No Invitation Required
 Michiganians have joined together in public celebration since before we
became a state. Some events were solemn occasions with little or no
fanfare; others required parades, fireworks and vast quantities of food.
The objects we save from such events remind us of our individual
connection to community, state and nation. Taken together as a museum
collection, they create the mileposts of community life. Click on each
artifact image to read about it and see a larger photo.
See artifacts from 19th-century celebrations on this page, then
continue on to 20th-century celebrations.
Founding Fathers
Michigan became the 26th
state in the Union on January 26, 1837. No one worked harder for Michigan’s statehood than Lewis Cass and
Stevens T. Mason. Counties, towns, buildings and
monuments have been named for them. The writing desk that
belonged to Cass (in the Michigan Historical Museum's Statehood Gallery) and this bronze statue of Mason
remind us of these men
and their service to the state.
A Presidential Inauguration
Abraham Lincoln was sworn in as President of the United States for the
first time in March 1861. Michigan United States Senator Kinsley S.
Bingham of Livingston County and members of his family attended the
inaugural celebration. Included in the Bingham party was young Molly Olds,
the Senator’s niece, who wore this dress to one of the grand inaugural
events. Molly Olds saved this dress as a reminder that she had been a part
of a historic event.
America Celebrates
 On July 4, 1876, the United States celebrated its first one hundred
years as a nation. The largest celebration was the one held in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Lasting from May through November, the
Centennial Celebration was one of the nation’s first great expositions.
It was set in a grand park with hundreds of buildings, amusements and
exhibitions. Michiganians who attended viewed new home labor saving
devices, glimpsed with pride the many goods produced by Michigan
manufacturers, munched on quantities of popcorn and drank their first ice
cream sodas. Many brought home souvenirs to remind them how proud they
were to be United States citizens.
Honored Heroes
 The Civil War was the bloodiest conflict ever fought on United States soil.
Thousands of troops perished, many from Michigan. In 1889, to commemorate
the lives of those men, a memorial was erected on the Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania, battlefield. Railroads offered excursion rates to
Pennsylvania for Michigan's citizens who attended the dedication. Many
brought back books and other mementos as reminders of this solemn
occasion.
A Magnificent Extravaganza
  In 1893, a year later than originally planned, Americans celebrated the
400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the Americas. Chicago hosted the magnificent world’s fair. Lumber from
Michigan’s pine forests and plaster from her gypsum mines went into the
construction of the fair’s Great White City. Thousands of
Michiganians traveled to the fair by boat and by train. They saw the first
use of electricity to light a midway at night and rode on the first Ferris
Wheel. They visited exhibits related to
Michigan lumber and mining and walked under a giant two-story replica of
a Garland Stove made to advertise the Detroit Stove Works
Company. To remember their trip, they brought back souvenirs of
every description including this ribbon and this paper fan.
Continue on to more No Invitation Required, 20th-Century
Celebrations . . .
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