Military · 1782–1841Alexander MacombCommanding General of the US ArmyDetroit-born general, hero of the Battle of Plattsburgh in 1814 and commanding general of the US Army from 1828 to 1841; Macomb County is named after him.DETROIT / A living lexicon / ¼
Famous Detroiters
People who were born here, moved here or built their careers in Detroit: musicians, carmakers, athletes, writers, inventors, civil-rights leaders and a few notorious names. With their dates, their Detroit story and the places where they lived, worked and played, closed ones included.
- 1,912 famous people
- 135 Detroit places
- 5 fields
Hungarian ties 22 Detroiters with Hungarian ties →
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3 people
Clear filtersMilitary · 1782–1841Alexander MacombCommanding General of the US ArmyDetroit-born general, hero of the Battle of Plattsburgh in 1814 and commanding general of the US Army from 1828 to 1841; Macomb County is named after him.
Politics · 1782–1854John R. Williamsmerchant, first elected mayor of DetroitDetroit-born merchant who wrote the 1824 city charter, served as the first elected mayor and co-founded the paper that became the Detroit Free Press; John R Street is named after him.
City history · 1786–1866Lisette Denison Forthformerly enslaved landowner and philanthropistBorn enslaved near Detroit, she won her freedom, became one of the region's first Black property owners and left her savings to build a church on Grosse Ile.The lexicon keeps growing. Every entry lists its sources at the bottom. Dates were checked against Wikidata and Wikipedia. The texts are our own. Famous people's places among the sights ↗