On February 11, 1847, inventor Thomas Edison was born in Ohio, before his family moved to Port Huron when Edison was seven.
He was home schooled by his mother.
Edison sold fruits and vegetables on the street and signed on as a train runner before he was fired for accidentally starting a fire with his lab equipment.
Edison developed hearing problems at an early age. The cause of his deafness has been attributed to a bout of scarlet fever during childhood and recurring untreated middle-ear infections. Around the middle of his career, Edison attributed the hearing impairment to having his boss box his ears when his chemical laboratory in a boxcar caught fire before abandoning him in Mt. Clemens. In his later years, he modified the story to say the injury occurred when the conductor, in helping him onto a moving train, lifted him by the ears.
Sources:
Michigan Every Day
On February 11, 1859 the state legislature organized Isabella County and a commission was appointed by the governor to establish the county seat at Isabella Centre. Less than a year later, residents voted to move the county seat to Mount Pleasant.
During the 1850s lumberman David Ward purchased land in section fifteen of Union Township. In 1860 he platted the village of Mount Pleasant with land set aside for a courthouse square. Harvey and George Morton, developers from New York State purchased Ward’s property in 1863. Isaac A. Francher surveyed and recorded the plat of Mount Pleasant for the Morton’s in 1864. The village was roughly bounded by Lincoln Street, Wisconsin Street, Lansing Street, Oak Street and the Chippewa River. Water-powered milling, lumber processing, and county government formed the basis of Mount Pleasant’s growth after the Civil War. On April 16, 1875, the state legislature incorporated the village of Mount Pleasant.
Today, Isabella County is proud to be home to Central Michigan University, the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe, the City of Mount Pleasant, and hundreds of other interesting and exciting things to see and do.
Prior to the coming of European settlers, Isabella County was one of the most magnificent pine and hardwood areas in all of the Great Lakes region. It was part of the Indian’s winter hunting grounds and was called “Ojibiway Besse” (the place of the Chippewa). Indians may have traveled in and around the area for as many as 10,000 years. Father Henry Nouvel, successor to Father Marquette, spent a winter here in 1675 with the Beaver Clan of the Chippewa Indians. Almost 200 years passed before Europeans returned to Central Michigan.
Sources :
February 11, 1923 — MAC’s hockey team claims its first-ever victory, a 6-1 win over the Lansing Independents.
More about MAC/MSU Hockey:
The first record of an ice hockey game is from January 11, 1922, when a M.A.C. team traveled to Ann Arbor to play the University of Michigan. The following week the Aggies hosted Notre Dame University on the Red Cedar’s frozen waters. In 1924 a rink was established in the Old College Field, abandoned by the football squad for the new stadium.
In 1926 the Spartans were admitted in the Western League but in 1931 the program was cancelled indefinitely. The ice hockey program took a long hiatus from 1931 until 1948 when indoor facilities where available in Demonstration Hall. There are many reasons that this occurred, including the lack of facilities, institutional indifference towards the sport and the dependence on the unreliable Michigan weather.
The hockey team would return in the late 1940s and would continue until present day, conquering three NCAA National Championships in the process in 1966, 1986 and 2007. Michigan State coaches are in the lead for all time wins in the NCAA as well, with former coach Ron Mason in first and current coach Rick Comley in second. The program has come from the early days skating on the Red Cedar River to a national powerhouse in the sport of ice hockey.
Sources:
Lansing State Journal, Spartifacts, Lansing State Journal, February 10, 2015.
On February 11, 1936 a son was begat to Burton Milo and Fern (Miller) Reynolds. Burton Leon Reynolds, or “Burt Reynolds” as he is more commonly known, was born and spent his first years at 1703 Donora Street Lansing, Michigan.
His breakout film role was as Lewis Medlock in Deliverance (1972). Reynolds played the leading role in a number of box office films, including The Longest Yard (1974), Smokey and the Bandit (1977) and The Cannonball Run (1981). He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Boogie Nights (1997).
The actor returned to visit in 1987. He was in town as a radio commentator for the Florida State University football team at the FSU-Michigan State University game in September.
He had made a surprise visit to his former residence at 1703 Donora St.to take a picture for his mother at their former home.
Update: Burt Reynolds died on September 6, 2018.
Sources :
Lansing State Journal, Sept. 25 & 27, 1987
Lost Lansing article from Capital Area District Library Blog, February 13, 2011.
Eric Lacy, “Burt Reynolds finally reveals he was born in Lansing”, Lansing State Journal, November 19, 2015.
On February 11, 1937, after a three-month series of sit-down strikes across the United States and Canada, General Motors recognized the United Auto Workers union.
On Feb. 11, 1937, the 44-day Flint Sit-Down Strike ended when General Motors recognized the United Auto Workers as the sole bargaining unit for its workers. The strike started Dec. 29, when union members occupied a plant after hearing GM – in anticipation of a strike – had planned to move some equipment out of the plant. Eventually, President Franklin Roosevelt got involved and an agreement was forged.
