USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > History of Detroit and Wayne County and early Michigan: A Chronological Cyclopedia of the Past and Present, Vol. I > Part 9
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369 Bethel Church of Evangelical Associa- tion-Second Building, 578
370 St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church, 582 371 Christ Protestant Episcopal Church- Original Building, 583
343 Grotto of Church of the Assumption, Connor's Creek.
548 344 First Protestant, afterwards Trinity Cath- olic Church,
556 345 Fac-simile of Scrip issued by First Prot- estant Society,
557
346 Reduced fac-simile of Articles of Incor- poration of First Methodist Episcopal Church, Ist page,
560
347 Reduced fas-simile of Articles of Incor- poration of First Metodist Episcopal Church, 2d page,
561
348 Reduced fac-simile of Articles of Incor- poration of First Methodist Episcopal Church, 3d page.
562
349 Reduced fac-simile of Articles of Incor- poration of First Methodist Episcopal Church, 4th page,
· 563
350 First Methodist Episcopal Church, origi- nal brick building,
351 First Methodist Episcopal Church, corner Woodward Avenue and State Street,
566
352 Central Methodist Episcopal Church, 568
353 Congress Street Methodist Episcopal Church, 570
354 Original Lafayette Street Methodist Epis- copal Church, 570
355 Tabernacle Methodist Episcopal Church, 570
356 Walnut Street Methodist Episcopal Church,
571
357 Simpson Methodist Episcopal Church, 571
358 Jefferson Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church,
572
359 Palmer Memorial Methodist Episcopal
Church, 572
360 Sixteenth Street Methodist Episcopal Church, 573
361 Junction Methodist Episcopal Church, 574 362 Delray Methodist Episcopal Church, 574
363 Cass Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, 575 364 Second German Methodist Episcopal Church, 576
PAGE
365 Thirty-second Street German Methodist Episcopal Church, 576
366 Lafayette Street African Methodist Epis- copal Church, 577 367 Ebenezer African Methodist Episcopal Church,
401 Dutch Reformed Church,
xliv
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
405 Cass Avenue Baptist Church, 607
406 Second Baptist Church (colored),
607
407 Lafayette Avenue Baptist Church, 608
408 First German Baptist Church, 608
409 Eighteenth Street Baptist Church, 609
410 Twelfth Street Baptist Church, 609
411 Second German Baptist Church, 610
412 Clinton Avenue Baptist Chapel, 610
413 Clinton Avenue Baptist Church, 610
414 The French Baptist Church, 611
415 First Congregational Church,
613
416 First Congregational Church, Fort Street 614
417 Woodward Ave. Congregational Church, 615
418 Trumbull Ave. Congregational Church, 615 462 Free Press Building,
419 Springwells Congregational Church, 616
420 Mt. Hope Avenue Congregational Mis- sion Chapel, 616
421 View of Monroe Avenue and St. John's Church in 1872,
617
422 First German Evangelical Protestant St. John's Church and School, 618
423 Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church,
424 St. Paul's German Evangelical Church, Seventeenth Street,
619
472 St. Vincent de Paul Catholic School, 723
473 Our Lady of Help Catholic School, 723
474 St. Albert's Catholic School, 724
475 Polish Franciscan Convent and Mother House, 724
476 Academy of the Sacred Heart, 725
477 Detroit College, 725
478 Trinity Lutheran School, 726
479 Convent of the Sacred Heart, Grosse Pointe, 727
480 Old University Building, Bates Street. 730
622
481 Goldsmith, Bryant & Stratton's Business University, 732
622
482 First Public School Building, 738
483 Old Second Ward Public School, 745
484 The Barstow School, 745
485 The Houghton School,
746
436 Disciples of Christ Church,
625
486 The Jackson School, 746
487 The John Owen School, 747
488 The Nichols School, 747
