The history of Detroit and Michigan; or, The metropolis illustrated; a chronological cyclopedia of the past and present, Vol I, Part 145

Author: Farmer, Silas, 1839-1902
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Detroit, S. Farmer & co
Number of Pages: 1096

USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The history of Detroit and Michigan; or, The metropolis illustrated; a chronological cyclopedia of the past and present, Vol I > Part 145

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924

MARINE HOSPITAL.

The building is deemed perfectly fireproof. Heavy iron girders support brick arches, which are leveled over with concrete, and upon this foundation hard pine floors are laid. All the brick walls are hollow, allowing space for the air to circulate, and all damp- ness is thus avoided. The most ornamental, and decidedly the most agreeable features of the build- ing, are the roomy verandas for each story, in front and rear; they have iron frames, with decorative scroll work, and give a graceful appearance to the exterior.

The hospital is supported in part by a monthly tax of forty cents per month for each person em- ployed on board any registered vessel, which sum is collected by the captains of the vessels before the license is taken out or renewed. The captain of each vessel is authorized to deduct this amount from the wages of all employed on the vessel. A `record of all sailors thus reported is kept at the custom house, and also at the hospital; and on an order from the captain of a vessel to the collector of customs, any sailor needing medical treatment, who has been sailing during the three months preceding his application for admission, is entitled to the care of the hospital and his board, without charge. The number of patients is from fifteen to twenty-five, and seventy can be accommodated. None but sailors

are admitted as patients. Visitors are admitted from IO A. M. to 12 M., and from 2 to 4 P. M.

A dispensary is also maintained at the office of the surgeon in the Campau Building, where seamen, who do not wish to enter the hospital, can obtain medicines. Surgical operations are also performed

at the office if desired. During the year ending June 30, 1884, three hundred and eighty-three per- sons were treated at the hospital and eleven hun- dred and twelve at the office. The disbursements for the year ending June 30, 1884, were $14,602.85. The hospital is in charge of a surgeon and an assist- ant surgeon, who are appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury. Seven other persons, paid by the Government, are connected with the institution.

The surgeons in charge have been: 1857-1861, Zina Pitcher; 1861-1867, Louis Davenport; 1867- 1869, E. Lauderdale; 1869-1873, J. M. Bigelow ; 1873-1879, J. A. Brown ; 1879, F. D. Porter ; 1880 to November 10, 1882, W. H. H. Hutton; W. H. Long, from November 10, 1882; P. H. Burnett, from February 6, 1885 ; H. W. Sawtelle, from June 16, 1885; W. H. Long, from October, 1885. The following persons have served as stewards: 1857- 1862, J. W. Kelsey; 1862-1879, T. Hurst; 1879- 1881, B. C. Jones ; 1881, H. Hartz ; 1882-1885, T. R. Maxfield, M. D .; 1885- , J. O. Cobb, M. D.

CHAPTER LXXXVII.

MILITARY AND PLANK ROADS .- STREETS AND STREET PAVING. - SIDE AND CROSS WALKS .- STREET RAILROADS .- STREET AND ROAD OFFICERS. - BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS.

MILITARY AND PLANK ROADS.

FOR more than a hundred years after the first settlement of Detroit, roads leading thither were unneeded and unknown. The traffic and travel were exclusively by water. No road, worthy of the name, existed in the Territory until 1812; the first was a sort of bridle-path which ran along the west bank of the Detroit and through the swamps in the vicinity of Toledo to Cleveland. It was somewhat improved by the troops who came from Ohio in 1812. Aside from this, only trails existed in the interior. The first surveyed road was the so-called Pontiac Road, which was established by proclama- tion of Governor Cass on December 15, 1815, and laid out by commissioners whose report is dated December 13, 1819. Other commissioners were at work upon it as late as 1824. Within the city, the road is now known as Woodward Avenue.

In 1817 from one hundred and fifty to two hun- dred troops then stationed at Detroit were employed in opening a road to Fort Meigs, now called the River Road. They completed about thirty miles.

On March 3, 1825, Congress made an appropria- tion to locate a military road from Detroit to Chicago, and on May 24, 1825, in laying it out, the commis- sioners began at the Campus Martius in Detroit, and the part within the city is called Michigan Avenue. A law of March 2, 1827, appropriated $20,000 for completing the road. Congress also provided for opening roads to Saginaw, Fort Gra- tiot, and Sandusky. On October 29, 1829, the Legislative Council of the Territory sought to aid these efforts by authorizing a lottery, the proceeds of which were to be used to build a road between Detroit and Miami. On July 4, 1832, Congress passed a law providing for the building of what is now known as the Grand River Road.

