E~:*-a :~s 8
p~.  ,,,,,,
 e: Fit ~e.:~~~sl;-: "
3Lg1
j.BS T14 i:::- --- s:s —iP:Al"e:::
 Si;L
'-~ad :ifisF
"k-"r,s lbZ
Ii:li;::-::::
Ii'l
a:;r:::,::~ar2- X;;;~112: a,;
_ —:,:.I!- i:!::::::'I!:-!'!I:: -:::::lr::-!i::a:_ _r":l-!:::!!::-: ~I: -!:::!~ I:_::::-::I:-;:-!__!: —~:::-:I;i::l:!-:::i (: i —: :./.:i:::::
-~:-:::1:::: 1:)I:::::-i,::;~:::;
g:% %,: ~,_
s~_ci:1::,Isi
g-3;~ea                                            1
a:,::~tB
la
6i!I~1:~uB
1 aa;",,
:~:a4
z
k.lS
9:::!::se
xB`
B91:- ia~;a:a-
~dp~R
~g ii
lla;Ir
-:-,- 1132-8
_AP-M:
L,.a:W~~~-cii':e:ri-8-i:.
e~si:E
":-.: -ii
BB
iB




Y7 21
"17












Di - --


I



l rief     tory
of Detroit in the
qoZdenDas of 9.1,


~u~y
7c    10, ditZ~ u


I


PRESENTED BY
The Detroit Savings Bank
( ESTABLISHED-1849- )
as ac Souvlenzr of the Opening
of its 4eWx~6J/ome in the
DETROIT SAVINGS BANK BUILDING
1921





I


--                              r-. A   '.  _..








A Survey of Detroit in 1849
T HE city of Detroit was not an imposing town in 1849,
although it was almost a century and a half since its
founding by Cadillac, in July, 1701. It had a population of
19,000, and the city limits inclosed an area of five and one-half square
miles. The town was strung out along the river front and did not extend northward of Lafayette Avenue. The Court House and State
Capitol on Capitol Square Park was regarded as too remote from town
for convenience, as the legislators boarded mostly at Woodworth's
Hotel, the National, the Mansion House and other taverns. The
streets were nearly always muddy and in rainy weather one who stepped off the rude, narrow sidewalks would generally sink into the mire
above his boots. Boots were universally worn by men in those times.
The city in 1849 lay mostly between St. Antoine and Third Streets
and there were only a few scattered homes as far north as Grand
Circus Park. Business was confined chiefly to Jefferson Avenue,
Woodbridge and Atwater Streets. The area of the city has multiplied sixteen times since then and the population is about 51 times
greater now.  There were but 91 streets in the city, and the city
directory, published by Duncklee & Wales in 1850, which included
a long historical sketch, contained
but 269 pages.
The total assessed valuation of
property in Detroit was less thanA
$20,000,000 and the tax assessed            31
was $12,633. In the year 1844 the
current expenses of the city, exclu -v
sive of interest, had been $6,922.35.
In 1854 they amounted to $105,519,  Residence of H. H. LeRoy, on site of
and in 1855 they were $163,000.    David Whitney Building, Woodward
Ave. and Park St., f 849




[6]


Detroit's Mayor, 1849
/iii~    _        Charles Howard was mayor of,''i Ai          Detroit in 1849. He was a local mer'II,I! I l            chant and prominent in business circles.
l,iw\ i   ii   tered, March 28 of that year, he bejt *   H   1111 ii  came its president. He was president of
m/ l             the Farmers & Mechanics Bank from
1846 to 1851. He was one of the organ"T,,     izers of the Merchants Exchange and
Charles ioward, Aayor of  Board of Trade when it was organized,
Detroit in  1849.  He  received
1363 votes      October 20, 1847, and its first vice-president. He was one of the organizers and
an officer of the Detroit Mechanics' Society in 1818.
From Tallow Candles to Gas Lighting
In 1849 Detroit was lighted largely by tallow and stearine candles,
and lamps adapted for the use of lard and sperm oil. Soon after
1850 came the introduction of camphene, or burning fluid, which
was a highly inflammable mixture of alcohol, turpentine and
camphor gum. Many fires and explosions followed its use, but it
was not entirely superseded until refined petroleum oil, or kerosene,
became a common article of merchandise. The first use of coal
gas in Detroit was by H. R. Johnson, who installed a small
gas-producing plant for lighting his hotel at the foot of Third
Street, opposite the old Michigan Central depot. In 1851 the
first public gas plant was installed
in Detroit.
Primitive Architecture of              i
Buildings                'The buildings in Detroit were                = In     Ki
lllll ltlll  I  I  RRfl[ Rn -
mostly small and crude in archi-    IU                l
tecture. The old Capitol, with its  /t
pepperbox tower rising to a height
of 140 feet, dominated the city and  Johnson's otel, 18, souhe corner
surrounding country and visitors to   Third and Woodbridge Streets




[ 7 ]


Detroit often climbed to the cupola to
enjoy the view.
The County Building was a plain twostory brick building, 32 x 80 feet, at the  K      __
southeast corner of Congress and Gris- XiD              11
wold Streets, where the Telegraph Block _  3 i  M
was afterward built. The first story contained the county offices and the circuit
court room was on the second floor. It.
was built in 1844 and remained until 1871.        _
The City Hall was an ugly three-story  Wayne County Building, 1849.
southeast corner Griswold and
brick building which stood in the middle   Congress Streets
of what is now Cadillac Square, but was
then known as Michigan Grand Avenue. It faced toward Woodward
Avenue and stood a short distance east of the Soldiers and Sailors
monument. The ground floor was occupied by butchers' stalls and
fish stalls, much like old Faneuil Hall in Boston. In the second
story were the city offices and on the third floor was a council room
and public hall where religious services, theatrical entertainments,
concerts and other affairs were frequently held.
At the southwest corner of Jefferson Avenue and Griswold Street
was the Government Building, which has since served many purposes.
It was built in 1837 for the Bank of Michigan and it was said that
part of the foundation was laid with broken tombstones from old
St. Anne's churchyard which once occupied that site for more than a
century. This was the first stone building erected in Detroit and its


II
<~.,~,..14;I     J I, s.
If.,  (it^!
Old City Hall, 1849, located just east of
Woodward Avenue in Cadillac Square


glistening limestone filled with fossils attracted much attention when
it was new. There the United
States Court, marshal and other
officials were housed. The local U. S.
Land Office occupied the basement
with an entrance from Griswold
Street. The Postoffice was on the
lower floor of the Mariners' Church
and the Custom House was on Gris



[8]
wold Street between Jefferson and Woodbridge. The offices of
the local Indian Commissioner, U. S. Surveyor, U. S. Commissary,
Assistant Quartermaster and Paymaster were scattered about in
other buildings., ~              Spectacular Volunteer Firemen
The firemen of early days played
_    -.< t  an important part in the life of the
X  | i                city. The menace of war came only
at long intervals but a city built
mostly of wood had always the
--      menace of fire as an enemy and
County Jail and Sheriff's Residence  conflagrations wrought havoc in
1849, northwest corner Beaubien and
Clinton Streets      Detroit. Mains with sufficient pressure for fighting fire were lacking
so the common resort was to the old hand or brake pumps worked
by man-power.    The fire companies were independent volunteer
organizations which worked in intense rivalry. In 1844 there were
four engine companies and two independent hose companies. In
1849 two more companies, the Union, No. 7, and the Mechanics,
No. 8, were organized. The first steam fire engine seen in Detroit
was one which passed through the city on its way to Chicago in 1859.
In 1860 the city purchased a steamer from the Amoskeag Co. of
New Hampshire at a cost of $3,150. The last hand engine was re

tired from service in 1865.
No public parade or local pageant was
considered complete without a turnout
of the fire companies in all their panoply
and with full apparatus. The competition in brilliancy of uniform and decoration of apparatus was very keen and
contests of speed and efficiency were frequent. When President Monroe visited
Detroit in 1817, the firemen were the
most conspicuous feature of the parade.
On July 4th they were always a part of


Old Engine House on Larned
between St. Antoine and Hastings.
Headquarters of "Rough and
Beady" Engine Company




s9]
the celebration exercises. For many years the apparatus was stored
in private barns but about 1840 the first engine house was built
at the northwest corner of Larned and Bates Streets. In 1850,
James A. Van Dyke, a veteran of the volunteer firemen, collected a
fund of $8,000 and in the following year the fund was large enough
to erect Fireman's Hall, which was built at the southwest corner of
Jefferson and Randolph Streets.
The Nightly Curfew Bell
St. Anne's Church, the oldest church in the West, had been burned
several times on its original site near Griswold and Jefferson Avenue
corner. In 1849 it stood facing Congress Street on a plat bounded
by Larned, Bates and Randolph. The First Presbyterian Church
stood at the northeast corner of Larned and Woodward. The rope
led down from the belfry in the spire to the porch at the entrance
and the sexton kept a little candy and tobacco shop across Woodward Avenue. At 6 o'clock in the morning, at noon, 6 o'clock at
night and then at 9 o'clock its curfew bell was rung to give the
citizens the time of day. Also when fires threatened the town its


clangor summoned everybody to the
battle against the flames. The fire departments also had steel triangles for
sounding alarms.
Public Schools in 1849
The number of school age in Detroit
was 6,306 and the number enrolled in
the public schools was 4,000. The schools
were all small, being 19 in number, with
21 teachers. The average attendance of
pupils for the year was but 1,743, which
would indicate that the boys of those
days must have played "hookey" pretty
regularly. The total value of school property was rated at $15,827 and the total
expenditures of the year for school purposes was $9,413.


