Politics / Law / Press & broadcasting
Frank E. Doremus
1865–1947 · newspaper editor, lawyer, congressman, mayor of Detroit
Small-town Michigan editor turned Detroit lawyer who served five terms in Congress and was mayor in 1923–1924 until ill health forced him to resign.
- Born
Venango County, Pennsylvania- Died
Howell, Michigan
aged 82- Birth name
- Frank Ellsworth Doremus
- Also known as
- Frank Ellsworth Doremus
- Detroit years
- 1899–1924
- Field
- Politics, Law, Press & broadcasting
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Frank E. Doremus grew up in Portland, Michigan, where he worked on local papers and founded and edited the Portland Review from 1885 to 1899, while also serving as postmaster, township clerk and state representative. After graduating from the Detroit College of Law, he began practicing in Detroit in 1899 and became assistant corporation counsel and then city comptroller. In 1910 he unseated Republican Edwin Denby to win Detroit's 1st congressional district as a Democrat, served five terms until 1921 and chaired the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. In 1923 he was elected mayor of Detroit, defeating former police commissioner James Inches, but poor health led him to resign in June 1924, setting off a year of rapid turnover in the mayor's office. He retired to law practice in Fowlerville, died in nearby Howell in 1947, and was buried at Roseland Park Cemetery in Berkley, just north of Detroit.
Highlights
- Mayor of Detroit, 1923–1924
- U.S. representative for Detroit's 1st district, 1911–1921
- Chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (1913)
- Graduate of the Detroit College of Law
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.
Buried here · 1947
Roseland Park Cemetery
Suburban cemetery on Woodward Avenue in Berkley where he was interred.