These various roads were of great service, but the low lands in the vicinity of Detroit made con- stant attention necessary to keep them in passable condition. The following extract from an article in one of the city papers in December, 1836, shows the great need then existing for good roads :

What a strange fact that in a city surrounded by forests, the price of wood should be five, six, and seven dollars a cord ! We have paid $2,000 extra the last two months for fuel alone, in con- sequence of the state of the roads around the city.

Soon after this notice appeared, several meetings were held in order to devise means for improving the roads, and in January, 1837, the desire was general that the Legislature be petitioned to take the Ypsilanti, Pontiac, and Grand River Roads under its control and management, to put them in a state of repair, and to collect tolls to pay the interest of moneys invested and cover the expense of keeping the roads in order. All of these meetings were barren of result, and the roads grew continually worse. The Central and Pontiac Railroads were in operation, but were useful only to certain regions.

In 1845 the Grand River Road was the great thoroughfare, and although in very bad condition, from August 13 up to November an average of one hundred and twenty-four wagons came over it daily. At certain seasons of the year, up to 1849, the roads to Ypsilanti, Pontiac, and Mt. Clemens were little travelled, and when used, extra teams, kept for the purpose, were employed to help the wagons through the sloughs. Two days to Ypsilanti and two days to Pontiac were considered only a fair allowance of time.

Traffic with the interior was consequently light and unremunerative, and as a natural result, a gen- eral dullness pervaded the city. Few wagons came in, not many stayed over night, and hotels built for the accommodation of farmers were unoccupied. Finally some of the business men took the subject into consideration, and it was resolved that the only remedy was to build plank-roads across the low lands.

An application was made to the Legislature, and in 1848 a General Plank-Road Act was passed, under which charters, to run sixty years, were granted to all applicants. Many roads were at once incorpor- ated that never went into operation, and numerous others were built that for want of traffic were allowed to decay. Those leading from Detroit to

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MILITARY AND PLANK ROADS.

Saline by way of Ypsilanti, to Howell by way of Farmington, to Lansing from Howell, to Mt. Clemens and to Pontiac, were kept up, and notwithstanding the railroads, they are as essential as ever to the convenience of the city and country.

Under the Act of 1848 General Cass, De Garmo Jones, Z. Chandler, Henry Ledyard, C. H. Buhl, C. C. Trowbridge, Frederick Buhl, and others asso- ciated themselves together and built a plank-road to Howell. They afterwards bought and completed the road to Mt. Clemens and Utica, and took a large part of the stock in the Lansing and Howell Road. Other parties built the Detroit and Saline, and the Detroit and Pontiac Roads. None of the stock- holders had any experience in plank-road making, but it was conceded that where oak plank could be had, none other was to be used; how the planks were to be laid, and how best secured to their places, was another question. The Detroit and Howell Company was the pioneer in experiments. An ex- cavation four inches deep and eight inches wide was made in the roadway, four stringers of 4 x 4 pine were laid lengthwise, and across these three-inch plank were placed. The evil consequences were manifold. The space underneath was at once filled with muddy water, which splashed up on horses, vehicles, and passengers ; and the sleepers soon decayed. As the road was extended, other methods were tried, and three boards were substituted for the 4 x 4 stringers ; but after various experiments the planks were laid directly in the soil. Ditches were opened, numerous culverts made, and the road- bed raised so as to give free drainage. It was soon discovered that the planks decayed rapidly, and that the roads could not be kept up by the tolls received. About this time experiments were made in Canada with roads constructed of lime-coated gravel taken out of hillsides. An expert was sent to examine these gravel roads, and upon his report the Detroit and Howell, Lansing and Howell, Detroit and Sal- ine, Detroit and Pontiac, and Detroit and Erin roads began the use of gravel. It was found that where- ever rapid drainage could be obtained, a road-bed of sixteen inches of gravel could be relied upon, and this form of road is now held in the highest favor and is in use on all the roads. The total cost of the roads leading from Detroit has been fully $300,000. They have never been profitable, and could prob- ably be bought at one quarter of their cost. Some of them pay small dividends, others none at all, and all of them, at times, have suspended dividends, but the original proprietors of the principal roads have retained their shares, and managed the roads as carefully as if they had been profitable. The result has been to keep open communication with the country, to promote intercourse and trade, and to cheapen all commodities coming from the adjacent

districts. The roads have probably saved to the citi- zens of Detroit a sum equal to their cost every year in the reduced prices of fuel, beef, mutton, poultry, vegetables, etc.