Old State Capitol, Detroit, 1849.
Located on present Capitol
Square, opposite Detroit Savings
Bank Building




[10]
Each ward had two representatives on the Board of Education
and these were generally men of high standing.
The first Union school building erected was the Barstow School,
opened in May, 1850. This was also the first public school named
in honor of a citizen. It was named for Samuel Barstow, in accordance with a resolution offered by Levi Bishop, but this name
was not bestowed until five years after the opening.
The first special teacher employed in the public schools of Detroit
was H. H. Philbrick, who was engaged as special teacher of music
at the beginning of the fall term of 1849.
Among the notable teachers of that time was John F. Nichols,


who served the Board of
University Building, 1849, at
one time a branch of the U. of M.


Education continuously from 1848 until
1883 with the exception of one year. He
was a strict disciplinarian and many of
the grey-headed old boys of today have
occasion to remember "Old Nick" and
his strap of punishment. He was for
many years principal of the old Cass
School, now transformed into the Cass
Technical High School.
In 1849 the schools opened at 7:30 in
the morning, but in the following year
the opening hour was advanced to 8
o'clock. In 1844 the school year consisted
of four terms of 12 weeks each, which left
little time for vacations; but in 1849 the


school year was divided into two terms of 23 weeks each, allowing a
vacation of three weeks, beginning on the first Monday in August,
and another of eight days during the holiday season.
The Capitol School, held in the old State Capitol, was the first
Union school, having both primary and middle-grade schools under
one roof.
There was no High School in the city until 1859.
One of the oldest schools in the West was housed in the old
University Building, on the west side of Bates Street, between
Congress and Lamed Streets.




[ll]


University of Michigan in Detroit
The present University of Michigan at Ann Arbor is the legitimate
successor of the university schools established in this city in 1817,
in the University Building on the west side of Bates Street, near
Congress. The corner stone was laid September 24, 1817.
An act of the legislature approved March 20, 1837, located the
University at Ann Arbor, on a site of forty acres to be donated to
the state for this purpose. A Detroit branch of the University was
continued until 1842. The Board of Education began using the
University Building for school purposes in 1844. The building was
torn down in 1858.
Detroit's First Female Seminary
A society for the promotion of female education was organized
March 18, 1830, with Lewis Cass as president; C. C. Trowbridge,
treasurer; John J. Deming, secretary; directors, Jonathan Kearsley,
Henry M. Campbell, DeGarmo Jones, William Ward, Eurotas P.
Hastings, James Abbott, Charles Larned and E. A. Brush. The
governor and judges granted the society most of the site now occupied by the city hall on condition that a suitable building be erected
by 1834. Four years later the building was finished at a cost of
$7,325. It was a three-story structure of brick, painted yellow,
with white trimming.
George Wilson was principal from 1836 to 1839, when Mrs.
Hester Scott and her three daughters,
Annie, Isabella and Eleanor, took charge
until 1842, when the school was discontinued. The property was transferred
to the state in trust for the University.  (
It was used as a state armory, for sessions
of the Supreme Court and for several
state offices for which there was no room
in the Capitol building.  Afterward it
came into possession of the city and in
connection with the city hall across the
street it was used for the offices of the


General LewLs Cass




[12]


Detroit Female Seminary Building, IS19.
on present City hall site


mayor, the board of sewer commissioners and the city surveyor.
The building was torn down in
1860 to make room for the erection
of the city hall.
Detroit's Early Library
Foundations
A number of libraries had been
founded in early days, the first
society having organized in 1817.


The Detroit Athanaeum established a club and reading room in
1831. The Young Men's Society followed soon after with a small
library in connection with its reading rooms. The Detroit Mechanics' Society, the Historical Society, the Lyceum and several
others followed. It was not until the act of legislature of 1842
that Detroit was prepared to establish the present public library
in connection with the Board of Education. For a time the books
of the library were housed in the old Capitol building. The
library on Library Park, then termed Center Park, was begun
in 1875 and completed in the following year.
Literary and Debating Societies


The Young Men's Society, founded in 1833, was a flourishing
institution for many years and played an important part in civic
life. Its officers and members included many men who became
famous. Douglass Houghton, Anson Burlingame, afterward U. S.
Minister to China, advisor to the  '-.i.       ^  _.
Chinese Government and negotia- -,
tor of treaties for China with       i
several European nations, made
his maiden speech in the Young         |
Men's Society when it was using        r.
the session  room   of the First      j. A. Roy's Book Store, 1849. Leading.  stationer and  book  dealer.  Southwest
Presbyterian  Church. Later the        corner of Griswold and Lamrned Streets




[13 1
Society built Young Men's Hall on the north side of Jefferson
Avenue between Bates and Randolph Streets which was completed
in 1850.
The Mechanics' Society was founded in 1818 and it had among
its members men of every calling and profession. Its membership
was small in 1849 but it had a library of 1,100 volumes.
Detroit Churches of the 1840's


Detroit during the first 117 years of
its existence was a city of few churches
and these were all of the Roman Catholic
communion. The city and the neighboring villages were occasionally visited
by Protestant missionaries but they
found little encouragement to remain.
Rev. David Bacon, a Congregational
missionary from Connecticut came here
in 1800 and in the following year he
kept a day school and preached on
Sundays, sometimes in the old Council


First Presbyterian Church, at
Woodward Ave. and Lamed St.,
1849.   Rev. Noah M. Wells,
pastor of First Protestant Society


House, sometimes in the home of some citizen and occasionally at
River Rouge.
In 1817 Rev. Gideon Lanning came here from western New York
to establish a Methodist mission. He founded a church at River
Rouge where the first Methodist church of Michigan was erected.
Failing health compelled him to return East and the church after
several years of struggle fell into
-           Ki        decay. The partial success of this
-       mission, however, stirred religious
Ai                        interest in Detroit, and in 1818 the
First Protestant Society was
H   _           founded. As a majority of the Protestants of the town were of the
i-                   Presbyterian sect the society organession House, 18, on east  ized a church of that denomination.
side of Woodward Ave. between  A plat of land vacated by the Old
Latrnd find Conninrss


nwt~ ~rvtl ur1& ut/S{.y~ VII




[14]


English Burying Ground on the west side
of Woodward Avenue between Congress
and Larned Streets was dedicated to
I Jthe First Protestant Society and on it
were built the First Presbyterian Church
and soon after the First St. Paul's Episcopal Church. The Methodists built
their first church on what is now the
corner of Gratiot Avenue and Farrar
Street, but it was so far away from the
St. Anne's Church, 1849, on  residence district that it was soon
Larned Street East, between
Randolph and Bates  abandoned and was for a time used for
other purposes. The first permanent
Methodist church was built at the northeast corner of Congress
and Woodward Avenue and the second was built at the southwest corner of State and Woodward and first occupied in 1849.
The First Congregational Church, organized in 1844, built a
church at the southwest corner of Jefferson Avenue and Beaubien
Street which it was occupying in 1849.
Old St. Anne's Church, the first Christian foundation in Michigan,
dates from July, 1701. For many years this church stood at the
head of St. Anne Street in the old stockaded town. After the fire of
1805 it was rebuilt on a block bounded by Bates, Randolph, Larned
and Michigan Grand Avenue, which is now Cadillac Square.
Its twin spires were for a time the most conspicuous landmark of
the city as seen from the river.
The Second Presbyterian Church was built at the northwest
corner of Lafayette and Wayne Street in 1849.
St. Mary's Catholic Church was built by the German Catholics
at the southeast corner of St. Antoine and Monroe Avenue where
it still remains.
Holy Trinity, in early days known as "the Irish Church" stood
on Cadillac Square, but was subsequently moved to Porter and
Sixth Streets.
The Scotch Presbyterian, also known as the "Central" was
built at Bates and Farmer Streets in 1843.




[15 ]


Christ Church, Episcopal, on
Jefferson Avenue between Hastings            _
and Rivard, built in 1846.
The Second Methodist Church
was built on the north side of Congress Street near Randolph in 1845.
The German Reformed Church
was at Monroe Avenue and Beau-hurch, s               es corner
Fmrst M. E. Church, southwest corner
bien Street.                        Woodward Ave. and State Street. First
services held Sunday, April 8, 1849
St. John's Lutheran was at Farmer Street and Monroe Avenue.
A colored Methodist Church stood on Champlain, now Lafayette,
between Brush and Beaubien Streets.
The Mariners' Church
The Mariners' Church founded on a benefice by Miss Charlotte
Ann Taylor and her sister, Mrs. Julia Ann Anderson, both communicants of St. Paul's. Mrs. Anderson died October 28, 1842,
and her will bequeathed a lot 50 x 100 feet, at northwest corner of
Woodward and Woodbridge Street, for a church site to be called
the Mariners' Church or Sailors' Bethel. Directed that it be built
of stone. For the building she gave some land in Monroe and a
lot in the rear of the church fronting on Griswold Street, forty feet
front, which sold for $13,100. Erection was begun in Spring of
1849 and Rev. Horace Hill was chosen
for rector. Consecrated the church December 23, 1849. First cost $15,000..             d Seats 500. Lower story always used for
i       |!l/la ^i,  business purposes to produce revenue.
iB|   I     Occupied by postoffice for several years.
fIflU!               Cemeteries and Their Locations:: iThe business center of Detroit has
been thickly sown with dead men's bones
Mariners' Church, at Woodward  and here and there, unwittingly, the
and Woodbridge, consecrated in
December, 1849     present generation treads above the dust




[16]


