1939 in Michigan
calendar year
Events from the year 1939 in Michigan.
Office holders
State office holders
Governor of Michigan: Frank Fitzgerald (Republican)/Luren Dickinson (Republican)
Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: Luren D. Dickinson (Republican)
Michigan Attorney General: Thomas Read (Republican)
Michigan Secretary of State: Harry Kelly (Republican)
Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives: Howard Nugent (Republican)
Chief Justice, Michigan Supreme Court: Henry M. Butzel
Mayors of major cities
Mayor of Detroit: Richard Reading (Republican)
Mayor of Grand Rapids: George W. Welsh
Mayor of Flint: Harry M. Comins
Mayor of Dearborn: John Carey
Mayor of Saginaw: Francis J. McDonald/John W. Symons Jr.
Mayor of Lansing: Max A. Templeton
Mayor of Ann Arbor: Walter C. Sadler
Federal office holders
U.S. Senator from Michigan: Prentiss M. Brown (Democrat)
U.S. Senator from Michigan: Arthur Vandenberg (Republican)
House District 1: Rudolph G. Tenerowicz (Democrat)
House District 2: Earl C. Michener (Republican)
House District 3: Paul W. Shafer (Republican)
House District 4: Clare Hoffman (Republican)
House District 5: Bartel J. Jonkman (Republican)
House District 6: William W. Blackney (Republican)
House District 7: Jesse P. Wolcott (Republican)
House District 8: Fred L. Crawford (Republican)
House District 9: Albert J. Engel (Republican)
House District 10: Roy O. Woodruff (Republican)
House District 11: Frederick Van Ness Bradley (Republican)
House District 12: Frank Eugene Hook (Democrat)
House District 13: Clarence J. McLeod (Republican)
House District 14: Louis C. Rabaut (Democrat)
House District 15: John D. Dingell Sr. (Democrat)
House District 16: John Lesinski Sr. (Democrat)
House District 17: George Anthony Dondero (Republican)
Population
In the 1930 United States census, Michigan was recorded as having a population of 4,842,325, ranking as the seventh most populous state in the country. By 1940, Michigan's population had increased by 8.5% to 5,256,106.
Cities
The following is a list of cities in Michigan with a population of at least 20,000 based on 1930 U.S. Census data. Historic census data from 1920 and 1940 is included to reflect trends in population increases or decreases. Cities that are part of the Detroit metropolitan area are shaded in tan.
Counties
The following is a list of counties in Michigan with populations of at least 50,000 based on 1930 U.S. Census data.
“1939 in Michigan” enters the record as calendar year. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Michigan, calendar and year can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“1939 in Michigan” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Michigan, calendar and year provides the most credible route into that argument.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q39088216. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1939, 1930, 1940 and 1920.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “1939 in Michigan”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow 1939 in Michigan primary sources, 1939 in Michigan archive and Michigan research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “1939 in Michigan” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.