Stevens T. Mason's remains can't be found

[DetroitZack]

The boy governor's remains have yet to be found.

http://www.detnews.com/article/20100...can-t-be-found

[buildingsofdetroit]

OMG! Stevens T. is MIA!

[Packman41]

No he is not missing. I heard he was out of state hiking on the Appalachian Trail with governor Sanford.

[Ray1936]

Remains of Michigan's first governor found

Laura Berman / The Detroit News

Detroit --The once-lost remains of Michigan's first governor have been found.
Or so workers say at downtown Capitol Park, which has been the site of some nervous digging since Monday.
Crews at the pocket park near the Westin Book Cadillac Hotel stumbled upon a metal casket inside a concrete vault about 3 p.m. Tuesday. They plan on moving him to a more prominent location in the park -- which is amid a $1 million restoration -- but will wait until Wednesday morning to remove the casket, workers said today.

The discovery is a relief to historians, architects, undertakers and an archeologist who thought finding the remains would be a snap. Instead, the search was called off Monday amid analogies to "Where's Waldo" and Jimmy Hoffa.
Mason, who was originally buried in New York, was moved to the park in 1905 and again within the park in 1955 when a bus terminal was constructed there. The Harris Funeral Home, which oversaw the last relocation, is to handle this one too.
Mason was 24 when first elected governor in 1835 and re-elected when Michigan gained statehood. Once popular, he was vilified after leaving office, but his legacy is amid something of a rehabilitation.


From The Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/article/20100...#ixzz0sHA11KuZ

[Lt. Dan Bassett]

I really dig how this guy's earthly container has kept moving around since part of him moved on to another life. First he was buried in NYC. His sister had him dug up and returned to Detroit and buried at the north end of Capitol Park. Then, in the '50s he moved to the south end of the park. Now, he's moving again, to the north end of the park. Restless spirit, he is. And a joker!

[Pam]

Couldn't they find him a nice spot at Elmwood? Might be a quieter eternal resting place.

[rjlj]

I think I read somewhere that there is a time capsule buried with or near the gov.. I'll have to see if I can find the documentation.

[Savoyard]

Couldn't they find him a nice spot at Elmwood? Might be a quieter eternal resting place.

I'm sure they could find a spot in Elmwood, but to be buried in the middle of a now-urban environment, on the very spot where I first served as territorial governor in 1843 at the age of 22 ... Yeah ... let them shove my remains around every 100 years or so. I don't think I'm going to care. Just keep me close to where I got my start ...

[Stosh]

I'm sure they could find a spot in Elmwood, but to be buried in the middle of a now-urban environment, on the very spot where I first served as territorial governor in 1843 at the age of 22 ... Yeah ... let them shove my remains around every 100 years or so. I don't think I'm going to care. Just keep me close to where I got my start ...

I agree.
The type of guy he was would crave the limelight afforded by this, and previous moves.

[gnome]

Not only was he our first governor, he also commanded the Michigan Miltia against those interlopers from Ohio during the Great Toledo War. In one of those is this truth or fiction: the Ohioans and Michiganders traded few shots, but a lot of insults across the battle lines. One of those insults which was intened to hurt our feelings, was that we smelled so bad, the Buckeyes labeled us "Wolverines".

Hats of to Gov Mason, oh yeah, he also invented the mason jar.

[Ray1936]

Well, thank God Toledo ended up in Ohio.

[detroitbob]

Interesting that there were no newspaper reports of the 1955 internment because the News/Times/Freep were all on strike. So, the City of Detroit had not saved any plans from that period and as the State Historical Division is closed, well it's a moot point, I guess.

There was a great comment, however, on the Freep when they werre unable to find the burial site/tomb/crypt/vault...comments pasted as follows:

Oh, great! All we need is another governor turned into a hideously mishappen monster wandering the streets on a quest for human flesh. We already went through that once with Engler.
6/29/2010 7:22:25 PM

[Rocko]

June 30. 2010 1:00AM

Michigan's first governor: lost, now found

Laura Berman / The Detroit News

Michigan's first governor probably wasn't lost after all -- just misplaced.
Workers digging in a downtown park for the remains of Stevens T. Mason, the "boy governor" elected at age 24 in 1835, hit into a casket-shaped concrete vault 6 feet underground at 3 p.m. Tuesday.

Mason has been buried in tiny Capitol Park since 1905, when his remains were moved from a New York crypt to the Detroit site beside a cornerstone of the original state Capitol.

This week's work marks the third time his eternal slumber has been disrupted by hammers, drills and shovels.

