USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. I > Part 33
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"Section 6. And he it further enacted, That freeholders, householders and residents aforesaid of the said Town shall, at their annual meeting, have the power and authority to vote such sum or sums of money as a majority of such votes present may think proper, to be raised for the use of the said Town for the ensuing year, which sum or sums of money so voted shall be assessed by the assessor in such manner, upon such objects and in such proportion as shall be agreed upon by a majority of such meeting and shall be collected by the collector at such times, and be paid and disposed of in such manner as the board of trustees shall direct ; and the said collector shall have the same power to compel payment as is or shall be given to county collectors for the collection of county rates and levies.
"Section 7. And be it further enacted, That the board of trustees shall have the power of filling all vacancies that may happen in any of the offices herein established and made elective, and the appointment so made shall con- tinue valid until the next annual meeting and no longer ; and it shall be lawful for the board of trustees to appoint such other subordinate officers as they may think necessary, and who are not hereinbefore mentioned, and to fix and estab- lish from time to time such fees to the assessor, collector, marshal and other subordinate officers of the corporation, and to impose such fines for the refusing to accept such offices, and for neglect and misconduct in the same, as to them shall seem necessary and proper.
"And it shall be lawful for the chairman, with the advice and consent of any three of the trustees, at any time, to call a meeting of the inhabitants of
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the said Town, for the purpose of obtaining a vote for the raising of any sum or sums of money that may be deemed necessary to be raised for the use of the said Town; and the said board of trustees shall have the sole right of lieensing and regulating taverns, ale-houses, and other publie houses of enter- tainment within the said Town. Provided, That all fees established or to be established, and which shall arise from licenses aforesaid, shall be established by the court of general quarter sessions and paid into the county treasury, to and for the use of said county, and the treasurer of the said board of trustees shall receive, account for and pay over the same, within thirty days after re- eeiving the same, into the county treasury.
"Section 8. And be it further enacted, That if any person shall think him or herself aggrieved by an officer or individual of said board, it shall be lawful for such person to appeal to the court of general quarter sessions of the peace, who are hereby authorized to hear and examine into such complaint, and to grant such relief therein as to them shall be thought proper.
"Section 9. And be it further enacted, That the secretary of the said board shall keep a book wherein he shall enter in a fair hand and at length, all and singular laws, regulations, and ordinances, rules and other business which shall be made, done and transacted by the board of trustees, and shall carefully preserve the same with all other papers belonging to the said corporation, and the same deliver over, whole and undefaced, to his successor in office; which books and papers shall at all times be opened for the inspection of the members of the said corporation, and it shall be his further duty to give eopies and ex- tracts when required by a member, for which he shall be entitled to take and receive reasonable fees, to be established by the said board.
"Section 10. And be it further enacted, That the said corporation be allowed the privilege and benefit of the common prison of the said county for the imprisonment of delinquents and offenders against the laws, ordinances, rules and regulations that shall be made and adopted in pursuanee of the authority given by this act to the board of trustees for the good government of the said town. Provided, that no person shall be imprisoned under the authority of this act for a longer time than forty days.
"Section 11. And be it further enacted, That John Askin, senior, John Dodemead, James Henry, Charles Francis Girardin, and Joseph Campau be, and they are hereby appointed trustees, Peter Audrain, secretary, Robert Ab- bott, assessor, Jacob Clemens, collector, and Elias Wallen, marshal, to hold their respective offices and to perform and execute the duties thereunto appertaining until the first stated meeting of the inhabitants of the said town, as herein- before directed, and until their sneeessors shall have taken the oaths prescribed and no longer. And the said officers shall respectively take the oath herein- before prescribed before they enter upon the duties of their respective offices.
"Section 12. And be it further enacted, That nothing in this act contained shall be so construed as to prevent any further legislature of this territory from making any alteration, amendments, or from repealing this act, in whole or in part, at their pleasure. This act to take effect and be in foree from and after the first day of February next.