Elmowood (:Cenietery, 1849. Cost $1858.00
and subscribers to the purchase price had
their choice of the lots


of departed generations. The first
cemetery was the churchyard of old
St. Anne's Church, which was erected out of green logs, near the
present corner of Griswold Street
and Jefferson Avenue, 105 years
before the present street plan was
laid out. Many of those early
graves were unmarked. One of the
earliest interments was that of a
young child of Cadillac. In 1706


Rev. Nicholas Del Halle, priest of St. Anne's, was murdered there
while working in his garden and he was buried in the churchyard.
In 1817 the Governor and Judges gave a new burial plot to the
parish of St. Anne which was bounded by Cadillac Square, then
Michigan Grand Avenue, Lamrned, Bates and Randolph Streets.
Just across Congress Street then arose the original "Piety Hill," a
mound about 50 feet high, which was leveled off when Congress
Street was opened. For many years it was the coasting place for the
boys of the town. The bodies were removed from the old cemetery
to this plat but many in unmarked graves were not discovered until
long afterward when the foundations of more modern buildings
were laid, and sewers and water mains were placed under the street.
The Old "English Burying Ground"
During the British regime a Protestant Cemetery was established
on the east side of Woodward Avenue between Congress and Lamrned
Streets. It was known as "The English Burying Ground." There
for many years the soldiers killed in conflict and soldiers and
citizens who died of disease were buried. In 1827 the city purchased
a plat of two and one-half acres from the Antoine Beaubien farm,
and the bodies were removed from the English burying ground
and from St. Anne's second churchyard to the new cemetery which
was bounded by Clinton and Gratiot, Beaubien and Hastings
Streets. The Catholic Cemetery was established on the east half
and the Protestant on the west side. In 1859 a new cemetery plat




[171


was purchased on the site now occupied by the Eastern Market
and House of Correction, at Russell Street and Gratiot Avenue, but
this was regarded as too near the town, so a second purchase
established Mt. Elliott and Elmwood Cemeteries.
When the time came for the removal of the bodies, 17,000 were
taken out West Fort Street where Woodmere Cemetery was started.
The others were reinterred in Elmwood and Mt. Elliott. The site
of the old cemetery is now occupied by Clinton Park, St. Mary's
Hospital, the Municipal Building and Health Office.
The English burying ground had a great boom during the Pontiac
war when more than 150 soldiers were slaughtered in the fight at
Bloody Run, which took place near the site of the Michigan Stove
Works. During the war of 1812 its capacity was overtaxed. In
the battle at Frenchtown, now Monroe, in January, 1812, and in
the subsequent massacre of the wounded and prisoners, 397 Americans were killed. The bodies were buried on the ground, but six
years later they were exhumed and brought to Detroit and buried
with military honors in a plat east of Fort Shelby and a few in the
English burying ground. In 1849 all that could be found were
exhumed again and taken to Kentucky for final interment, most
of them having been militiamen from Kentucky. A number of
times, the last time a few years ago, in the center of Fort Street,
bodies of these Kentucky soldiers have been found and identified
by the metal belt clasp and military
buttons.
In the winter of 1813, a part of Harri-  -
son's army which had won the Battle of
the Thames in Canada, was quartered
in Detroit. The British had burned the
buildings of the fort and the soldiers
had to build such shelter as they could..
in a cantonment about Fort Shelby.      a-vF
During that winter a deadly epidemic
broke out and about 900 soldiers and  Pr.t..aT
Pontiac Memorial Tree, 1849.
citizens died of it. Several years later, in  Michigan Stove Co. has marked
the location wvith a bronze tablet




[18]


1826, an attempt was made to remove the bodies when the epidemic
broke out again and cost a number of lives, among them that of
Mayor Henry J. Hunt. The work was abandoned and the bodies
were left in the ground. For many years after every excavation in
the street or on the building lots uncovered some of the bones of
these soldiers.
Early Hotels of Detroit
The old Michigan Exchange Hotel, on the southwest corner of
Jefferson and Shelby Street, was operated by Edward Lyon in
1849. It was first opened in June, 1835, by E. A. Wales.
The National Hotel stood on the site of the later Russell House
and Pontchartrain Hotel, where the building of the First National
Bank is being erected. The National was opened December 1,
1836. After several earlier proprietors came H. A. Barstow in
1847, when a brick addition was made to the old wooden structure,
35x 75 feet, facing on Woodward Avenue. In 1851 the wooden
portion of the old National was moved to the east side of Cass
Avenue, above Grand River, where it is still in use as a tenement.
In 1857 the Russell House was opened on the site by W. H. Russell,
with W. J. Chittenden, who later became the proprietor, as chief
clerk. The Prince of Wales and Grand Duke Alexis of Russia
were guests.
The Franklin House, at the southwest corner of Lamed and
Bates Streets, was established in 1836. It was kept by J. C. Warner
until 1840, who gave it its name. Seymour Finney succeeded Mr.
Warner in 1846 and he was proprietor in 1849.
The Eagle Hotel was located on
the south side of Woodbridge Street
near Griswold. It was kept by B.
-   B. Davis in 1849. In 1866 it was
burned.
-     -      Andrews' Railroad Hotel occupied
the present site of the old Detroit
Andrews' Railroad  Hotel, 1849, on
present site of Shubert-Detroit Opera  Opera House, on Campus Martius,
House, Campus Martius




- ~I I          I
Michigan Exchange, one of
Detroit's famous hostelries in
1849, Shelby and Woodbridge
Streets. Frontage afterwards
built on Jefferson Avenue


[ 19 I]
until 1867. It was opened in 1838. J.
F. Antisdel & Brother, who became
noted hotel men, succeeded Mr. Andrews
in 1861.
The Mansion House, on the west side
of Griswold Street, near Atwater, was
built in 1837. In 1840 it was partially
destroyed by fire and afterward rebuilt.
It was conducted by John Moore in 1849.
The Commercial Hotel, at the southwest corner of Woodbridge and First
Streets, was occupied by John Murray
in 1849. It was burned in 1856.


The Grand River House, on the northwest corner of Griswold
and Grand River Avenue, was opened in 1846 by Marvin Salter,
who was succeeded by S. and J. French in 1849. In 1862 it became
the Goodman House and later the Griswold.
Johnson's Hotel was opened by H. R. Johnson at Third and
Woodbridge Streets in 1848. In 1861 the name was changed to
Bagg's Hotel and in 1864 to the Cass House.
The old Biddle House was built in 1849 on the site of the old
American or Wales Hotel. In its day it was a famous hostelry.
It was built on land belonging to the estate of John Biddle, hence
the name.
The old Arsenal building at the northwest corner of Jefferson and
Wayne Street was fitted up as a hotel by H. R. Andrews and G. W.
Thayer in 1850. It was known as the American Temperance Hotel.
Later it was used as a soldiers' home for returned war veterans but
it was torn down in 1868. This building was erected under direction of Col. R. L. Baker in 1816 and for many years the yard in the
rear of it was piled with pyramids of rusty cannon balls. During
that year the fort was garrisoned with 1,500 troops but the greater
part of them were withdrawn in 1817.
One of the old hotels which remained in business until a few years
ago was the old Griswold House which occupied the site of the




[20]


Union Trust Building at Congress and. Griswold Streets.           It was opened as
_      the Howard House in 1853. Its latest
~    ' ~        proprietors, Van Est and Graves, resumed business as proprietors of the
U            j    Hotel Cadillac, and later were proprietors of the Hotel Cadillac in New York
City.
Perkins Hotel, now the Brunswick,
Perkins Hotel, 1849, at Cass and  at Grand River and Middle Street, was
Grand River.  A favorite stopping place for farmers coming in  the best known roadhouse of the time.
to the city market
o the i mark   It was opened in 1847. The Northern
Hotel stood at the corner of Woodward and Grand Circus Park. It was built in 1846.
These hotels furnished accommodation for many travelers and for
immigrants who came seeking homes in the West. Most of them
had bars which were well patronized both by the traveling public
and by the men of the city.
Steamboats brought swarms of people to Detroit. Stages ran
over the main thoroughfares like Michigan, Grand River, Woodward
and Gratiot Avenues to neighboring towns, and down the river road
to Toledo, when the roads would permit, for until the railroads came
they were the only means of travel and mail delivery. The main
plank roads leading out of Detroit were: The Detroit and Saline,
out Michigan Avenue; the Detroit and Howell, on Grand River
Avenue; Detroit and Birmingham,
on Woodward Avenue; and Detroit
and Erin, on Gratiot. Along these     -.
lines were taverns where accommodations were offered to travelers
with plenty of liquid refreshments
and some of them had a dubious
reputation as resorts for highwayT7ll (;ate, 1849, between  Detroit and
men, horse and cattle thieves and  Pontiac. The plank road was opened in
die c.                                18l9 and had three toll gates
disreputable characters.




