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These people who became famous in business and industry are frequently associated with Michigan, but were not born here.
|
Name
|
Michigan Connection
|
Birthplace
|
Date
|
| David Buick |
Came to Detroit with family at age 2; began Buick Motor Co. in Detroit in 1903 |
Scotland |
1854-1929 |
| William Austin Burt |
Inventor, surveyor |
Massachusetts |
1792-1858 |
| Louis Chevrolet |
Inventor, mechanic, auto racer; designed first Chevrolet for General Motors in 1911 |
Switzerland |
1878-1941 |
| Walter P. Chrysler |
Automobile manufacturer |
Wamego, KS |
1875-1940 |
| Thomas E. Clark |
Helped establish wireless (radio) |
Windsor, Ontario, Canada |
1867-1962 |
| Henry H. Crapo |
Flint lumberman, Michigan state senator and governor |
Dartmouth, MA |
1804-1869 |
| Herbert H. Dow |
Chemical pioneer, moved to Midland (MI) for the brines; became the community's major employer and benefactor |
Belleville, Ontario |
1866-1930 |
| William Crapo Durant |
Founded Durant-Dort Carriage Co. in Flint, 1886; founded General Motors, 1908; grandson of Governor H. H. Crapo |
Boston, MA |
1861-1947 |
| Thomas Alva Edison |
Inventor, grew up in Port Huron, friend of Henry Ford |
Milan, OH |
1847-1931 |
| Charles H. Hackley |
Lumber baron, philanthropist; came to Muskegon in 1856 |
Michigan City, IN |
1837-1905 |
| Augustus M. Herring |
Aviation pioneer, invented gliders and airplanes; lived and did flight experiments in St. Joseph, 1897 to 1903 |
Georgia |
1867-1926 |
| Joseph L. Hudson |
Merchant, incorporated J. L. Hudson & Co. in Detroit, 1897 |
England |
1846-1912 |
| Albert Kahn |
Industrial architect, established MI firm in 1926 |
Germany |
1869-1942 |
| Sebastian S. Kresge |
Incorporated S.S. Kresge Co. in Detroit, 1912 |
Pennsylvania |
1867-1966 |
| Henry M. Leland |
Automobile manufacturer |
Vermont |
1843-1932 |
| Elijah McCoy |
Inventor, established Detroit company in 1920 |
Ontario, Canada |
1843-1929 |
| Charles Stewart Mott |
Moved his axle-making company to Flint in 1905; mayor of Flint in 1912, 1913, and 1918; General Motors vice president; founded Charles Stewart Mott Foundation |
Newark, NJ |
1875-1973 |
| Ransom E. Olds |
Detroit, Lansing automobile manufacturer |
Ohio |
1864-1950 |
| Charles W. Post |
Founded Postum Cereal Co., Ltd., in Battle Creek |
Illinois |
1854-1914 |
| Walter P. Reuther |
Labor leader |
West Virginia |
1907-1970 |
| Eero Saarinen |
Architect, high school in Birmingham, architecture firm in Detroit |
Finland |
1910-1961 |
| Alfred P. Sloan |
Made General Motors the world's largest automobile corporation |
New Haven, CT |
1875-1966 |
| Aaron Montgomery Ward |
Moved to Niles at age 9 with family and also lived and worked in St. Joseph; after moving to Chicago, he established Montgomery Ward and Co., the world's first mail-order business |
Chatham, New Jersey |
1843-1913 |
| Leonard Woodcock |
Family moved to Detroit in 1926; U.A.W. President, 1970-1977; U.S. Ambassador to China, 1979-1981 |
Providence, RI |
1911-2001 |
Contact the Michigan Historical Center.
Updated 05/05/2010
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