Augustus Woodward’s plan following the 1805 fire for Detroit’s baroque styled radial avenues and Grand Circus. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I’m a Detroiter, I was born in the city, and I love the city. I no longer live in Detroit, I now live about 30 minutes outside of the city, but still consider myself a Detroiter. It pains me to hear negative news stories of Detroit, but it seems that’s all we ever hear. Murder, Rape, miss use of Government powers, Kids killing Kids, Drugs and other horrid actions. It saddens me when I do venture to the City to see all the majestic buildings and homes is shambles to see the empty lots filled with trash and the parks and streets empty of life.
Detroit is a shell of its former self, many do not know the true Detroit, they only know the current Detroit. The one that is on a path to self destruction, the one that fills the national news with murder and deception. Detroit is more than that, Detroit has 300 years of history, of pride and accomplishments. No, not just Cars and Motown, but Art and Architecture, Culture and Innovation. Detroit is a city of many first, The first expressway, phone book and more. Detroit is not what you think she is, she is a diamond in the ruff.
Detroit…
• is home to the Motown sound founded by Berry Gordy Jr. in 1957
• is home to the first Van Gogh painting in a public collection in the U.S. at the Detroit Institute of Arts, "Self Portrait," Vincent Van Gogh, 1887
• installed the first mile of paved concrete road, just north of the Model T plant, on Woodward Avenue between McNichols and 7 Mile Roads in 1909
• built the nation’s first urban freeway, the Davison, in 1942
• is home to the oldest state fair in the nation — the Michigan State Fair, first held in 1849
• is the potato chip capital of the world, based on consumption
• has country’s largest island park within a city — Belle Isle Park
• is home to the world’s only floating post office, the J.W. Westcott II, can be found on the Detroit River
• is north of Canada
• is second in the nation in fishing rod sales
• shares the world’s first auto traffic tunnel between two nations – the Detroit/Windsor Tunnel
• is home to the tallest hotel in the Western Hemisphere – the Detroit Marriott Renaissance Center, at 727 feet/73 stories
• the nation’s first soda — Vernors — created in Detroit by pharmacist James Vernor in 1862. Detroit is also home to Sanders hot fudge, Better Made Potato Chips, Faygo soda pop, Stroh’s Ice Cream
• has the most registered bowlers in the United States
• was the first city in the nation to assign individual telephone numbers in 1879
History of Detroit
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ste. Anne de Détroit, founded in 1701 is the second oldest continuously operating Roman Catholic parish in the United States. The present Gothic Revival cathedral styled church was completed in 1887 and serves a largely Hispanic community.[1][2]
The city of Detroit, Michigan, developed from a French fort and missionary outpost founded in 1701 to one of the largest American cities by the early 20th century. As reflected by the emblems on its flag, Detroit has been governed by three world powers: France, Great Britain, and the United States. The city, settled in 1701, is one of the oldest cities in the Midwest. Detroit experienced a large scale fire in 1805 which nearly destroyed the city. After the fire, Justice Augustus B. Woodward devised a plan similar to Pierre Charles L’Enfant‘s design for Washington, D.C. Detroit‘s monumental avenues and traffic circles fan out in a baroque styled radial fashion from Grand Circus Park in the heart of the city’s theater district, which facilitates traffic patterns along the city’s tree-lined boulevards and parks.[3] Main thoroughfares radiate outward from the city center like spokes in a wheel.
During the 19th century, Detroit grew into a thriving hub of commerce and industry, the city spread along Jefferson Avenue, with multiple manufacturing firms taking advantage of the transportation resources afforded by the river and a parallel rail line. Beginning in the late 19th and early 20th century, many of the city’s Gilded Age mansions and buildings arose. Detroit was referred to as the Paris of the West for its architecture, and for Washington Boulevard, recently electrified by Thomas Edison.[1]
Following World War II, the Detroit area emerged as a global business center with the metropolitan area becoming one of the largest in the United States. The Detroit area is the second largest U.S. metropolitan area linking the Great Lakes system. Immigrants and migrants have contributed significantly to Detroit’s economy and culture. In the 1990s and the new millennium, the city has experienced increased revitalization. Many areas of the city are listed in the National Register of Historic Places and include National Historic Landmarks.
Beginnings
The first recorded mention of what became Detroit was in 1670, when the French Sulpician missionaries François Dollier de Casson and René Bréhant de Galinée stopped at the site on their way to the mission at Sault Ste. Marie.[4] Galínee’s journal notes that near the site of present-day Detroit, they found a stone idol venerated by the Indians and destroyed the idol with an axe and dropped the pieces into the river. Early French settlers planted twelve missionary pear trees "named for the twelve Apostles" on the grounds of what is now Waterworks Park.[5]
Statue of French officer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac commemorating his 1701 landing along the Detroit River.
Siege of Fort Detroit during Pontiac’s Rebellion in 1763.
The British surrender, following the American Siege of Detroit during the War of 1812.
