USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. I > Part 43
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This jail mentioned was a stone and wood building on the northwest corner of Jefferson Avenue and Cass. Judge Woodward and Gen. J. E. Schwartz were afterward owners of this property, and eventually it became the Mansion House Hotel. In 1815 the jail was in a wooden structure on the north side of Jefferson a few doors east of Shelby, and enclosed by a picket fence. Then, from 1817 until 1819, a picturesque old blockhouse on Jefferson Avenue near Randolph was used for the detention of criminals and suspects.
The first structure that had anything like a permanent occupation for jail purposes was completed in the spring of 1819, at a cost of $4,700, on the triangle
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between Gratiot, Farmer and Farrer streets. This was a building forty-four by eighty-eight feet, and surrounded by a pieket fence. It was plenty large for the accommodation of all the prisoners in durance at any one time, but does not seem to have been strong enough to hold them all, for in 1834 the whole company of inmates broke jail and escaped. This old structure was the scene of several hangings and of a number of exciting episodes. It remained in use till 1847 when the supreme court decided that the county had no title to the land on which it was located and declared the building a public nuisance. It was torn down the next year, and the lot eventually became the site of the downtown public library.
The site at Clinton and Beaubien streets which has ever since been occupied as sheriff's residence and jail was purchased in 1847 for $1,000, and the first buildings hereon were constructed the next year. Additional land was after- ward bought for $3,550. This jail was the starting point for the anti-negro riot in 1863, and the scene of numerous other exciting events. The sheriff's residence has been several times remodeled and once torn down and entirely rebuilt. The jail buildings have been subjected to many modifications in the way of enlargements and reconstructions. The present structure is compara- tively modern but inadequate. Its capacity is 178, giving a cot to each prisoner. By a re-organization of the criminal courts, seeuring more speedy trials of persons accused the number of prisoners has been gradually reduced.
While the jail serves as a place of detention for persons awaiting trial from the City of Detroit as well as from the rest of the county, the city has its own penal institution for prisoners convicted and sentenced. This institution was in its inception linked with other public buildings and its establishment came about through a kind of evolution of ideas. In 1857 the council committee on public buildings made a report recommending the erection of a city almshouse at a cost of $100,000. They thought the money to prosecute the work should be raised by the sale of eity bonds and recommended that the Legislature be asked to so amend the charter "that the bonds of the city may be issued for ยท such a sum of money as may be required for the purpose of constituting a fund to be designated a general improvement fund to be used for the purpose of erecting public buildings in the city, namely, an almshouse, a city hall and such other public buildings as may be deemed necessary." The recommendation was adopted and the amendment to the charter was made. The city almshouse and jail and the city hall project were, however, soon afterwards divorced from each other. The former was first completed, although the almshouse idea was soon dropped out and a strictly penal institution was created.
In August, 1857, Zebulon R. Broekway, who was destined to become a con- spicuous figure in Detroit's penal and reformatory affairs, made a tour of inspection in company with most of the members of the common council and a number of other citizens, to the various sites proposed for such an institution. At a meeting of the common council on the 5th of August, seven definite offers were made of lots, but the controller was instructed to advertise for bids. In response fourteen proposals were received, the price ranging from $4,000 to $80,000. One of these was the Malcher Farm (sometimes called the "Church Farm"), running back from the river to the Mack Road, containing ninety-six aeres, with 575 feet of river front. It could have been bought for $60,000. This proposition was favored by Mr. Broekway and many others, and a citizens' meeting was called December S, 1857, to consider it, the particular proposition
POLICE COURT ROOM, REAR OF JAIL IN CLINTON STREET, 1870 (Torn down)
OLD DETROIT JAIL
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before the meeting being one to issue $50,000 in bonds to go toward the pur- chase of this farm.
To this meeting the controller presented an estimate based upon an opinion given by Mr. Brockway that for a house of correction alone not more than eighteen acres would be needed. He thought that this might be purchased within the city limits for $9,000 and that suitable buildings might be erected for $50,000. This was a damper on the Malcher Farm proposition, which was, however, very hotly debated in the large and rather boisterous meeting. As was occasionally the case in Detroit's citizens' meeting period, the heat of the controversy resulted in a failure to agree upon anything and the whole matter was left in abeyance for two years.
