1920 in Michigan

Last updated July 05, 2023

Events from the year 1920 in Michigan.

Office holders

Population

In the 1920 United States census, Michigan was recorded as having a population of 3,668,412, ranking as the seventh most populous state in the country. By 1930, Michigan's population had increased by 32.0% to 4,842,325.

1920 Rank	City	County	1910 Pop.	1920 Pop.	1930 Pop.	Change 1920-30
1	Detroit	Wayne	465,766	993,678	1,568,662	57.9%
2	Grand Rapids	Kent	112,571	137,634	168,592	22.5%
3	Flint	Genesee	38,550	91,599	156,492	70.8%
4	Saginaw	Saginaw	50,510	61,903	80,715	30.4%
5	Lansing	Ingham	31,229	57,327	78,397	36.8%
6	Hamtramck	Wayne	3,559	48,615	56,268	15.7%
7	Kalamazoo	Kalamazoo	39,437	48,487	54,786	13.0%
8	Jackson	Jackson	31,433	48,374	55,187	14.1%
9	Bay City	Bay	45,166	47,554	47,355	−0.4%
10	Highland Park	Wayne	4,120	46,499	52,959	13.9%
11	Muskegon	Muskegon	24,062	36,570	41,390	15.2%
12	Battle Creek	Calhoun	25,267	36,164	45,573	26.0%
13	Pontiac	Oakland	14,532	34,273	64,928	89.4%
14	Port Huron	St. Clair	18,863	25,944	31,361	20.9%
15	Ann Arbor	Washtenaw	14,817	19,516	26,944	38.1%
16	Ironwood	Gogebic	12,821	15,739	14,299	−9.1%

^[1]

Boom cities of the 1920s

The 1920s saw an explosion of growth in the population of small cities near Detroit, with some communities growing more than three fold. Dearborn was the most extreme case, growing 20-fold from 2,470 to 50,358 persons.

City	County	1910 Pop.	1920 Pop.	1930 Pop.	Change 1920-30
Warren	Macomb	2,346	6,780	24,024	254.3%
Royal Oak	Oakland	1,071	6,007	22,904	281.3%
Ferndale	Oakland	--	2,640	20,855	690.0%
Dearborn	Wayne	911	2,470	50,358	1,938.8%

^[1]

Counties

The following is a list of counties in Michigan with populations of at least 40,000 based on 1920 U.S. Census data. Historic census data from 1910 and 1930 are included to reflect trends in population increases or decreases.

1920 Rank	County	Largest city	1910 Pop.	1920 Pop.	1930 Pop.	Change 1920-30
1	Wayne	Detroit	531,591	1,177,645	1,888,946	60.4%
2	Kent	Grand Rapids	159,145	183,041	240,511	31.4%
3	Genesee	Flint	64,555	125,668	211,641	68.4%
4	Saginaw	Saginaw	89,290	100,286	120,717	20.4%
5	Oakland	Pontiac	49,576	90,050	211,251	134.6%
6	Ingham	Lansing	53,310	81,554	116,587	43.0%
7	Calhoun	Battle Creek	56,638	72,918	87,043	19.4%
8	Houghton	Houghton	88,098	71,930	52,851	-26.5%
9	Jackson	Jackson	53,426	72,539	92,304	27.2%
10	Kalamazoo	Kalamazoo	60,327	71,225	91,368	28.3%
11	Bay	Bay City	68,238	69,548	69,474	-0.1%
12	Berrien	Niles	53,622	62,653	81,066	29.4%
13	Muskegon	Muskegon	40,577	62,362	84,630	35.7%
14	St. Clair	Port Huron	52,341	58,009	67,563	16.5%
15	Washtenaw	Ann Arbor	44,714	49,520	65,530	32.3%
16	Lenawee	Adrian	47,907	47,767	49,849	4.4%
17	Ottawa	Holland	45,301	47,660	54,858	15.1%
18	Marquette	Marquette	46,739	45,786	44,076	−3.7%