"Edward Tiffin, Speaker of the House of Representatives. "Robert Oliver,
President of the Council.
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CITY OF DETROIT
"Approved the eighteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and two (1802).
"Arthur St. Clair,
Governor of the Territory of the United States Northwest of the Ohio."
The first meeting of the board of trustees was held on Tuesday, February 9, 1802, at which time James Henry was chosen as chairman of the board and John Dodemead was elected treasurer. Mr. Askin was not an American citizen and did not serve. Girardin and Wallen were absent from home at the time; James Peltier was made messenger for the trustees.
On February 15. 1802, a public meeting of the householders was held at the courthouse. The organic act was read, first in English and then in French, and addresses were made by some of the leading citizens, explaining the duty of the residents toward the new town government.
At a meeting of the trustees on February 23, 1802, the first ordinance was introduced. It prescribed "Regulations for securing Detroit from injuries by fires," and was passed at another meeting two days later. On April 17, 1802, the first town tax was levied by vote of the trustees and at the same meeting an ordinance was passed regulating the size and price of loaves of bread.
TOWN ELECTIONS
At the first municipal election on May 3, 1802, all the officers named in the act of incorporation were elected except John Askin, who was succeeded on the board of trustees by George Meldrum, and Jacob Clemens, collector, who was succeeded by William Smith. Smith immediately resigned, however, and Conrad Seek was appointed in his place by the trustees. At the first meeting of the trustees after the election, James Henry and John Dodemead were continued in their offices of chairman and treasurer.
The second annual election, held May 3, 1803, resulted in the choice of Robert Abbott, Elijah Brush, Charles Curry, James May and Dr. William Scott as trustees; Peter Audrain, secretary; Thomas McCrae, assessor : John Bentley, collector; and Richard Smythe, marshal. James May was named as chairman of the board and Robert Abbott, treasurer.
The election of May 7, 1804, resulted in the selection of the following named officers: James Abbott, Frederick Bates, Henry Berthelet. Solomon Sibley and Joseph Wilkinson, trustees: Peter Audrain, secretary; John Watson, assessor; Peter Desnoyers, collector; Thomas McCrae, marshal. Solomon Sibley was chosen chairman of the board and Robert Abbott was continued as treasurer. On August 6, 1804, Jean Baptiste Piquette was appointed to fill a vacancy caused by the absence of Robert Abbott and on December 3, 1804, John Connor was appointed marshal in place of Thomas McCrae, "who has left the country."
The last officers elected under the act of 1802 were chosen on May 6, 1805, and were as follows: James Abbott, Frederick Bates, Dr. William Brown, Joseph Wilkinson and Jolm Williams, trustees; Peter Audrain, secretary ; John Watson, assessor: Jean Baptiste Piquette, collector; John Connor, marshal. The new board met on May 11th and organized by electing Joseph Wilkinson as chairman and James Abbott as treasurer. Louis Peltier was appointed messenger and John Connor clerk of the market and police officer.
The sessions of the town board of trustees were held continuously from 1802 until May, 1805. At this last meeting, after the transaction of business,
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they adjourned until June 3d. There is no evidence of any meeting of that date, but the board never met again. From the time of the fire until the City of Detroit was organized in 1806 the only governing power was that of the governor and judges, more of which is narrated later.
FIRE OF 1805
On June 11, 1805, occurred the great fire which completely destroyed the Village of Detroit. a disaster so complete as utterly to change the political aspect of the community as well as the physical appearance. At the risk of destroy- ing the continuity of this chapter, the general description of the fire is given here.