The rates of toll per mile, as established by law of 1848, are: For all vehicles drawn by two ani- mals, two cents, and if drawn by more than two animals, three fourths of a cent for each additional animal; for all single horses, led, ridden, or driven, one cent; for every twenty sheep one half cent, and for every score of cattle one cent.

The Detroit and Pontiac plank-road was opened in November, 1849, is eighteen miles long, and has three gates. The Detroit and Saline, reached by way of Michigan Avenue, was opened August 26, 1850, is forty miles long, and has eight gates. The Detroit and Erin, to Utica by way of the Gratiot Road, was completed in 1850 and 1852, is thirty miles long, and has six gates. The Detroit and Howell, by way of the Grand River Road, is fifty miles long, has ten gates, and was opened in Octo- ber, 1851. The Detroit and Grosse Pointe Road was opened in October, 1851, is nine miles long, and has two gates.

STREETS AND STREET PAVING.

The streets, in the olden days, afforded many a strange and picturesque sight. Troops of squaws, bending beneath their loads of baskets and skins, moved along the way; rough coureurs de bois, with bales of beaver, mink, and fox, were passing to and from the trading stores, and, leaning upon half-open doors, laughing demoiselles alternately chaffed and cheered their favorites; here a group of Indians were drying scalps on hoops over a fire; others, with scalps hanging at their elbows, were dancing the war dance; Indian dandies, with belted toma- hawks, and deerskin leggings fringed with beads of many colors, moved noiselessly along, with blankets of scarlet cloth, guns heavy with silver ornaments and half-moons, and gorgets of the same material adorning their persons ; staid old justices with pow- dered cues exchanged salutes with the officers of the garrison, who were brilliant with scarlet uni- forms, gold lace, and sword-knots; elegant ladies with crimson silk petticoats, immense beehive bon- nets, high-heeled slippers, and black silk stockings, tripped along the way; and ever and anon the shouts of soldiers in the guardhouse, made wild with "shrub" and Old Jamaica Rum, were heard on the morning air, and at times troops of Indian ponies went scurrying through the town.

The streets of 1778 were little better than lanes, and up to 1805 but one street was twenty feet wide, and the widest of the six others was only fifteen feet in width. Just inside the stockade the chemin

STREETS AND STREET PAVING.

927

du ronde extended around the town. Its original width was twelve feet, but by the extension of the stockade, and changes connected with military oper- ations, it had been considerably widened in some places. An ordinance of the Board of Trustees, in 1802, "to promote health, peace, and safety," opened with this preamble: "Whereas, the streets of that part of Detroit within the stockade are so narrow that foot passengers have difficulty at times to keep clear of horsemen and carriages unless they go slow. Therefore," and then the ordinance went on to prohibit fast driving, and the records show that the ordinance was enforced even against the trustees themselves.

That blessing in disguise, the fire of 1805, wiped out the old streets, and opened the way for the facilities we now possess. Only six days after the fire, on June 17, a meeting was held at Judge May's to discuss the subject of wider streets for the pro- posed new town. The plan of broader streets did not meet the approval of the French habitans. Judge Woodward, in a letter to a friend, said :

The idea of streets a hundred feet wide was a novelty which excited not only surprise but bitter indignation. It was with great difficulty, therefore, that any arrangements whatever could be made with the inhabitants. They have seen what their coun- try has been for the hundred years past, and by this alone they judge of what it is likely to be for a hundred years to come.

The Woodward plan finally succeeded, but no details of the plan and its streets were forwarded to Congress until 1831. Pending this action, a memo- rial, dated November 13, 1830, was sent by some of the citizens, stating that so many changes had been made in the plans that it was impossible, on account of the conflict of authority, to open streets or alleys, and that certain streets were in some places forty, in others fifty, in others sixty feet wide. The plan of 1831, made by John Farmer for, and accepted by the Governor and Judges, afforded the first sub- stantial basis for the laying out of streets. The usual width of streets, by the plan of 1806 and later additions, is fifty feet, though many are sixty feet in width. By ordinance of February 2, 1880, all streets are required to be at least fifty feet wide.

