Michigan Dates in History - February
From Ty Cobb’s induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame to the coldest temperature ever recorded in Michigan — February is full interesting anniversaries and memories for the Great Lakes State. How many of these did you know?
February 1, 1967
Michigan became the first state to have a border-to-border interstate freeway when the last link of I-94 was completed.
February 2, 1936
The first players selected to the newly formed Baseball Hall of Fame included former Detroit Tiger Ty Cobb as well as Babe Ruth and Honus Wagner.
February 3, 1862
Thomas Edison began selling a one-page newspaper, the Weekly Herald, on a train between Port Huron and Detroit.
February 3, 1889
Michigan’s first skyscraper the 10-story Hammond Building in Detroit was completed.
February 3, 1910
The Boy Scouts were founded.
February 3, 1956
Highway speed limits of 65 miles per hour by day and 55 by night went into effect. Prior to this motorists could determine what was safe and reasonable.
February 4, 1902
Charles Lindberg, the first pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, was born in Detroit.
February 4, 1948
Vincent Furnier was born in Detroit. He became better known as rock star, Alice Cooper.
February 7, 1932
Astronaut Alfred M. Worden was born in Jackson, Michigan.
Februray 8, 1985
The Stroh Brewery announced it was closing its Detroit plant.
February 9, 1934
Record for coldest temperature (-51°) the in state was set at Vanderbilt.
February 9, 1942
Production of automobiles for civilians ceased for the duration of World War II. Michigan became known as the “Arsenal of Democracy.”
February 10, 1922
The Detroit Symphony was the first orchestra to have a concert broadcast on the radio.
February 10, 1930
Actor Robert Wagner was born in Detroit.
February 14, 1914
Nancy Harkness Love of the Women’s Air Force Service Pilots was born in Houghton.
February 15, 1935
Astronaut Roger Bruce Chaffee was born in Grand Rapids.
February 16, 1935
Pere Marquette 15, the first all steel carferry, made it’s first crossing between Ludington and Manitowoc, Wisconsin.
February 16, 1940
Sonny Bono, songwriter, actor, and Congressman, was born in Detroit.
February 18, 1839
The Detroit Boat Club, the oldest continuously operating yacht club in the country, was organized.
February 18, 1895
George Gipp was born at Laurim on the Keweenaw Peninsula. He became a football star at Notre Dame was immortalized in a 1940 movie about Knute Rockne, “Win one for the Gipper.”
February 19, 1940
William “Smokey” Robinson is born in Detroit.
February 21, 1904
National Ski Association was organized at Ishpeming, now home of the National Ski Hall of Fame.
February 22, 1973
Hermus Millsaps became Michigan’s first winner of a million dollars in the state lottery.
February 23, 1802
The board of trustees for the newly created city of Detroit adopts a fire code that requires all residents and business owners to sweep their chimneys often. It also provides buckets and ladders to residents, who are required to turn out to fight any fires.
February 23, 1882
The Village of St. Ignace in Mackinac County was incorporated. The village is Michigan's second-oldest continuous settlement.
February 24, 1906
Detroit’s Tommy Burns became the first heavyweight champion.
February 24, 1928
The use of marijuana was outlawed in Detroit. There were no state or federal restrictions at that time.
February 26, 2004
James Minder resigned as CEO of Smith & Wesson, the country’s second-biggest handgun maker, when it was revealed he worked his way through the University of Michigan as a stick-up man. Minder spent 15 years in Michigan prisons for armed robberies and an attempted prison escape.
February 27, 1902
The first Detroit automobile show was held in the Detroit Light Guard Armory.
February 28, 1977
Michigan high-school basketball is televised. Earvin “Magic” Johnson scored 27 points as Lansing Everett defeated Lansing Eastern in a district basketball game.
February 29, 2000
Former Detroit Tiger manager, Sparky Anderson was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
