USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. I > Part 42
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The Detroit United Railway corporation is the possessor of all the cap- ital stock of the Detroit & Port Huron Shore Line Railway, the Sandwich, Windsor & Amherstburg Railway, the Detroit, Monroe & Toledo Short Line Railway, and the Detroit, Jackson & Chicago Railway. The corporation owns a track mileage of approximately nine hundred and thirty miles. Over 500,- 000,000 passengers are carried every year.
MOTORBUS SERVICE
In 1919 there was incorporated under the laws of Michigan the Detroit Motorbus Company, which was designed to operate double-deck motor- busses as passenger carriers upon the streets of Detroit. These large busses, similar in type to those made famous by New York City, each has a seating capacity of forty-eight people. The company, which started with an author- ized capital stock of $1,500,000 (150,000 shares of common stock at $10 per
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share), inaugurated its service on Jefferson Avenue on June 11, 1920, with eight motorbusses, since which time the running service has been extended to Cass and Second Avenues, John R Street, Grand Boulevard, West, Drexel Boule- vard, and Lafayette, West. New motorbusses are constantly added to the com- pany's "fleet" as fast as the demand increases. Over two and a half millions of people were carried during the first six months of the company's existence.
CHAPTER XVI FIRE AND POLICE DEPARTMENTS
BY WILLIAM STOCKING
THE TWO DEPARTMENTS THAT MAKE FOR SECURITY AND ORDER-EARLY PRE- CAUTIONS AGAINST FIRE-THE FIRST FIRE ENGINES-OLD FIRE DEPARTMENT AND HALLS- MODERN METHODS INTRODUCED-THE FIRST POLICE PATROLS AND WATCH-SOME PRIMITIVE METHODS-A MODERN DEPARTMENT ESTAB- LISHED.
The danger from fire was one of the earliest and most constant worries of the early settlers of Detroit. Two attempts of Indians to burn the fort and town and the fire of 1805 which wiped out the latter, emphasized the peril. A grand jury in 1796 made presentment that they conceived it necessary for the safety of the publie that regulations should be established for the prevention of accidental fires, mentioned two chimneys which were insufficient and "pre- sented" their owners and also declared that the chimney on the court house was equally "insufficient." In 1802 an ordinance was adopted requiring that all chimneys should be swept every two weeks between October and April, and every four weeks the rest of the year, under penalty of $5 fine for neglect.
If a chimney caught fire the fine was $10. The ordinance also required that every householder and shopkeeper should keep on his premises two bags holding three bushels each for carrying out goods in case of fire; to keep in his house where it would not freeze a light barrel filled with water, and to keep two hand buckets and a ladder for each chimney. The barrels were fitted with handles or ears and by means of poles each barrel could be carried by two men. Every householder was required to turn out on the first alarm of fire and to send barrel or buckets to the scene of the conflagration. The penalty for fail- ure to turn out was fine of $2 or two weeks in jail, and that for failure to send equipment was a fine of $5. Complaints were frequent that the ordinance was not obeyed, and fines furnished quite an income. It is noted that on one occasion three of the town trustees, their secretary and the assessor were all fined. The mode of procedure in ease of fire was to form two lines from the river to the burning building, passing the buckets of water up one line and the empties back to the river by the other. There were two elements of weak- ness in this method. A good deal of the water slopped over in transit and un- less the line was formed before the fire had much headway, no one could get near enough to reach it with the contents of the buckets. In the latter case the energies of the department were devoted to the protection of adjacent build- ings by flooding them with water.
THE FIRST FIRE ENGINES
The system broke down completely in the fire of 1805, but there was no great change in the regulations until 1811 and no very efficient organization
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MUNICIPAL BUILDING, CLINTON AND RAYNOR STREETS, 1890
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till 1816, when an old engine formerly belonging to Commodore Perry's flag ship was purchased, and three squads of men were organized. They consisted of twelve householders as axe men; six to man battering rams provided for de- molishing buildings, and twenty-four hook and ladder men. Two years later the organization took another form with fourteen regular fire engine men, eleven axe men and fourteen bag men, each division being under a captain of its own. In 1819 the people voted a tax levy for the purchase of a more mod- ern fire engine, but the purchase was not made until six years later when the famous "Protection" came to the city. This was the pride of the department, remained in the service for thirty years, and after that occupied an honored place in Fourth of July celebrations and firemen's parades. It was the organ- izing engine for six different companies, changing each time its name and loca- tion. It was the custom of the common council when the growth of the city called for an addition to the fire department, to give the newly purchased and consequently more efficient engine to one of the centrally located companies, while the old machine found its way to the outer wards. Here it was some- what repaired, dressed with a new coat of paint, changed its name without legislative enactment, and became the pride of a new fire company. The old company, "Protection No. 1," retained its organization and name, and its status as a downtown company until, upon the advent of the steam fire engine and the organization of paid companies in 1860, the old fire department dis- banded. In 1827 Eagle Company No. 2 was organized; six years later came Wolverine Company No. 3.