^[2]

Sports

Baseball

1920 Detroit Tigers season – Under manager Hughie Jennings, the Tigers finished seventh in the American League with a record of 61–93. The team's statistical leaders included Ty Cobb with a .334 batting average, Bobby Veach with 113 RBIs and 65 extra-base hits, and Howard Ehmke with 15 wins and a 3.25 earned run average.^[3]
1920 Michigan Wolverines baseball season - Under head coach Carl Lundgren, the Wolverines compiled a 17–6–2 record and won the Big Ten Conference championship.^[4] Slicker Parks was the team captain.^[5]

American football

1920 Michigan Wolverines football team – Under head coach Fielding H. Yost, the Wolverines compiled a 5–2 record. Center Ernie Vick was selected as a first-team All-Big Ten Conference player.^[6]
1920 Michigan Agricultural Aggies football team – Under head coach Potsy Clark, the Aggies compiled a 4–6 record and outscored their opponents 270 to 166, including a 109 to 0 victory over Olivet College on October 30, 1920.^[7]
1920 Michigan State Normal Normalites football team – Under head coach Elton Rynearson, the Normalites compiled a record of 6–2 and outscored all opponents by a combined total of 132 to 86.^[8]
1920 Detroit Titans football team – The Titans shut out six of ten opponents, outscored all opponents by a combined total of 279 to 32, and finished with an 8–2 record under head coach James F. Duffy.^[9]
1920 Central Michigan Normalites football team – Under head coach Joe Simmons, the Central Michigan football team compiled a 4–3–1 record, shut out four of eight opponents, and outscored all opponents by a combined total of 166 to 41.^[10]
1920 Western State Hilltoppers football team – Under head coach William H. Spaulding, the Hilltoppers compiled a 3–4 record and were outscored by their opponents, 131 to 119.^[11]

Basketball

E. J. Mather EdwinJMather.jpg — E. J. Mather

1919–20 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team – The team compiled a record of 10–13.^[12] E. J. Mather was in his first year as the team's coach, and Ralph O. Rychener was the team captain.^[13]

Other

1919–20 Michigan College of Mines men's ice hockey team – In the first season of college ice hockey in the state, the Michigan College of Mines (later renamed Michigan Technological University) team compiled a 1–2–1 record under head coach E. R. Lovel.^[14]

Chronology of events

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

November 27 - The Durant Building in Detroit, later renamed the General Motors Building and eventually Cadillac Place, was opened for business as the new headquarters for General Motors.^[15]

December

Births

January 15 - Steve Gromek, Major League Baseball pitcher (1941–1957), in Hamtramck, Michigan
January 22 - Margaret Hillert, author of more than 80 children's books, including the Dear Dragon series, in Saginaw, Michigan
February 8 - Bob Bemer, computer scientist known for his work on the specifications for COBOL and the ASCII character codeset, in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan
February 18 - Eddie Slovik, U.S. soldier executed for desertion during World War II, in Detroit
February 23 - Hall Overton, composer, jazz pianist and music teacher, in Bangor, Michigan
April 9 - Art Van Damme, jazz accordionist, in Norway, Michigan
April 22 - Alfred Burt, jazz musician who composed music for 15 Christmas carols, in Marquette, Michigan
April 29 - David M. Nelson, football coach and Secretary-Editor of the NCAA Football Rules Committee for 29 years who was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, in Detroit
May 31 - Francis P. Hammerberg, U.S. Navy diver who received the Medal of Honor posthumously for rescuing two fellow divers, in Daggett, Michigan
July 13 - Don Ralke, prolific music arranger and composer for film and television and producer of the "Golden Throats" recordings, in Battle Creek, Michigan
July 20 - Dominic Jacobetti, longest serving Michigan state legislator, served in state house from 1955 to 1994, in Negaunee, Michigan ^[16]
July 30 - Marie Tharp, geologist and oceanographic cartographer who discovered the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which led to acceptance of the theories of plate tectonics and continental drift, in Ypsilanti, Michigan
August 19 - Ralph Story, television and radio personality best known as the host of The $64,000 Challenge , in Kalamazoo, Michigan
September 1 - Charline White, first African-American woman to be elected to the Michigan Legislature, in Atlanta, Georgia ^[17]
September 13 - Charles Smith, actor ( The Shop Around the Corner , The Major and the Minor ) in Flint, Michigan
October 11 - James Aloysius Hickey, Roman Catholic Cardinal and Archbishop of Washington, D.C. (1980-2000), in Midland, Michigan
October 21 - Ruth Terry, singer and actress, in Benton Harbor, Michigan
November 12 - Richard Quine, stage, film and radio actor, and television director, in Detroit