The fire was started by a careless laborer in the employ of John Harvey, a baker: this individual, while harnessing the horses in a small stable located on Ste. Anne Street, dropped sparks from his pipe into the loose hay, which soon was in flames. This was shortly before nine o'clock in the morning and by mid-afternoon the entire village was consumed, with the exception of a ware- honse outside the pickets and a few old buildings in what was known as the "shipyard," located on the river front at about the foot of the present Wood- ward Avenue. Some of the written descriptions of the fire at the time are interesting and are here copied. The first is an article from the Intelligencer of August 7, 1805, which was unsigned :
"The distress and confusion we have experienced for these two days past has deranged every species of business. The town of Detroit exists no longer. It was reduced to ashes on the 11th inst. The fire broke out in a stable, in the western part of the town, about half past 9 in the morning and raged to that degree that not one dwelling house was standing within the pickets by one o'clock P. M., notwithstanding the wind was light and blew from the west, and Mr. McIntosh and May's house was to the windward, they could not be saved. The loss is immense and I fear from the want of resources, irreparable. I am among the few who for our situation were able to save our memorable effects. No lives were lost. I believe history does not furnish so complete a ruin, happening by accident, and in so short a space of time. All is amazement and confusion."
Rev. John Dilhet, a Roman Catholic clergyman, wrote the following aecount of the fire :
"I was occupied with Mr. Richard when a messenger eame to inform us that three houses had already been consumed, and that there was no hope of saving the rest. I exhorted the faithful who were present to help caeh other, and immediately commenced the celebration of low mass, after which we had barely time to remove the vestments and furniture of the church, with the effects of the adjoining presbytery, when both buildings were enveloped in the flames.
"In the course of three hours, from 9 o'clock till noon, nothing was to be seen of the city except a mass of burning coals, and chimney tops stretching like pyramids in the air. Fortunately there was no wind during the conflagra- tion : this allowed the flames and smoke to ascend to a prodigious height, giving the city the appearance of an immense funeral pile. It was the most majestic, and at the same time the most frightful spectacle I ever witnessed. The city contained .at least one hundred and fifty houses, mostly frame, which caused the fire to spread with the utmost rapidity. The number of people in the town being unusnally large, there was ample force for removing the merchandise and
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furniture of the inhabitants, which were in a great measure saved. No personal injury was sustained during the fire."
The last statement of Dilhet is in error, as shown by an item in the appro- priation bill of December 8, 1806, that not over $20.25 was to be paid Catherine Lasselle for "nursing a child crippled by the conflagration of the 11th of June." Other injuries and items of interest are contained in the following letter written by Robert Munro :
"Detroit, June 14, 1805.
"Sir,-
"I have the painful task to inform you of the entire conflagration of the Town of Detroit. About 10 o'clock on Tuesday last a stable, immediately opposite the factory, was discovered on fire. The first intimation I had of it was the flames bursting through the doors and windows of the house; I im- mediately gave the alarm, and with great exertion saved my papers, and about two-thirds of the goods of the factory; my private property was entirely con- sumed.
"In less than two hours the whole town was in flames, and before 3 o'clock not a vestige of a house (except the chimneys) visible within the limits of De- troit. The citadel and military stores were entirely consumed, and the furniture belonging to the estate of Colonel Hamtramck shared nearly the same fate; the china is the only thing I can mention to be the contrary.
"I have removed the factory goods to the shipyard, and am now fixing a place to arrange them for disposal, agreeable to the original intention of the establishment, and I will speedily forward a statement of the loss that has been sustained. The situation of the inhabitants is deplorable beyond description ; dependence, want, and misery is the situation of the former inhabitants of the Town of Detroit. Provisions are furnished by contributions, but houses cannot be obtained.
"Mr. Dodemead lives in a corner of the public storehouse at the shipyard ; Mr. Donavan with his family have gone to Sandwich; and Mr. Andrain, with many others, occupy the small honse below Mr. May's. A number of families are scattered over the commons without any protection or shelter.
"I have been very much bruised and hurt by my exertion to save the prop- erty. My right arm particularly is so swelled that I can hardly hold the pen to write these few lines, and my mind is equally affected with the distressing scenes I have witnessed for the last three days."