On April 27, 1837, occurred the second disastrous fire, which started on Woodward Avenue near the dock and spread to Bates Street, destroying fifty- six buildings. This fire caused a great deal of excitement, and much news- paper discussion. Not a few claimed that it could have been extinguished in a single hour had the firemen endeavored to accomplish such a desirable end. The firemen, in a communication inserted in a daily paper and addressed to the citizens, declared that they were powerless to extinguish the fire sooner. They had but three engines, and one of these was comparatively useless for want of hose.
This discussion resulted beneficially, for a fourth engine, Lafayette No. 4, was added to the department, and the "Hurlbut Hose Company" and "Res- cue Hook, Ladder and Axe Company" were formed and equipped.
OLD FIRE DEPARTMENT AND HALLS
The fire companies drew to their membership many of the most promi- nent, citizens. Anson Burlingame, then a resident of Detroit, was for years an active member of Lafayette No. 4. The names of Zachariah Chandler, Wil- liam R. Noyes, William B. Wesson and Eben N. Wilcox appear on the same roll, while James A. Van Dyke, Henry M. Roby, John Owen, Chauncey Hurl- but, George L. Whitney and Peter E. DeMill were prominent members of other companies. The companies became socially attractive, departmental spirit was aroused and closer organization followed naturally. In 1839 the first firemen's hall was opened at the corner of Larned and Bates Streets. The lower floor was occupied by Protection Company No. 1, Hurlbut Hose Com- pany No. 1, and a hook and ladder and axe company. The hall on the sec- ond floor became a center of social and educational activity. It was also used for common council meetings, and in 1852 for a school.
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In January, 1840, another forward step was taken in the organization of "The Fire Department" under a charter granted by the legislature. The de- partment was a Tontine insurance organization, which insurance corpora- tion eventually met its fate before the Supreme Court. Its constitution and by-laws set forth that they were designed for the more perfect organization of the department, and to provide for the relief and maintenance of disabled and indigent firemen and their families. The officers of the association were to consist of a president, vice president, secretary, treasurer and collector, to be chosen at the annual meeting on the third Monday of January. Robert E. Roberts was the first president and in the list of those subsequently hold- ing that position appear the honored names of John Owen, Chauncey Hurlbut, James A. Van Dyke, Eben N. Wilcox, John Patton, Benjamin Vernor, Stanley G. Wight and others of the same type.
The organization soon outgrew the hall on Larned Street and in 1849 paid all the money in the treasury for a lot at the southwest corner of Jefferson Avenue and Randolph Street. This was the site of the old Indian council house, which was burned in the great fire of May 9. 1848. The new building is still there. In 1852 the department first occupied the New Fireman's Hall, built chiefly with borrowed money and costing about twenty thousand dollars. It at once set about paying this debt. Several of the engine companies contributed; donations were received from private citizens, and the lady friends of the fire- men gave an art exhibition and fair that netted $1,000. The lower portion of the building was rented for stores, and a few years' time saw the fire de- partment free from debt. In 1858 the front and roof of the building were re- constructed at an expense of $6,000.
Under the successive names of "The Fire Department Society" and "The Fire Department of the City of Detroit," this organization was for many years not only an important civic center but also a dominant political factor in De- troit, and long outlived the volunteer fire fighting force of the department. In 1855 it bought a lot in Elmwood Cemetery, on which, twenty years later, it built the firemen's monument. In 1858 it opened a library and reading room, and began providing courses of popular entertainment. It survived as an organization until 1886.