[21 ]


Homes of Noted Citizens
Because the river and lakes were     _-.
the main highway of travel during          Ad    i': —:'-'the greater part of each year and
because of the limitations of water
supply the population of early Detroit clung as close to the river as
possible. Here was the center of
civic life. For a time Woodbridge    Residence of Gen. Lewis Cass, 1849, at
northwest corner Fort and Cass Streets
Street was a popular residence street.
Then Jefferson Avenue became the
popular residence street until business crowded the homes aside,
north, south, east and west. In 1849 Congress and Larned Streets
and a section of Fort Street had some of the best homes in the
city. General Cass had an imposing home at the northwest corner
of Fort and Cass. Governor Baldwin afterward built his mansion
there. James F. Joy lived on Fort and Zachariah Chandler built a
house that was for several years a show place where the Detroit
News Building now stands. James Abbott lived on the site of
the present Hammond Building and John Palmer lived on the
site of the Moffat Block.
Rev. George Duffield, who loved the open spaces, lived way out
in the country between George and Duffield Streets on the west side
of Woodward Avenue and his garden ran back to Park Boulevard.
George Street, named in his honor, was afterward renamed High
Street. Detroit appears to have
a mania for erasing the old street
i                              names which have historical sig- -                    nificance and substituting purely.                             fanciful names. Elijah Brush lived
d l                  -,I. near the present site of the St.
Claire Hotel on a lot bounded by
Lafayette, Croghan (now Monroe),
~-                      Randolph and Brush Streets.
Old Campau House, 1849, on Jefferson.  Governor Woodbridge lived in
t)eteen Griswold and Shelby.  Said to
be the site of Cadillac's original head-  a picturesque old place on his farm
oaer  in iiovai


quarters in uetroit




[22]


near the foot of 9th Street. Trumbull Avenue was cut through his
't,   farm  and he dedicated land for
i i  i                 widening the original street on condition that the street be named!               Trumbull Avenue.    This was in
honor of his aged father-in-law, the
_.-       -            celebrated poet and patriot of the
Residence of James Abbott, southeast  Revolution, who spent his last days
corner of Griswold and Fort Streets, 1849
in Detroit clinging to the dress of
the revolutionary period until he
was laid away in Elmwood Cemetery. Trumbull's poem "McFingal," written after the fashion of Butler's "Hudibras," is still well
worth reading and it contains quotable lines that are often attributed to Butler:
"No rogue ere felt the halter draw,
With good opinion of the law,"
is a sample of his wit.
Beginning of Detroit's Industries
In 1849 Detroit's industries began a rapid expansion and one of
these was the lumber industry. There were sawmills along the
river front below Belle Isle and another group of them along the
river in Springwells. The logs were brought to the mills by rafting
down the river, for Wayne County was not forested with pine to any
great extent.
John Brennan started a boiler
shop in operation in 1847. The
Michigan Iron Foundry was established in 1848. The boot and shoe
business was begun in a small way
in 1832, and afterward grew to largel
proportions.  The census of 1850   -
reported a little more than $11,000,000 worth of manufactured product    c. Piquette's gold pen and silver spoon
for the state and a little less  factory at northwest corner Jefferson Ae.
for the state and a little less tan      and Griswold Street in 1849






[23]


$2,000,000 for the city of Detroit.  The only business house of
Detroit that has remained continuously under the same name since
1849 is that of G. & R. McMillan.  That of Theodore H. Eaton
remained in business until recently.
Detroit's First Tobacco Works
The manufacture of tobacco, which was to become one of the
important industries in Detroit, was begun by George Miller about
the year 1840. He sold out to his father, Isaac S. Miller, in 1845,
who in turn sold out to his son, T. C.
Miller, in 1849. The Miller tobacco
plant was located on the east side of
Woodward Avenue just below Jefferson and the machinery was located in
the cellar. The motive power was an old
blind horse that was lowered into the
cellar and worked there until he died.
The tobacco was cured in the loft of
the small wooden two-story building
and was worked up into fine-cut in
batches of about 25 pounds. K. C.
Barker &   Co. began manufacturing
tobacco in 1848. Daniel Scotten and
John J. Bagley learned the business    Miat ses Tobacco Fac ory, 1849,
from Miller.                           Jefferson.  Detroit's tobacco
from M r.                    manufacturing industry was
begun here
Organs and Furniture
The manufacture of parlor organs
was begun by the Clough & Warren Co., in 1850. In 1849 the
manufacture of furniture was begun on a small scale in Grand
Rapids by Abraham Snively and a little later Wm. T. Powers
and William Haldane built a larger factory. At that time the
only western furniture factory using power-driven machinery was
located in Cincinnati.




[24]


Freemasonry in Early Detroit
The order of Freemasonry was introduced in Detroit as early as 1764. It,,        had been introduced in New York in
l          1753 and some of the soldiers of the
Royal American regiment, stationed in
Detroit in 1764, were Masons. They
petitioned Grand Master Harrison of
New York for authority to organize a
lodge and confer degrees, a dispensation
Jeremiah Moors, Grand Master  was granted and on April 27 of that
of the Masonic Grand Lodge of
Michigan in 1849    year a lodge was organized with Lieut.
John Christie as master. This lodge continued work for a period of about 30 years, but it left little record.
In 1794 a new charter was obtained from the Grand Lodge of Canada
at Quebec and James Donaldson became master under this charter.
The lodge met at Donaldson's house and it was known as Zion
No. 10. The former lodge was known as Detroit Lodge. Following the
Morgan abduction and the violent anti-Masonic movement Masonic
work was suspended for a time but it was resumed again in 1841. A
Grand Lodge was organized for the state and on March 9, 1848, a
Grand Chapter was organized. The Grand Commandery of
Knights Templars dates from February 12, 1857.
In 1831 the Masons built a hall on the north side of Jefferson
Avenue between Griswold and Shelby Streets. They removed to
larger quarters in the Wayne County Bank building in 1876 and in
1893 they built the Masonic Temple at Lafayette and First Street
which is soon to be superseded by a splendid $4,000,000 temple at
Second Avenue and Bagg Street, now known as Temple Avenue.
Masonry was represented by Zion and Detroit lodges, Monroe
Council and Monroe Chapter. The Odd Fellows had a large
membership and the Sons of Temperance society was flourishing.
The City's Waterworks Plants
In 1849 Detroit's water supply was supplied by use of a 150
horse-power engine which was installed that year. Early settlers




[25J


built as close to the river as possible for that was the only resort
for pure water. Wells had been sunk in the deep clay soil but the
soil was so impervious that only surface water seeped into the
wells. When they were driven very deep mineral contamination
was encountered. For many years water carts brought the water
from the river in barrels and people of small means carried water
in two buckets suspended from a wooden yoke across their shoulders.
For fire protection each resident was compelled to keep at least
one barrel of water on his premises.
In 1824 Peter Berthelet, who had a private wharf near the foot
of Randolph Street, was authorized to extend it farther into the
river and to construct a large pump for public use. In 1825
Bethuel Farrand, father of Jacob S. Farrand, came from western
New York to interest Detroiters in a hydraulic plant. He submitted his scheme and was given an exclusive franchise by the
Common Council. Associated with Rufus Wells he rafted tamarack
logs from a swamp in Macomb County, bored them out by horsepower and laid them in shallow trenches along the principal streets.
A small service pipe was carried into each yard with an open
penstock for drawing water from the system.
A pump was installed in a building at the foot of Randolph
Street and operated by horse-power; it raised water to a large
wooden tank which was built on a derrick at a height of 50 feet
above the river. In connection with this was a wooden tank of
1,000 gallons capacity on the south
side of Jefferson Avenue. Patrons paid
$10 a year for the service. In 1829 Mr.
Farrand sold out to his partner, Mr.
Wells, who then organized the Detroit
Hydraulic Company with Lucius Lyon,
Phineas Davis and A. H. Hathon as
partners.  A franchise was obtained,                     i
expiring in 1850. A new pump house
was built on Woodbridge Street betweenI;               M
Wayne and Cass Streets and a new           RH
Old Reservoir or Round House,
reservoir of 22,000 gallons capacity was  1849, foot of Orleans Street,
capacity, 422,979 gallons




[26]
installed. A ten-horse-power engine replaced the old horse-driven
pump. Later a 120,000 gallon reservoir was built on Fort and
Griswold Streets, southwest corner, and a larger engine was
installed but the company always lost money because their rate
was too low.  The city bought the plant for $20,500 and erected
a large tank reservoir, supported on a brick tower 50 feet high,
at the foot of Orleans Street.
Founding of the Water Commission
In 1842 the Fort Street reservoir was abandoned. Constant
growth of population compelled the discarding of old machinery
and the installation of new and this together with extension of
wooden and iron water mains resulted in an annual deficit. At
the end of 1849 the city had expended $85,125 more than the
income from service and was trying to unload its white elephant.
It became necessary to proceed more systematically with an eye
to future expansion and to properly finance the undertaking.
In 1852 the Detroit Water Board was created, consisting of Shubael
Conant, Henry Ledyard, Edmund A. Brush, James A. Van Dyke
and William R. Noyes. In 1854 the water works were pumping
a million gallons a day and in 1856 the city purchased a new pump
of 3,000,000 gallons daily capacity. The new water board purchased 10 acres on the highest ground inside the city limits which
was on the farm of Antoine Dequindre and on that site was built
what was later known as the Watson Street reservoir, 530x320
feet in area. In 1873 this reservoir was outgrown and 35 acres
of the site of the present water works was purchased for the installation of a new plant.
Detroit Newspapers in 1849
Few cities of the country can show a more extensive newspaper
graveyard than Detroit, for in the early days most of these publications were short-lived because of insufficient public support. The
Northwestern Advocate began publication in October, 1849. It
was a whig political organ conducted by Josiah Snow, but it soon
died. Wellman's Literary Miscellany was a pretentious magazine




