Charles Lindbergh, 1927

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Photograph courtesy of The Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University

1927Detroit was flying high in 1927, thanks to its native son, Charles Lindbergh, pictured with his mother at a parade here in his honor. The occasion, of course, was Lucky Lindy’s flight from New York to Paris in May of that year in The Spirit of St. Louis, becoming the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic and completing his 3,600-mile trip in 33 and a half hours. Ticker-tape parades were also held in New York and St. Louis, Lindbergh was named Time magazine’s Man of the Year in ’27, and President Calvin Coolidge awarded him the Medal of Honor. Lindbergh was born in 1902 at his great-Uncle Edwin’s Queen Anne-style home (now demolished) on West Forest near what is now Wayne State University. Although he was brought up primarily in Minnesota, Lindbergh spent many boyhood summers in Detroit with relatives. During World War II, he moved to Bloomfield Hills and worked at the Willow Run bomber plant. His mother, Evangeline, relocated to the city in the early ’20s and taught science at Cass Technical High School. And another great-uncle, John C. Lodge, served as mayor of Detroit and has an expressway named after him.