USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. I > Part 45
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435
CITY OF DETROIT
Acres
Adelaide Campau Park.
1.199
$ 18,550
Arden Parkway
1.936
20,500
Belle Isle Bridge Approach
1.020
267,060
Belle Isle Park.
707.000
16,200,000
Boston Boulevard Parkway
5.734
87,560
Brush Boulevard Parkway
1.290
39,300
Cadillac Square.
.552
325,000
Campus Martius
.174
625,000
Capitol Park
.510
472,500
Cass Park
4.966
150,000
Chicago Boulevard Parkway
5.008
S7,500
Clark Park
31.601
363,800
Clinton Park
1.068
SS,000
Crawford Park.
.746
17,000
Elton Park
.740
17,000
Grand Boulevard .
220.768
3,186,800
Grand Circus Park.
5.566
4,967,700
Hamilton and Virginia Parkway
1.810
7,500
Harmonie Park
.448
120,750
Lafayette Boulevard
2.277
15,000
LaSalle Boulevard
3.830
42,000
Macomb Park
.557
20,000
M. C. R. R. Esplanade (Roosevelt Park)
11.350
505,010
Medbury Boulevard
3.440
47,500
Northwestern Park
1.598
20,000
Owen Park
6.99€
264,000
Palmer Park.
140.410
645,000
Parker Parkway
.373
4,500
Perrien Park
5.180
66,000
Pingree Park.
15.740
297,000
Scripps Park
1.333
29,050
Second Avenue Parkway.
1.110
20,000
Stanton Park.
.605
9,000
Virginia Park
.181
22,000
Voigt Park.
6.795
98,400
Washington Park
2.862
1,750,000
West Park
.754
145,300
PLANS FOR PARK EXTENSION
For about forty years after the acquisition of Belle Isle and the inaugu- ration of the boulevard movement the people of Detroit rested upon the reputa- tion thus acquired.
Finally through the prodding of certain progressive city officials and civic organizations, the people were aroused to the fact that while the area of the city had increased from sixteen to eighty square miles and the population had increased six-fold, the park area had remained nearly stationary. From being among the cities well provided in this respect Detroit had dropped to a very low rank. Under this impetus the citizens in the spring of 1919 voted a bond
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CITY OF DETROIT
issue of $10,000,000, the proceeds to be spread over a series of years in the development of a park and playground system. The carrying out of this purpose was entrusted to the city plan commission working in conjunction with the recreation commission and the park and boulevard department.
The city plan commission was fortunately well prepared for this duty. From a survey made years before at the instance and expense of the Board of Commerce, and from reports and recommendations made by its own official predecessors (City Plan and Improvement Commission), the commission inherited a mass of material which greatly facilitated its work. It was able speedily to map out a general plan of parks and playgrounds which it trans- mitted to the common couneil with the recommendation that the site selected be purchased outright or condemned. The latter body at once set about earry- ing out the recommendation.
The ambitious plan thus formed contemplates an increase of the park acreage from about 1,100 to 3,100. The new purchases are well distributed geographically. The most valuable is on the north, where an addition of 172 acres to Palmer Park more than doubles the area of that charming pleasure ground, besides giving it a mile of Woodward Avenue frontage. To the extreme east is Connor's Creek Parkway of 192 acres extending along that stream from Kercheval Avenue north to Gratiot. Near this Parkway is a tract of 225 acres including the Campau Woods and called the East Side Park. On the opposite side of the city is Ferndale Park in the village of that name. It is near the Fordson plants on the River Rouge and covers seventy-two acres. In the northeastern part of the city there are two smaller additions, Nardin Park of five acres and The Sullivan Tract of forty acres. Independently of these outside schemes the additions to the park system for the year included Roosevelt Park, twelve acres in front of the Michigan Central station, and Memorial Park, on the river front between Owen Park and the waterworks.
But the erowning acquisition of the whole system is the River Rouge Park of 1,060 acres stretching along that river from Warren Avenue north to the Pere Marquette Railroad, a distance of two and a half miles. For half a mile the east line of the park follows the banks of the river. For the rest of the distance that sinuous and picturesque stream is near the center of the park. The territory is mostly farm and pasture land, although along the Rouge and the creeks that flow into it there are many beautiful groves. The timber is varied, ineluding several kinds of oak, maple, elm, willow, basswood, walnut, hickory, poplar, and a great variety of shrubs. The land is particularly adapted to the purpose which the city plans to make of it. There is everything that could be desired in the way of a playground. Meadow land can be converted easily into ball diamonds and fields for every sort of sport, and great stress has been laid on the golf courses, which are expected to be one of the prominent features of the park.