[27


for its time, the first issue appearing
in July, 1849, with D. F. Quinby as
editor. It was sold to Luther Beecher
in 1851 and after passing through several
changes of ownership and name it suspended in 1854 on the death of the
owner, E. M. Sheldon.   The Detroit
Daily Herald, a penny paper, appeared
\fNov. 26, 1849, and expired in December
1850.
Hon. Zach. Chandler, 1849. One
of old Detroit's most prominent  The Michigan Farmer and Western
citizens. Mayor in 1851, afterward
U. S. Senator     Agriculturist succeeded  the  Western
Farmer in 1844 when it was purchased
by Wilbur F. Storey. Warren Isham became owner in 1847. It
was enlarged in 1849 and in 1853 it was sold to W. S. Duncklee
and R. F. Johnstone.
In 1842 the Michigan Christian Herald was founded as a Baptist
organ. In 1849 it was owned by Mr. Allen and edited by Rev.
G. W. Harris. The Detroit Tribune was the heir and successor
of several earlier publications beginning with the Northwestern
Journal, founded in 1829 by George L. Whitney. Soon after
the name was changed to the Detroit Journal and Michigan Advertiser. In 1833 it was styled the Detroit Journal, then the title
changed to the Detroit Journal and Courier, and later to the Journal


and Advertiser. The Detroit Daily Advertiser appeared June 11, 1836, at $8 a
year. During all these years the office
was at the southeast corner of Jefferson
and Woodward Avenues then known
as "King's Corer." In 1842 the entire
block was burned and the Daily Advertiser moved to the Sheldon Block. In
1843 it was sold to Gen. A. S. Williams.
It absorbed the Daily Express, published
by Smith & Gully, in 1845. In 1848
General Williams sold it to N. I. Rawson,


Feb. 24, 8
Odd Fellows Hall on west side of
Feb. 24, _ 847




[28]
H. H. Duncklee and Geo. W. Wisner, the latter becoming chief editor.
In 1849 Rufus Hosmer became editor. In 1850 Mr. Rawson sold
his interest to E. A. Wales and the paper was first printed by steampower that year. It subsequently became the Detroit Tribune,
then the Post and Tribune. It was purchased in 1891 by the
Detroit News and was discontinued a few years ago.
The Free Press Established
The Democratic Free Press and Michigan Intelligencer was
first published May 5, 1831. S. McKnight, T. C. Sheldon and
Andrew Mack bought the paper in 1832 and the office was moved
to a site opposite the Postoffice, on Jefferson Avenue near Wayne
Street. It was a weekly until June, 1835, when it became a semiweekly. On September 28 of that year it appeared as a daily, the
first in the state. In July, 1836, John S. Bagg became sole owner.
In 1837 the Sheldon Block and the Free Press office were burned.
Henry Barns of New York had arrived in Detroit with a newspaper
outfit intending to found a paper at Niles but he was induced to
enter into partnership with John S. and A. S. Bagg and renew
publication of the Free Press, under the name Bagg, Barns &
Company. In 1838 Barns sold out to his partners.
In 1841 the office was removed to the Museum Building at the
southeast corner of Jefferson and Griswold, where it was again
burned out in 1842. A. S. Bagg and J. H. Harmon formed a new
firm and resumed publication at the corner of Jefferson and Shelby
Street. In 1845 the office was removed to the west side of Woodward Avenue, opposite old St. Paul's Church in the middle of the
block. In 1847 J. S. Bagg again became editor and in 1849 he
sold out to his brother John S. Bagg. In 1850 it was published
by Bagg, Harmon & Co. In 1852 it was purchased by Jacob
Barns & Co. In February, 1853, Wilbur F. Storey became owner
and editor. He sold it for $50,000 in 1861 and founded the Chicago
Times. Henry N. Walker became editor and proprietor of the
Free Press and William E. Quinby, who was one of the editors with
a quarter ownership, became half owner in 1872.




[29]
The Allgemeine Zeitung, a German democratic weekly, was
published in 1844 by Dr. Anthony Kaminsky. In 1848 M. H.
Allardt became part owner. In 1850 Kaminsky died and Butz
& Schimmel bought the paper, changing the name to The Michigan
Tribune. It was merged with the Michigan Democrat in 1854.
Introduction of the Telegraph
The telegraph was still a novelty in 1845. On September 22 of
that year a Dr. Boynton gave a series of lectures and demonstrations
in the session room of the First Presbyterian Church, at Woodward
and Lamed Street, charging twenty-five cents admission. In 1846
Ezra Cornell and J. J. Speed, Jr., entered into a contract for building a line from Buffalo to Milwaukee, connecting all the principal
towns along the lakes and the interior. Smith and Vail were
owners of the patent and they appointed Jacob M. Howard, Martin
B. Wood and Levi Hubbel as trustees to represent their interest.
The contractors came to Detroit in the winter of 1846-47 to procure
subscriptions along the route and made this city their headquarters.
The first wire strung in Michigan was between Detroit and Ypsilanti
and it was first used November 29, 1847. The first telegraph office
was located in a rear room in the second story of a building owned
by Mr. Newberry, at the northeast corner of Jefferson Avenue and
Cass Street. The office was soon removed to a building on Jefferson
Avenue, next to the Farmers & Mechanics Bank and opposite the
Masonic Hall. The Speed line, between Detroit and Chicago, was
in operation at the end of 1848 and the O'Reilly line, between
Detroit and Buffalo, was completed March 1, 1848. These lines
were named for the respective contractors who built them. The
O'Reilly line had its office on Jefferson Avenue, just west of the old
Michigan Exchange Hotel, at the corner of Shelby. A third line,
known as the Snow line, was run to Chicago via Monroe.
First Railway Stations in Detroit
The first station of the Detroit & Pontiac road in Detroit was
a wooden building at the southwest corner of Jefferson Avenue and
Dequindre Street. In 1842 the line of the railway was shifted at




[30


Dequindre Street to the Gratiot
Road, now Gratiot Avenue, and a
new station was built in the rear
— =,_ of the present site of Detroit Opera. House. In connection with the
station, but facing on the Campus
Martius, was Andrews' Railroad
Passenger train, 1849, Detroit  ' Pontiac
R.. The depot was on present site of Old  Hotel, run by H. R. Andrews, a twoDetroit pera House     story building with a porch for
each story extending clear across
the front of the building.
But the railroad occupying the center of a main thoroughfare of
common use proved a serious nuisance. Teams encountered on
the street became frightened and ran away. Detroit was a muddy
city and the soil under the Detroit & Pontiac tracks was usually
in sloppy condition and when a train would pass along the street the
mud would shoot both ways from the ends of the ties, spraying
people on the sidewalks and even the houses along the way. After
a heavy rain the tracks would sink several inches into the mud when
a train passed and then spring back again. On July 11, 1843, the
City Council declared the track an intolerable nuisance and the
city marshal was ordered to remove it unless repairs were made to
insure a dry, solid road-bed. Feeble attempts were made toward
track improvement but again in 1847 the Council demanded the
removal of the tracks and resumption of the service down Dequindre
Street.
Public Quarrels with Railways
Things moved slowly in Detroit. -
in those days. In 1848 a peremp- --.
tory order for removal was treated  '
with silent contempt and not until  "
December 12, 1849, was anything
done to force the issue. That night,
after the train had left for Pontiac,
the citizens tore              Michigan Central Station in 849, on
the citizens tore up several rods of    Third Street near the river




[31 ]
track near Beaubien Street. Several men were arrested but they
were acquitted because of popular feeling. The trains, having no
switch and turn-table for turning the engine around were compelled
to run backward to Pontiac for several weeks. Tracks were replaced
but only to be torn up again, each time for a longer distance.  In
1851 permission was given to extend the tracks down Dequindre
Street to the river front and in the following year the trains began
using the Brush Street depot and the cars were operated over
T-rails for the first time.
The Michigan Central
Was first chartered as the Detroit & St. Joseph Railway June
29, 1832. Work for grubbing the first forty miles of track was
contracted for in 1836 and 720 tons of strap iron was ordered for
covering the rails. The grubbing was completed to Ypsilanti and
ten miles of road were graded that year. In January, 1838, the
road was in operation as far as Dearborn, and on February 3 the
first train reached Ypsilanti. A new car, named the "Governor
Mason" and seating sixty-six persons, carried officers of the road,
city officials and prominent citizens and a public dinner was given
at Ypsilanti. When the party was ready to return to Detroit the
engine refused to work and the gay party which rolled out of
Detroit behind their rampant, puffing iron horse was compelled to
return in a chastened mood drawn by the old-fashioned four-legged
horses, with much labor and at a walking pace. In 1839 the road
was in operation to Ann Arbor and the operating staff, all told,
numbered fifty-four men.
The road was cheaply constructed and the service was slow and
poor. In 1846 the concern was incorporated as the Michigan
Central Railway Company and sold to eastern capitalists for
$2,000,000, together with a charter of special privileges. As originally planned and built the Michigan Central entered Detroit on
the line of Michigan Avenue, then known as the Chicago Road,
and its depot was located on the present site of the city hall. A
spur track ran down Woodward Avenue to the river front to provide connection with the boats on the river. In 1838 the Council




[32 ]


authorized the excavation of Woodward Avenue to a width of fourteen
feet, and as deep as would be deemed
___..             necessary, commencing at Congress
Street and ending at Atwater, to
provide an easy grade for the projected spur to the river, but the
l[ I                 excavation was not made.  PerJaon' Woodbridg rass et etll Foundry  mission was also given for a spur
on Woodbridge Street, west of Third,
adjoining M. C. Depot, in 1849  track from  Woodward  Avenue
through Atwater Street to the
Brush Street Station and these tracks were laid.  In 1844 the
difficulty of making the steep grade up Woodward Avenue caused
the abandonment of these spur tracks.


Second Station of the Michigan Central
Residents and business men on Michigan Avenue objected to the
railway and in 1847 the site for a depot at the river front on Third
Street was bought. This station was used for the first time May
30, 1848. The old buildings on the Campus Martius and the tracks
in Michigan Avenue were removed in 1849.
The early residents regarded a railway as a strictly local affair.
They had little idea of through train service across the country.
After the road had been completed to New Buffalo, instead of St.
Joseph, and the old strap rail had been replaced with T-rail, construction was pushed on toward Chicago to the great annoyance
of the people of Michigan, who seriously objected to having their
main line of railway contribute to the upbuilding of the new city
of Chicago, but later they saw the light and accepted the inevitable
course of events very cheerfully.
In 1849 the Michigan Central Railway carried 152,672 passengers
and 81,066 tons of freight. Its gross earnings were $691,972 and
the net earnings, $390,323. Its operating expenses were $301,649.
All of its cars and several of its locomotives were built in the company shops near the foot of Third Street. The depot grounds on
Third Street covered a space of 22 acres.