626
627
490 The Wilkins School, 748
628 491 The Lincoln School, 748
628 492 The Franklin School, 748
629
493 The Cass School-original appearance, 749
649
494 The Cass School-as enlarged, 749
495 The High School, 750
651 496 The Duffield School, 750
652 497 The Firnane School,
751
447 St. Mary's Hospital, original building,
448 St. Mary's Hospital, new building,
449 Old Industrial School,
450 New Industrial School,
451 Former St. Joseph's Retreat for the Insane, 656 452 St. Luke's Hospital, Church Home, and Orphanage, 656
453 Harper Hospital, original building, 658
454 Harper Hospital, new building, 659
455 Home of the Friendless, 660
456 Women's Hospital and Foundlings' Home, 662 457 House of Providence,
662
458 The Little Sisters' Home for the Aged Poor, 663
459 The Thompson Home, 664
460 Portrait of Mrs. Isabella G. D. Stewart, 667
461 Tribune Building, 685
688
463 Michigan Christian Herald Building, 690
464 A Newsboy, 693
465 Detroit News Company's Store,
696
466 Old Female Seminary, Griswold Street, 716
467 The Detroit Home and Day School, 719
468 German American Seminary, 719
469 Trinity Catholic School, 721
619 470 St. Mary's Catholic School, 722
471 St. Joseph's Catholic School, 722
620
620
620
428 St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church, Joseph Campau Avenue,
429 St. Mathew's Evangelical Lutheran Church,
621
430 Zion German Reformed Church,
622
431 St. Peter's German Evangelical Lutheran Church,
432 Former Salem German Evangelical Luth- eran Church,
433 St. Luke's German Evangelical Church,
623
434 St. John's Independent Lutheran Church, 623
435 Washington Ave. Christian Church, 624
437 Mission Church of Disciples of Christ,
625 626
438 New Jerusalem Church,
439 Congregational Unitarian Church,
440 Church of Our Father, Universalist,
441 Third Avenue Mission Chapel.
442 Beth El Synagogue,
443 Synagogue of Shaary Zedec,
444 County Insane Asylum and Poorhouse,
445 St. Vincent's Catholic Female Orphan Asylum,
446 Protestant Orphan Asylum
653 498 The New Irving School, 751
653 499 The Webster School, 752
655 500 The Trowbridge School, 752
655 501 The Bishop School-original appearance, 753
PAGE
425 Original Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church,
426 Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church, 427 Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church,
621
489 The Campbell School, 747
xlv
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
502 The Bishop School - as enlarged, 753
503 Seal of the Board of Education.
504 The Public Library, 759
505 Fac-simile of a Trader's License, 768
506 Stores of Moran, Fitzsimons & Co., 769
507 Stores of H. P. Baldwin 2d & Co ..
769
562 Eureka Iron Co.'s Works, Wyandotte,
815
508 Stores of R. H. Fyfe & Co.,
770
509 Stores of R. H. Fyfe & Co., 771
510 Stores of Mabley & Co., 772
51I Stores of Mabley & Co,
774
565 The Middlebrook & Post Manufacturing Co.'s Works,
817
513 Stores of L. A. Smith & Co.,
566 Parke, Davis & Co.'s original Laboratory,
818
514 Stores of G. & R. McMillan,
776
567 Parke, Davis & Co.'s Laboratory in 1884,
819
515 Stores of Dean, Godfrey & Co., 777
516 Stores of T. B. Rayl & Co.,
777
517 Store of P. A. Billings,
570 Detroit Emery Wheel Co.,
822
518 Store of Mumford, Foster & Co.,
519 Stores of Farrand, Williams & Co.,
779
779
573 Detroit White Lead Works,
824
521 Stores of John J. Dodds & Co.,
780
574 Detroit Linseed Oil Co,
825 825
522 Stores of William Reid,
780
575 Berry Brothers Varnish Factory,
826
524 Stores of Allan Shelden & Co.,
782
577 The American Eagle Tobacco Factory, 578 The Banner Tobacco Factory,
827 827
526 Stores of Heineman, Butzel & Co.,
783
579 The Globe Tobacco Factory,
828
580 Scotten's Hiawatha Tobacco Factory,
828
581 Richardson's Match Factory,
829
582 The Clough & Warren Organ Factory,
