Russell A. Alger’s Grave

He fought as a cavalry general, got rich in Michigan lumber, ran the state as governor, ran the U.S. War Department, and finished in the Senate — Russell A. Alger packed several careers into one Gilded Age life. His stint as Secretary of War during the 1898 Spanish-American War ended under heavy criticism of the department’s chaos, but his name still marks a whole Michigan county.

He rests at Elmwood among the era’s other Detroit power brokers. On our list.