The far-reaching plans of the city for park improvement were supplemented in the latter part of 1919 by the donation to the county of a magnificent site by Alice S. and Charlotte C. Church, and Elliott S. Nichols, in honor of their mother, Mrs. Elizabeth J. (Slocum) Nichols. It consists of 155 acres on Slocum's Island near the mouth of Detroit River. This is a wooded tract about twenty miles from Detroit city hall and accessible by trolley line and boat. It has been accepted by the county and a commission appointed for its development and care. This is to be known as Elizabeth Park.
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CITY OF DETROIT
PLAYGROUND DEVELOPMENT
The playground movement in Detroit was the growth mainly of the previous ten years when the new plans were formulated but it had already become a large and very useful adjunct to the city's educational and reereation system. There were in 1918 summer recreation centers to the number of eighty-four, of which forty-seven were in the school yards and sixteen were special garden centers. The total in winter was eighty-two of which forty were at the schools, and nine at the branch libraries, while fourteen were skating rinks. The sys- tematic activities were twenty in number. The service was in charge of a recreation commission, with seventy permanent members and one hundred additional summer workers.
In the new seheme of development this branch of work and play is to receive large consideration. In 1919 alone the Commission established seventeen playground and five playfield sites. Of these sixteen are located in the area bounded by the Grand Boulevard, and particular attention was paid to the badly overcrowded east side neighborhoods. To aid the city plan and recre- ation commission in this connection, maps giving the density of ehild popula- tion throughout the eity were prepared and districts showing the greatest density drew the majority of playgrounds.
Of the playfields-the difference between a playfield and a playground being that a playfield is large enough to include baseball diamonds, football gridirons and tennis courts, while a playground is considerably smaller and is intended primarily for young children-the largest is located in the northeastern section of the eity. It will be seventy-five acres in extent and will inelude, according to the recreation commission's plans, in the neighborhood of forty baseball diamonds and fifty tennis courts. In the fall the diamonds will be blocked off for use as football gridirons. A realization of the importance of the acquisi- tion of this one playfield is obtained when it is explained that the number of municipal baseball diamonds available before that was thirty and of tennis courts less than fifty.
The final accomplishment of those promoting the new improvement scheme is the forming of a plan for a second grand boulevard extending from Grosse Pointe on the east to the river in Eeorse on the west. It will follow nearly the outer boundaries of the city and will link together a number of the parks. A part of the eastern link from Kereheval Avenue northward was the first to be approved. Detroiters look forward with confidence to the time when the city will be famous the country over for its driveways, parks and pleasure grounds .
LAKE AND RIVER CHARMS
The summer attractions of Detroit are by no means confined to the Parks and Boulevards. Its location on the strait connecting the upper and lower lakes give it advantages for lake and river trips that are unsurpassed by any- thing on fresh water. This is the home port for the largest fleet of tourist and excursion steamers of any port in the country except New York. Their number exceeds thirty with a tonnage of 38,000 and licensed carrying capacity of 60,000 passengers. The largest boats are licensed to carry 3,500 or 4,000 passengers each, and frequently leave the docks with a full complement. Most of the boats make daily trips and some of them two or more a day. Such is the variety
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CITY OF DETROIT
that one may take a separate excursion every day for a fortnight and find some- thing new and interesting with each trip.
To take the boats that make the most easterly ports, there is a night trip each way between Detroit and Buffalo, and both day and night boats between Detroit and Cleveland. The four boats that are on these two lines are the largest and best equipped side wheel steamers on any waters. There is only one boat on the eastern sounds or rivers that even approaches them, the "Wash- ington Irving" on the Hudson, and they had to come to Detroit to get a de- signer for that craft. Two boats make daily round trips through the islands of Lake Erie, one of them terminating its trip at Put-in-Bay and the other going on as far as Cedar Point, "The Atlantic City of the Lakes," and San- dusky. There are two boats daily between Detroit and Toledo, stopping each way at Sugar Island, an old and popular pienic resort. Large boats furnished with excellent orchestras and spacious dancing floors make three or more trips daily to "Bob-Lo" a large island at the mouth of Detroit River with a great variety of attractions.