The main avenues -- Woodward, Jefferson, Mon- roe, Grand River, Miami, and Michigan-are one hundred and twenty feet wide. Washington, Madi- son, and Michigan Grand Avenues are two hundred feet in width. No other city in the Union, save Washington, has so many avenues of such unusual width.

Although the Military Reserve was embraced within the plan of the Governor and Judges, the plan was inoperative over the Reserve, as that be- longed to the Government. When the Reserve was granted to the city, the council decided to lay it out in regular squares as far as possible. The harmony

and proportion of the plan of 1806 was thereby destroyed, and as a result, many of the streets in the center of the city are crooked and irregular, and lack the beauty they were designed to possess. The avenues also were encroached upon, and citizens were allowed to fence in large portions on either side and use them as their own. It was not until the spring of 1881 that Washington Grand Avenue was actually opened to its full width; and there was a long legal contest before the city obtained its rights.

The custom of allowing owners of real estate to subdivide their property and lay out streets as their interest or fancy dictated has also been productive of much confusion in street lines. Some portions of the city have many streets only one or two blocks long, and there are numerous jogs in streets that might have been straight and of uniform width.

An Act of February 5, 1857, provided for three commissioners, to whom plans of subdivisions should be submitted. By Act of 1873 the supervision of the laying out of new streets was lodged with the Board of Public Works. They were also empowered to control the location and course of all streets and roads laid out within two miles of the city so that they may conform to streets in the city whenever included within the city limits.

In 1832 Griswold Street was opened from Larned Street to Jefferson Avenue, and in February of the following year it was widened to fifty feet, under a decision from the Supreme Court.

In 1878 the roadway of Woodward Avenue was widened five feet on each side from Willis Avenue to the city limits, and in 1882 it was widened between Columbia Street and Willis Avenue, and a uniform width of fifty feet obtained.

During the year 1869 over $70,000 was paid for the opening of some thirteen miles of streets. The fact that the city paid for the opening of streets, which were a necessity to those wishing to divide their property into lots,was a fruitful source of knav- ery; and in 1875 the Legislature provided for the assessment of not to exceed three-fourths of the damages upon the neighborhood supposed to be benefited. Under this provision only one half was assessed upon the neighboring property, and the enormous amounts required to be paid by the city led to the repeal of the law in 1882, and provision was made that the property immediately advantaged should pay for all damages. In 1883 the Legislature authorized a return to the former method, and only half the damages are now assessed upon the adja- cent property, and the balance is paid by the city.

Under provisions of the city charter the council from time to time vacates or closes streets or alleys, or portions of them, when the owners of adjoining property so desire, if public necessity does not re-

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STREETS AND STREET PAVING.

quire that they be kept open. The closing by indi- viduals of the highways known as Cemetery Lane and Bolivar Alley was particularly noticeable because of the litigation which grew out of their enclosure. In both cases the courts decided that the public had no rights therein. The occupation of Dequindre Street by the Detroit, Grand Haven, & Milwaukee Railroad has also been the occasion of much litiga- tion, and many owning property along the line of this street have tried at various times and in many ways to have the street opened and declared a pub- lic highway. The case finally reached the Supreme Court, and in 1871 a decision was rendered confirm- ing the right of the railroad to forty feet in width of the street from the center of their track on the east- ern side ; consequently, although a narrow roadway lies alongside part of the track, that part north of Woodbridge Street can no longer be properly called a street.

The nationality and characteristics of the people congregated in certain parts of the city have given rise to particular designations for such localities. Thus the larger portion of the territory on Fifth and Sixth Streets, for several blocks each side of Michigan Avenue, is called Corktown, because chiefly occupied by people from the Emerald Isle. The eastern part of the city, for several blocks on each side of Gratiot Avenue beyond Brush Street, for similar reasons is often spoken of as Dutchtown, or the German quarter. That part of the city lying a few blocks north of High Street and between Brush and Hastings, is known as Kentucky, from the number of colored people living there. A walk of a few blocks east and north of this locality termi- nates in the heart of Polacktown, where many Poles reside. That portion of the city just west of Wood- ward Avenue and north of Grand River Avenue, forming part of the old Fifth Ward, is sometimes designated as Piety Hill; for the reason that it is largely occupied by well-to-do citizens, who are supposed to largely represent the moral and religious portion of the community.