830
530 Stores of H. A. Newland & Co., 785
531 Store of Greenslade,
786
583 Hargreaves Manufacturing Company's Factory, 831
584 Pingree & Smith's Shoe Factory, 832
585 Gray & Baffy's Furniture and Upholster- ing Establishment, 833
586 Carriage Factory and Store of Hugh Johnson, 833
587 Beardsley's Furniture Factory, 834
588 Johnston Optical Co.'s Factory, 835
589 Fac-simile of one of Father Richards' Shinplasters, 847
590 Fac-simile of Note of Detroit City Bank, 851
591 Fac-simile of Note of Detroit Bank, 857
592 Fac-simile of Note of Bank of Michigan, 860 593 Fac-simile of Note of Farmers' and Me- chanics' Bank, 861
594 Fac-simile of Note of Michigan Insur- ance Bank, 863
595 Detroit Savings Bank, 864
596 Fac-simile of Note of The Peninsular Bank, 865
597 Fac-simile of Note of The State Bank, 866
598 First National Bank, 867
599 People's Savings Bank, 868
600 Wayne County Savings Bank, exterior view and interior view, 869
601 View of the Vaults of the Safe Deposit Company, 870
PAGE
557 Detroit Stove Co.'s Works, 811
754
558 Michigan Stove Co.'s Works, 812
559 Detroit Stove Co.'s Store, 813
560 Griffin Car Wheel Co.'s Works,
814
561 Peninsular Stove Co.'s Works,
815
563 Detroit & Lake Superior Copper Co.'s Works, 816 817
568 Parke, Davis & Co.'s Laboratory in 1888, 820 821
569 Capsule Factory of F. A. Hubel,
778 778 571 F. Stearns & Co.'s Laboratory, 823
572 Schulte's Soap Works,
824
520 Stores of James E. Davis & Co.,
523 Stores of Edson, Moore & Co.,
781
576 The First Tobacco Factory in Detroit,
525 Stores of F. Buhl & Co.,
783
784
528 Stores of Strong, Lee & Co.,
784
529 Stores of A. C. McGraw & Co.,
785
788
535 Old Board of Trade Building,
536 Stores of Ducharme, Fletcher & Co.,
537 New Board of Trade Building,
538 Store of Sinclair, Evans & Elliott,
539 Store of Standart Bros.,
540 Stores of Phelps & Brace,
541 Stores of Rathbone, Sard & Co.,
542 Stores of Buhl Sons & Co.,
543 Former Woodward Avenue Market,
793
544 Vegetable Market, 794
545 Old Washington Market, 795 796
546 Central Market Building,
547 Michigan Car Co.'s Works, 803
548 Peninsular Car Co.'s Works, 805
549 Detroit Steel & Spring Works, 806
550 Russel Wheel & Foundry Co.'s Works, 806
551 Detroit Bridge & Iron Works,
807
552 Fulton Iron & Engine Works, 807
553 Michigan Malleable Iron Co., 808
554 Michel's Wood Working Machinery Fac- tory, 808
555 Detroit Safe Co.'s Works, 809
556 Detroit Iron and Brass Co.'s Works, 810
787
788
789 789
789
790 790
791
791
532 Stores of T. H. Hinchman & Sons, 787
533 Store of Dwyer & Vhay,
534 Stores of W. J. Gould & Co.,
527 Stores of Heavenrich Bros.,
564 National Pin Co.'s Factory,
512 Seed Warehouse of D. M. Ferry & Co., 775 776
xlvi
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
PAGE 872
602 State Savings Bank,
603 Office of Detroit Fire & Marine Insurance Company. 873
604 Office of Michigan Mutual Life Insurance Company,
874 882
605 The Post Office 606 Railroad Ferry Dock. 890 607 Detroit & Milwaukee Depot in 1865,
894 896
608 Fac-simile of M. C. R. R. Ticket in 1838,
609 Original Michigan Central Freight Depot, 610 Old Depot Buildings of Michigan Central Railroad on Third Street, 899
611 New Michigan Central Depot, 900
613 Double Railroad Bridge at Baker and Fifteenth Streets 905
614 Jefferson Avenue Railroad Bridge. 906
615 Fac-simile of Collector's Entry on arrival of the Walk-in-the-Water, 909
616 General Office of the Detroit & Cleveland Steam Navigation Company, 911
617 Docks and Yard of the Detroit Dry Dock Company, 912
898 618 Iron Ship-building Docks of the Detroit Dry Dock Company, at Wyandotte, 913
619 The Ferry-boat Argo, 916
620 Government Storehouse - Light-house Department. 920
612 First Locomotive in the West and old Passenger Car, 902 621 The Marine Hospital, 923
PART I. LOCALITY.