Within a year, the UAW saw its membership grow to 500,000 members from 30,000. The Flint Sit-down Strike was, as the British Broadcasting System later noted, “the strike heard round the world.”
Sources :
Detroit Historical Society Facebook Page
“Sit-Down Strike Heard Round the World”, Detroit Free Press, December 10, 2008.
On February 11, 1965, more than 4,000 students and community residents attended a campus visit and lecture by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. It was standing room only in the Auditorium, with the overflow crowd packed into the Fairchild Theater where they could hear the civil rights leader’s speech.
According to MSU’s summary of the speech, King issued three challenges to the audience that must be met for people to survive. First, people must achieve a world brotherhood perspective. Second, the notion of superior and inferior races must be abolished. And last, massive action programs must be developed to rid the world of segregation.
King came to Michigan State University to kick off a fundraising drive for the All University Student Government-sponsored Student Educational Project (STEP) in Mississippi.
The STEP program involved sending student and faculty volunteers during the summer of 1965 to assist Rust College of Holly Springs, Mississippi. It evolved out of MSU students’ desire to help others and gain educational experience.
For another see Vickki Dozier, “King called students to service in 1965 speech at MSU”, Lansing State Journal, January 19, 2015.
Ken Coleman, “On this day in 1965: MLK visits MSU to continue civil rights crusade“, Michigan Advance, February 11, 2022.
For more information, visit Martin Luther King Jr. Visits MSU by the MSU University Archives and Historical Collections.
Fifty helmeted Lansing Police wielding riot sticks waded into an angry crowd of striking Motor Wheel workers early this morning, resulting in a bloody clash that sent two pickets to the hospital, and brought the arrest of four persons.
Marching across Larch Street in front of the plant’s main entrance at 9:15 a.m., police fanned out as they met the estimated 70 jeering pickets head-on. A fist- and club-swinging melee followed, with police getting the upper hand quickly as they dispersed the strikers. As many as ten strikers suffered injuries, many of them minor head wounds.
Source : Lansing State Journal, February 11, 1974
Odessa Smalls-Arthur was selected as George Alderton Female Athlete of the Year at Michigan State University in 1987. A sprinter extraordinaire, she blazed her way to a record 13 Big Ten titles, including all four 200-meter outdoor titles during her career. Following her graduation in 1987, a local writer asked assistant coach Bruce Waha about replacing Arthur. His response? “I’m happy to say we’ve recruited someone to take her place. Seventeen people.’’
For more information, see Larry Watts, “Model of Dedication”, Big Ten Celebrating Black History Month, February 11, 2011.
Dozens of people gathered Tuesday morning at Morrill Plaza, where 113-year-old Morrill Hall once stood, for a dedication ceremony and the unveiling of the new brick kiosk.
The kiosk, which contains salvaged brick from Morrill Hall, has four touch-panel computer screens containing information about the university’s distinguished past faculty. MSU officials said the information will be updated regularly.
Deb Kinney, landscape architect for MSU, said the plaza cost the university between $300,000 and $400,000.
Morrill Hall was built in 1899 and 1900. Nicknamed “The Coop,” it once was a dormitory for female students and also housed home economics classrooms. It was converted in the 1930s to classroom space and renamed in Morrill’s honor. It was demolished last year.
MSU officials said the plaza honor more than Morrill’s land grant efforts. It’s also meant to recognize the history of women and their role in the early years of the university.
Last year, the school’s Agriculture Hall was renamed the Justin S. Morrill Hall of Agriculture.
For the full article, see Paul Henderson, “Michigan State University’s Morrill Plaza honors history of university and demolished hall”, Lansing State Journal, February 11, 2014.
For another, see Morrill Plaza – Recalling the past and honoring the future
In four Olympics, Iron River’s Nick Baumgartner was missing just one thing.
“One of these medals,” he said tearfully after a 10th-place finish in men’s snowboard cross on Thursday.
He finally got it two days later.
The 40-year-old, who is the oldest American snowboarder in Olympic history, earned his first Olympic medal Saturday, taking gold with Lindsey Jacobellis in mixed team snowboard cross at Genting Snow Park.
Jacobellis, a five-time Olympian who finally earned her elusive gold medal this week, crossed the finish line first in the relay race-type event that was making its Olympic debut.
Baumgartner raced first and gave his teammate a 0.04-second head start. After crossing the finish line first among the men, Baumgartner pumped his fist and shouted toward the start line, “Let’s go, Linds!”
Jacobellis fell behind out of the gate early but rallied from third place and took the lead by passing Italy’s Michela Moioli on the final turn. She charged through the finish line, where Baumgartner rushed to greet her and snap her out of her boots.
Soure: Thuc Nhi Nguyen, “Iron River’s Nick Baumgartner wins gold medal in Olympic mixed team snowboard”, Los Angeles Times, February 11, 2022.