The New Madrid earthquake, centered in New Madrid, Missouri, was felt in Michigan and all along the East Coast.
For more information, see New Madrid Earthquakes 1811-1812 wikipedia entry.
What’s It Like to Live on the New Madrid Fault? Donald Bradley, “New Madrid quake disaster was exactly 200 years ago”, Kansas City Star, February 7, 2012.
More anecdotes from the City of New Madrid.
Zlati Meyer, “Detroiters felt the famed New Madrid quakes in Missouri”, Detroit Free Press, January 31, 2015.
On February 7, 1976, Detroiter Sheila Young became the first American to win three medals in one Winter Olympics. Her medals — one gold (500 meters), one silver (1500 meters), and one bronze (1000 meters) — came in speed skating at the Innsbruck games.
Source : Detroit Historical Society Facebook Page
For more information, see Sheila Young wikipedia entry
On February 7, 1994, satellite images showed that Lake Superior had completely frozen over, although the lake’s center showed a very thin layer of ice that covered the water. The pictures appeared to settle the debate about whether the largest lake in the Great Lakes could ever completely freeze over.
Three consecutive days in which temperatures never broke 0 degrees combined with a 1.3-degree average daily temp in Marquette for January set the stage for a 50-day cold snap.
However, high winds the next day broke up the thin ice over the middle of the lake, quickly exposing open water.
Source: Michigan Every Day
Gov. Rick Snyder today congratulated 13 Michigan athletes competing in the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia:
“I congratulate all of Michigan’s Olympians competing in this year’s winter games for the tremendous honor they have earned to represent their country at the pinnacle of athletic competition,” Snyder said. “You are among the finest athletes our state and nation has to offer, and on behalf of all Michiganders, I join your families and friends in wishing you the best of luck as you compete to bring home Gold.”
The 13 athletes who call Michigan home will be competing for medals in men’s ice hockey, ice dancing, snowboarding and speed skating. In addition, 10 members of the Detroit Red Wings will be competing for their home countries at the games.
Michigan’s 2014 Winter Olympians are:
Ice Hockey
Cam Fowler, of Farmington Hills
Ryan Kesler, of Livonia
Ryan Miller, of East Lansing
Ice dancing
Evan Bates, of Ann Arbor
Meryl Davis, of West Bloomfield
Alex Shibutani, of Ann Arbor
Maia Shibutani, of Ann Arbor
Charlie White, of Bloomfield Hills
Snowboarding
Nick Baumgartner, of Iron River, competing in snowboardcross.
Danny Davis, of Highland, competing in halfpipe.
Karly Shorr, of Milford, competing in slopestyle.
Speed skating
Jilleanne Rookard, of Woodhaven, competing in long track speed skating.
Jessica Smith, of Melvindale, competing in short track speed skating.
Source: USOC
President Barack Obama will visit Michigan State University today to sign the $956 billion farm bill and highlight agriculture’s importance to the economy after it received Senate approval Tuesday, the White House confirmed.
Obama is expected to see MSU agricultural research in action and deliver a speech about how agriculture creates jobs and feeds the country before signing the legislation, according to the White House. The announcement followed the Senate’s 68-32 vote Tuesday approving the farm bill.
Michigan State President Lou Anna Simon hailed the farm bill’s passage because it “not only provides strong support for new research enterprises, but it also strengthens and grows Michigan’s agriculture economy and helps sustain America’s global competitiveness.
“As the pioneer land-grant institution in America, we are honored and pleased that President Obama will be signing the farm bill on MSU’s campus.”
Obama’s visit is also expected to shine a light on Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, chairwoman of the Agricultural Committee, who was a driving force in winning agreement with House Republicans on the compromise measure — working on weekends and weeks Congress was out of session in recent months to win agreement. The president is expected to sign the legislation in a Friday afternoon ceremony at a university performance center.
Source : David Shepardson and Marisa Shultz, “Obama to sign farm bill at MSU, White House confirms”, Detroit News, February 4, 2014.
Obama Visits MSU Photo Gallery from the Lansing State Journal.
Michigan native Betsy Devos is now the U.S. Secretary of Education after being confirmed by the tightest vote for a presidential cabinet nominee in U.S. Senate history — 51 to 50. Vice President Pence cast the tie-breaking vote.
This was the first time in U.S. history that a Cabinet nominee’s confirmation was decided by the vice president’s tiebreaking vote
As expected, the approval drew commendation from Republicans and school choice groups and condemnation from Democrats and progressives.
The United States Mint and the National Park Service launched the “America the Beautiful” Quarters Program coin honoring Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan on Wednesday, February 7, 2018.
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore of Michigan is the first national site commemorated on a U.S. quarter for 2018.
The coin represents the forty-first release from the series of United States Mint America the Beautiful Quarters™, an eleven-year coin program that runs from 2010 to 2021.
Some important dates and events for Michigan’s Pictured Rocks quarter include:
- its release into general circulation on February 5, 2018;
- its availability in U.S. Mint-branded rolls and bags at www.usmint.gov, also on February 5, 2018;
- a U.S. Mint-hosted coin forum held at Munising Township Office (E9630 Prospect Street, Wetmore, MI 49895) on February 6, 2018 from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. EST; and
- its official launch ceremony hosted by officials from the U.S. Mint and the National Park Service at Mather Elementary School Auditorium (411 Elm Avenue, Munising, MI 49862) on February 7, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. EST.
