Events from the year 1885 in Michigan.

Office holders

Russell Alexander Alger by The Detroit Publishing Co

State office holders

Governor of Michigan The governor of Michigan is the head of state, head of government, and chief executive of the U.S. state of Michigan. The current governor is Gretchen Whitmer, a member of the Democratic Party, who was inaugurated on January 1, 2019, as the stat ...

Russell A. Alger Russell Alexander Alger (February 27, 1836 – January 24, 1907) was an American politician and businessman. He served as the 20th Governor of Michigan, U.S. Senator, and U.S. Secretary of War. He was supposedly a distant relation of author H ...

( Republican) *

Lieutenant Governor of Michigan The lieutenant governor of Michigan is the second-ranking official in U.S. state of Michigan, behind the governor. The current lieutenant governor by default is Garlin Gilchrist, a Democrat, who has held the office since January 1, 2019. Proce ...

: Archibald Buttars (Republican) * Michigan Attorney General: Jacob J. Van Riper/Moses Taggart * Michigan Secretary of State: Harry A. Conant (Republican) * Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives:

Newcomb Clark Newcomb Clark (September 23, 1840 – 1913) was the Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives from 1885 to 1886. Early life Clark was born in Sullivan County, New York on September 23, 1840. Around 1841, Clark moved to Oxford, Oakland ...

(Republican) * Chief Justice, Michigan Supreme Court:

Mayors of major cities

* Mayor of Detroit: Stephen Benedict Grummond *

Mayor of Grand Rapids This is a list of mayors of Grand Rapids, Michigan. The current mayor is Rosalynn Bliss, who was sworn into office on January 1, 2016. References {{Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat ...

: John L. Curtis *

Mayor of Saginaw This is a list of mayors of Saginaw, Michigan. City of East Saginaw 1859–1889 The City of East Saginaw was incorporated in 1859 and existed until it was consolidated with the City of Saginaw in 1889 (effective 1890). The City Charter was granted ...

: John S. Estabrook

Federal office holders

* U.S. Senator from Michigan: Omar D. Conger (Republican) * U.S. Senator from Michigan:

Thomas W. Palmer Thomas Witherell Palmer (January 25, 1830 – June 1, 1913) was a U.S. Senator from the state of Michigan. He is considered to be one of the most significant figures in the history of Detroit, Michigan. Palmer was born in Detroit, where his m ...

(Republican) * House District 1:

William C. Maybury William Cotter Maybury (November 20, 1848 – May 6, 1909) was an American politician from the U.S. state of Michigan. Early life Maybury was born in Detroit, Michigan, on November 20, 1848, the son of Thomas Maybury. He attended public schools ...

(Democrat) * House District 2:

Nathaniel B. Eldredge Nathaniel Buel Eldredge (March 28, 1813 – November 27, 1893) was a physician, infantry officer, lawyer, sheriff, and ultimately a two-term Democratic congressman from the State of Michigan. Biography Eldredge was born in Auburn, New York, and ...

(Democrat) * House District 3:

Edward S. Lacey Edward Samuel Lacey (November 26, 1835 – October 2, 1916) was a politician from the U.S. state of Michigan and Comptroller of the Currency from 1889 to 1892.James O'Donnell (Republican) * House District 4:

George L. Yaple George Lewis Yaple (February 20, 1851 – December 16, 1939) was a politician and jurist from the U.S. state of Michigan. Yaple was born in Leonidas, Michigan, and moved with his parents to Mendon, Michigan, in 1857. He attended the common scho ...

(Democrat)/

Julius C. Burrows Julius Caesar Burrows (January 9, 1837November 16, 1915) was a U.S. Representative and a U.S. Senator from the state of Michigan. Early life and education Burrows was born in North East, Pennsylvania and moved then with his parents to Ashtabu ...

(Republican) * House District 5:

Julius Houseman Julius Houseman (December 8, 1832 – February 8, 1891) was an American businessman and politician who served as mayor of Grand Rapids, Michigan, as representative in the Michigan House of Representatives and as Congressman in the U.S. Ho ...

(Democrat)/

Charles C. Comstock Charles Carter Comstock (March 5, 1818 – February 20, 1900) was a businessman and politician from the US state of Michigan. Family and early life Comstock was born in Sullivan, New Hampshire, the son of William and Ruth Crane Comstock. He was ...

(Democrat) * House District 6: Edwin B. Winans (Democrat) *

House District 7 A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

Ezra C. Carleton Ezra Child Carleton (September 6, 1838 – July 24, 1911) was a U.S. Representative from the 7th district of Michigan. Carleton was born in St. Clair, Michigan, where he attended the common schools and graduated from the Port Huron High Scho ...

(Democrat) * House District 8:

Roswell G. Horr Roswell Gilbert Horr (November 26, 1830 – December 19, 1896) was a politician from the U.S. state of Michigan. Horr was born in Waitsfield, Vermont and moved with his parents to Lorain County, Ohio, in 1834, where he attended the public school ...

(Republican)/

Timothy E. Tarsney Timothy Edward Tarsney (February 4, 1849 – June 8, 1909) was an American lawyer and politician from the U.S. state of Michigan. He served two terms in the United States House of Representatives from 1885 to 1889. Early life and education Tars ...

(Democrat) * House District 9:

Byron M. Cutcheon Byron Mac Cutcheon (May 11, 1836 – April 12, 1908) was an American Civil War officer, Medal of Honor recipient and politician from the U.S. state of Michigan. Early life Cutcheon was born in Pembroke, New Hampshire May 11, 1836 but his parents ...