-
CHAPTER I.
DETROIT : ITS NAMES, LOCATION, AND SURROUNDINGS.
NAMES.
AMERICA has but few cities that can properly be called old. Detroit is one of these, and its his- tory is unique and peculiarly interesting. Before New York, New Orleans, Philadelphia, or Boston was settled, and long before the time of Oliver Crom- well, the Sieur de Champlain had nearly reached our border, and the Indians had described our site. The city was founded before Peter the Great had built St. Petersburg.
When Cadillac came the East India Company and the South Sea Bubble had not been heard of, and there was not a newspaper or a post-office in the United States. The first colony here established was like a bit of France in the wilds of the New World, and no city in the Eastern States, and but one or two in the South and West, have anything in common with our earlier life. Some of the old records read like a page of Froissart, and visions of mediaval scenes and pictures of savage life are strangely intermingled in the records of our past. Cradled in romance, nurtured in war, and trained in the school of conservatism, the city now glories in her position as the most attractive and most sub- stantial of all the cities whose traditions reach back to the days of the "Grand Monarch." Like some old castle on the Loire, with cresting, tile, and finial added to the ancient towers and moss-grown bat- tlements, so Detroit stands, a proud relic of the past, graced and crowned with all the gifts of the present. Even in its names, it is favored above most cities. At different times it has been desig- nated by no less than six distinct appellations, and has had three different corporate names.
In the old traditions of the Algonquin Indians, it was known by the name of Yon-do-ti-ga, or Yon-do- ti-a, A Great Village ; its first name was thus pro- phetic of its future. It was also called Wa-we-a- tun-ong, Circuitous Approach, on account of its location at the bend of the river. The Wyandotts called the site of Detroit Toghsaghrondie, or Tysch- sarondia, which name, variously spelled, will be
found in the old Colonial Documents, published by the State of New York ; it has been modernized into Teuchsa Grondie, and has reference to the course of the river. The Huron Indians called the place Ka-ron-ta-en, The Coast of the Strait.
When first settled, the location received the name of Fort Pontchartrain, in honor of Count Pontchar- train, the then French Colonial Minister of Marine. As the number of inhabitants increased, and the settlement grew into a village, it received its present name from the word detroit, or strait. Its popular cognomen, the City of the Straits, is thence derived.
It is an interesting fact that the name of the oldest city in the Canadian Dominion and the first capital of that region, the place from which Cadillac and the first settlers came hither, is derived from the Algonquin word quebeis or quelibec, signifying a strait ; the cities of Detroit and Quebec thus bear names similar in origin and signification.
The early French colonists applied the name Detroit to the settlements on both sides of the river, calling one North Detroit, the other South Detroit. It is also known that early French travelers desig- nated all of the waters between Lakes Erie and Huron as the detroit. This generalization has led several modern authors into the error of locating events here that really occurred on the river Ste. Claire.
The city's corporate names have been as follows : By Act of January 18, 1802, it was designated as the "Town of Detroit." By Act of October 24, 1815, it was called the "City of Detroit." On April 4, 1827, it was enacted that the corporate name should be " The Mayor, Recorder, and Aldermen of .the City of Detroit." On February 5, 1857, it was enacted that the name should be "City of Detroit."
LOCATION.
The city is located near the head of the river, on its northerly and westerly banks. The eastern boundary is about four miles from Lake Ste. Claire and the western, nearly twenty miles from Lake
[3]
4
LOCATION-SURROUNDINGS.
Erie. The river separates the British Province of Ontario, formerly Upper Canada, from the State of Michigan, County of Wayne. The city is bounded on the north by the townships of Greenfield and Hamtramck, on the east by Hamtramck, and on the west by the township of Springwells. Reckoning from the flagstaff on the City Hall tower, Detroit lies in latitude 42° 19' 50.28" north ; and longitude 83° 2' 47.63" west of Greenwich, England, and 5º 59' 45.83" west of Washington, D. C. Our time is therefore 23 minutes 59.06 seconds slower than that of Washington. Rome and Constantinople are in nearly the same latitude, and Havana and Calcutta are longitudinally in the same range. Upon a globe the city appears as opposite the northwest corner of the Chinese Empire, and on an air line, it is about one thousand miles northeast of New Orleans, or the Gulf of Mexico, and seven hundred miles west of New York and the Atlantic Coast.
