Business & brands / Politics
Oliver Moulton Hyde
1804–1870 · manufacturer, mayor of Detroit
Hardware dealer turned maker of scales and steamboat engines who was elected Detroit's mayor three times (1854, 1856 and 1857).
- Born
Sudbury, Vermont- Died
Detroit, Michigan
aged 66- Also known as
- Oliver M. Hyde
- Detroit years
- 1838–1870
- Field
- Business & brands, Politics
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Oliver Moulton Hyde ran a dry-goods store in Vermont and managed blast furnaces in New York before moving to Detroit in 1838 and opening a hardware store on Woodward Avenue. He began making counter scales on the premises, then added a foundry and machine shop that built marine engines and other steamboat hardware for the busy Great Lakes trade. In 1852 he opened a dry dock and he also ran a sawmill near Saginaw. Known for his charity, he gave away or quietly lent much of his fortune. A Whig who later became a Republican, he served on the city council many times, was appointed collector of the port of Detroit under presidents Taylor and Fillmore, and was elected mayor in 1854 and again for 1856 and 1857. A stroke in 1863 left him almost housebound, yet he still backed recruiting during the Civil War. He died in 1870; his Griswold Street house later made way for the Garrick Theatre.
Highlights
- Mayor of Detroit in 1854, 1856 and 1857
- Built marine engines and steamboat hardware in Detroit
- Collector of the port of Detroit under Taylor and Fillmore
- Operated one of Detroit's early dry docks (1852)