Douglas Houghton, the state geologist who mapped much of Michigan, drowned in a storm on Lake Superior, near Eagle River on October 13, 1845.
His association with the Michigan Territory began in 1829, when the city fathers of Detroit took their search for a public lecturer on science to Eaton, who strongly recommended the youthful Houghton. He was enthusiastically received in Detroit and rapidly became one of its best-known citizens, with the young men of his acquaintance soon styling themselves “the Houghton boys.”
Houghton quickly was selected by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft to act as physician-naturalist on expeditions through Lake Superior and the upper Mississippi valley in 1831 and 1832. On these trips Houghton did extensive botanical collecting, investigated the Lake Superior copper deposits of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and provided medical services to the Indian tribes they encountered.
In 1833 he married his childhood friend Harriet Stevens, with whom he had two daughters. The establishment of a flourishing medical practice in Detroit earned him the affectionate designation, “the little doctor, our Dr. Houghton,” but by 1836 he had largely set aside the medical profession to concentrate on real estate speculation. His scientific interests remained strong, however, and as Michigan achieved statehood in 1837 he returned again to public life and his love of the natural world.
One of the first acts of the new Michigan state government was to organize a state geological survey, following a pattern already established in other states. Houghton’s appointment as the first state geologist was unanimously hailed, and he occupied that position for the remainder of his life.
In 1839 he was also named the first professor of geology, mineralogy, and chemistry at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, but he continued to reside in Detroit. He and his survey assistants spent many weeks in the field each season, mapping and evaluating Michigan’s natural resources, and his personal influence with state legislators kept the project moving in the face of many financial difficulties. His fourth annual report, based on field work done in 1840, appeared February 1, 1841. It helped trigger the first great mining boom of American history, and earned him the title of “father of copper mining in the United States.”
He was a founding member and treasurer of the Association of American Geologists and Naturalists (the predecessor of the American Association for the Advancement of Science) and served on several of its committees. A lifelong Episcopalian and staunch Democrat, he was elected to a term as mayor of Detroit in 1842, apparently against his wishes, but his competent administration raised the possibility of higher political office, perhaps governor.
The city of Houghton, Houghton County, Houghton Lake, the largest inland lake in the state, and Douglass Houghton Falls, southeast of Calumet are among many Michigan features named in his honor, as is Douglass Houghton Hall, a residence hall at Michigan Technological University. A plaque commemorating Houghton is at the entrance to the Department of Geological Sciences (now Earth and Environmental Sciences) at the University of Michigan. A plaque embedded into a stone monument was erected in the town of Eagle River, just a few miles where his boat went down. He and three other professors are also memorialized by a monument near the University of Michigan’s Graduate Library that features a broken pillar symbolizing lives cut short. In 2006 the University created the Douglass Houghton Scholars Program, designed to encourage students interested in careers in science. There is also a plant named after him: Houghton’s Goldenrod, a variety he discovered in 1839 along the southern shore of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. A portrait of Houghton hangs in the chamber of the Michigan House of Representatives.
Sources :
September/October 2014 Michigan History magazine.
On October 13, 1853, Amelia Bloomer, originator of Bloomer undergarments, lectured at Detroit’s Firemen’s Hall on the subject of “Women’s Rights.”
Source: Mich-Again’s Day
For more information about Amelia Bloomer, see “Amelia Bloomer : Women’s Rights Activist, Publisher, Journalist (1818–1894)”, Bio
Listen to Louis Armstrong play All of Me.
Gerald Marks (October 13, 1900 – January 27, 1997) was an American composer best known for the song “All of Me” which he co-wrote with Seymour Simons and has been recorded about 2,000 times. He also wrote the songs “That’s What I Want for Christmas” for the film Stowaway starring Shirley Temple, and “Is It True What They Say About Dixie” recorded by Al Jolson and Rudy Vallee.
The success of his song “All of Me” led him to become a member of ASCAP, and he remained active in the organization for decades, serving on its board of directors from 1970 to 1981.
Sources :
Gerald Marks Bio from Naxos Records
Stage and screen star Dorothy Gish stopped by the St. Francis Orphanage in Detroit to deliver the world’s largest lollypop.
Dorothy Gish Gives Detroit Orphans a Lollypop
Courtesy of YouTube
Varsity polo team members asked to report.
Freshmen are also invited to attend important meeting by Major Gerald Peterson.
In the same issue, the lead article says FDR asking for draft of 18 and 19 year olds for war effort.
Source: Front Page and Sports News, Michigan State News, October 13, 1942, page 1 and 3.
Basic research lacks sufficient funding, Rosenberg said, and it it criticized by those who feel it does not belong on university campuses. In the same article he also discusses how his experiments have discovered that platinum can impede the spread of cancer. The National Cancer Institute is currently reviewing how the drug might impact humans with cancer.
