Michigan Dates in History - October

From KISS to Harry Houdini, October is full of interesting anniversaries and memories for the Great Lakes State. How many of these did you know?

October 1, 1967

Michigan’s first state income tax went into effect. Individual income was taxed at a rate of 2.6%.

October 2, 1853

The Detroit Free Press became the first Michigan newspaper to publish a regular Sunday edition.

October 5, 1852

Michigan State Normal School, the first college in Michigan established to train teachers, was dedicated in Ypsilanti. Today it is Eastern Michigan University.

October 6, 1975

A crowd of 80,642 watched the Detroit Lions lose to the Dallas Cowboys, 36–10, in the first regular-season game played at the Pontiac Silverdome.

October 7, 1913

Henry Ford transformed automobile production when the moving assembly line began operating at Ford’s Highland Park plant.

October 7, 1927

The Detroit Institute of Arts dedicated its new building on Woodward Avenue.

October 7, 1935

The Detroit Tigers won their first World Series championship, defeating the Chicago Cubs, 4–3, in Game 6 at Navin Field.

October 8, 1871

Devastating fires swept through Holland, Manistee and Michigan’s Thumb on the same day that Chicago burned.

October 9, 1948

WXYZ-TV Channel 7 in Detroit began broadcasting.

October 9, 1975

KISS visited Cadillac High School after coaches used the band’s music to motivate the football team. The legendary visit included a concert in the school gym and helped make Cadillac part of KISStory.

October 10, 1938

The original Blue Water Bridge over the St. Clair River at Port Huron opened to traffic.

October 10, 1945

The Detroit Tigers won their second World Series championship, defeating the Chicago Cubs, 9–3, in Game 7 at Wrigley Field.

October 10, 1968

The Detroit Tigers won their third World Series championship. Mickey Lolich pitched three complete-game victories and hit the only home run of his major-league career as Detroit defeated the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games.

October 10, 1973

Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned amid a criminal investigation. Two days later, President Richard Nixon nominated Michigan Congressman Gerald Ford to succeed him; Ford took office as vice president on December 6.

October 11, 1973

Michigan issued its first personalized, or “vanity,” automobile license plates.

October 13, 1921

Detroit’s WWJ became Michigan’s first licensed radio station.

October 13, 1960

Cobo Hall was dedicated. At the time, it was the world’s largest exhibition hall.

October 14, 1984

The Tigers, led by Kirk Gibson, defeated the San Diego Padres in five games to win their fourth World Series championship.

October 15, 1730

Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, founder of Detroit, died in Castelsarrasin, France.

October 15, 1966

Congress authorized Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, protecting cliffs, beaches, sand dunes, waterfalls and forests along the Lake Superior shoreline.

October 16, 1946

Eighteen-year-old Detroit Red Wings rookie Gordie Howe scored a goal in his first NHL appearance at Olympia Stadium. Howe went on to play 32 professional seasons in the NHL and WHA, including time on the ice with his sons.

October 20, 2003

Kirk Jones of Canton Township became the first known person to survive a plunge over Niagara Falls without a flotation device or other protective equipment.

October 21, 1929

The Edison Institute—today home to Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation and Greenfield Village—was dedicated during a celebration attended by President Herbert Hoover, Henry Ford and Thomas Edison.

October 21, 1970

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore was established, protecting massive coastal dunes along Lake Michigan as well as North and South Manitou islands.

October 22, 1955

Michigan’s first official historical marker was dedicated on the campus of Michigan State University. It commemorated the founding of the nation’s first state-supported agricultural college.

October 21, 1887

The Detroit Wolverines clinched the city’s first professional baseball championship, defeating the St. Louis Browns in the pre-modern World’s Series.

October 24, 1901

Bay City schoolteacher Annie Edson Taylor became the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel and survive.

October 24, 1998

Detroit’s landmark J.L. Hudson department store building was brought down in a controlled implosion.

October 25, 1825

The Erie Canal officially opened, connecting Lake Erie with the Hudson River near Albany, New York. The new route made travel and shipping easier, faster and less expensive, helping fuel population growth throughout the Great Lakes region. Michigan would seek statehood within a decade.

October 25, 1889

An underwater telephone cable across the Straits of Mackinac created the first permanent communication link between Michigan’s Upper and Lower peninsulas.

October 25, 1924

Ty Tyson of WWJ radio in Detroit made the first play-by-play broadcast of a University of Michigan football game.

October 31, 1926

Harry Houdini died at Detroit’s Grace Hospital after giving his final performance at the Garrick Theatre several days earlier.