In the Intelligencer of September 6, 1805, appeared an article under the caption of "The Conflagration of Detroit." This description follows :
"This event happened on the 11th of June last. The flames commenced about 9 o'clock in the morning and within four hours the whole town was laid in ashes. Only two or three buildings, of little value, situated in the borders, were preserved. About three hundred edifices, of all kinds, were consumed, among which were nearly an hundred dwelling houses, the church, several stores, the citadel, with officers' and soldiers' barracks, contractors' stores, United States store, etc. The new fort and barracks, called Fort Lernault, a little back of the town, were not greatly endangered, and the old Block house, at the south end, escaped. In a word, all the space enclosed within picquets, and denomi- nated the town, presents nothing but a heap of ruins, consisting of naked chim- nies and cinders.
"The rapidity of the destruction was perhaps unprecedented, but will not
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appear surprising to anyone previously acquainted with the place. The buildings were mostly old, all of wood, and dry as tinder-extremely crowded together on an area of about three aeres-the streets very narrow (the widest not ex- eeeding twenty feet), intersecting rectangularly at small distances-and every square completely covered with combustibles. This mode of building the town originated, not merely for want of taste in the ancient settlers, but from the necessity of defense in war, as this settlement has for a long time been a frontier peculiarly exposed to danger from the natives, and far removed from the means of external succour. It has been found necessary, till very lately, to keep the piequets enclosing the town in repair, besides being under the protection of the common of an adjoining fort and block house.
"The town was furnished with but one fire engine, which, with the prompt assistance of the troops formerly stationed here, has been sufficient to extinguish occasional fires upon their first appearance ; but at present the troops at this station are few and the want of aid from that source was severely felt on the late oceasion.
"By what means the fire was kindled, whether by aceident or design, is un- certain-there are various conjectures, but no decided opinion.
"It began in a stable near the United States store, on the southwest quarter, a light breeze blowing from the south. Its progress against and athwart the wind was astonishing, but in the direction of it the blaze darted with nearly the celerity of lightning, and reached the opposite extremity of the town in a very few moments. The fire in no part had diminished till the whole was in a blaze, and one immense mass of flame was presented to the eye, having the appearance of proceeding from one building of vast extent. The streets became impassable as the fire progressed, being filled from side to side with an im- penetrable column of smoke and flame, which, wafted by the current of air through the north and south streets, streamed to a great distance beyond the limits of the houses. To the distant spectator, and to the wretched inhabitants, 'who after a short lapse of time could be no more than spectators, the scene was at once sublime and painful. exceeding in awful grandeur perhaps almost any spectacle of the kind which has happened since the world began. It was fort- unate that the catastrophe did not take plaee in the night, as there must have been a greater destruction of goods and effects and unquestionably of some lives. No lives were lost, but one person (a poor woman) was badly injured. Means have been taken to ascertain correetly the amount of losses in property, and progress has been made so far as to place it beyond a doubt that they ex- ceed one hundred and thirty thousand dollars, probably reaching near one hun- dred and fifty thousand dollars.
"The conflagration took place at a time of day that the inhabitants were generally near their homes, and were enabled to save more of their movable effects than could have been expected in so short a time as was allowed them; great quantities, however, fell a sacrifice, and individuals whose estates con- sisted in buildings, were in one day reduced from eligible circumstances to poverty. There is no citizen but who has suffered more or less.
"At present the people are scattered up and down the settlement, erowding the houses even to overflowing, occupying hovels and everything having the shape of an edifice, and several families are encamped in booths upon the publie common and the highways. The sufferings of the people in the ensuing winter must inevitably be great. We tremble to anticipate them. Hemmed in on every
TAILOR
HORSE SPO ENG
SOUTHWEST CORNER GRISWOLD STREET AND LAFAYETTE BOULEVARD IN 1873
M.S. SMITHALO
PRINTING.
