Politics / Law
Robert McClelland
1807–1880 · lawyer, governor of Michigan, U.S. secretary of the interior
Monroe lawyer and Democratic governor (1852–1853) who served as President Pierce's interior secretary and spent his last 23 years practicing law in Detroit; he is buried at Elmwood.
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Robert McClelland, a Pennsylvanian, came to Michigan Territory in 1833 and settled in Monroe, where he practiced law and became mayor in 1841. He sat in the first state constitutional convention in 1835 and in later ones in 1850 and 1867, served in the Michigan House, including as speaker in 1843, and represented southeastern Michigan in Congress from 1843 to 1849. Elected governor in 1851, he served from 1852 to 1853, resigning when President Franklin Pierce made him secretary of the interior, a post he held until 1857. After leaving Washington he moved to Detroit and opened a private law practice there, remaining a respected elder of the state's Democratic Party and returning to public life as a delegate to the 1867 constitutional convention. He died in Detroit in 1880 and is buried at Elmwood Cemetery. His former home in Monroe, the Governor Robert McClelland House, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Highlights
- Governor of Michigan, 1852–1853
- U.S. secretary of the interior, 1853–1857
- U.S. representative from Michigan, 1843–1849
- Delegate to the Michigan constitutional conventions of 1835, 1850 and 1867
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 · 1880
Elmwood Cemetery
He is buried at Elmwood Cemetery.