George Trendle’s Grave

“Hi-yo, Silver — away!” was born in Detroit. George W. Trendle ran radio station WXYZ, and in the 1930s his shop dreamed up a trio of American icons: the Lone Ranger, the Green Hornet, and Sergeant Preston of the Yukon. Millions of kids pressed their ears to the radio for adventures cooked up right here in the Motor City — proof that Detroit manufactured more than cars.

Trendle rests at Woodlawn, an unexpected name among the auto barons and Motown greats. Give the man who gave us a masked hero a nod. On our list.