Starting in the other direction the route from Detroit to Port Huron, the most famous of the up-river trips, covers a dozen points of interest. The steamers pass Belle Isle-the emerald gem of Detroit's park system, the govern- ment canals through the shoals at the head of Lake St. Clair, the continuous village built wholly on ground made by dredging and filling in the flats, Harsen's Island with Tashmoo Park and other resorts, and the picturesque St. Clair River lined with fertile farms and thriving villages. Three steamers a day carry the thousands who throng this route.
A unique route, less widely known, is the "scenic trip" through part of the interior waters of Ontario. It runs through Detroit River, Lake St. Clair and the St. Clair River to a point nearly opposite Algonac, and then enters the narrow and winding Sny Carte (Chenal Ecarte-"Hidden Channel") following this and the Sydenham River to Wallaceburg at the mouth of Bear Creek. These interior streams are so narrow at points that one could toss a biscuit from the boat to either shore. A very similar trip is that through the western part of Lake St. Clair and up the narrow river Thames to Chatham.
These are the short trips about Detroit. They are thoroughly appreciated and multitudinously followed. Nearly every convention, state or national, that is held in Detroit, and they are very numerous, takes a river trip as one of its diversions, and it is no unusual thing for convention members to hold their business sessions on the upper deck of a steamer. For longer lake journeys Detroit offers every advantage. It is either the home port or a port of call for steamers for all of the Upper Lake ports. Goderich, Mackinac, Georgian Bay, The Soo, Port Arthur, the iron and copper towns and Duluth all wait on passengers who take the boats at Detroit. Including passengers crossing the river on ferries as well as those starting for excursion, tourist or business trips the Government inspectors report between 10,000,000 and 11,000,000 yearly as the number who step from Detroit doek to boat.
BELLE ISLE
BY CLARENCE M. BURTON
Tradition says that Antoine de La Mothe Cadillac, by the authority vested in him as commandant at Fort Pontchartrain du Detroit, granted the island
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OLD BELLE ISLE CASINO
THE CASINO, BELLE ISLE, 1922
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CITY OF DETROIT
to the inhabitants of the village as a common, and this tradition is well sus- tained by the subsequent acts of the people here, and of the various command- ants. This fact is further borne out by the St. Sulpice letters, which were discovered and translated in the summer of 1920, and which are quoted later in this chapter.
The name itself (cochon-a hog) as used in the early title of the island, Ile au Cochon, substantiates the claim to the island as a public domain; it was, doubtless, given to the island because it was used as a place for confining the hogs and animals belonging to the citizens of the village, in security against the depredations of wild beats and Indians, and to prevent destruction of crops by these animals running at large. The generally received idea that hogs were placed on the island to drive off the snakes is preposterous. A letter in French written in 1769, and signed by nearly all of the French citizens of Detroit, states:
"We very earnestly pray you to consider that the island in question (Ile au Cochon) is a common ceded to the public by the late Mr. de la Motte, first seigneur and commandant of the country, for the purpose of putting cattle thereon in security; that this right has continued even to this day without its ever having been revoked. Monsiuer de Tonty, when commandant, undertook to appropriate it to himself, but was forced to relinquish his claim by the petition of the public. Mr. Dequindre, under the command of Monsieur de Celeron, relying upon family influence and his personal merit, also undertook to obtain this property, but the representation of the public rights deprived him of his possession."
Notwithstanding the claim of the public to the island, Tonty, when com- mandant, threatened to subject it to his individual uses, but gave up the under- taking upon the remonstrances of the public, and their claim was not further disputed until June 12, 1752, when one Douville Dequindre obtained a grant of the island from the governor and intendant, Longueuil and Bigot, but again the public remonstrated, and the remonstrance was so earnest that the grant was not confirmed.
During the few remaining years of the French occupation of the country, the island was cultivated by one Filet and a Mr. Campau, but always under the supervision of the commandant, and with no claim to ownership on the part of the occupant.