Cisplatin would eventually be approved as a treatment for cancer and rake in over $300 million in royalties for research at Michigan State University.
Source : Bob Roach, “Basic research seen vital, abused”, Michigan State News, October 13, 1970, p.5
The World Famous Scottville Clown Band!
Since 1903, those famous clowns from Scottville, Michigan have been entertaining millions of music lovers throughout the state. (In case you are wondering, the city of Scottville is located in Mason County, 7 miles east of Ludington. Scottville is a friendly little town of about 1,200.)
Officially called the Scottville Clown Band, they are also sometimes referred to as “The Big Noise from Scottville”. Known for its colorful attire and crazy antics, they also like to perform catchy tunes like “The Stripper”. It really gets the crowd on their feet.
The band members come from all over Michigan and over 14 other states, from California, Tennessee, Florida and even New York. The members are a very diverse group, some doctors, firemen, police officers, bankers, and realtors. This hilarious group of very talented musicians come together many times throughout the year to share this passion for entertaining crowds and travel all over Michigan to strut their stuff.
The Clown Band’s roots date back to the start of the 1900’s when a musical group of Scottville merchants began to dress as hillbillies and entertained at local carnivals. Soon the group became more and more popular and the costumes became more and more risqué. World War II meant many hometown men went off to war; it also meant the end of the band.
In 1947, Scottville merchant Ray Schulte reformed the group and created what is still known as the Scottville Clown Band. “It’s one of the highlights of my life,” said Schulte about re-organizing the group. “It’s one of the greatest organizations to come to Scottville.” Ray was known at “The Godfather” of the Band and he passed in 2007.
Years ago, they were considered for participation by organizers of the annual Rose Bowl parade in California. “We gave them a demo film of us, and they said perhaps not,” Wilson said, laughing. “They were a little taken aback by that. There’s a few guys in the band that dress in drag, and back then it was a little too much.”
Since then, the band has grown into an all-volunteer organization that awards thousands of dollars in scholarships to music students every year. There’s also an underlying, almost fraternal aspect to it, like the Elks or the Moose Lodge: Generations of fathers share traditions with their sons during long bus rides, all-weather performances and daylong vacations in towns that dot the state, and where sons aspire to join their dads’ crazy band.
Applicants to join the band have to be sponsored by a member, and they must be experienced musicians. Almost everyone in the group played in high school or college band. And they’ve got hundreds of songs in their set list. There are a lot of fathers and sons in the band (particularly since you have to be sponsored).
The band’s most revered event, they say, is the annual trip to Mackinac Island for the performance in the Lilac Festival, which falls close to Father’s Day and has become a father-son tradition. Many band members can’t make all the shows. But with lots of fathers and sons in the group, most try to make it to this one.
Believe it or not, the Clown Band is a corporation. The members are represented by a board of directors. In ways of charity, the Band helped fund, build and maintain the Scottville band shell, funded, built and maintains the Museum of Music at White Pine Village, funds the annual Raymond J. Schulte/George F. Wilson scholarship at West Shore Community College, funds the Bud Simms Memorial Grant and grants thousands of dollars in scholarships for education in music and the performing arts through the Raymond J. Schulte Music Scholarship Fund.
The Scottville Clown Band, Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Donations to the Scottville Clown Band are tax deductable and can be made by sending a check made payable to The Scottville Clown Band, Inc and mailed to:
Rob Alway
Treasurer-Scottville Clown Band, Inc
405 N Main
Scottville MI 49454
Sources :
The Scottville Clown Band (web site)
John Carlisle, “Bawdy Scottville Clown Band shocks, then awes“, Detroit Free Press, July 17, 2016.
News traveled by wire 100 years ago and took a little longer than today’s internet….
At 8:10 o’clock on the night of Oct. 14, 1912, a shot was fired the echo of which swept around the entire world in thirty minutes.
An insane man attempted to end the life of the only living ex-president of the United States and the best known American, Teddy Roosevelt.
The bullet failed of its mission.
Elbert Martin, Colonel Theodore Roosevelt’s stenographer, body guard, former football player, and graduate of the Detroit College of Law, grappled with the assassin and prevented him from firing a second shot.
Roosevelt, as an experienced hunter and anatomist, correctly concluded that since he was not coughing blood, the bullet had not completely penetrated the chest wall to his lung, and so declined suggestions he go to the hospital immediately. Instead, he delivered his scheduled speech with blood seeping into his shirt. He spoke for 90 minutes. His opening comments to the gathered crowd were, “Ladies and gentlemen, I don’t know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot; but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose.” Afterwards, probes and x-ray showed that the bullet had traversed three inches (76 mm) of tissue and lodged in Roosevelt’s chest muscle but did not penetrate the pleura, and it would be more dangerous to attempt to remove the bullet than to leave it in place. Roosevelt carried it with him for the rest of his life.
