Events from the year 1949 in Michigan.

1949
in
Michigan

Decades:
See also:

Top stories

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The Associated Press polled editors of its member newspapers in Michigan and ranked the state's top news stories of 1949 as follows:[1]

  1. The March 1 "lonely hearts" murders of a widow and her three-year-old granddaughter in Grand Rapids. The killers were Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck. (274 points)
  2. The shooting UAW leader Victor G. Reuther (224 points)
  3. A historic contract between the UAW and Ford Motor granting pensions to workers (175 points)
  4. The speed-up strike against Ford that began in May and lasted 26 days (169 points)
  5. The July 19 death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice and former Michigan Governor Frank Murphy (129 points)
  6. Record production by the automobile industry and shutdowns resulting from the steelworkers strike (115)
  7. The March 31 death of Willard Dow, president of Dow Chemical, and his wife and three others in a plane crash (98)
  8. Farmer in Waterford shoots 10 people with a shotgun (88)
  9. The "social reform" program of Governor G. Mennen Williams and political battles to institute it (87)
  10. The end of Michigan's one-man grand juries (86)

Office holders

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State office holders

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Gov. G. Mennen Williams

Mayors of major cities

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Federal office holders

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Population

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In the 1940 United States census, Michigan was recorded as having a population of 5,256,106, ranking as the seventh most populous state in the country. By 1950, Michigan's population had increased by 21.2% to 6,371,766.

Cities

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The following is a list of cities in Michigan with a population of at least 20,000 based on 1940 U.S. Census data. Historic census data from 1930 and 1950 is included to reflect trends in population increases or decreases. Cities that are part of the Detroit metropolitan area are shaded in tan.

1940
Rank
City County 1940 Pop. 1946 Est. 1950 Pop. Change 1940-50
1 Detroit Wayne 1,623,452 1,815,000[2] 1,849,568 13.9%
2 Grand Rapids Kent 164,292 176,515 7.4%
3 Flint Genesee 151,543 163,143 7.7%
4 Saginaw Saginaw 82,794 92,918 12.2%
5 Lansing Ingham 78,753 90,000[3] 92,129 17.0%
6 Pontiac Oakland 66,626 73,681 10.6%
7 Dearborn Wayne 63,589 94,994 49.4%
8 Kalamazoo Kalamazoo 54,097 57,704 6.7%
9 Highland Park Wayne 50,810 46,393 −8.7%
10 Hamtramck Wayne 49,839 48,938[4] 43,555 −12.6%
11 Jackson Jackson 49,656 51,088 2.9%
12 Bay City Bay 47,956 52,523 9.5%
13 Muskegon Muskegon 47,697 48,429 1.5%
14 Battle Creek Calhoun 43,453 48,666 12.0%
15 Port Huron St. Clair 32,759 35,725 9.1%
16 Wyandotte Wayne 30,618 36,846 20.3%
17 Ann Arbor Washtenaw 29,815 48,251 61.8%
18 Royal Oak Oakland 25,087 46,898 86.9%
19 Ferndale Oakland 22,523 29,675 31.8%

Counties

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The following is a list of counties in Michigan with populations of at least 75,000 based on 1940 U.S. Census data. Historic census data from 1930 and 1950 are included to reflect trends in population increases or decreases.

1940
Rank
County Largest city 1930 Pop. 1940 Pop. 1950 Pop. Change 1940-50
1 Wayne Detroit 1,888,946 2,015,623 2,435,235 20.8%
2 Oakland Pontiac 211,251 254,068 396,001 55.9%
3 Kent Grand Rapids 240,511 246,338 288,292 17.0%
4 Genesee Flint 211,641 227,944 270,963 18.9%
5 Ingham Lansing 116,587 130,616 172,941 32.4%
6 Saginaw Saginaw 120,717 130,468 153,515 17.7%
7 Macomb Warren 77,146 107,638 184,961 71.8%
8 Kalamazoo Kalamazoo 91,368 100,085 126,707 26.6%
9 Jackson Jackson 92,304 93,108 108,168 16.2%
10 Muskegon Muskegon 84,630 94,501 121,545 28.6%
11 Calhoun Battle Creek 87,043 94,206 120,813 28.2%

Companies

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The following is a list of major companies based in Michigan in 1949.

Company 1949 sales (millions) 1949 net earnings (millions) Headquarters Core business
General Motors Detroit Automobiles
Ford Motor Company na na[5] Automobiles
Chrysler Automobiles
Studebaker Corp. Automobiles
Briggs Mfg. Co. Detroit Automobile parts supplier
S. S. Kresge Retail
Hudson Motor Car Co. Detroit Automobiles
Detroit Edison Electric utility
Michigan Bell Telephone utility
Kellogg's Battle Creek Breakfast cereal
Parke-Davis Detroit Pharmaceutical
REO Motor Car Co. Lansing Automobiles
Burroughs Adding Machine Business machines

Sports

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Baseball

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American football

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Basketball

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Ice hockey

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Boat racing

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Boxing

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Golfing

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Other

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Chronology of events

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Births

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Deaths

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  • April 11 - Chase Osborn, 27th Governor of Michigan (1911-1913), at age 89 in Poulan, Georgia
  • June 16 - William Comstock, 33rd Governor of Michigan (1933-1935), at age 71 in Detroit
  • July 19 - Frank Murphy, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1940-1949), 35th Governor of Michigan (1937-1939), at age 59 in Detroit

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Pick 10 Best 1949 Stories". The Herald-Press. December 31, 1949. pp. IV-1, IV-2 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ "L.A. Gives the Count to Detroit". Detroit Free Press. July 28, 1946. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "City Needs 7,000 Homes". Lansing State Journal. March 10, 1946. p. 23 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Unusual Statistics Of State Revealed". Lansing State Journal. January 25, 1946. p. 18 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ Ford was a privately held company until 1956. Accordingly, its financial results for 1949 were not made public.
  6. ^ "1949 Detroit Tigers Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  7. ^ "2012 University of Michigan Baseball Record Book" (PDF). University of Michigan. 2012. pp. 22, 71. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved August 9, 2017.
  8. ^ 2012 Record Book, p. 13.
  9. ^ "1949 Detroit Lions Statistics & Players". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved July 9, 2017.
  10. ^ "1949 Football Team". Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  11. ^ "1949 Michigan State Spartans Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  12. ^ "1949 Detroit Mercy Titans Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 23, 2015.
  13. ^ "University of Michigan Basketball Record Book" (PDF). University of Michigan. p. 29. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-10-26. Retrieved 2017-07-13.
  14. ^ "1948-49 Detroit Red Wings Roster and Statistics". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved July 10, 2017.