THE HOUSE OF CORRECTION
In 1859 the citizens voted an issue of bonds to the amount of $50,000 for the construction of "a workhouse," and as a site selection was made of the south part of an old city cemetery running along the east side of Russell Street, north of Alfred Street. Two years later the institution was opened under the name of "The Detroit House of Correction." The Legislature passed an act establishing the House of Correction on March 15, 1861. The first buildings cost about $75,000. Subsequent additions of buildings and machinery and the enhancement of land values brought the value of the whole property up to $650,000.
Of the condition of Detroit before this institution was established an official report said: "Criminals seemed to multiply, a mob of roughs burned six dis- orderly houses in the Tenth ward; a deputy sheriff was murdered on Congress Street early in the evening; burglaries were almost nightly occurrences; assaults and drunken disturbances were rife soon after sunset. The city was without police save a constable for each ward, deputy sheriffs, and the city marshal. There was no efficient organization of these, and apparently no power to pre- vent the perpetration of offenses, either against the person, the property, or the peace. The jail, then the only place of detention for all classes of offenders, was too small, and was therefore continually crowded with inmates, and to such an extent that it was impossible to enforce diseipline or cleanliness. The youths, and even children, eleven or twelve years of age, were in unrestrained communication with the worst characters. Thus a school for crime was main- tained at the public expense, and in the upper wards of the jail men and women were not thoroughly separated from each other. Of course the structure was unsafe for the detention of important criminals, and escapes were of frequent occurrence. Such was the character of the jail and its management, that the grand jury indicted it as a public nuisance some five different times, and there is little question but it was the hotbed from which sprang much of the noxious social growth, that so ran over the city, to the disgrace and detriment of society at large. Yet the difference of opinion or diverse personal interest of individuals prevented any progress of improvement for nearly two years."
The establishment of the house of correction and the organization of the police department which came soon afterwards, both contributed to an improved condition of affairs in the city.
The management of the house of correction was vested in three inspectors acting with the mayor and for the first eleven years Zebulon R. Brockway was
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superintendent. In 1881 a fourth inspector was added. In February, 1862, a start was made toward giving regular employment to the prisoners. Against considerable opposition a steam engine and boilers were put in and a factory was equipped for the manufacture of chairs. This has continued to be the main industry up to the present time, though the manufacture of brushes, pearl buttons and cigars has also been taken up. It has generally been a paying institution, the profits turned over to the city having in a number of different years reached as high as $40,000. In 1899 the profits were at their highest, $75,000. In recent years a portion of the earnings has been paid to the prisoners themselves or to their families. In addition to local conviets the institution has had the custody of many prisoners taken under contract with the United States Government and with different counties in this state.
The institution has been noted for the maintenance of excellent discipline, and has aimed at reformatory influences as well as penal exactions. The latest report of the superintendent, after giving an account of the improvements recently made in the buildings adds the following in reference to the methods and purposes of the institution:
"The next important step was the building up of an institution spirit and morale, both to do good and make good. The men were taught, as far as pos- sible, both by talks and precept to like the work and have an interest in their work. As a result of this, production was increased. The next was the at- tempt to build up a pride in the men so that they would be ashamed to revert to their past life and also that they might be too proud to return to the institution again for the commission of some offense. The men were graded according to the nature of their offense, and segregated into groups so that the long time men celled, worked, and ate together, while the short time men were also segregated into groups of thirty, sixty, and ninety days, ete. The boys of nineteen years and especially youthful first offenders were placed in the brush shop so that they might work away from the influence of the older and more hardened type of institution men.
"The men were given yard privileges all during the summer, and there was an attempt to institute organized play and recreation activities. During the fall and winter months there have been lectures, vaudeville and movies on Sunday afternoons for the entertainment of the men and women housed in the institution.
"Every system of penology should have clearly for its end the protection of society, but protection of society should not only mean the temporary removal of those who have violated the laws, but should, as far as possible, prepare the offender for a position in society when he returns to it. For this purpose every practical measure possible should be adopted so as to make sure the maintenance of high standard of health and physical development."