MODERN METHODS INTRODUCED
In 1860 on recommendation of the Common Council Committee on Fire Department the first steam fire engine was purchased and named Lafayette No. 1. It was located in the building on the northeast corner of Larned and Wayne. In the course of the next five years four more steamers were intro- duced, paid companies were organized to operate them and the old volunteer companies were disbanded. Up to 1867 the service was in charge of a com- mittee of the common council, but an act passed that year created a commis- sion consisting of four members appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the common council. Its first annual report criticized the manner in which engine houses had before that been constructed, complained that after being built they had been much neglected owing to inadequate appropriations, and made a few suggestions for improvements which were speedily carried out.
James Battle, chief engineer, who continued in the service for two score years, reported six steam fire engine companies and one hook and ladder com- pany in commission, with 49 fire alarm boxes, 171 hydrants and 130 cisterns.
OLD FIREMEN'S HALL, JEFFER- SON AND RANDOLPH IN 1870
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FIRE HEADQUARTERS, 1881, CORNER LARNED AND WAYNE
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The commission of four members each with a term of at least four years, and serving without pay, has proved to be an excellent working organization. A large number of capable and public spirited citizens have given of their best to the service, the department has always been supplied with the latest in fire equipment and has been uniformly rated one of the best in the country.
For purposes of comparison, statistics for 1919 show that the fire fighting division of the department employed 1,337 men with sixty-four companies quartered in fifty-four houses located strategically in all parts of the city. Two of the companies operate fire boats stationed in the river. The others for the most part operated motor-driven apparatus. There were 8,547 hydrants, connected with the street mains, 525 reservoirs and 54,000 feet of pipe lines. The appropriation for the fiscal year 1919-20 was, for maintenance, $1,764,416, and for new buildings and for equipment, $411,745, a total of $2,176,161. With the growth of the city this equipment is constantly increased.
THIE FIRST POLICE PATROL AND WATCH
For the first hundred years of its existence Detroit was a military post and garrison town, and dependent for its policing chiefly on the military senti- mels and patrols. But in 1801 constables were for the first time appointed and the next year a complete civil government was established. Under this the marshal was responsible for the enforcement of the ordinances and the peace of the town. In 1804 "for the better police and in order to insure additional security from the dangers to be apprehended from the Indians as well as other persons and from fire" a patrol was formed, the members of which, in regular rotation, were employed as a night watch. Its organization and duties were thus defined:
"The said watch shall be composed of five persons, one of whom shall be elected captain, or conductor for the night, all whose legal and proper, orders shall be promptly obeyed by those, a majority of whom have chosen him. "The said patrol shall have power, and it is hereby made their especial duty, to take up, question, and confine in the watch-house, all disorderly and riotous persons found in the streets or elsewhere, within the limits of said town, after the commencement of their watch, and all persons of every description, after the hour of eleven o'clock in the evening, who cannot, or who refuse to give a satisfactory account of themselves, to be further dealt with agreeable to law.
"It shall be the duty of the said watch, on observing a light in any house, after the said hour of eleven, to enquire the occasion thereof, lest it should be burning without the knowledge of the family."
It was further ordained that the court house should be adopted as a watch- house for the purposes of the ordinance, and that "the first watch, be held on the evening of the first day of September next, and to be continued each and every night after till the first day of December next; such persons as may be ordered to keep the watch, to be and assemble, at said court house at the hour of nine, in the evening, and not depart therefrom, except to patrol through the town, till daylight in the morning."
SOME PRIMITIVE METHODS
The watch thus appointed served out its term. For nearly half a century after that there were numerous short lived experiments in the same direc-
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tion. In 1825 "at a meeting of the mayor, recorder, aldermen and freemen, in consequence of a supposed attempt to set the city on fire the meeting pro- ceeded to deliberate on the means of frustrating such attempts hereafter. As a temporary means of security a subscription paper was drawn up and signed by a sufficient number of those present for a volunteer watch to be kept up until other and permanent measures for the protection of the city can be taken." In 1833, after a riot eaused by the attempted rendition of a fugitive slave, a watch was maintained for three months. In 1835 out of a night watch of twelve men, six, including two captains, were reported within the first month as being drunk and disorderly.
