Politics / Law / Military
Edwin Denby
1870–1929 · lawyer, congressman, secretary of the Navy
Detroit lawyer, congressman and Marine volunteer who became Harding's secretary of the Navy and resigned over the Teapot Dome scandal; Denby High School on the east side bears his name.
- Born
Evansville, Indiana- Died
Detroit, Michigan
aged 58- Detroit years
- 1896–1929
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Edwin Denby grew up partly in China, where his father was U.S. minister, and worked in the Chinese maritime customs service before graduating from the University of Michigan law school in 1896, having played on its football team. He settled in Detroit to practice law. In the Spanish–American War he served aboard the USS Yosemite, crewed largely by Michigan naval militiamen. He sat in the Michigan House in 1903 and represented Detroit in Congress from 1905 to 1911, chairing the Naval Affairs Committee, and was president of the Detroit Board of Commerce in 1916. In 1917, at 47, he enlisted as a private in the Marine Corps, rising to major. President Harding made him secretary of the Navy in 1921; after he transferred naval oil reserves to the Interior Department, which leased them to private oilmen, the Teapot Dome scandal forced his resignation in 1924, though he was never charged. He returned to law in Detroit, where he died in 1929.
Highlights
- U.S. secretary of the Navy, 1921–1924
- U.S. representative from Detroit, 1905–1911
- Enlisted as a Marine private in 1917 at age 47
- President of the Detroit Board of Commerce (1916)
- Denby High School in Detroit is named after him
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Memorial
Denby High School
East Side public high school named in his honor.