The city name comes from the Detroit River (French: le détroit du Lac Érie), meaning the strait of Lake Erie, linking Lake Huron and Lake Erie; in the historical context, the strait included Lake St. Clair and the St. Clair River.[6] Traveling up the Detroit River on the ship Le Griffon (owned by La Salle), Father Louis Hennepin noted the north bank of the river as an ideal location for a settlement. There, in 1701, the French officer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, along with fifty-one additional French-Canadians, founded a settlement called Fort Ponchartrain du Détroit, naming it after the comte de Pontchartrain, Minister of Marine under Louis XIV. Ste. Anne de Détroit, founded July 26, 1701, is the second oldest continuously operating Roman Catholic parish in the United States and the church was the first building erected at Fort Ponchartrain du Détroit.[1][2][7][8]
France offered free land to attract families to Detroit, which grew to 800 people in 1765, the largest city between Montreal and New Orleans.[9] Francois Marie Picoté, sieur de Belestre (Montreal 1719–1793) was the last French military commander at Fort Detroit (1758–1760), surrendering the fort on November 29, 1760 to British Major Robert Rogers (of Rogers’ Rangers fame and sponsor of the Jonathan Carver expedition to St. Anthony Falls). The British gained control of the area in 1760 and were thwarted by an Indian attack three years later during Pontiac’s Rebellion. The region’s fur trade was an important economic activity. Detroit’s city flag reflects this French heritage. (See Flag of Detroit).[1]
The City of Detroit (from Canada Shore), 1872, by A. C. Warren
During the French and Indian War (1760), British troops gained control and shortened the name to Detroit. Several tribes led by Chief Pontiac, an Ottawa leader, launched Pontiac’s Rebellion (1763), including a siege of Fort Detroit. Partially in response to this, the British Royal Proclamation of 1763 included restrictions on white settlement in unceded Indian territories. Detroit passed to the United States under the Jay Treaty (1796). In 1805, fire destroyed most of the settlement. A river warehouse and brick chimneys of the wooden homes were the sole structures to survive.[10]
Father Gabriel Richard arrived at Ste. Anne’s in 1796. While the local priest, he helped start the school which evolved into the University of Michigan, started primary schools for white boys and girls as well as for Indians, as a territorial representative to U.S. Congress helped establish a road-building project that connected Detroit and Chicago, and brought the first printing press to Michigan which printed the first Michigan newspaper. After his death in 1832, Richard was interred under the altar of Ste. Anne’s.[1][2]
Detroit was the goal of various American campaigns during the American Revolution, but logistical difficulties in the North American frontier and American Indian allies of Great Britain would keep any armed rebel force from reaching the Detroit area. In the Treaty of Paris (1783), Great Britain ceded territory that included Detroit to the newly recognized United States, though in reality it remained under British control. Great Britain continued to trade with and defend her native allies in the area, and supplied local nations with weapons to harass American settlers and soldiers.
In 1794, a Native American alliance, that had received some support and encouragement from the British, was decisively defeated by General Anthony Wayne at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. Wayne negotiated the Treaty of Greenville (1795) with many of these nations, in which tribes ceded the area of Fort Detroit to the United States. Detroit passed to the United States under the Jay Treaty (1796). Great Britain agreed to evacuate forts held in the United States’ Northwest Territory. In 1805, a fire destroyed most of the settlement. A river warehouse and brick chimneys of the wooden homes were the sole remains of the structures.[10] Detroit’s motto and seal (as on the Flag) reflect this fire.
God Bless
Paul Sposite
Guided Insight Life Coach
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Something’s should not be messed with, some traditions are sacred and should remain untouched. But there are always some who feel a little twist here and a little change here makes things better. Take, for example all the restaurants that feels a need to “fix” the American classic, grilled cheese. A simple delight as it is, but some feel a need to “spice it up” change it around and make it “new and improved”. Hogwash! That’s what I say. It worked as it was, it was simple and delightful… Two slices of white bread, 2 slices of American cheese, slap some butter on the bread and grill… Simple and good as it is. No need to add aged cheese from the basement of some monastery in some obscure town in Europe, or artisan bread that coast as much as a new car. Sometimes simple is better.
When I travel to Germany and visit my good friends there, we always make time to have some nice home cooked foods. He is a marvelous cook, and can create some very fancy meals. We seem to always have one posh meal before I leave to return home. But off all the meals, the simple poor man dishes are the best. Simple pasta dishes or the working mans German dinners. They are simple, flavorful and, well, comforting. As food should be…
This also applies to other areas of life, such as family or religious traditions. Why mess with proven ways… Why change just for the sake of change? What progress is there in that?