Right after ceremonial launches and in the same location are coin exchanges where attendees can swap cash for $10 rolls of new quarters. Coin forums are hosted by U.S. Mint officials who discuss current and upcoming products.
Designs on Pictured Rocks Quarter
Thirteen candidate designs for the quarter were developed by the U.S. Mint in consultation with representatives of the national site. The Treasury Secretary selected the winning design after the Commission of Fine Arts and the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee reviewed them.
Created by Paul C. Balan and sculpted by Michael Gaudioso, the design depicts Chapel Rock and the white pine tree that stand upon it. The rock formation is a main point of interest within the park. Around the design are inscriptions “PICTURED ROCKS,” “MICHIGAN,” “2018” and “E PLURIBUS UNUM.”
All quarter obverses (heads) share John Flanagan’s portrait of George Washington.
Both obverse and reverse designs are also featured on a series of U.S. Mint bullion and collector 3-inch diameter, 5-ounce silver coins.
Information about Michigan’s Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore of Michigan was initially created on October 15, 1966 by an Act of Congress. It marked the first such designated site in the National Park Service system, but would not be the last.
The national lakeshore runs along the shore of Lake Superior on the upper peninsula of Michigan for 42 miles. Fifteen of those miles consist of colorful sandstone cliffs which rise up to 200 feet above sea level and for which the lakeshore takes its name — Pictured Rocks.
Almost half a million visitors come to the lakeshore annually. They can enter the park from either end on paved roads, but must use a county road if they wish to drive from one end to the other. Unfortunately, the road only comes close to the shoreline at two locations, making a hike or a cruise the only viable option to really take in the pictured rocks scenery.
Sources :
Michigan History, March/April 2018, p. 9.
Former U.S. Rep. John David Dingell Jr., who was one of the U.S. House’s most powerful chairmen and helped write and pass some of the most consequential legislation in the nation’s history, died Thursday. He was 92.
Dingell, of Dearborn, served nearly 60 years in the House, making him the longest-serving member in Congress’ history.
He is survived by his wife, U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell
Source : Todd Spangler, “Michigan’s John Dingell, longest-serving member in Congress, dies at 92“, Detroit Free Press, February 7, 2019.
Born in New York on February 8, 1818, Austin Blair moved to Jackson, Michigan in 1841. Strongly opposed to slavery, Blair helped to found the Republican Party in 1854 and served in the state legislature before being elected governor in 1860. Blair lead the state through most of the Civil War, supporting the 90,000 Michigan men who joined the Union Army.
A statue of Blair was dedicated on the east side of Capitol Square in 1898, making him the only governor to have a personal monument on the #mistatecapitol grounds.
A portrait of him also hangs at the head of the Senate Chamber.
Sources:
State Capitol Facebook Page
On February 8, 1951, a fire caused over $4,000,000 damage to the state’s 28-year-old seven story office building at 300 S. Walnut.
Numbed by temperatures that dipped to 10 below zero, firemen from five cities joined in the fight to bring the stubborn fire under control.
Giving firemen a helping hand, as water ran down the streets, were employees of the public service department. They brought snow removal equipment into action, pushing the slush away and keeping drains open. In some places on Walnut St. the water was six to eight inches deep.
Lost on the mezzanine floor were valuable state records, some of them dating back to the start of state government. Valuable papers were stored there by almost every department with offices in the state office building. …
The Michigan State Library, also located in the building, also received extensive damage.
About 9 o’clock Thursday night, at the request of Gov. Soapy Williams, Fire Marshal Renner summoned department heads and supervisors back to the building to carry out any important papers that could be rescued. By this time, access to the building was limited to the first floors by smoke that rolled through the structure to the basement.
The cause?
Fearing that he would be drafted to fight in Korea, a state employee set a fire in the Lewis Cass Building in Lansing. He went to prison instead, but much of the state library and archival collection was destroyed.
After the fire was put out, state workers turned to the task of trying to save items damaged by the fire. See Book Rescuers in 1951. A small collection of photos from the LIFE Archives, taken by Thomas Mcavoy, show the sheer awesomeness of librarians at the time trying to dry out state library books damaged by efforts to fight the Lewis Cass State Office Building fire.
Sources :
Lansing State Journal, February 9, 1951
Michigan History, January/February 2011.
Bill Castanier, “Memories of Lansing’s most devastating structural fire“, City Pulse, February 11, 2021.
Also mentioned in Lost Memory – Libraries and Archives Destroyed In the Twentieth Century, prepared for UNESCO on behalf of IFLA by Hans van der Hoeven and on behalf of ICA by Joan van Albada. – Paris : UNESCO, 1996. – ii, 70 pp. ; 30 cm. – (CII-96/WS/1)
Pictures of the Book Rescuers 1951, Vintage Everyday, April 25, 2015. A small collection of photos from the LIFE Archives, taken by Thomas Mcavoy, show the sheer awesomeness of librarians. Pictured in 1951 drying out state library books damaged by fighting the Lewis Cass State Office Building fire in Lansing, Michigan; it was quite the undertaking.
Life Magazine, March 19, 1951 : article starts on page 59. The fire was started by a 19 year-old Naval Reservist who feared being sent to war in Korea and thought that “a little fire” would gain him the probationary status he coveted. The 1951 disaster destroyed much State property, including some government records. The fire proved an object lesson on the importance of record keeping. Many documents were unrecoverable and proper inventories didn’t exist.