He's being moved as part of a $1 million reconstruction of the triangular park, tucked behind the Westin Book Cadillac Hotel.

"We thought we'd find him directly under the statue, but he was a few feet to the side," said Cedric Hesley, superintendent for Tooles Contracting.

The casket won't be opened until Thursday, when the Harris Funeral Home removes the remains. But officials say they're confident Mason's remains are inside.

"It's unique to have the actual remains of the state's first governor buried in a park beneath his statue," said Jack Dempsey, vice president of the Michigan Historical Commission.

When the governor's remains were last exhumed 55 years ago to make way for a bus terminal, a badly damaged casket, zinc lined, contained the "intact skeleton of Mason and a few scraps of cloth," as The Detroit News described it that day.

Mason's fortunes have been revived periodically since Michigan officially became a state in 1837.

At his 1905 interment in Capitol Park, bands played and church bells rang.

But for the 1955 move, civic leaders moved Mason with little ceremony, and failed to specifically record where or how he was reburied.

When the park renovation is complete, the freshly refurbished monument and statue atop his grave will occupy a place of honor in the park.

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...#ixzz0sLBmNABT

[mikefmich]

Dude can't seem to go more than 50-60 yrs without getting messed with. Like someone else said, plant the poor guy in Elmwood for eternity.

[Lt. Dan Bassett]

Dude can't seem to go more than 50-60 yrs without getting messed with. Like someone else said, plant the poor guy in Elmwood for eternity.

Born to the manor, Tom Mason lived fast and died young it appears. Maybe not so difficult to comprehend an unwillingness to be at rest in an Elmwood. I choose to think the opposite -- every 50-60 years he's messing with us. Maybe there is something for us to learn from his dry bones unearthed.

[REL]

"We thought we'd find him directly under the statue, but he was a few feet to the side," said Cedric Hesley, superintendent for Tooles Contracting.

I didn't realize a few feet over qualified as being "lost." I had always been told he was buried beneath the park.

Agreed, I wish they'd move him once last time so he could RIP.

[Rocko]

For the sake of the archive, here's the completion of the story:

July 02. 2010 11:42AM Laura Berman

Mystery, history draw onlookers to exhumation

Remains of Michigan's first governor will return after Detroit park gets $1M makeover

It was a perfect day for an exhumation -- and for embarking on a revision of historic mistakes.

After four days of digging and waiting, the remains of Michigan's first governor were hoisted Thursday from a burial site in tiny Capitol Park in downtown Detroit and transported to a funeral home for safekeeping.

The interruption of Gov. Stevens T. Mason's eternal slumber comes as a construction crew rebuilds the tiny park, which was the site of the state's first Capitol and a barn that served as an Underground Railroad stop but lately has become a late-night haunt for vagrants.

Workers were hampered in finding the grave because records proved sparse. Mason was last moved in 1955, during a previous park redo. But city records disappeared, the funeral home kept minimal ones, and a 45-day Detroit newspaper strike fogged history further.

So the modest mystery created a hunger for local history among downtown residents, many of whom were surprised to learn Mason was actually buried beneath a full-length bronze statue that's now being restored.

"It's the history that got me out here," said L.J. Fanti, an artist working out of a loft on the park, and wearing a chain around his neck.

A clutch of onlookers cheered as the vault was hoisted from Mason's grave on Thursday morning. A copper plaque found inside the steel casket when it was opened at the funeral home said, "Stevens Thomson Mason/First Governor of Michigan/Removed from New York City to Detroit Michigan/June 4, 1905."

When the bones of the governor, who became the state's first in 1837, return to the park, they'll be resting above ground in a mausoleum base beneath his polished, full-size statue.

The park's designers are including historical markers that will explain and preserve the little park's rich history in a $1 million redo that's scheduled for completion by fall. But the contractor and funeral home said they were donating their part in the first governor's move.

"I'm taking a lot of pictures and keeping an accurate record so that when I come back out here in 60 years, we'll know what we did the last time," said David Kowalewski, the Harris Funeral Home manager.

lberman@detnews.com [[313) 222-2032

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...#ixzz0saSi4UOg

[CLAUDE G]

I went to Stevens T Mason Elementry school growing up, I find this article intresting because when I was in school we never talked about him or even mentioned the school was named after the first governer.

But they should leave his body alone and let the man rest in peace. If anything, build the memorial around where he is burried right now.

On the other hand it is nice that people are still thinking about him and have decided to do this, as usually once someone dies you tend to forget about them