[33 ]


The Railway War of 1850
In 1849 serious trouble began to develop between the farmers who
lived along the line of the Michigan Central Railway and the railroad
company. The farmers complained because trains did not stop
every time they were flagged. The right of way was not fenced and
stock used to stray upon the tracks to be killed by passing trains.
There were a number of other complaints and the farmers could get
little satisfaction from the railroad company. The company refused
to pay more than half the value of the stock killed and was very
slow in paying.
At length a conspiracy was organized among the farmers and they
began tearing up tracks, planting obstructions and derailing trains.
Still nothing came of the controversy. Detectives were engaged to
secure employment as farm hands and to join the conspiracy and
participate in the acts of lawlessness. Occasionally passing trains
were fired upon at night by men armed with shotguns and rifles.
The engineers on the line lived a precarious life as they were the
favorite targets for shots from the dark. Presently the farmers
decided upon a master stroke. They came to Detroit and hired a
man named Wellington Gay to set the Michigan Central depot,
elevator and car shops on fire by use of a time-fuse placed in the
lofty cupola dome of the station. As a result the station was
destroyed.
Following this came prosecutions based upon evidence secured
by detectives and company agents and a number of the conspirators
were sent to state prison. The chief
conspirator and the man who fired
the depot died in jail while awaiting                   /
trial. Some time later the depot
was burned again but the incendiaries were not discovered. When the
right of way was fenced the trouble
disappeared. The first depot was
a building 800 x 100 feet in area  Two-wheeled carts as pictured aboe were
and the loss was about $150,000.   ery common on the streets of Detroit in




[34 ]


In 1849 the Erie & Kalamazoo Railway was leased in perpetuity
to the Michigan Southern at a rental of $30,000 a year and then by
combination with the Northern Indiana began the amalgamation
which later resulted in the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern.
In 1849 its trains ran only as far as Hillsdale, via Adrian, and shortly
before it was operating horse-cars between Toledo and Adrian.
In 1848 the Oakland & Ottawa Railroad was incorporated to build
a line from Pontiac to Lake Michigan. It was consolidated with
the Detroit & Milwaukee in 1851. This D. & M. ran its first train
to Grand Haven in November, 1858.
There were 350 miles of railway in Michigan in 1849.
Early Navigation on the Great Lakes
Quite as momentous an historical event as the voyage of Jason
and his 50 companions to Colchis in search of the golden fleece was
the spreading of the white wings
of the "Griffon" to the breeze of
the upper lakes in May, 1679.
Chevalier Jean Baptiste LaSalle,
Rev. Fr. Louis Hennepin, Gabriel
de la Ribourde, Zenobe Membre
and 28 other French adventurers,
after several trial trips about the
lower end of Lake Erie, steered
Navigation in 1849.  Lower picture is
the"Vandalia," first twin-screw propeller  boldly up the lake and arrived at
on the Great Lakes  the straits known as "De Troit"
August 10 of that year. They
anchored in the lower end of Lake St. Claire, to which they gave its
name, and explored the shore. They then sailed northward,
through Lake Huron, the Straits of Mackinaw and put in at Green
Bay, Wisconsin. There the "Griffon" was loaded with fur peltry, the
first merchantable product this region produced for export. The
"Griffon" was sent back with its cargo in charge of several men of
the crew; it passed the Straits of Mackinaw and from there it passed
to the undiscovered port of missing men never to be heard of again
except in song and story.






[35]
That was the unfortunate beginning of lake navigation. Just
ninety years later the first Detroit built vessel of record, the "Enterprise," was launched at the river Ecorces and later several vessels
were built and launched at Ecorces and the River Rouge. In 1782
nine armed vessels were built in the vicinity of Detroit. In 1818 a
new era in navigation was begun on the upper lakes when the first


The"Mayflower," 1849. BuiltfortheM.C.
R. R. to run between Detroit and Buffalo
down and as they passed the


steamboat, the "Walk-in-the-Water," named for a famous Wyandotte chief who lived near the
mouth of Detroit River, arrived
in Detroit. The first boat bore
no raucous steam-whistle. Its arrival was heralded by the firing of a
small cannon from its forward deck
and that was the fashion on the
lakes for several years. Vessels approaching Detroit would fire a gun
as they passed Belle Isle coming
old, weatherbeaten Labadie home

stead near 24th Street coming up the river. The whole town would
rush down to the wharf to see the new wonder of navigation, meet
their friends returning from far journeys and look over the travelers
and immigrants who were arriving.
Until the Great Western Railway was completed to Windsor in
January, 1854, all travel between Detroit
and the East was by boats during the
navigation season. In the winter it
was across Canada by slow stages. The
Wards were operating passenger and
freight steamers on the lakes in 1849 and
the Michigan Central Railway began
steamboat transport service between
Detroit and Buffalo with the "Mayflower," in her time the largest and finest
boat on the lakes. A companion steam-  Detroit and Windor Ferry,1849.
boat, the "Atlantic," was soon added   This suppod,,be tl "Argo








[36]


but both boats soon met disaster. The "Mayflower" was damaged
by ice and beached on Point Pelee. Next spring she was raised and
repaired but two years later she went aground on Pelee Island in a
fog and was broken up by a heavy sea. No passengers were lost in
either case. The "Atlantic" was concerned in the first great marine
tragedy of the upper lakes when on August 20, 1852, she collided
with the propeller "Ogdensburgh," off Long Point, Ontario, and
went down with a loss of 131 lives. The third boat of this line was
the "Ocean."
The success of several vessel owners in transporting freight and
passengers from Buffalo to Detroit, Cleveland, Milwaukee and
Chicago led to the institution of the Detroit & Cleveland Navigation
Company which commenced business in 1850 and which is now the
owner of some of the finest and largest fresh water passenger
steamers in the world. The entire tonnage of lake shipping on the
upper lakes in 1849 amounted to 160,000 tons and it was valued at
$8,000,000.
In 1846 the steamboat "Detroit" established regular service
between Detroit and Sault Ste. Marie.
Postoffice Migrations
In early days the location of the postoffice in small towns was
suited to the convenience of the postmaster. Frederick Bates
was postmaster in 1803 and George Hoffman succeeded in 1806,
after the great fire. The location of the postoffice in those days is
not known. When James Abbott
became postmaster in October, 1806,
__                       it was located at the southeast
-                          corner of Woodward Avenue and
i        Woodbridge Street, next to Mr.
Abbott's store. Early in 1831 it
jl  1 1was located in a small brick build1I                         ing on the south side of Jefferson
-                     Avenue just west of Wayne Street.
The Abbott Block, on west side of Woodward, between Woodbridge and Atwater  On September 7 of that year it
Streets, in 1849




[37 ]


was removed to the northeast corner of Jefferson and Shelby
Street.  About May 1, 1843, it was removed to the basement of
the building at the southwest corner of Jefferson and Griswold
Street, after several intermediary
C,                    locations, and in 1849 it was esta4 a   ==blished on the ground floor under
J                    the Mariners' Church which was
very near the location of 50 years
before. There it remained until
the Federal government erected
its building at the northwest corg__ -         ner of Lamrned and Griswold Streets.
Washington Market, 1849, on northeast  The removal from there to the
corner of Wayne and Lamrned Streets
present buildingwas made in 1896.
The Washington Market
The principal market of Detroit in 1848 stood at the foot of
Randolph Street and it was commonly known as Berthelet's
Market. This was swept away by the great fire of that year
which destroyed every building in the block. The older market,
known as Washington Market, stood at the northeast corner of
Wayne and Lamrned Streets where it had been erected in 1835.
Loss of the Berthelet Market shifted trade to the older market
again after an interval in which it had been used as a school. In
1856 the city turned the property over to the use of a fire company
and in 1870 the old building was
removed and the new fire depart-   -___          -
ment headquarters and offices of    __     _.
the Fire Commission was erected         1      B     j
on the site.
Locations of Old Business                   (
Houses
Jacob S. Farrand's drug store City Vegetable Market, 1849. Stood in
was at 46 Woodward.                the rear of old City Hall, east of Wood

ward Avenue, now Cadillac Square




[38]


I
F. eY C. H. Buhl's Store on the northeast
corner of Jefferson and Griswold in 1849


The Farmers & Mechanics Bank
was on the south side of Jefferson
between Griswold and Shelby.
The Peninsular Bank was built
next door to the Farmers & Mechanics.
The Michigan Insurance Bank
was at the southwest corer of
Jefferson and Griswold.
The Michigan State Bank was


on the south side of Jefferson between Woodward and Bates Street.
John Owen & Co., Grocers, were two doors from the Farmers &
Mechanics Bank on Jefferson.
Luther Beecher's Carpet Store was at 132 Jefferson.
R. W. King & Co., China, Glass and Crockery, were at 70 Jefferson, two doors from the Michigan Exchange Hotel.
H. P. Baldwin, Wholesale Boots and Shoes, was located at 118
Jefferson.
A. C. McGraw, Boots and Shoes, at the northwest corner of
Woodward and Jefferson.
F. & C. H. Buhl moved from Griswold and Jefferson northeast
to the south side of Jefferson. In 1849 they were at 136 Jefferson,
east of Woodward.
Z. Chandler & Co. (R. C; Bradford) were at 116 Jefferson.
Horace Hallock & Francis Raymond, Dry Goods, Est. 1831, were
at southwest Jefferson and Wood-        SOTR
ward.                              b1 AtLllpl1
Charles P. Woodruff had a store
in the Bishop Block, opposite the
Presbyterian Church, Woodward,             1.
west side, near Lamed.             Scotch Store, 89. One of the popular
est side, near Laed.       dry goods establishments of the day, at
Woodward and Jefferson




