Stevens Thomson Mason (October 27, 1811 – January 4, 1843) was an American politician who served as the first governor of Michigan from 1835 to 1840. Coming to political prominence at an early age, Mason was appointed his territory's acting territorial secretary by Andrew Jackson at age 19, becoming the acting territorial governor soon thereafter in 1834 at age 22. As territorial governor, Mason was instrumental in guiding Michigan to statehood, which was secured in 1837. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected as Michigan's first state governor in 1835, where he served until 1840. Elected at 23 and taking office at 24, Mason was and remains the youngest state governor in American history. -
Stevens T. Mason.
The text from the rear of the monument:
THE TRIBUTE OF
MICHIGAN
TO THE MEMORY OF HER
FIRST GOVERNOR
WHOSE ASHES LIE BENEATH
CALLED TO THE DUTIES OF
MANHOOD WHILE YET A BOY
HE SO ACQUITTED HIMSELF
AS TO STAMP HIS NAME
INDELIBLY ON THE HISTORY
OF THE
COMMONWEALTH
Mason was Governor at the age of 24 which continues to be the youngest of any state governor in United States history.
His remains have had quite the journey to get back to Michigan and his resting place in the center of downtown Detroit. From
Michiganology, the sore is as follows:
"On January 4, 1843, the thirty-one year old Mason died of pneumonia. He was buried in New York’s Marble Cemetery.
In the early twentieth century, Mason biographer Lawton T. Hemans led an effort to relocate Mason’s remains to Michigan. That effort proved successful, and Michigan Governor Fred Warner appointed a commission – consisting of Hemans and two others – to oversee the task.
On June 4, 1905, Stevens T. Mason’s body was transported to Detroit by train. Traveling with it were several Mason family members, including Mason’s daughter, Dorothy Mason Wright, and Mason’s sister, Emily Viriginia Mason (The latter was about ninety years old at the time.). A company of the Detroit Light Guard met them at the train station, and the casket containing Mason’s body was transported to the armory. There, a memorial service was conducted, with Detroit Mayor George P. Codd, Michigan Governor Fred Warner, Lawton T. Hemans and State Pioneer and Historical Society President Clarence M. Burton all delivering addresses. The presiding reverend, Dr. David M. Cooper, offered his own moving tribute, noting that, as a young boy, he had met the esteemed governor!
When the service ended, the funeral procession moved to Detroit’s Capitol Square Park. The Detroit Free Press reported that “thousands of persons covered the sidewalks” during the march and that Capital Square Park “was filled from one end to the other” with bystanders. Finally, Stevens T. Mason’s remains were interred beneath the site of Michigan’s first state capitol.
This reburial is not quite the end of the story. In 1908, a life size statue of Mason was placed over the grave. Albert Weinert sculpted the statue, which was cast in bronze from melted-down Fort Michilimackinac cannons. Later, in the 1950s, Mason’s body had to be moved again. In Michigan: A History of the Wolverine State (Third revised edition), Willis F. Dunbar and George S. May note that “the modernization of downtown Detroit” made this move necessary. Mason was re-interred to yet another section of the park in October 2010, following a re-landscaping."