Gov. Murray D. Van Wagoner House, 415 Clifton Blvd. (1925)

Murray Delos Van Wagoner (1898–1986) was a civil engineer and state highway commissioner before serving one two-year term as Governor of Michigan, 1941–1942. He enacted legislation establishing the Michigan State Safety Commission “to promote greater traffic safety on public roadways.” In return, the headquarters of the Michigan Department of Transportation in the state capitol complex is named for him.

It is not clear when, if ever, Van Wagoner lived in this house, but when it comes to transportation history another former occupant is arguably at least as notable as the ex-governor. From no later than 1938 to about 1965, the house was owned by George P. and Lillian M. Ritts.¹

George Paul Ritts (1895–1968) was a research engineer for Oldsmobile when he lived here, but prior to that Ritts lived in Auburn, Indiana, where he worked on the engineering team that developed the innovative Cord 810 luxury car. Among his contributions Ritts is credited with the simple but effective idea of adding holes to the Cord’s distinctive hubcaps to provide much-needed cooling ventilation to the brake drums.

Ritts was also one of a trio, along with Auburn chief engineer George Kublin and fellow engineer Stanley R. Thomas, who in July–August 1935 drove a 4-door prototype Cord 810 “on its initial shakedown cruise all the way to Los Angeles so that E. L. Cord could have a look at it,” then drove it back to Indiana to incorporate the founder’s notes and lessons learned on the trip.²

The Cord automobile was only produced for two years but was, in many ways, well ahead of its time. George Ritts was an important part of this history and deserved to be remembered for that. Unfortunately his obituary in 1968 claimed other automotive innovations “pioneered by Mr. Ritts include windshield wipers, thermostatically controlled heat, air conditioning and many others,” all of which can be easily refuted.³

Editorial: Unlike the other “governor’s houses” noted as Significant Structures by the historic commission—those of Wilber Brucker and George Romney—numerous sources concur that this was not Murray Van Wagoner’s residence during his term as governor. Therefore to call it the “Governor Van Wagoner house” is, at best, misleading and anachronistic.

1. Lansing City Directory (1938), p. 443. Lowell Ledger, 15 Aug 1968, p. 21. ↩︎
2. Coachbuilt.com. ↩︎
3. Lowell Ledger, 15 Aug 1968, p. 21. ↩︎