Politics / Law
Frank Murphy
1890–1949 · mayor of Detroit, governor, U.S. Supreme Court justice
Recorder's Court judge and Depression-era mayor of Detroit (1930–1933) who went on to govern Michigan and sit on the U.S. Supreme Court.
- Born
Harbor Beach (Sand Beach), Michigan- Died
Detroit, Michigan
aged 59- Birth name
- William Francis Murphy
- Detroit years
- 1914–1933
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Frank Murphy came to Detroit after law school in 1914 and clerked at a city law firm. After Army service in World War I he became an assistant U.S. attorney in Detroit, then in 1923 won a seat on the Recorder's Court, the city's criminal court, by a record margin. There he presided over the 1925–26 trials of Ossian Sweet and his family, a landmark case of Black self-defense in which Clarence Darrow won acquittal. Elected mayor in 1930 as the Depression hit, he expanded relief for the jobless and in 1933 hosted the first convention of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Detroit. He then became governor-general of the Philippines, governor of Michigan during the 1937 Flint sit-down strike, U.S. attorney general and a Supreme Court justice. He died at Henry Ford Hospital in 1949; the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice honors him.
Highlights
- Judge of Detroit's Recorder's Court, 1924–1930
- Presided over the Ossian Sweet trials (1925–1926)
- Mayor of Detroit, 1930–1933
- 35th governor of Michigan, 1937–1939
- Associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, 1940–1949
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 3
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
Frank Murphy Hall of Justice
Courthouse named after him, once home of the Recorder's Court and now part of the Third Circuit Court; a first-floor plaque is a Michigan Legal Milestone.
Worked here · 1930–1933
Old Detroit City Hall (Campus Martius)
Demolished · 1871–1961
The Victorian city hall on Campus Martius where he served as mayor; it was demolished in 1961 and the site is now part of the Campus Martius public square.
Related place · 1949
Henry Ford Hospital
He died in his sleep here on July 19, 1949; more than 10,000 people attended his Detroit funeral.