Peddlers' Point is a name frequently applied to a part of Grand River Avenue near Twelfth Street. The intersection of several streets at that place forms a pointed block, which locality is a favorite place for itinerant hucksters to intercept and pur- chase supplies from the farmers coming in on the Grand River Road.

Swill Point is the not very euphonious appellation sometimes given to a portion of Larned Street near Second, because of a distillery formerly located near by. Atwater and Franklin Streets, for several blocks east of Brush Street, are frequently desig- nated as the Potomac. This locality is near the river, and in memory of a familiar saying of the last war, the phrase "all quiet on the Potomac" indi-

cates that otherwise disturbances might be looked for in the region indicated.

The Heights is a name applied to a region near the westerly end of Fort Street East, occupied in part by former denizens of the Potomac quarter. This last region being on lower ground, a removal to Fort Street was spoken of as a removal to the "Heights," possibly the fact that "high old times " have been frequent in this locality has also had something to do with the particular desig- nation. These last localities have numbered among their inhabitants the worst classes of both sexes.

Michigan Avenue may well be called the longest street in the city, for the Chicago Road, which is a continuation of the avenue, reaches across the State, and Michigan Avenue in Chicago forms its western terminus.

Lafayette Avenue, in the winter time especially, is brilliant with costly turnouts, filled with gayly dressed people, and thousands gather there to wit- ness the ever-changing panorama.

Woodward Avenue, with one end at the river's edge, and the other reaching indefinitely into the country, has no superior on the continent. The elegant stores, residences, and churches that mark its route, the beautiful parks and private grounds that lie on either side, win universal admiration.

Griswold Street, running from the river to the High School, is the financial artery of the city. On it courts, lawyers, and banks abound. No better description of the street could be given than this verse, written for a street in another city more than fifty years ago:

At the top of the street the attorneys abound, And down at the bottom the barges are found. Fly, Honesty, fly, to some safer retreat, For there's craft in the river and craft in the street.

The condition of all the streets up to 1835, and of most of them to about 1850, was such as to preclude all unnecessary use. Especially in the spring and fall, the fine black soil, saturated with water, and in places mixed with clay, made the roads almost impassable. Children living not two blocks away were carried to school on horseback, and horses were kept hitched in front of stores or offices to enable their owners to cross the streets, the animals literally wading from side to side.

In 1851 the writer counted fourteen teams, loaded with wood and other products, stuck fast in the mud on Monroe Avenue, the avenue being only three blocks long. The Advertiser of April 21, 1852, said, "We noticed yesterday a carman stuck fast with his load, consisting of a single hogshead of sugar, his horse 'all down in a heap' in that vast mudhole directly in front of the National Hotel." Efforts were made with something of regularity to

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STREETS AND STREET PAVING.

improve the condition of the streets, and as early as 1821 overseers of highways were appointed, and they, and the various street commissioners, with their army of slow-moving employees, made the roads passable. A law of 1832 gave the council power to compel convicts to work on the streets, wearing a ball and chain. In 1836 several prisoners escaped while at work, and the plan was discon- tinued; but in 1843 prisoners were again so em- ployed.

In 1838 Captain Marryatt, the author, was here for several days, and in his account of Detroit he says, "There is not a paved street in it, or even a footpath." In June, 1840, the Committee on Streets reported favorably upon and the council accepted a proposition made by Thomas Hill to furnish oxen to work on the roads at $2.75 per day.

The first paving was done in 1825; contracts were sold on September I of this year for paving in front of the property of Elliott Gray, D. Cooper, T. J. Owen, and others, the prices ranging from $1.00 to $1.25 per foot. All the work was to be paid for in corporation due-bills. For nearly ten years after, and up to 1835, paving and grading contracts were sold at auction, and for those times an immense amount of money and labor was expended.

The paving, done mostly with small, round stones, was confined chiefly to sidewalks and the space immediately in front of certain stores or residences. and no one of the contracts for paving included an entire block.

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The history of Detroit and Michigan; or, The metropolis illustrated; a chronological cyclopedia of the past and present, Vol I, Part 145

Author: Farmer, Silas, 1839-1902 Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Detroit, S. Farmer & co Number of Pages: 1096

Author: Farmer, Silas, 1839-1902
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Detroit, S. Farmer & co
Number of Pages: 1096