The French surrendered the country to the English in 1760, and in the succeeding year Lieut. James McDonald, who was an officer in the garrison here, cultivated the island and continued in possession of a portion of it for the two or three succeeding years. In the meantime, in 1762, Lieut. George McDougall, who was also an officer in the garrison, took possession of a por- tion of the island and built a house, cleared some of the ground, and set a family on his portion. Whether his original occupation was under color of title or not, his actions in clearing the land and erecting buildings indicated an intention to claim title, and it is certain that he took possession with the approbation of the commanding officer. Lieutenant MeDougall played a conspicuous and honorable part in the war of the great Pontiac, who besieged the city in 1763. At one time the lieutenant was a prisoner of the Indians, but managed to escape, though his fellow prisoner, Captain Donald Campbell, lost his life.
Immediately after Pontiac found that his efforts to surprise the village
·
442
CITY OF DETROIT
were fruitless, he set about murdering all the English who lived without the piekets of the fort. James Fisher and family lived on the island and the Indians proceeded at onee to his house. Fisher himself was absent up the river, making soundings, in company with Robert Davers, Captain Robinson and one Maekay. These men were all murdered by the Indians. Fisher's wife was hanged by them, and two of his children killed; the other two children were carried off. Twenty-four head of cattle were also killed. Jean Mayet afterwards accused Alexis Cuillerier, a Frenchman, of drowning one of the Fisher children, and as the testimony furnished him was deemed satisfactory, the commandant banished Cuillerier from the settlement. This was the most severe penalty he could inflict, as there were no courts established here, and consequently no officers to try the accused persons. Some years afterwards, Commandant Turnbull, ascertaining that Mayet had testified against Cuillerier out of spite, and that his charges were ill-founded, revoked the sentence of banishment and publiely reealled the accused.
In 1764, after the Indian War was over, two persons, Lieutenant Mant and Lieut. Edward Abbott, the latter an officer commanding a detachment of royal artillery, each applied for a grant of the island from the king and council. The application of Lieutenant Mant was strengthened by a deed of the island exe- cuted to him by Colonel Broadstreet, but these petitions were not acted upon by the council.
In 1763, George MeDougall married Marie Francoise Navarre, daughter of Robert Navarre, one of the most influential of the French inhabitants and royal notary. Backed up by the new family eonneetion, McDougal applied to the king for a grant of the island and his application was favorably Ireceived. It was this memorial which, in 1769, instigated the remonstranee referred to above. The commandant and all of the officers of the garrison sided with MeDougall and gave such evidence as they were able, to assist him in procuring a sufficient title from the home government.
Before this time, McDougall had been a lieutenant in the 60th Regiment, . but was now on half-pay and, as an officer in the service, his claims were more favorably received than those of the other applicants.
General Gage had notified the commandant, Maj. Thomas Bruce, that no person had authority to make grants of land at Detroit except the king, and that no purchase from the Indians was valid unless permission to make the same was obtained and the transaction carried on in the presence of the governor and superintendent of Indian affairs. In May, 1768, at a meeting of his majesty, George III, and the privy council, it was determined that the oceupation of the island by MeDougall was for the good of the garrison; that he had suffered great losses during the siege of the post in 1763, and that he might continue a temporary occupation of the island "so long as his majesty shall think fit to continue an establishment at Detroit, provided the same can be done without umbrage to the Indians."
Lieutenant McDougall, at his own expense, called a council of the chiefs of the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, and obtained from them a conveyance of the island, and paid them, in consideration of the deed, "five barrels of rum, three rolls of tobacco, three pounds of vermillion and a belt of wampum, and three barrels of rum and three pounds of paint when possession was taken." The total value of these articles was £194.
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CITY OF DETROIT
The deed was signed by the chiefs of the above named tribes in the presence of Capt. George Turnbull, of the 2d battalion, 60th Regiment, commandant, and two other officers of the same regiment, and McDougall was placed in possession of the island. The deed does not bear any date, but as it appears in the papers of General Gage under the date of August 29, 1768, it must have been executed between May and August of that year.
The knowledge of the existence of the deed and order of council spread rapidly among the inhabitants of Detroit district, and created much excite- ment. Petitions were drawn up in both French and English, and very generally signed, requesting the government not to permit the conveyance to MeDougall. If we are permitted to believe the affidavit of Pierre Tamizier and the state- ment of Baptiste Meloche, persons were compelled to sign the remonstrance of the inhabitants, whether they were willing to do so or not.
