Business & brands / Politics
Merrill I. Mills
1819–1882 · fur trader, tobacco and stove manufacturer, mayor of Detroit
Connecticut gunpowder heir who stayed in Detroit by accident in 1845, built tobacco and stove companies and was the city's Democratic mayor in 1866–1867.
- Born
Canton, Connecticut- Died
Detroit, Michigan
aged 62- Detroit years
- 1845–1882
- Field
- Business & brands, Politics
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Merrill I. Mills grew up in his father's gunpowder business in Connecticut and ran it for a time before heading west in 1845. He meant to settle in Fort Wayne, Indiana, but the early close of lake navigation that autumn stranded him in Detroit, and he decided to stay. He opened a general store, became one of the best-known fur traders in the region and from 1850 made cigars, later founding Nevin & Mills (1861) and the Banner Tobacco Company (1878). He also helped launch the Detroit Stove Works in 1867 and the Michigan Stove Company in 1872, pillars of the industry that made Detroit the 'Stove Capital of the World' before the automobile. A committed Democrat, he chaired the state party, spent heavily to equip Michigan regiments in the Civil War and was mayor in 1866–1867. He ran for Congress in 1868 without success and died in 1882.
Highlights
- Mayor of Detroit, 1866–1867
- Co-founder of the Detroit Stove Works (1867) and Michigan Stove Company (1872)
- Founder of the Banner Tobacco Company (1878)
- Chairman of the Michigan Democratic State Committee, 1856–1857