Campus Martius: The City s Tomorrow. caught my attention. What is Campus Martius? The name was familiar, as I had heard it

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1 1 Kody Whisnant Dr. Martin Honors November 2015 Campus Martius: The City s Tomorrow When going through the list of sites to choose from for this assignment, Campus Martius caught my attention. What is Campus Martius? The name was familiar, as I had heard it numerous times both in school and on the news, but I was not completely certain on what it actually was or where it was located. When a groupmate described the site to me as a park located in downtown Detroit, I thought it would be a great location to represent where both the city and the people within it are going. After researching the park s history and visiting the site itself, I came to view Campus Martius as a positive representation of Detroit. The site s intended purpose, visitors, and continual alterations reflect the city s move forward. Campus Martius 1 initially served as a militia training ground in 1788, but the eventual frontier settlement of Detroit was completely destroyed by a fire in Judge Augustus B. Woodward then constructed a street and building plan for the future city. The original layout created standardized urban lots 3 and consisted of triangles with 4000-foot sides starting at Grand Circus Park. 4 Triangular plots that existed within the system of streets were to be used as public parks and Campus Martius was the reserved open space that served as the city center. 5 Political 1 Military grounds in Latin. See Detroit in its World Setting: A Three Hundred Year Chronology, pg , June 11; Detroit was completely destroyed by fire. See Detroit: A Chronological and Documentary History. 3 Cities became characterized by straighter streets and regular plots shaped by the interests of developers looking to make profit. See Living in Modernity, pg A central park that served as the plan s northern boundary. See Detroit's City Beautiful and the Problem of Commerce, pg See Detroit in its World Setting: A Three Hundred Year Chronology, pg. 90.

2 2 intrigue and commercial conceptions of land division resulted in compromises to the proposal, but Woodward s plan for downtown prevailed. 6 The Detroit plan provided for the location of civic buildings around Campus Martius, addressing conflicting commercial pursuits and civic ideals. 7 The city hall of 1871, the Detroit Opera House (1869), and the Detroit Public Library (1865) 8 were all civic structures located either on or around Campus Martius. The site would serve as a public space 9 with a focus on civic structures, which would offer Detroiters a small escape from the commercially dominant 10 layout of the standardized city. 11 Commercial buildings would still be noticed, as they began to build upward 12 as the population of the city approached 206,000 in 1890, 13 but they were not the sole component of the city structure. On my visit to Campus Martius, there was no single dominant group of people that occupied the site. There was no dominant race, age, gender, or class enjoying what the site had to offer. There were men in suits passing through the park and a family standing by the ice rink, checking on its completion progress. Men appearing to belong to a lower social class were also passing through the site. Everyone eventually glanced up at the unlit pine tree that was still in the process of getting trimmed. There were no fees, age requirements, race restrictions, or political 6 See Detroit's City Beautiful and the Problem of Commerce, pg See Detroit's City Beautiful and the Problem of Commerce, pg Commercial pursuits defined as activities engaged in or intended to make profit. Civic ideals defined as relating to administration of city or activities of people in relation to their city. 8 The Detroit Public Library originally opened in the Capitol High School. See Detroit's City Beautiful and the Problem of Commerce, pg All large cities reserve such space for the use of pedestrians. See Would Enlarge Campus Martius, Detroit Free Press. 10 Detroit was becoming a prosperous city, filling the brick streets with new companies and businesses. Streets of Old Detroit, Detroit Historical Museum visit. 11 People want to live in a place that feels like home, Herron Lecture See Urban and Industrial Environments: American Urban Form: A Representative History, pg Historical populations chart, see Lecture 9 [PowerPoint Slides].

3 3 preferences necessary to enter the park. 14 Campus Marius is an open area meant to be enjoyed by anyone wishing to experience the park. Changes made to Campus Martius over time have aided the parks adaption to the dynamic city. In 1865, plans for the Soldiers and Sailors Monument were announced. The monument honors Michigan s Civil War veterans and was unveiled April 9, An image of the monument on Armistice Day in 1918 shows a large crowd of people surrounding the monument and celebrating the end of World War 1. Plans to make Campus Martius an urban park 16 were revealed in Unveiled in 2004, the current park contains Woodward Fountain, 17 two stages, an ice rink, a bistro, the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, and green space. 18 What Campus Martius has evolved into is a clear representation of how the city has developed over time. After visiting and researching the history of Campus Martius, it is clear that the site represents Detroit s onward progression. Initially situated in a plan to rebuild the city, Campus Martius serves as an open site that honors Detroit. The location represents a true public space existing without discriminatory restrictions. The park s evolution also follows the city s journey through changing times. A critical assessment of Campus Martius confirms the park s existence as an optimistic representation of Detroit s tomorrow. 14 Detroit s past reveals a society split not only by race, but also class. See Detroit: A Biography, pg Thousands filled Campus Martius to view the unveiling of the monument designed by Randolph Rogers. See The Soldiers and Sailors Monument, Lees. 16 Plans for a new urban park in the historic Campus Martius on Woodward, see Detroit in its World Setting: A Three Hundred Year Chronology pg Woodward Fountain is also where the city s Christmas tree is placed. 18 Green space referring to gardens, lawn space, and trees.

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5 5 Works Cited Poremba, D. (2001). Detroit in its World Setting: A Three Hundred Year Chronology, Detroit: Wayne State University Press. Vexler, R. (1977). Detroit: A Chronological & Documentary History, Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.: Oceana Publications. Bluestone, D. M.. (1988). Detroit's City Beautiful and the Problem of Commerce. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 47(3), (1918, November 11). Armistice Day, 1918 in Detroit [photograph]. Michigan, Detroit: The Detroit News. Martelle, S. (2012). The Auto Era. Detroit: A Biography (p. 73). Chicago, Ill.: Chicago Review Press. Bilton, T. (2002). Living in Modernity. Introductory sociology (4th ed.). Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. Would Enlarge Campus Martius. (1906, November 22). Detroit Free Press ( ). Streets of Old Detroit. Detroit Historical Museum. 2015, 5 November. Herron, J. (2015). Lecture 9 [PowerPoint Slides]. Group Collaboration. Seminar. 2015, 12 November. Warner, S. B., & Whittemore, A. H. (2012). Urban and Industrial Environments: American Urban Form: A Representative History. Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT Press. Lees, J. A. (1999). The Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument. Michigan History Magazine, 83(5).