Gallery of 1920 births

Deaths

January 14 - John Francis Dodge, automobile manufacturing pioneer and co-founder of Dodge Brothers Company, at age 55 in New York City^[18]
January 21 - Ferris S. Fitch Jr., Michigan Superintendent of Public Instruction (1891–1892), at age 66 in Detroit^[19]^[20]
February 4 - Ed Siever, Major League Baseball pitcher (1901-1908) and AL ERA leader (1902), at age 44 in Detroit
April 2 - Matty McIntyre, Major League Baseball outfielder (1901-1912) led AL in runs scored (1908), at age 39 in Detroit
July 21 - Otto Kirchner, Michigan Attorney General (1877–1880), at age 74 in Detroit^[21]
December 10 - Horace Elgin Dodge, automobile manufacturing pioneer and co-founder of Dodge Brothers Company, in Palm Beach, Florida
December 14 - George Gipp, Notre Dame football player and native of Laurium, Michigan, in South Bend, Indiana

Gallery of 1920 deaths

References

1 2 Fourteenth Census of the United States Volume I Population 1920. United States Department of Commerce Bureauof the Census. 1921. pp. 232–236.
↑ Fourteenth Census of the United States Volume I Population 1920. United States Department of Commerce Bureauof the Census. 1921. pp. 458–468.
↑ "1920 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, 66. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved August 9, 2017.
↑ 2012 U-M Baseball Record Book, p. 13.
↑ "1920 Football Team". University of Michigan, Bentley Historical Library. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
↑ "2016 Football Media Guide" (PDF). Michigan State University. pp. 146, 152. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 17, 2017. Retrieved June 14, 2017.
↑ "2015 Eastern Michigan Football Digital Media Guide" (PDF). Eastern Michigan University Football. pp. 160, 170. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
↑ "1920 Detroit Mercy Titans Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 23, 2015.^{[ permanent dead link ]}
↑ "Central Michigan 2015 Football Media Guide" (PDF). Central Michigan University. 2015. pp. 100, 107. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 26, 2016. Retrieved July 24, 2016.
↑ "Football Records: Annual Results". Western Michigan University. Retrieved July 5, 2016.
↑ "Michigan Wolverines". sports-reference.com.
↑ 1920 Michiganensian, page 363.
↑ "Michigan Tech Team History". College Hockey News. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
↑ "G.M.C. Occupies New Building". Detroit Free Press. November 25, 1920. p. 15 – via Newspapers.com.
↑ "Legislator Details - Dominic J. Jacobetti". Library of Michigan . Retrieved February 4, 2023.
↑ "Legislator Details - Charline White". Library of Michigan . Retrieved February 4, 2023.
↑ "John P. Dodge Dies at Ritz-Carlton. Detroit Manufacturer Was Stricken with Pneumonia at Automobile Show. His Brother Recovering as Minority Stockholders of Ford Company. They Won $60,000,000 Suit Against Henry Ford". The New York Times . January 15, 1920. Retrieved February 4, 2023. John F. Dodge, the Detroit automobile manufacturer, who had been ill for a week with pneumonia in his apartments at the Ritz-Carlton, failed to survive the crisis of the attack and died last night at half past 10 o'clock. For some time before the end he was unconscious and unable to recognize his wife and daughters, who were with him.
↑ "Once Prominent Oakland County Man Dies". Livingston County Daily Press and Argus. January 28, 1920. p. 1. Retrieved July 14, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
↑ Alumni Association of the University of Michigan (1892). The Michigan Alumnus, Volume 27. p. 638.
↑ Michigan Historical Commission (1924). Michigan Biographies: Including Members of Congress, Elective State Officers, Justices of the Supreme Court, Members of the Michigan Legislature, Board of Regents of the University of Michigan, State Board of Agriculture and State Board of Education, Volume 1. p. 474.

