ties That Traumatize : A bitter custody battle over Baby Jessica sets adoptive parents everywhere on edge”, Time, April 12, 1993.
“In Re Clausen, Natural v Adoptive Parents, 442 Mich 648 (1993)”, Michigan Bar Journal, March 2009, pp. 27-29.
The Naked Mile was a popular University of Michigan campus tradition ever since 12 members of the university’s men’s and women’s rowing team and varsity men’s track team made the first streak down South University Avenue in 1986. It was held on the last day of classes. Hardly anyone noticed.
The “Naked Mile” grew larger and larger over time to the point where hundreds of students ran naked down S. University and thousands of spectators came to watch the event.
The event really began to grow when large numbers of women began to run. In the 1999 run, well over 30% of the “runners” were women. On April 20, 1999, nearly 10,000 spectators came to watch approximately 800 people make the run.
In 2000, the teams credited with starting the tradition boycotted the event, declaring they no longer wanted to participate in the Mile.
“With the large crowds and the heavy emphasis on taking pictures for the Internet, the Naked Mile is no longer something the team wishes to be associated with,” said former men’s lacrosse team president Greg Walker in a written statement released that year. “It used to be a fun outing, but for the past two years, it has become increasingly uncomfortable and unsafe. We don’t want our team to be linked with the circus the event has become.”
In 2001, the Mile was broadcast live over the Internet by Cyber Management Inc, an Atlanta-based company. Photographers from national media and pornography organizations hovered over the event in blimps and helicopters.
The heightened publicity, plus efforts by the university to put an end to the Naked Mile, finally succeeded.
The Naked Mile fizzled out.
Sources:
Maria Sprow, “U. Michigan tradition of Naked Mile holds negative reputation“, The Badger Herald, April 16, 2003.
“This Week in Daily History”, Michigan Daily, April 20, 2004.
Naked Mile History Via Ann Arbor Police Department.