In the absence of sufficient police force and adequate court protection the common council sometimes took matters into its own hands. In 1841 in or- der to get rid of a notorious house of evil resort it formally resolved "That the marshal is hereby empowered and directed to proceed with sufficient force and apparatus to the corner of Randolph Street and Michigan Grand Avenue, and pull down and so demolish all the buildings hitherto owned and occu- pied by Slaughter, Peg Welch & Company as will forever incapacitate them from being used as the abode of human beings, to the end that not only retri- butive justice shall be visited on those who have been guilty of such practices, but as a precedent to others who may come after them, and a warning to those that already exist of their impending fate." This order, with moral attached, was duly carried out. However, Peg Welch sued the marshal for damages and he was compelled to pay. The ease went to the Supreme Court. At a later period the moral and law-abiding citizens went further yet, and set fire to a few houses of that class without even waiting for an order from the common couneil.
A MODERN DEPARTMENT ESTABLISHED
In 1859 mercantile interests combined to pay a regular force for patrol- ing the few blocks which constituted the business district. In 1861 an aet was passed for establishing a regular force with a police commission consisting of the mayor and two appointive members. The anti-negro riot in 1863 showed that the measures provided by that aet were inadequate, and in 1865 an act was passed much broader in its scope and more complete in its details. This was the Metropolitan Police Aet, and it was so wisely drawn that, with few amendments it remained the basis of police operations for thirty-five years. It was passed largely through the influence of John J. Bagley, then alderman from the Third Ward.
It provided for the appointment by the governor, with confirmation by the senate, of four commissioners, to whom the entire control of the force was confided. Appointment by the governor gave the commissioners the status in theory of state officers, though in practice they were city officials. The method of appointment had the effeet, as it was intended to have, of keeping the mem- bers elear of local politics. In practice the commissionerships were always evenly divided between the two leading political parties. To carry out the same policy the members of the force itself were forbidden to take part in political discussions when on duty, to contribute to political funds or to use their influence in elections. The men on the working foree of the department were submitted to rigid examination before appointment and served under strict regulation afterwards. They were required to be over twenty-one and
OLD BLOCK HOUSE WHICH STOOD ON WHAT IS NOW JEF- FERSON AVENUE BETWEEN CASS AND WAYNE
OLD JAIL WHICH STOOD ON THE SITE OF PUBLIC LIBRARY
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GRATIOT AVENUE POLICE STATION, 1874
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under forty years of age, citizens of the United States and residents of Michi- gan for two years, possessed of good health and sound bodies, of steady habits and good moral character, and never having been convicted of any erime. They were not allowed to engage in any other business but must give their whole time to the work of the department. They were forbidden while on duty to use violent, coarse, profane or insolent language, to drink or smoke, nor, except in the immediate performance of duty, were they allowed to enter a place where intoxicating drinks were sold. Numerous precepts tending to promote orderly and exemplary behavior were ineuleated in addition to the official regulations. It was upon this basis that the excellent police force in Detroit was built up. The first meeting of the commission was held March 9, 1865, and on May 15 following the force was organized.
The commissioners first appointed were Jacob S. Farrand, John J. Bag- ley, Lorenzo M. Mason and Alexander Lewis. There had been considerable opposition to the act, coming mostly from the city marshal, constables and deputy sheriffs, but at the end of the first year the commissioners were able to report that this had very much diminished if it had not entirely ceased to exist. The force at that time consisted of one captain acting as superintendent, three sergeants and forty-seven patrolmen.
From this small beginning has grown the immense department of the pres- ent. It has grown mainly by natural expansion and development, though there have been two important changes in the form of organization. An Act of May 4, 1901, gave the council power to appoint one commissioner in place of the four who had constituted the board. At the expiration of the term of the first commissioner so appointed, the appointment was vested in the mayor, with confirmation by the common council. The charter adopted in 1918 gave to the mayor the sole power of appointment and removal of the commissioner.
From 1865 until 1867 the central station and police offices were in the Hawley block, northwest corner of Woodbridge and Bates Streets, but on January 1, 1867, the Woodbridge Street, or Central, Station was occupied and rented by the commission. In 1872 it was bought, enlarged, and reoceu- pied in January, 1874. Another station on the northeast corner of Gratiot and Russell was occupied August 14, 1873, and on the same date the depart- ment took possession of the station at the southeast corner of Michigan and Trumbull. In 1883 the city gave the police commissioners East Park, bounded by Farmer, Randolph and Bates Streets, and during that year and 1884 the police headquarters building was erected at a cost of $55,000.