In January, 1922, the city council authorized the commissioners of the Detroit House of Correction to proceed with the construction of a new prison on the prison farm, in Plymouth Township, two miles from Northville. The structure will cost $2,500,000, to be raised by bond issue, the sinking fund charges on which will be raised from revenue derived from materials sold by the prison chair factory. Completion of the structure will mean the abandon- ment of the old building at Russell and Alfred streets, which is now accommo- dating twice as many prisoners as intended when it was erected.
PROTESTANT ORPHAN ASYLUM ON JEFFERSON AVENUE, 1881
Vol. 1-27
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CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS
The oldest benevolent society in Detroit, the Protestant Orphan Asylum, goes back to 1818, when a number of ladies met at the home of Mrs. Benjamin F. Larned and organized the "Ladies Society of the City of Detroit." Its purposes were charitable, with especial stress upon the needs and care of orphan children. The historical names of Larned, Edwards and Hunt appear among the founders. No men were admitted to membership in this society, but they might, upon invitation, attend meetings and give advice. Judge Woodward, Maj. Benjamin F. Larned and Austin E. Wing are mentioned as being thus favored.
In 1822 a more formal organization was made under the name of the "Female Benevolent Society of Detroit." A copy of the constitution is found among the Askin papers in the Burton Library. The preamble says: "We, the undersigned, in obedience to the call of Divine Providence to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and teach the uninstructed do constitute ourselves a society with these purposes as our object, and that we may affectionately accomplish our views we adopt for our regulation the articles of the following Constitution." That instrument states in more detail the objects to be "to afford relief to the poor, to visit the widow and fatherless in their affliction, to alleviate the sufferings of the sick, to provide for the education of children whose parents are unable to afford it, and to place such of them as can be pro- cured under the care of honest tradesmen and mechanics, or in families where they can be bred up with care and trained to industrious, moral and religious habits. These and such other offices as come within the range of their views they do promise and obligate themselves to fulfill so far as their pecuniary means and the course of Divine Providence admit." Itemized accounts of receipts and expenditures appear in the manuscript reports that follow. Among the supplies for the sick, wine and brandy frequently figure along with jellies and other delicacies.
Among the ladies who were particularly active in this organization were Mrs. Lewis Cass, and Misses Eliza Trowbridge, Catherine Palmer, Mary Steele and Harriet Wing. Among the men who were contributing and advisory members were Henry J. Hunt, Stephen C. Henry, DeGarmo Jones, Austin E. Wing, Charles Larned and John Biddle. There was a special committee of twelve members appointed to visit the sick. In addition to work in the city the Association also looked after Indian children at Fort Gratiot and Miami River.
THE FIRST ORPHAN ASYLUM
Some of the persons connected with these early charitable groups were also engaged in the movement for an orphan asylum which was started in 1836. Under a special act of the legislature the promoters were incorporated the next year as the Ladies' Protestant Orphan Asylum. The directresses in the order of their precedence were Mrs. Charles C. Trowbridge, Mrs. Robert Stuart, and Mrs. Thomas Palmer, and the asylum was opened in a building donated rent free by Cullen Brown, on Beaubien Street south of Fort Street. Under different names and methods and in different locations the institution has, with the single exception of one period of six years, been maintained from that time to this. Its incorporation under the present name dates from June 8, 1889. The institution is located at 988 Jefferson Avenue. The grounds for the asylum were donated by Mrs. Elouiza Hunt on September 4, 1837.
