1950 in Michigan

← 1949 1948 1947 1950 in Michigan → 1951 1952 1953
Decades:	1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s
See also:	History of Michigan Historical outline of Michigan List of years in Michigan 1950 in the United States

Events from the year 1950 in Michigan.

In a poll taken by the Associated Press of newspaper and radio editors,^[1] the following stories were selected as the most important Michigan news stories of 1950 (with number of voting points in parentheses):

1. The gubernatorial election in which Republican former governor Harry Kelly was declared the winner on election night, but the incumbent Democratic governor G. Mennen Williams was declared the winner on December 13 after a statewide recount (337);
2. A five-year contract signed May 23 between the United Auto Workers (UAW) and General Motors, setting a national precedent for long-term contracts and wage increases, and which later became known as Reuther's Treaty of Detroit (223);
3. A 100-day strike by the UAW against Chrysler, lasting from January to May and idling more than 100,000 workers in the Detroit area (187);
4. The crash on June 23 of Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2501 into Lake Michigan with the loss of 58 lives, making it the deadliest commercial airliner accident in U.S. history to that time (182);
5. The destruction by fire of the University of Michigan's Haven Hall on June 6 and the subsequent arson conviction of teaching fellow Robert H. Stacy on December 16 (94);
6. The discovery on February 21 of Stanley James' remains under a "cow shed" in Troy Township, a homicide committed by his son and covered up for three years by his family, and the subsequent trial and acquittal of the son, U.S. Marine Sgt. Carson James (74);
7. The 1950 Detroit Tigers season in which the team compiled a 95–59 (.617) record and finished second in a tight pennant race with the New York Yankees (68);
8. The rape and murder by strangulation of Western Michigan College coed Carolyn Drown with her body being discovered on December 3 in melting snow in a cornfield outside Kalamazoo (54);
9. The December 16 order by the U.S. Economic Stabilization Agency freezing prices on 1951 automobiles and rolling back price increases already placed in effect (54);
10. A coal shortage during record cold weather in February that forced schools to close (49);
11. The collision in Lake Huron on June 25 between the City of Cleveland III cruise ship and a Norwegian freighter, resulting in four deaths among passengers on the cruise ship (47);
12. A production record in the automobile industry (47);
13. A gun battle on December 8 between Saginaw Police and ex-convict Lawrence Nelson and his companion Sylvia Van Conant resulting in the deaths of Nelson and a police officer (45);
14. Republican "economy" budget (45);
15. The State of Michigan's civil defense preparations (45);
16. The seizure of Governor G. Mennen Williams on July 8 by three inmates in an attempted prison escape from the Marquette Branch Prison (42);
17. The murder of eight-year-old Joey Housey by a "sex degenerate" and the discovery of his body on September 24 in a shallow grave near his home in St. Clair Shores (33);
18. Michigan's bid to play in the 1951 Rose Bowl (31);
19. A February 16 explosion in a two-story paint manufacturing building at Dow Chemical in Midland killing eight men and injuring 25 (30); and
20. Michigan's growth as measured in the 1950 United States Census (20).

Other sports highlights included (1) the 1949–50 Detroit Red Wings' victory in the Stanley Cup finals, (2) the Detroit Lions acquisition in April 1950 of quarterback Bobby Layne, with Layne serving as the team's quarterback for nine years and leading the team to three NFL championships, and (3) the 1950 Michigan Wolverines football team's winning the Big Ten Conference championship by defeating Ohio State in the Snow Bowl.