The older portions of the city, including all south of Adams Avenue, are built on a succession of ridges running parallel with the river, their general direction being from east to west. Counting from the river to Adams Avenue, there were at least four ridges. At the corner of Woodward and Jefferson Avenues the ground is twenty-two feet above the river. From Woodward Avenue the ground slopes gradually away to the west until, at Second Street, the roadway is on a level with the wharves. An- other ridge is shown at Fort Street. It crossed Woodward Avenue and extended beyond Farmer Street. The third ridge was just south of the Grand Circus; and in 1885 the property of H. H. Le Roy, on the west side of Woodward Avenue, showed that the street at that point had been graded down nearly four feet. At High Street, and again at Fremont Street, the rise of ground is quite notice- able. At the Holden Road the elevation is fully fifty-two feet above the river.
" Beautiful for situation," the city wins the praises of all who look upon it. No one has more faithfully portrayed its appearance, and the feelings of a visi- tor, than Mrs. Jameson. She says :
The day has been most intolerably hot; even on the lake there was not a breath of air. But as the sun went down in his glory, the breeze freshened, and the spires and towers of the city of Detroit were seen against the western sky.
The schooners at anchor, or dropping into the river, the little canoes flitting across from side to side, the lofty buildings, the enormous steamers, the noisy port and busy streets, all bathed in the light of a sunset such as I had never seen, not even in Italy, almost turned me giddy with excitement.
Since her visit in 1837, the city has both gained and lost in beauty. The old pear-trees no longer form a setting to the houses of white and red, and the tints of gray and brown have mostly disap- peared. Rarer architecture now looms amid the
trees and richer coloring greets the eye, and those who come to see, linger to admire.
SURROUNDINGS.
In the adjoining township of Hamtramck, several elegant residences are located on the river-side. Belle Isle lies in front, and opportunities for boating are unsurpassed. The new City Water Works, with receiving basins, substantial engine-houses, and other buildings, are in the extreme eastern corner. Here also are Linden Park, the Driving Park, and the German Shooting Grounds, and Milwaukee Railroad Junction. The villages of Leeville and Norris are also within the township limits. This latter suburb is about six miles from the city. It was laid out in August, 1873, by Colonel P. W. Norris, after whom it is named. He purchased the grounds in 1865. The village is located about thirty feet above the forks of Connor's Creek, on gently undulating ground; the soil is dry and sandy, but very fer- tile. Prairie Mound, once a favorite haunt of the Indians, and one of their burial-places, is in full view of the village.
An abundant supply of good well-water is easily reached. All the streets and avenues are seventy feet wide ; one is one hundred feet wide and extends to Woodward Avenue. A large Orphan Asylum, controlled by the Lutheran Church, is here located. Near the village is the crossing and station of the Bay City and Grand Trunk railroads.
The township of Springwells, on the southwest boundary of Detroit, contains several large nurser- ies and extensive brick-yards, the village of Delray, the Detroit Glass Works, and Woodmere Cemetery.
The shore line of Grosse Pointe township, which joins Hamtramck on the north, is washed by the clear blue waters of Lake Ste. Claire. The Acad- emy of the Sacred Heart, and the elegant club- house and grounds of the Grosse Pointe Club are here located and there are many elegant residences along the shores of the Lake. The macadamized driveway thither is one of the finest to be found anywhere. There are the beginnings of several villages on the Lake, and the region is now and will always remain the most desirable and attrac- tive suburb that Detroit can possess.
As a yachting resort, Lake Sainte Claire possesses manifest advantages. Its limited area, twenty- eight miles in length, and twenty-five in breadth, its shallowness and exemption from heavy seas or storms, its proximity to a large city, and to numer- ous favorite places of resort, attract from the west- ern lakes many sail and steam craft, and among them may occasionally be noticed a stranger from the Atlantic yacht clubs, which has found its way up the St. Lawrence.