(Republican) * House District 10: Herschel H. Hatch (Republican)/ Spencer O. Fisher (Democrat) * House District 11:

Edward Breitung Edward Breitung (November 10, 1831 – March 3, 1887) was a politician from the U.S. state of Michigan. He served one term in the United States House of Representatives from 1883 to 1885. Early life and career Breitung, the son of John M. Breitu ...

(Republican)/

Seth C. Moffatt Seth Crittenden Moffatt (August 10, 1841 – December 22, 1887) was a politician from the U.S. state of Michigan. Moffatt was born in Battle Creek, Michigan, attended the common schools, and graduated from the law department of the University of ...

(Republican)

Population

Sports

Baseball

1885 Detroit Wolverines season The 1885 Detroit Wolverines finished the season with a 41–67 record, finishing in sixth place in the National League. Regular season Season standings Record vs. opponents Notable transactions * June 15, 1885: Jim Keenan was purch ...

– Under managers Charlie Morton and Bill Watkins, the Detroit baseball team finished in sixth place in the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

with a 41–67 record. The team's statistical leaders included

Sam Thompson Samuel Luther "Big Sam" Thompson (March 5, 1860 – November 7, 1922) was an American professional baseball player from 1884 to 1898 and with a brief comeback in 1906. At , the Indiana native was one of the larger players of his day and was known ...

with a .303 batting average and seven

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

Charlie Bennett Charles Wesley Bennett (November 21, 1854 – February 24, 1927) was an American professional baseball player from 1875 or 1876 through the 1893 season. He played 15 years in Major League Baseball, principally as a catcher, with the Milwaukee Gr ...

with 60 RBIs,

Stump Weidman George Edward "Stump" Weidman (February 17, 1861 – March 2, 1905) was an American professional baseball player from 1880 to 1893. He played nine years in Major League Baseball, principally as a pitcher and outfielder, for five different major ...

with 14 pitching wins, and

Lady Baldwin Charles B. "Lady" Baldwin (April 8, 1859 – March 7, 1937) was an American left-handed pitcher. He played six seasons in Major League Baseball with the Milwaukee Brewers (1884), Detroit Wolverines (1885–1888), Brooklyn Bridegrooms (1890), and ...

with a 1.86

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

. * 1885

Michigan Wolverines baseball The Michigan Wolverines baseball team represents the University of Michigan in NCAA Division I college baseball. Along with most other Michigan athletic teams, the baseball team participates in the Big Ten Conference. They play their home games ...

season - The Wolverines compiled a 2–1 record. John Hibbard was the team captain.

American football

1885 Michigan Wolverines football team Events January–March * January 3– 4 – Sino-French War – Battle of Núi Bop: French troops under General Oscar de Négrier defeat a numerically superior Qing Chinese force, in northern Vietnam. * January 4 &nda ...

– The Wolverines compiled a 3–0 record and outscored their opponents by a combined score of 82 to 2. The team captain was

Horace Greely Prettyman Horace Greely Prettyman (November 8, 1857 – March 27, 1945) was an American football player in the early years of the sport. Prettyman won a record eight varsity letters at the University of Michigan, playing for the school's football team from ...

Chronology of events

January

February

April

* April 14 - A bill passed the Michigan Senate providing for the creation of the Michigan Mining School, later renamed

Michigan Technological University Michigan Technological University (Michigan Tech, MTU, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Houghton, Michigan, founded in 1885 as the Michigan Mining School, the first post-secondary institution in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. ...

. The bill became law effective May 1

May

June

July

* July - A strike by mill workers in the Saginaw Valley shut down 98 mills, idling 8,000 men. The strike focused on demands for a 10-hour work day.

August

* August 16 - St. Mary Catholic Church in Detroit's Greektown was dedicated.

November

December

* December 1–2 - Police were called to restore order as parishioners at St. Albert's Polish Cathoich Church in Detroit protested the removal of their pastor, Father Kolaskinski, by Bishop Borgess. One man was shot to death on December 24 in continued unrest. * December 3 - The Barnum Wire and Iron Works in Detroit was completely destroyed by fire, a blaze the ''Detroit Free Press'' called "the most dangerous conflagration that has occurred in Detroit for many years". * December 16 - The murder of Frank Knoch and his family was discovered in the Springwells section of Detroit. The gruesome murders shocked the city and remained a focus of the news for days thereafter.

Births

* March 6 - Ring Lardner, sports columnist and short story writer, in Niles, Michigan * August 15 -

Edna Ferber Edna Ferber (August 15, 1885 – April 16, 1968) was an American novelist, short story writer and playwright. Her novels include the Pulitzer Prize-winning '' So Big'' (1924), ''Show Boat'' (1926; made into the celebrated 1927 musical), '' Cim ...

, Pulitzer Prize winning novelist and playwright ('' So Big'', '' Show Boat'', '' Cimarron'', '' Giant''), in

Kalamazoo, Michigan Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in the southwest region of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Kalamazoo County. At the 2010 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 74,262. Kalamazoo is the major city of the Kalamazoo-Portage Metropolit ...

Deaths

* June 15 -

Petosegay Petosegay or Biidassige (Odawa language, Ottawa: ''Light that is Coming'') (c. 1787 – June 15, 1885) was a 19th-century Odawa merchant and fur trader. Both present-day Petoskey, Michigan, Petoskey State Park, and nearby Emmet County, Michigan, ...

, merchant and fur trader and namesake of

Petoskey, Michigan Petoskey ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat and largest city in Emmet County. Part of Northern Michigan, Petoskey is a popular Midwestern resort town, as it sits on the shore of Little Traverse Bay, a bay of La ...

and the Petoskey stone, in Petoskey

References

{{Michigan year nav