1949 in Michigan

Decades:	1920s; 1930s; 1940s; 1950s; 1960s;
See also:	History of Michigan; Historical outline of Michigan; List of years in Michigan; 1949 in the United States;

Events from the year 1949 in Michigan.

Office holders

Population

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

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

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

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

Baseball

1949 Detroit Tigers season – ^[6]
1949 Michigan Wolverines baseball season - Under head coach Ray Fisher, the Wolverines compiled an 18–9–2 record and tied for the Big Ten Conference championship.^[7] Harold Raymond was the team captain.^[8]

American football

1949 Detroit Lions season – ^[9]
1949 Michigan Wolverines football team – ^[10]
1949 Michigan State Spartans football team – ^[11]
1949 Detroit Titans football team – ^[12]

Basketball

1948–49 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team – ^[13]

Ice hockey

1948–49 Detroit Red Wings season – ^[14]

Boat racing

Boxing

Golfing

Motor City Open -
Michigan Open -

Other

Chronology of events

Births

January 14 - Lawrence Kasdan, screenwriter (The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Return of the Jedi, The Big Chill), director and producer, in Detroit
January 15 - Bobby Grich, Major League Baseball second baseman (1970–1986), in Muskegon, Michigan
August 9 - Ted Simmons, Major League Baseball catcher (1968–1988) and 8× All-Star, in Highland Park, Michigan

Deaths

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

References

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

[MAP49-1] "Pick 10 Best 1949 Stories". The Herald-Press. December 31, 1949. pp. IV-1, IV-2 – via Newspapers.com.

[detpop-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.

[RB-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.

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