1949 in Michigan


Events from the year 1949 in Michigan.

Top stories

The Associated Press polled editors of its member newspapers in Michigan and ranked the state's top news stories of 1949 as follows:
  1. The March 1 "lonely hearts" murders of a widow and her three-year-old granddaughter in Grand Rapids. The killers were Martha Beck and Raymond Fernandez.
  2. The shooting UAW leader Victor G. Reuther
  3. A historic contract between the UAW and Ford Motor granting pensions to workers
  4. The speed-up strike against Ford that began in May and lasted 26 days
  5. The July 19 death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice and former Michigan Governor Frank Murphy
  6. Record production by the automobile industry and shutdowns resulting from the steelworkers strike
  7. The March 31 death of Willard Dow, president of Dow Chemical, and his wife and three others in a plane crash
  8. Farmer in Waterford shoots 10 people with a shotgun
  9. The "social reform" program of Governor G. Mennen Williams and political battles to institute it
  10. The end of Michigan's one-man grand juries

    Office holders

State office holders

Companies

The following is a list of major companies based in Michigan in 1949.
Company1949 sales 1949 net earnings HeadquartersCore business
General MotorsDetroitAutomobiles
Ford Motor CompanynanaAutomobiles
ChryslerAutomobiles
Studebaker Corp.Automobiles
Briggs Mfg. Co.DetroitAutomobile parts supplier
S. S. KresgeRetail
Hudson Motor Car Co.DetroitAutomobiles
Detroit EdisonElectric utility
Michigan BellTelephone utility
Kellogg'sBattle CreekBreakfast cereal
Parke-DavisDetroitPharmaceutical
REO Motor Car Co.LansingAutomobiles
Burroughs Adding MachineBusiness machines

Sports

Baseball

Golfing

Chronology of events

Births