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[C20-1] 1 2 Fourteenth Census of the United States Volume I Population 1920. United States Department of Commerce Bureauof the Census. 1921. pp. 232–236.

[2] Fourteenth Census of the United States Volume I Population 1920. United States Department of Commerce Bureauof the Census. 1921. pp. 458–468.

[DT-3] "1920 Detroit Tigers Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved July 10, 2017.

[4] "2012 University of Michigan Baseball Record Book" (PDF). University of Michigan. 2012. pp. 22, 66. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved August 9, 2017.

[5] 2012 U-M Baseball Record Book, p. 13.

[6] "1920 Football Team". University of Michigan, Bentley Historical Library. Retrieved July 11, 2017.

[7] "2016 Football Media Guide" (PDF). Michigan State University. pp. 146, 152. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 17, 2017. Retrieved June 14, 2017.

[8] "2015 Eastern Michigan Football Digital Media Guide" (PDF). Eastern Michigan University Football. pp. 160, 170. Retrieved June 30, 2016.

[9] "1920 Detroit Mercy Titans Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 23, 2015.^{[ permanent dead link ]}

[10] "Central Michigan 2015 Football Media Guide" (PDF). Central Michigan University. 2015. pp. 100, 107. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 26, 2016. Retrieved July 24, 2016.

[11] "Football Records: Annual Results". Western Michigan University. Retrieved July 5, 2016.

[12] "Michigan Wolverines". sports-reference.com.

[Ensian-13] 1920 Michiganensian, page 363.

[14] "Michigan Tech Team History". College Hockey News. Retrieved August 8, 2017.

[15] "G.M.C. Occupies New Building". Detroit Free Press. November 25, 1920. p. 15 – via Newspapers.com.

[16] "Legislator Details - Dominic J. Jacobetti". Library of Michigan . Retrieved February 4, 2023.

[17] "Legislator Details - Charline White". Library of Michigan . Retrieved February 4, 2023.

[18] "John P. Dodge Dies at Ritz-Carlton. Detroit Manufacturer Was Stricken with Pneumonia at Automobile Show. His Brother Recovering as Minority Stockholders of Ford Company. They Won $60,000,000 Suit Against Henry Ford". The New York Times . January 15, 1920. Retrieved February 4, 2023. John F. Dodge, the Detroit automobile manufacturer, who had been ill for a week with pneumonia in his apartments at the Ritz-Carlton, failed to survive the crisis of the attack and died last night at half past 10 o'clock. For some time before the end he was unconscious and unable to recognize his wife and daughters, who were with him.

[19] "Once Prominent Oakland County Man Dies". Livingston County Daily Press and Argus. January 28, 1920. p. 1. Retrieved July 14, 2022– via Newspapers.com.

[20] Alumni Association of the University of Michigan (1892). The Michigan Alumnus, Volume 27. p. 638.

[21] Michigan Historical Commission (1924). Michigan Biographies: Including Members of Congress, Elective State Officers, Justices of the Supreme Court, Members of the Michigan Legislature, Board of Regents of the University of Michigan, State Board of Agriculture and State Board of Education, Volume 1. p. 474.

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