ST. ANDREWS HALL, 1882, SOUTHWEST CORNER STATE AND WOODWARD
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side by the wilderness, in some directions interminable, and in others extending too great a distance to admit of being passed by an impoverished people, they are restricted to the settlement, narrow in its extent, with indifferent cultiva- tions, and the houses in bad repair. Not a farm is cultivated one mile from the river bank, nor a building erected. There the wilderness commences and extends to the western ocean. The settlement up and down the bank of the river is but a few miles in extent, and taken up by farmers, who have no room to spare in their dwellings and raise barely a sufficiency for the supply of their own wants. The houseless sufferers have little time, and still less means, to provide new accommodations for themselves before the approach of the cold season.
"Provisions of every kind are at an excessively high price. Thus circum- stanced, what can be before these miserable people but a winter of rigorous suffering! If credit and charity should furnish them with food, yet there can- not be shelter and covering sufficient for their comfort. Applications for relief are sent and are sending to various parts of the United States and Canada, which it is hoped and believed will not be sent in vain."
In a letter to James Madison, secretary of state, dated August 3, 1805, Gov- ernor Hull wrote:
"On my arrival (July 1st) every house was crowded, and it was more than a week before I could obtain the least accommodation. I am now in small farmer's house about a mile above the ruins, and must satisfy myself to remain in this situation during the next winter, at least."
Food was scarce and the country was scoured to supply the sufferers. Ap- peals for aid were sent in every direction and one of the most liberal donors was the sister city of Montreal. In order to provide houses for the coming winter great efforts were made to increase the supply of lumber from Black River at the present Port Huron. The lumber supply came from that place and indeed it was rumored that the persons who were interested in Iumbering were the ones who started the fire that consumed the village. Governor Hull, in a letter to James Madison dated August 3, 1805, states his sound belief in this theory. There were no large sawmills, such as were built in later days, and the sawing was done by hand. But there were other timbers cut and hewn that were floated down the river to build a new city on a more extensive scale.
It was a fortunate thing for the future great city that the little village was so completely destroyed on that June day in 1805. The former village was now a ruin and the old picket line was leveled. The fire made it possible to enlarge the boundaries and rebuild on a larger scale, with wider streets and public squares and parks.
THE GOVERNOR AND JUDGES
At this juncture, through a strange combination of circumstances, there came into existence a form of government over the Town of Detroit which closely approached an autocracy, a type of ruling power unlike that of any other in the history of municipalities in the United States. This was the rule of the governor and judges.
The governor and judges came into being with the creation of the Terri- tory of Michigan by the act of January 11, 1805. On March 1st following, President Jefferson appointed the following officers for the new territory : William Hull, governor; Stanley Griswold, secretary; Augustus Brevoort Wood-
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ward, Frederick Bates and Samuel Huntington, judges. The latter declined, and John Griffin was appointed in his place.
It so happened that on the day following the fire, June 12, 1805, some of these territorial officials arrived in Detroit and found everything in a state of chaos. Despite the fact that these territorial officials had no legal governing power over the village, they immediately assumed an authority which totally disregarded the village board of trustees. This usurpation of power continued unhindered under the conditions. The actual records of the governor and judges do not begin until September, 1806, a year later, and the history of the events which transpired in the interval is somewhat indefinite.
Immediately after the fire, the inhabitants set about preparing a plan for the rehabilitation of the village, the repossession of their home lots and the acquisition of lots on the public commons. A public meeting was held on the commons, July 1, 1805, and the citizens adopted a tentative plan for a new town modeled after the one destroyed, in addition to which a portion of the commons was to be subdivided into lots. Judges Woodward and Bates, who were present, sensing the undesirable features of this scheme, persuaded the people to defer the final approval of such a plan until the arrival of the gov- ernor, Hull. The governor arrived on the evening of the same day. A letter written by him August 3rd states :
"After a conversation with the judges .it was determined to attempt to con- vince the proprietors of the impropriety of their proceedings. * *
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