[39 ]


Notable Events of the Year 1849
-                 Vice-President Millard Fillmore visited
\ —     Detroit, September 20-27, as the guest
of Mayor Charles Howard. In the foli  lowing July, upon the death of President.....[ lill      Taylor, he became President of the
ii!        United States.
" Detroit Savings Fund Institute estab-         lished; afterward became Detroit SavLieutenanf Grant, U.S. A. (after-  ings Bank.
wards General), lived at 253
Fort St. East in 184s9
Fort St. East in  9  he historian George Bancroft visited
Detroit.
The Peninsular Bank was granted its charter.
The Detroit City Gas Company was incorporated.
The Detroit Fire & Marine Insurance Co. was incorporated by
special act of the legislature.
In 1849 the offices of city clerk, city treasurer, city marshal,
city attorney, city recorder and city engineer of water works
were made elective instead of appointive against the protest of the
conservatives.
The western boundary line of the city was extended westward to
about the present line of Eighth Street, the east line of the Woodbridge farm. The previous western boundary had been established
at the Forsyth farm in 1824.
The first photographic studio
was established  in  Detroit by      STATE        FAIR
J. E. Martin and the Sutton
Brothers.
Lieut. Ulysses S. Grant arrived   -
in Detroit to take charge of the    FirstAnnual Fair held by MichiganState
in  gricultural Society in Detroit. 1.9. on


WoodwardAvenue south of Duffield Stret




[40]


government military post. He remained in Detroit two years,
living for a time at 253 Fort Street East. Later he moved into the
C. R. Bacon house, at the northeast corner of Jefferson Avenue and
Russell Street, which he occupied in company with Captain Gore.
The Fort Street house is still standing as one of the ancient landmarks.
General Grant again visited Detroit, August 12, 1865, when he
had become the national hero as commander of the army of the
North in putting down the rebellion.
The Detroit Tribune issued its first edition on November 19.
The Detroit and Pontiac plank road was opened in November.
Previous to that construction, Woodward Avenue had been a log
or corduroy road. People often drove from Detroit to Pontiac
via Mt. Clemens, because of the condition of the roads.
The first plate glass windows installed in Detroit were placed in
the front of George Doty's jewelry store, said to be the finest store
of its kind west of New York.
The Harmonie Society was organized.
The first Union schools were instituted in Detroit.
Gen. A. S. Williams succeeded John S. Bagg as Postmaster in
Detroit.
The old county jail which stood in Library Park was torn down
and the new jail, erected at Clinton and Beaubien Streets, was
occupied.
The removal of Michigan Central depot from Woodward Avenue
to Third Street was begun.
In the spring of 1849 there was fear of a cholera epidemic. The
city was filthy and sewer openings were clogged in places. Citizens
were urged to turn out and help clean up. Many stray dogs were
shot by the marshal and left to rot on the commons. Work on
St. Mary's Hospital was speeded up. The Congregational, Methodist, Baptist and Presbyterian Churches urged a day of fasting and
prayer for deliverance from the cholera scourge and June 22 was so
observed.




[41]


The people turned out en masse June 20 to clean up streets and
alleys.
A quarantine against boats from Buffalo was asked. Cholera
appeared July 1 and the first death occurred July 2. Within two
weeks the deaths were so numerous that the dead bodies were
often carried to the cemetery on drays. The total deaths to
September 15 were 336, among them 30 cholera victims landed from
passing steamboats.
Detroit's Great Fire
On May 9, 1848, a fire broke out near the river front on Bates
Street, which destroyed nearly every building south of Jefferson
Avenue between Bates and Beaubien Streets. A number of historic
landmarks were swept away, among them Uncle Ben Woodworth's
Steamboat Hotel, Peter Berthelet's Market and the old Mansion
built for Governor Hull, which was at the time being used as the
Wales Hotel.
Detroit's First Street Paving
The first street paving was done in Detroit in 1849, when Jefferson
Avenue was paved from curb to curb between Third and Brush
Streets. This was done chiefly to facilitate transportation of freight
and passengers between the Michigan Central and the Brush Street
stations. The unpaved street was impassable for heavily loaded
wagons in wet weather. The pavement was of cobblestones, laid
on ten inches of sand to deaden the noise and facilitate drainage.
The contract prices were: fifteen cents a yard for excavation, fifty
cents a square yard for paving and twenty-one cents per lineal foot
for curbing. In this same year the first crosswalks were laid of
alternate strings of cobblestones and flat stones, and alleys were
paved between Woodward Avenue and Griswold Street and State
Street and Grand River Avenue.
A Bit of Theatrical History
In 1849 Elias Howe invented the sewing machine. Isaac Merritt
Singer, a machinist who had abandoned his trade to become a
strolling player, thereupon abandoned the stage, took up his trade
and invented the Singer Sewing Machine.




[42]


Singer on becoming an actor scrambled his name and was known
on the stage as Isaac Singer Merritt. He appeared here in Detroit
with a company and gave several performances of a temperance
drama in the old city hall on Cadillac Square.
In 1848 Parker& Ellis, managers of a theater in Syracuse, N. Y.,
came to Detroit and leased a plat of ground on Jefferson Avenue,
opposite the old Biddle House, and induced William Burnell, a
building contractor, to erect a theater building on a speculative
basis, he holding a lien for security. The plan was to operate a
winter theater in Syracuse and a summer theater in Detroit. The
venture failed because of the small population of the city, so the
property was sold to James Sherlock who ran it with precarious
fortunes until 1854. Then A. McFarland bought the property,
changed the name to the Metropolitan Theater and started business
with a company which included Olive and Celia Logan and Lawrence
Barrett. Barrett was born in Paterson, N. J., April 4, 1838.
While he was still a lad his father, Thomas Brannigan, moved to
Detroit and presently the youth became a dry goods clerk in the
store of Allen Sheldon where he was popularly known as "Larry
Brannigan."
The Rise of Lawrence Barrett
Barrett was a wonderful mimic and frequently amused his fellow
clerks by imitating the peculiarities of various patrons of the store.
This annoyed the manager of the store, who told "Larry" that he
had mistaken his calling and should go on the stage. Larry went
to the Metropolitan Theater in 1853 and got employment as a call
boy. At the time he had very little education but he studied hard,
practiced declamation and presently was allowed to appear in the
part of "Murad," in The French Spy. He acquitted himself so
well that he became one of the company. Later he became one of
the world's most famous actors.
Detroit Becomes a Grain Center
The late 40's saw Detroit making a rapid growth in population
and an equally rapid extension of commerce and industry. Ireland
was suffering from famine, due to the potato rot which destroyed the




[43 ]
chief food staple of the country and the main subsistence of more
than 8,000,000 people. Europe had suffered from bad weather,
which resulted in short crops and there was an urgent demand for
breadstuffs produced in this country. Flour buyers, who acted as
representatives of New York exporters, had rooms in the Sheldon
Block, which was termed the "Corn Exchange." They bought all
over Michigan and shipped by boat to Buffalo in the navigation
season. When winter shut down shipment stopped, but the market
reports from the East were eagerly watched. The mails in winter
came through Canada and the bad roads caused exasperating delays.
Every steamer arriving in New York brought large orders for breadstuffs, and each time the price soared. When orders came to Detroit the buyers would rush to the banks to discount drafts on
New York banking houses given at ten to twenty days sight. A
Detroit bank would sometimes discount as much as $50,000 worth
of such paper in a single evening, as the practice of the time was to
do most of the discounting after regular banking hours. Thus
millions of dollars changed hands with very little use of coin money.
Early Banks of Detroit
There was urgent demand for dependable banking facilities and
for institutions which would make the small individual savings of
the mass of the people available for carrying on public improvements of every sort. It was under such conditions that the Detroit
Savings Bank was organized and began business.
The early history of banking in Michigan had been unfortunate.
Wildcat banking had played havoc with the public confidence
and private thrift. The lack of real money of par value had
hampered the development of business enterprises. Out of the
chaos of early days came some semblance of financial system, but
people had not yet forgotten the disastrous panic of 1837 and the
years of financial uncertainty that followed. That crisis had forced
the suspension of every bank in Detroit. Later some of the banks
attemped to resume business too soon and were forced to a second
temporary suspension.




iii
ii
-~ see
8
, =s 'J i
r- c7IEip i
3 C=J /
jffji
— 1G7 7 n~
i "I ---- O, bY
r.
Zd
-f, C7
— 7 
13asl sais 1
U
3 1=3 C=3 LSll t=3 C=l
LSr la iI
I:c
4=`
---
9-
nr:i!f:
orratnr`S
k
I~t
DETROI SAVINGS BANK B UILDING
Corner G and State Sts.:r




[45]
The Farmers & Mechanics Bank, chartered Nov. 5, 1829, did
such a profitable business on a capitalization of $100,000 that there
was a demand for greater resources. In March, 1834, it was
authorized to increase its capital to $400,000 and to establish
branches out in the state. Branches were established at Berrien
Springs, St. Joseph and Niles. Attracted by the prospect for
successful banking several men came to Detroit from New York.
They acquired a majority interest and control of the Farmers &
Mechanics bank and in 1836, during the reckless period of private
venturing and borrowing they paid a dividend of 30% on $400,000
capital stock. The panic forced suspension, for it was impossible
to realize upon the most substantial assets. The bank opened
again in October, 1839, but was forced to suspend again very soon.
In 1845 it was revived and a call was made on the stockholders
for $150,000. Two weeks later the bank's bills were accepted at par.
By an act of March 24, 1849, the charter of the bank was extended
for 20 years on certain conditions, which were readily met. In
July, 1865, it redeemed all its notes and retired from business with
every obligation satisfied.
Detroit's First Savings Institution
Abraham Lincoln once remarked: "The Lord must love the
poor people, for otherwise he would not have made so many of
them." In very early times only the kings and the nobility were
supposed to count in the rating of a nation, but very gradually,
and side by side with the evolution of democracy, has come the
discovery that the people of modest incomes are the controlling
factor in state, national and community affairs. This rise to power
and influence has come about chiefly through the development of a
spirit of thrift.
Banking statistics demonstrate that it is not the men of great
fortunes who provide the bulk of the available capital which is the
life blood of business, but the people who save a margin from their
small incomes, and deposit it in a savings bank to draw interest
for themselves and to provide, in the aggregate, the capital which
puts great enterprises in operation to create more profitable employment for the men who earn and save.