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OTHER EARLY CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS
St. Vincent's Catholic Orphan Asylum was also the indirect outgrowth of work commenced nearly a century ago. In 1834 the Catholic Female Associa- tion was organized "for the relief of the sick and poor of Detroit." Almost coincident with its organization a cholera epidemic broke out in the city and the parish priest, Father Kundig, was burdened with the care of thirty children whose parents had fallen victims to the scourge. The Female Association undertook the care of a portion of these in a building on Larned Street near Randolph. A large portion of the funds for current expenses was raised by fairs which were extensively patronized. In the spring of 1836 Father Kundig leased twenty acres of land adjoining the county farm, which was on the north side of Gratiot Avenue west of Mount Elliott Avenue, creeted a building and gathered the children there. They were cared for largely by the Female Association, though Father Kundig either personally or as superintendent of the poor assumed the work of providing the funds. Partly as a result of the panie of 1837 and the depression that followed, Father Kundig went bankrupt and some of his creditors, aspiring to the reputation as the meanest men in town, seized the clothing belonging to the thirty children then in the asylum. The county purchased some of the other property. In 1839 the asylum was elosed and the children were distributed among farmers and acquaintances.
A similar work was revived in 1851 by the Sisters of Charity who opened a house under the name of St. Vincent's Catholic Female Orphan Asylum in an old building on the south side of Larned Street near Randolph. After two removals the home was established in the brick building formerly known as the Bishop's residence on Randolph Street between Congress and Larned. This had a capacity of 150 pupils and was used till 1876. In July of that year the present building was first occupied. It is on a spacious lot 252 x 260 feet on MeDougall Avenue between Larned and Congress streets. The main building is 130 x 68 feet with two wings each 60 x 32 feet. Girls only are admitted to the asylum which has accommodations for 250 at a time. It is liberally supported by assessments upon the Catholic congregations of the city.
On June 2, 1857, there was a meeting of sixty ladies in the First Congrega- tional Church to consider the establishment of an organization for the special purpose of breaking up house to house begging by children. The conference resulted in the establishment of "The Industrial School," which for half a century was one of the most popular and useful of local institutions. It started October 5, 1857, in an upstairs room at 26 Monroe Avenue with sixteen scholars. In May, 1858, it moved to the northwest corner of Washington and Grand River avenues, where it rented a long two-story building. In 1866 it bought the property, and in 1879 replaced the old building by a handsome three-story structure. The school was open to girls under fourteen and to boys under ten. The pupils were taught useful occupations, and were given the elements of a book education. One daily meal was furnished to regular scholars and tickets payable in clothing were given as rewards for good lessons and attendance. The building would accommodate 200 pupils, though those in attendance rarely reached that number. This institution was a favorite of the old board of trade. Its annual entertainments of mingled seriousness and burlesque were noted social affairs, as well as very helpful to the Industrial School funds.
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St. Anthony's Male Orphan Asylum, one of the more prominent of the early institutions, was opened on May 26, 1867, and was located on the Gratiot Road (Gratiot Avenue), on the Malcher, or Church, Farm. This was a Cath- olic institution, originally managed by a corporation of trustees, but in 1877 changed to the care of the lay members of the Franciscan Order. The asylum was for young boys only, and was later moved away from Detroit.
MODERN CHARITIES
There now exists in Detroit an institution which is known nationally and which is unique in character. This is the McGregor Institute, first called the McGregor Mission. This institution was the conception of one man, Thoma McGregor, who, in 1888, founded a similar mission in Toledo. With the object of establishing similar homes in the cities around the Great Lakes, he came to Detroit in 1890 and on December 17th he launched the McGregor Institute. The first home was in a brick building on Larned Street, just west of the Armory. Mr. McGregor died soon after, but his work was taken up immediately by his son, Tracy McGregor. Two years later a mission on Cadillac Square was merged with the McGregor Institute and the Larned Street building was abandoned for the quarters of the first named. Eight years later, in 1900, the building on Brush Street was constructed and opened on Thanks- giving Day. In 1915, Mr. Tracy McGregor was succeeded as superintendent by Mr. Murray McGregor. The object of the McGregor Institute from its beginning has been to assist the "down and outer" to regain his feet, give him food and lodging, assistance in securing employment, medical treatment if needed, and to keep him from begging on the streets. He is allowed to pay for this service, a very small amount, if able to do so; otherwise he gets it for nothing. Liberal gifts, subscriptions, and the endowment of the founder, have contributed the greatest amount to the support of this institution.