The temperature of the water is almost too cold
SURROUNDINGS.
5
for bathing, except during the extreme hot weather of July and August ; but, nevertheless, the young people avail themselves of it freely during the season, its sandy bottom, shallowness, and the absence of dangerous holes or currents, permitting the young- est children to paddle about with comparative ex- emption from danger. A lighthouse, on what is
known as Windmill Point, marks the entrance of the river into the lake, and is the chief landmark of the vicinity.
The township of Greenfield adjoins the city on the north. Here is the immense seed farm of D. M. Ferry & Company, embracing three hundred acres.
GROSSE POINTE.
CHAPTER II.
THE RIVER, ISLANDS, WHARVES AND DOCKS, STREAMS AND MILLS.
THE RIVER.
LONDON has its Thames, Paris, the Seine, Rome, the Tiber, and New York, the Hudson; but in everything the Detroit excels them all. It is no wonder that the first visitors came by water when such a stream flowed by them and beckoned them along. All the early travelers bore testimony to the beauty of the river and the volume of its waters, which the population of a score of the largest cities cannot diminish or defile. Then as now islands, like emeralds, were strung along its way, and myriads of wild fowl then fed upon its shores; its waters did not "dash high on a stern and rock-bound coast," but were so still and calm and clear that the smoke of wigwams, nestled on their banks, was mirrored on their smooth surface. Scores of canoes were hauled up on the river-side, while others flashed along the current or plied to either shore. Later on, windmills stretched their broad arms to the breeze, and, with fish-nets hung on reels, formed the landmarks of their day.
The Detroit River is undoubtedly one of the most remarkable in the world. It forms a natural bound- ary between the United States and Upper Canada, separating the State of Michigan from the Province of Ontario; the boundary line opposite Detroit is about midway of the stream, and for most of the distance nearest the Canadian shore. The United States thus has jurisdiction over the larger portion. It was declared to be a public highway by Act of Congress on December 31, 1819. From Windmill Point Light, at the foot of Lake Ste. Claire, to Bar Point, where the river empties into Lake Erie, the distance is 27 miles, 1515 yards. . The distances between other established points are as follows : From Windmill Point Light to foot of Isle La Pêche, 1534 yards ; from Isle La Pêche to foot of Belle Isle, 3 miles, 254 yards; from Belle Isle to Woodward Avenue, 2 miles, 347 yards ; from Woodward Avenue to head of Fighting Island, 7 miles, 780 yards ; from Fighting Island to Bois Blanc Lighthouse, II miles, 640 yards ; from Bois Blanc Lighthouse to Bar Point, 2 miles, 1480 yards.
The greatest width of the river is three miles; in its narrowest point, opposite the city, it is a little over half a mile wide. Its average width is one
mile. The depth varies from ten to sixty feet, with an average of thirty-four feet. The river bottom, for the most part, is sandy or stony. It is navigable for vessels of the largest class, is almost entirely free from obstructions of any sort, and offers one of ¡the largest and safest harbors in the world. Lon- don is the largest port, but more tonnage passes Detroit than ever enters the Thames.
The waters of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, and St. Clair, of Green, Saginaw, and Georgian Bays, also of thousands of streams that enter them, flow into the Detroit. It is, in fact, the natural drain or channel for the passage of waters from eighty-two thousand square miles of lake surface, and one hundred and twenty-five thousand square miles of land, thus rivalling the Ohio, which is more than forty times as long.
The current is rapid and generally uniform; the maximum velocity is 2.44 miles per hour, the mean velocity, 1.79 miles. It is estimated that two hun- dred and twelve thousand cubic feet of water pass the city each second of time.
There are but few streams in the world that rival the Detroit in purity and in amount of water dis- charged. The incline amounts to one and one- half inches per mile, or three feet for its entire length. The elevation above sea-level, at a point opposite the Marine Hospital, is five hundred and seventy-seven feet. The river is not generally frozen over until the latter part of December or January ; but in extreme cold weather the ice is from twelve to twenty inches thick.
Previous to 1854, persons and teams frequently crossed over on the ice ; and on February 10, 1855, the river was so completely frozen that a little shanty was erected in the middle, in which liquors were sold.
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