The remonstrances were sent to Governor Carleton and by him forwarded to Lord Hillsborough. Carleton, in his letter, accompanying the remonstrance, said he had made diligent search to find any conveyance to the public, but he had been unsuccessful. He found the grant to Dequindre, and learned that it had been revoked "upon representation of the inhabitants that the island was absolutely necessary for them to receive their cattle in summer to avoid their running wild in the woods, or the Indians destroying them in any of their drunken frolicks," and he thought it quite likely that no formal instrument of grant had ever been made. Of interest in this connection are the letters recently translated.
From the archives of the St. Sulpice Seminary at Montreal the following letters are taken. These letters were discovered in the summer of 1920 and translated from the original French into English and here are reproduced for the first time. They afford an insight into the situation at this time regarding the possession of the Ile aux Cochons (Hog Island), now known as Belle Isle. "To Monsieur Captain George Turnbull, Commandant at Detroit and Depend- encies.
" Monsieur-
"We, captains of militia of the country, have the honor to represent to you on the part of the public, how much it will be prejudiced to the place to deprive us of the Ile au Cochons, which we have always possessed in common since M. de la Mothe has made the cession to our ancestors.
"You know, Monsieur, that in almost all seigneuries there is a common for the pasturage of the cattle. It is for the same object that that island was chosen, by preference, in order to place the animals in shelter (a la Brie) from the mischievousness of the savages and the depredations of wild animals. Several, it is true, have wished to anticipate our privileges, but always without avail, so that it has remained to us with no infringement of our rights under the preceding government.
"The King himself, seigneur of the whole country, by cession to Mons. de la Mothe, could not usurp further rights without prejudice to his concessions of 1667, to any community of inhabitants over whom he is chief seigneur, by payment of thirds, (du Tier ou Triage), which his Majesty could formerly exact.
"Besides the commons are inalienable. This is why, Monsieur, we beg you to have the goodness to add your support to our request, that it may be laid before Monsieur, the General. We are confident that under the present government we hold the same privilege we formerly enjoyed, and that you
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CITY OF DETROIT
yourself understand the justice and the necessity of our demand as you reeog- nize our zeal in the service of His Majesty. We have the honor to be, Monsieur,
"Your very humble and very obedient servants,
"At Detroit, May 18, 1769.
"J. Bte. Chapoton, "Jacques Campau, "Eustache Gamelin, "Pierre Reaume, "Captains of the Militia of Detroit."
"To the Gentlemen of Trade of Canada.
"Gentlemen:
"To whom address our grievance if not to you, Gentlemen of Canada, in order to support us in our rights and prerogatives in begging you to cooperate with General Gage and Governor Carleton for a court hearing. You are better acquainted than we with the august body before which our case must be pre- sented; the request that you will find (enelosed) will instruet you on the subject,
"Many of you will have cognizanee of our rights to the Ile aux Cochons. and everyone knows that a plot of ground once given over to a community of habitants can never be reclaimed by the Seigneur. Of what service to the people of the distriet is this island? For more than sixty years it has served as a place of safety for their cattle from the malignity of the savages and from wild animals. Mr. George Turnbull, commandant, has refused to send our request to General Gage, and demands from us a title in writing to prove our rights. The original habitants of this country (or district) did not perhaps exercise precaution, but such an ancient right as ours, can it be rejected? The relinquishment by those to whom it had first been ceded as a favor, should serve as the proof of our request. We would be in a position to make certain convictions and assurances if Mr. Navarre were not the father-in-law of the person interested (referring to MeDougall). It was he, indeed, who was the author of the request which · recovered it from the hands of Mr. Dequindre, to whom it had been granted, and in virtue of which it was handed over and restored to the people by publi- cation at the church door.
"Madam de Celeron may yet have the orders of the General sent to M. de Celeron, who commanded at Detroit at that time. She could at least give some elucidations concerning it. A delivery so authentie should constitute a good title. You could also obtain from M. de Belestre, the former commandant, some attestations of advantage, and learn from him upon what grounds he delivered the Isle aux Cochons to the English. Gentlemen, if all this does not suffice, we beg you to search the registers and the records of the province, where you will find something in our favor. We have also a right to the commons of the town, called the ban-lieue. If you find anything relative to that matter, we beg you to give advice concerning it to Mr. Carleton, that he may transmit the information to General Gage, to whom we are writing on the subject, as you may see from the copy of his letter.
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