The first provision for mounted policemen, the forerunner of the present highly trained mounted squad, was made in 1873, when two mounted police- men were authorized to patrol the outskirts of the city. However, the need for such a branch of the department was not so imperative as at the present time, and by the end of the year 1876 the first "mounted" were gone.
During the year 1873 the various offices and stations were connected tele- graphically for the first time. A police patrol wagon was first used in March, 1871, and in 1885 the telegraph signal boxes, forty-one of them at different points in the city, were first used in conjunction with the "wagon." After the advent of the automobile, Detroit was one of the first cities in the country to motorize its fire and police departments. In the early part of 190S the old "cycle squad" gave way to the motoreyele squad which consisted first of six men under the supervision of one sergeant.
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As in the case of the fire department, we quote the following statistics to show the development of the police department of Detroit:
For service in 1919 the department had 1,820 persons on the payroll, in- eluding 1,682 commissioned men, S matrons and 129 other employes. The appropriation for maintenance of the department was $2,890,416. The ad- ministrative work covered the following varied activities: General office work, purchase and accounting, offense records, property records, criminal identi- fication, licenses, medical attention, inspection of weights and measures, dog pound, garage and repair shop, care of police signals, care of buildings and grounds. The active police duty comes under the various heads of uniformed street patrol, mounted patrol, motorcycle patrol, stationary traffic, auto am- bulance and arrest, precinct station, harbor patrol, sanitary patrol, detective duty, house of detention and a large number of special service details.
During the year the men on the force entered 13,361 complaints for fel- onies, made 7,628 arrests, and secured 1,905 convictions. The complaint for misdemeanors numbered 37,486, the arrests 31,976, and the convictions 17,702. Of the arrests for misdemeanors 2,598 were for violations of the prohibitory liquor law. As illustrative of a very new variety of felonious enterprise and police activity it is noted that during 1919 there were stolen in Detroit 3,482 automobiles valued at $3,165,327. Of these the police recovered 2,529 with a value of $2,479,554.
The cornerstone of the new police headquarters building was laid on the afternoon of December 28, 1921: this building is to be located at the corner of Clinton and Beaubien Streets.
CHAPTER XVII PENAL AND CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS
WILLIAM STOCKING, Contributing Editor
JAILS AND JAIL LOCATIONS-THE HOUSE OF CORRECTION-EARLY CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS-THE FIRST ORPHAN ASYLUMS-OTHER EARLY CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS-MODERN CHARITIES-MCGREGOR INSTITUTE-BOYS' HOME AND D'ARCAMBAL ASSOCIATION-THE COMMUNITY UNION-DETROIT PUBLIC WELFARE COMMISSION-CARE OF POOR IN WAYNE COUNTY.
The jail locations in early Detroit were nearly as numerous as the subsequent postoffice sites. Before the fire of 1805, the jail was generally a small affair, necessitating constant attention in order to keep it together in sufficient state of repair to confine the prisoners. The old records of Detroit contain many references to the jails, whether the guard house, converted house or any other structure which may have served the purpose. After the conflagration in 1805, which reduced the old town to ashes, one of the blockhouses was taken and used as a place of detention. This building was at the extreme eastern end of Ste. Anne Street, about the location of the intersection of the present Jefferson Avenue and Griswold Street. (Silas Farmer wrote that this old blockhouse was located on what is now Jefferson Avenue, between Cass and Wayne.) This blockhouse did not serve the purpose very long, as in 1SOS the governor and judges authorized the hiring of a house owned by James May, the same to be used as a jail, but this was not done until a few years later. James May offered to sell this house to the legislative body in 1812 and the records of the latter show that they agreed to give May almost 1,400 acres of land in the Ten Thousand Acre Tract "for the purpose of building a jail and court house in Detroit." This bargain was not consummated, however, as in the latter part of 1813, after the cessation of hostilities, May put in a bill against the Government for "one year's rent of two buildings in the City of Detroit, leased to the governor and judges of the territory, for court house and jail, taken possession of by General Brock after the capitulation, and applied to his Majesty's use for a gaol, and barracks for militia."
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