Letters and telegrams from every part of the country hailing him as a hero are being received by Elbert A. Martin, Secretary to Col. Roosevelt, who on Monday night leaped upon the Colonel’s assailant and prevented the firing of other shots toward him. “Hail Martin as Hero”, New York Times, October 18, 1912.
Col. Theodore Roosevelt, carrying the leaden missile intended as a pellet of death in his right side, has recovered. He is spared for many more years of active service for his country.
John Flammang Schrank, the mad man who fired the shot, is in the Northern Hospital for the Insane at Oshkosh, Wis., pronounced by a commission of five alienists a paranoiac. If he recovers he will face trial for assault with intent to kill.
SPEAKS DESPITE WOUND, BLOOD OOZES THROUGH VEST, ATTEMPT TO STOP HIM
Detroit Free Press (1858-1922); Oct 15, 1912;
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Detroit Free Press (1831-1922)
FORMER DETROITER HERO SAVES ROOSEVELT’S LIFE
Detroit Free Press (1858-1922); Oct 16, 1912; p.3.
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Detroit Free Press (1831-1922)
pg. 3
For more information, see Theodore Roosevelt wikipedia entry
The Attempted Assassination of Ex-President Theodore Roosevelt, Oliver Remey, Henry Cochems, and Wheeler Bloodgood. Project Gutenberg, 2007.
“The Roosevelts [videorecording] : an intimate history / a film by Ken Burns. [Alexandria, VA] : Distributed by PBS Distribution, [2014] 7 videodiscs (approximately 840 minutes) : sound, color with black & white segments ; 4 3/4 in. E302.6.R795 R667 2014 VideoDVD Discs 1-7
In May 1917, Robert Robinson enlisted with the Marines and the action in France followed. Although seriously wounded during aerial action over Belgium, he continued to fight and successfully drove off attacking enemy scout planes before two additional bullet wounds forced his collapse. For his heroism and gallantry in this and previous action with enemy planes, while attached to the 1st Marine Aviation Force as an observer, GySgt Robinson received this Nation’s highest award.
Gunnery Sergeant Robinson, shot 13 times in the abdomen, chest, and legs, and with his left arm virtually blown off at the elbow, helped bring the plane down in Belgian Territory. His arm, hanging by a single tendon, was grafted back on by the surgeon-general of the Belgian army. The pilot of his plane, Lt Ralph Talbot of Weymouth, Massachusetts, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for this same action, was killed in a plane crash a few days later.
He was honorably discharged in 1919 as a gunnery sergeant and was appointed a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps Reserve. His retirement was effected in May 1923 and his promotion to the rank of first lieutenant in September 1936.
Upon retirement, he made his home at St. Ignace, Michigan. Robinson died on October 5, 1974 at his home. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia.
Citation : For extraordinary heroism as observer in the 1st Marine Aviation Force at the front in France. In company with planes from Squadron 218, Royal Air Force, conducting an air raid on 8 October 1918, Gunnery Sergeant Robinson’s plane was attacked by nine enemy scouts. In the fight which followed, he shot down one of the enemy planes. In a later air raid over Pitthan, Belgium, on 14 October 1918, his plane and one other became separated from their formation on account of motor trouble and were attacked by 12 enemy scouts. Acting with conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in the fight which ensured, Gunnery Sergeant Robinson, after shooting down one of the enemy planes, was struck by a bullet which carried away most of his elbow. At the same time his gun jammed. While his pilot maneuvered for position, he cleared the jam with one hand and returned to the fight. Although his left arm was useless, he fought off the enemy scouts until he collapsed after receiving two more bullet wounds, one in the stomach and one in the thigh.
Source : Robert G. Robinson wikipedia entry
Air races were an extremely popular event in the early days of aviation. An estimated 200,000 spectators watched the opening race at the National Air Races, held at Selfridge Field (now, Selfridge Air National Guard Base) near Mount Clemens, Michigan from October. 8-14, 1922.
On October 14, Lieutenant Lester James Maitland reputedly became the first U.S. pilot to fly faster than 200 mph (320 kmh) and later received a letter of congratulations from Orville Wright.
The Pulitzer Trophy Race was Event No. 5 on the afternoon of Saturday, 14 October. It was a “Free-for-All Race for High-Speed Airplanes”. The course consisted of five laps around an approximate 50 kilometer course, starting at Selfridge Field, then south to Gaulkler Point on Lake St. Clair. From there, the course was eastward for ten miles, keeping to the right of a moored observation balloon. The airplanes would then circle an anchored steamship, Dubuque, and return to Selfridge Field.
Lieutenant Maughan finished the race in first place with an average speed of 205.386 miles per hour (330.172 kilometers per hour). In addition to the Pulitzer Trophy, the first place finisher was awarded a $1,200.00 prize. Second place was taken by another Army pilot, Lieutenant Lester James Maitland, also flying a Curtiss R-6, A.S. 68563.