Politics / Law
Thaddeus M. Machrowicz
1899–1970 · lawyer, judge, congressman
Polish-born lawyer who rose from Hamtramck city attorney and judge to represent the Detroit area in Congress for a decade, then served as a federal judge in Detroit.
- Born
Gostyń, Prussia (now Poland)- Died
Bloomfield Township, Michigan
aged 70- Birth name
- Tadeusz Michał Machrowicz
- Detroit years
- 1920s–1970
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Machrowicz was born in Gostyń in Prussian Poland and came to America with his parents in 1902, growing up in Chicago and Milwaukee. He earned his law degree at the Detroit College of Law in 1924 and practiced in Detroit for a decade, becoming a familiar figure in the Polish community of Hamtramck. He served as Hamtramck's city attorney from 1934 to 1936 and as a municipal judge there from 1942 to 1950. In 1950 he was elected to Congress from Michigan's 1st district, which took in Hamtramck and much of Detroit's east side, and he served until 1961. In Congress he was a member of the select committee that investigated the Soviet massacre of Polish officers at Katyn. President John F. Kennedy appointed him to the federal bench in Detroit in 1961, and he served until his death in 1970. He is buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Detroit.
Highlights
- Detroit College of Law graduate, 1924
- Hamtramck municipal judge, 1942–1950
- US Representative from Michigan, 1951–1961
- Federal judge for the Eastern District of Michigan, 1961–1970
- Buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery, Detroit
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
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 · 1970
Mount Olivet Cemetery (Detroit)
Large Catholic cemetery on Detroit's east side where Machrowicz is buried.
Studied here · 1920s
Detroit College of Law
Closed · 1891–1997
Downtown law school where he graduated in 1924; it moved to East Lansing in 1997 as Michigan State University College of Law.