The Boys' Home and D'Arcambal Association is another charitable work which is deserving of mention. This is a private work, developing from the old D'Arcambal Home of Industry for Discharged Prisoners, founded by the late Mrs. Agnes D'Arcambal about 1890. After the founder's death, the associa- tion was incorporated under its present name and began the work of caring for the youth of the streets. The boys were housed at first in the old Biddle House on Jefferson Avenue, and later moved to Lafayette near Third. In 1907, the institution was removed to the present farm at Farmington. Here the "Ford Republic" was organized by the boys in honor of Mrs. E. L. Ford, who financed the building of their dormitory. The institution is supported by the Community Fund, also the fees from the city and county for boys sent there by the juvenile court.
The Home for the Friendless began in May, 1860, when the first Ladies' Christian Union was organized. For the first few years this institution for women was housed in different locations, but in 1874 a home on Warren Avenue, near Woodward, was dedicated and has been used until the present time.
The Thompson Home for Old Ladies owes its existence to Mrs. David Thompson, who, in 1874, contributed $10,000 as a fund for the establishment. In December, 1882, Mrs. Thompson made a further donation by purchasing for the home a lot on the southeast corner of Cass and Hancock, where, in 1884, she erected a forty-room building.
The Women's Hospital and Foundlings' Home was the outgrowth also of
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the Ladies' Christian Union, the second one of which was organized January 29, 186S. The first home of the institution was a rented place at 40 Cass Avenue. A home was erected in 1875 and opened in January, 1876, on the west side of Thirteenth, between Linden and Mulberry. The Women's Hospital and Infants' Home is now located at 443 Forest Avenue East.
The House of Providence, for destitute children and unfortunate women, was organized in 1869 and incorporated in 1872. The home has always been in charge of the Sisters of Charity and was first opened in August, 1869, on Fourteenth, between Dalzelle and Marantette Streets. The home is now lo- eated at Grand Boulevard and Fourteenth.
St. Joseph's Retreat, once known as the Michigan Retreat for the Insane, located at Dearborn, had its beginning in 1860, when Sister Mary De Sales established a home for the insane on Michigan Avenue just beyond Twenty- fourth Street. The grounds had originally been used for farm purposes and for the convalescents of St. Mary's Hospital. In 1870 a briek building was erected. The institution was incorporated in December, 1870, and again in November, 1883, by the name of St. Joseph's Retreat. The decision to move to Dearborn was made in 1885 and a $150,000 building was erected at that place, and opened October 28, 1SS6.
St. Luke's Hospital and Church Home, located at 224 Highland Avenue, had its origin in a bequest of $1,500 made by Mrs. A. C. Caniff, which, at the death of her husband, was to go to St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church as the start of a hospital to be known as St. Luke's. On July 18, 1864, the hospital was opened for patients in a building on the south side of Lafayette between Griswold and Shelby. In 1865 land was purchased on the south side of Fort Street, beyond Clark Avenue. A building was erected here in 1868. This institution is supported by the church parishes, and cares for the aged, sick and poor.
Detailed mention of the charitable and semi-charitable institutions of old and modern Detroit is impossible by reason of their very number. They in- 'elude institutions that are religious, partly religious, and those of strictly charitable and economie character. Among the more prominent are: the Arnold Home for the Aged and Ilospital for Incurables, William Booth Memorial Home and Hospital (Salvation Army), Brothers of Mary (Carmelite Home for Aged Poor), Childrens' Free Hospital Association, Detroit Hebrew Orphan Home Society, Evangelical Deaconess Home, Florence Crittenton Home, Frances E. Willard Home for Girls, German Protestant Home for Orphans and Old People, Home for Aged People (King's Daughters and Sons), Home for the Aged Poor (Little Sisters of the Poor), Home for Homeless Women and Children (Volunteers of America), Jewish Old Folks Home, Phyllis Wheatley Home for Aged Colored Women, St. Francis' Home for Orphan Boys, St. Joseph Home for Boys, Salvation Army Home and Hospital, United Jewish Charities, South Slavie Workers' Home, Ukranian Home, and Serbian-American Ilospital and Relief Association. In addition to these named, there are many others, including a large number of settlement houses and maternity homes.
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