Last weekend I took a coworker and friend from Mexico to Downtown Detroit, to show him the sights and he
wanted to get a hat from the Detroit Hard Rock Café. As part of my fifty cent tour of Detroit we walked to Fox Town, where the Fox Theater is. What a theater it is, it is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen, it truly is the gem of Detroit. Currently the Fox has a production of Irving Berlin‘s “White Christmas”. One of my all time favorite movies. I mean what’s not to like, Bing sinning White Christmas, as only he can and Danny Kaye dancing and, well, being Danny Kaye. A simple story line, clean humor and best of all, it’s just a good plain simple feel good movie. One that I watch all year-long…
As part of our night in Detroit, we decided to take in the play, enjoy the sounds of Christmas and experience the Fox in all her glory. the Fox did not let us down, she is a majestic ornate theater and she was all done up for Christmas. What a sight!
But the same cannot be said about the play…
Why change a classic? Why make it what it is not? Why add to what is perfect?
All theses questions where running through my head as I watched this thing unfold. Was it a bad musical, not, the actors were fine and the singing was good, but was it “White Christmas”, nope, they could have called this play anything they wanted…. And maybe I would have enjoyed it more if it was not called White Christmas.
What did they do to it, they sexualized it, turned Bing’s character in to a fool and Danny’s into a sex hound, made the general an ass and the house keeper his love interest. Why? for what purpose? The story was fine as it was. Sure I understand that you need to rewrite the move for the stage, but why reinvent the characters? Like the grilled cheese, an American classic, so it White Christmas. It was simple, and decent, it was and is one of the finest movies made, yet the producers of the play felt a need to update it, to bring it into the 21st century. To what ends? For what purpose? None that I can see. Sometimes simple is well enough.
In a world full of complex situations and over sexed everything, sometimes sitting on the couch wrapped in a blanket and watching White Christmas while eating a simple grilled cheese sandwich is all we need. Sometimes simple is the best way to go.
God Bless
Paul
42.303780
-83.378959
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It is hard to believe that it is July already, it seems that Christmas was just last week, and now here we are into the Summer of 2010. How time really does fly.
As of late I have have been thinking about time, its passing mostly. How it is hard to believe that my dad passed away over 13 years ago or how my mom has been gone for over 3 years or even that my dog George has been gone 5 months already. Time, it just keeps on a passin’ me by…
It may be that I am getting older and my immortality is becoming something I am thinking about. But I’m only halfway to 88, so I’m not that old, am I? Or it could be that I am just in a very melancholy mood, just drifting along. Time keeps on drifting into the future, that’s what the song states, but me, I keep on drifting into the past.
the other day I was watching Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, I love that movie, and was remembering when I first saw it. How I thought that the car was real and could do all the wonderful things shown in the movie. How simple it all was. I remember seeing it at the drive in theater, eating popcorn from a large brown paper grocery bag and drinking town club soda from a bottle. We brought our own snacks along with us, much cheaper that way. I remember the little play area in front of the screen were us kids could swing and play and they even had a free train ride. So much simpler back than.
I think that’s what I am looking for, the simpler times. In today’s world of complex, the simpler gets lost. I miss that, I crave it and I try to recreate it in my life today. Sometimes I achieve it, like when I spend the day at Greenfield Village or Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island. But they are sadly to far between visits and the complex invades my time.
Simpler is better it seems to me. Take new math, what was wrong with the old math, 2+2=4 in both, so why make it more complex? Look at our family life, everyone needs planners and play dates and taxi service and social networks and ipods and this pod and that pod. To complex! What ever happen to just going out and finding a pick-up game of kick ball or baseball, simpler is better.
I don’t know, maybe I am just getting old, and I just want things to slow down, but I am only 44, that’s not old. But maybe I am.. Who knows. But I think its more than that, I think I am on to something here, I think life has become to complex and the American Life needs to slow down and return to a simpler, less complex, time. We need to rediscover the fun in just being together as a family, we need to experience the joy of a good old fashion picnic or a day exploring the small towns and villages that surround us.
I remember how I use to love being with my family, my mom and dad and all my brothers and sisters. I remember vacations and outings with a smile on my face and warmth with in me. The simplicity of it all was magical! As I got old I remember enjoying just spending time together, maybe taking a Sunday drive or just sitting around, the complexities left behind, no text messaging, no cell phone calls and no laptop and wireless for my social networking. We just spent time, eating, drinking and laughing together. Today is much to complex, this idea of instant contact and constant updates is out of hand. We place ourselves upon pedestals of grandeur and market ourselves and important. We update or twitter, just incase someone wants to know we are eating a hotdog or we facebook the world to let them know we just finished the dishes, and all the time fooling ourselves that people truly do want to know or need to know.
To complex and to self absorbed, I prefer the simplicity of times gone by, I prefer the face to face over the facebook to facebook. Sure I have a facebook account and I check it daily and update my status. I have a blog, as you well know, and update it I even have a linked in account and a 4marks account. I use email and texted messaging and only use a cell phone, no landline at all. And yes sometimes I get caught up in all the complexities of the world, but I truly long for the simplicities of yesterday.
I long for the days when once again I would believe that a car can fly and magic was real. I miss the times of long summer nights spent outside playing four corners or a game of whiffel ball.
God Bless
Paul
| Romans 12:3“For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.”
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