The Michigan Legal Milestones program recognizes significant legal cases and personalities in Michigan's history. A new milestone is dedicated each year.
Near North Cass Street (State Highway 139) at West Union Street, on the right when traveling south.
The county courthouse is an iconic symbol of the American legal system. Its importance in Michigan is established in the Michigan Constitution of 1835, which authorized county courts and the laws that followed, requiring counties to provide . . . — — Map (db m69920) HM
On State St. (Road M-60) at Broadway Ave. (Road M-62), on the right when traveling west on State St..
Beginning in 1829, Penn, Calvin, and Porter townships in Cass County were settled by Quakers who migrated there. Free Blacks also settled there, and both groups lived in harmony. Blacks in Cass County enjoyed many rights, such as the right to own . . . — — Map (db m79005) HM
On East Water Street at Brady Street, on the right when traveling west on East Water Street.
To provide a refuge at Sault Ste. Marie for French traders and missionaries, King Louis XV in 1750 ordered Louis de Repentigny to build a fort near what later became Fort Brady. The king also granted 214,000 surrounding acres of land to de . . . — — Map (db m214148) HM
On West Michigan Avenue (Business Highway 94) at South Rose Street, on the right when traveling east on West Michigan Avenue.
In 1858, the citizens of Kalamazoo extended free public education
beyond the elementary level when they used tax money to construct
Kalamazoo Union High School and to fund both elementary and
secondary studies.
In i873, several . . . — — Map (db m192982) HM
On West Nepessing Street at North Court Street on West Nepessing Street.
The Michigan Legislature passed a bill in 1913 authorizing sterilization of mentally impaired persons confined in public institutions, even over the objections of a parent or guardian. The law was adopted to prevent those so confined from ever . . . — — Map (db m101533) HM
On West Maumee Street, on the left when traveling west.
Here on the south side of Maumee Street in 1848, Thomas M. Cooley, a giant of the Michigan Law, established his first law office. He was a partner in the firm of Beaman, Beecher and Cooley and then established a law firm with Charles M. Croswell, . . . — — Map (db m102922) HM
Prentiss Marsh Brown dreamed of what it would take to bridge the Mackinac Straits. He grew up in St. Ignace at the dawn of the 20th century and often gazed south across the Straits, a daunting stretch of cold, deep water. He could not know then . . . — — Map (db m105711) HM
On North Main Street south of New Street, on the left when traveling south.
The Fair Labor Standards Act (the Act) was enacted by Congress in 1938 to regulate workers' hours and wages. The United States Supreme Court interpreted an important provision of the Act in 1946 in a case arising in Mount Clemens.
The Mount . . . — — Map (db m146845) HM
On River Street at Pine Street, on the right when traveling west on River Street.
One lazy summer day in 1911, Manistee residents Herbert Harley and Charles Ruggles discussed reform of the American justice system while floating in a skiff on Lake Michigan near here. That conversation led to the birth of the American Judicature . . . — — Map (db m97436) HM
On Nine Mile Road at Woodward Avenue (State Highway 1), on the right when traveling west on Nine Mile Road.
"It's not fair." These were the last anguished words whispered by Vincent Chin as he lay dying, the victim of a hate crime on June 19, 1982. His words became a rallying cry for the Asian American community outraged at the lenient sentences his . . . — — Map (db m108319) HM
On Court Tower Boulevard, 0.1 miles west of County Center Drive East, on the right when traveling west.
August “Gus” Scholle then president of the Michigan AFL-CIO, was troubled by the fact that his Oakland County State Senate District in 1958 held more than 12 times the number of persons than an outstate district — yet each district elected one . . . — — Map (db m205909) HM
On West Main Street (State Highway 32) east of South Otsego Avenue, on the right when traveling east.
During the 1970s, the Pigeon River Country State Forest—home to the only substantial wild elk herd east of the Mississippi River—was the scene of one of the longest, most controversial environmental battles in Michigan history. As the . . . — — Map (db m116891) HM
On West Chicago Road at South Washington Street, on the right when traveling east on West Chicago Road.
Standing on this site since Andrew Jackson was president of the United States, the building where the White Pigeon Land Office conducted business from 1831 to 1834 is one of the historic treasures of Michigan. From this building, title to much of . . . — — Map (db m61725) HM
On Falcon Avenue north of Evaline Street, on the left when traveling north.
Harsh economic conditions and the need to attract high-paying manufacturing jobs to keep the automobile industry centered in the Motor City led the cities of Detroit and Hamtramck to join forces in 1980 to condemn a working-class neighborhood . . . — — Map (db m137534) HM
On South Main Street at West Ann Arbor Trail, on the right when traveling north on South Main Street.
T.C. Sherwood, president of Plymouth National Bank, contracted in 1886 with Hiram Walker of Walkerville, Ontario for the purchase of a cow, Rose 2d of Aberlone. Both parties believed that Rose was barren and would not breed, and that mistake led to . . . — — Map (db m62359) HM