[46]


A savings institution was established in Hamburg as early as
1778. Eight years later a similar institution was organized in
Oldenburg and in 1798 one was instituted in the city of London.
From that time these institutions sprang up in every industrial
center of western Europe and presently the idea of encouraging
thrift and combining small savings into an imposing aggregate
crossed the ocean and a savings institution was founded in Philadelphia in 1816.
Philanthropic Enterprises at First
Practically all of these earlier institutions were founded by
philanthropists, who acted merely as trustees for the prospective
depositors, giving their services gratuitously in the management
of the funds of the savings institutions. In order to protect
depositors against risky venturing of their funds state governments
have enacted laws which limit the scope of the investments of
savings institutions to the more solid and stable form of securities
such as government and municipal bonds and mortgages on real
estate, limited to a safe percentage of their average market value.
In the savings banks of the United States the aggregate deposit
is about $6,000,000,000 and the number of depositors last year
was 11,434,881, which makes the average deposit about $500.
Much has been written regarding the era of extravagance which
followed the reckless use of money in consequence of the war,
but the working men of the United States have not invested all
their wages in silk shirts, or in automobiles and diamonds, bought
on the installment plan. In spite of the fact that the price of
necessities managed to keep a lap or two ahead of the scale of
wages, the average deposit in the savings banks of the country at
large increased to the extent of $60 between 1910 and 1920. As
a consequence the average depositor is richer by $60 of immediately
available capital and the nation at large is richer by about
$690,000,000,-enough to float an ordinary foreign loan or to set
the wheels of many industries running.
In the year 1849, the state of Michigan, then only twelve years a
member of the union, had a total population of 385,000, all told,




[ 47 ]
and the city of Detroit had about 19,000 inhabitants. Banking
interests of the city were represented by the Farmers & Mechanics
Bank and the Michigan Insurance Company & National Insurance
Bank and the State Bank of Michigan. These sound commercial
institutions had served the business interests of the community
very well, but there was no savings bank for receiving small deposits
of thrifty wage earners and encouraging thrift by the payment of
interest on such deposits.
Detroit Savings Fund Institute
On March 5, 1849, the Detroit Savings Fund Institute was
founded and articles of incorporation were filed. Governor
Epaphroditus Ransom, who signed the authorizing act, appointed
the following trustees to take charge of the affairs of the new
institution: Elon Farnsworth, ex-Chancellor of the State, Shubael
Conant, Dr. Zina Pitcher, David Smart, Charles Moran, George
M. Rich, John Palmer, Levi Cook, James A. Hicks, Benjamin B.
Kercheval and Gurdon Williams. The Savings Fund Institute
differed from the other banks in that it was a simple trust, without
capital stock and modeled after the early banking systems in
New England. There is still a survival of this system in New
York and some other States where the state banks have no capitalization nor stockholders, the latter being represented by depositors
who share alike in the profits under a strictly co-operative plan.
The late Alpheus Felch, Governor of Michigan in 1845-47, wrote
as follows regarding Chancellor Farnsworth: "When the Court
of Chancery was established in 1836, public attention was at once
directed to him as the man most eminently qualified for the duties
of the presiding officer of a court of equity. Always calm, deliberate
and cautious, counsel and litigants had perfect confidence in his
ability and integrity. None but those who were in the wrong ever
feared the result of his deliberations or the announcement of his
decision. So satisfactorily did he discharge the duties of this
office that although compelled to resign in 1843, he was urgently
pressed to resume the position, and thenceforward he continued
as chancellor until the court was abolished. Soon after this,




[48]
when the Detroit Savings Fund Institute was incorporated by
special act of the legislature, he was induced to accept the presidency and remained in office until his death in 1877, a period of
28 years.
"The characteristics governing him as Chancellor were carried
into the administration of the bank during its formative period


/




CHANCELLOR FARNSWORTH
First President of Detroit Savings Bank


_




- — c;JzR  --- —-----------------------


and have always influenced his successors. As a banker he was
clear-headed, prudent, of sound judgment, inflexible in the discharge of his duties, straightforward and above reproach. He
left a record most clean as a man of spotless honor and complete
integrity."
Chancellor Farnsworth became president in March, 1849, and
Alexander H. Adams cashier in April, 1855. Up to the year 1855




[49]
the bank had no cashier. Mr. Adams came to Detroit from
Cincinnati in 1836. For a time he was connected with the Michigan
Central Railway and later he became cashier of the old Michigan
State Bank. He was junior warden and treasurer of Christ Church
from the time of its organization up to the time of his death in 1883.
He lived at 207 East Lamed street 45 years, and he was widely
known and universally respected. The other incorporators are
men whose names have figured prominently and honorably in the
upbuilding of the city of Detroit.
A Directorate of Distinction
For a long time after its founding the bank had no competition
in its chosen field and it was the sole place of deposit for wage
earners and small tradesmen, the purpose for which it was originally
intended. The following men subsequently held office as trustees
of the bank as the original members of the board passed away:
Henry N. Walker, Gov. Henry P. Baldwin, Henry Ledyard,
Samuel Lewis, Henry P. Bridge, Edward Lyon, Willard Parker,
Edmund Trowbridge, Alex Chapoton, Sr., Thomas Ferguson,
George Jerome, W. K. Muir, Alex. Lewis and Sidney D. Miller.
All these men have joined the great majority, leaving behind them
honorable records as men and citizens.
The affairs of the Detroit Savings Institute were always managed
conservatively and it soon became one of the city's solid financial
institutions. It was reorganized July 10, 1871, under a statute
approved at the session of legislature immediately preceding. A
new charter was taken out under the title "The Detroit Savings
Bank," with a capital of $200,000, and with the double liability
clause incorporated in the new law for the protection of depositors
in savings institutions. On the death of Chancellor Farnsworth
in 1877, Alex. H. Adams was elected president, and he also acted
as cashier until 1882, when he resigned that office but continued
to act as president until his death in 1883. During all these years
Mr. Adams was practical manager of the bank with unlimited
power and discretion. The trustees of the old institution and the
directors of the bank which succeeded it having entire confidence
in his ability and good judgment.




[50]
Sidney D. Miller Becomes President
Upon the death of Mr. Adams the board of trustees elected
Sidney D. Miller as his successor. Mr. Miller had been a trustee
and attorney for the board since 1855. Mr. Miller was a native of
Michigan, having been born at Monroe in 1830. His father, Dan
Bramble Miller, known as "Honest Dan," had a bank, a flour
mill and a general store at Monroe. Mr. Miller graduated from
Michigan University in the literary class of 1848 and afterward
studied law at Harvard. He was a practicing attorney when he
became a member of the board of trustees of the Detroit Savings
Fund Institute. Before that appointment he had been attorney
for the Michigan State Bank and in 1861 he married Mrs. Katherine
Rodgers, daughter of Charles C. Trowbridge, president of that bank.
He had acted as counsellor and attorney for railway and other
large corporations but his service with the Detroit Savings Fund
Institute was his first banking connection. After he became president of The Detroit Savings Bank he gave up the practice of law.
For more than 35 years Mr. Miller was a vestryman of Christ
Episcopal Church and a member of the standing committee of the
diocese. He was president of the Young Men's Society when it
was the leading literary organization of Detroit and it was largely
through his efforts, while a member of the Board of Education,
that the public library was founded. He was also a member of
the Police Board from 1868 until 1891 and in that capacity he was
instrumental in the establishment of the signal box system. Like
his predecessor in office Mr. Miller had the entire confidence of the
board of directors and the management of the bank was left largely
to his discretion.
The Present Officers and Directors
The present directors of The Detroit Savings Bank are: Paul
F. Bagley, George S. Baker, David S. Carter, D. C. Delamater,
Charles A. Dean, Frederick T. Ducharme, John M. Dwyer, George
T. Hendrie, Robert Henkel, Sidney T. Miller, James T. McMillan,
Francis Palms, Jerome H. Remick, Ralph Stoepel and David M.
Whitney. The officers are: D. C. Delamater, Chairman of the




[51]
Board; George S. Baker, President; Charles A. Dean, Vice-President; John M. Dwyer, Chairman of Executive Committee; James
H. Doherty, Vice-President and Cashier; Thomas F. Hancock,
John C. Dilworth, Wilson Fleming, Wm. H. Watson and Kenneth Paton, Assistant Cashiers; Edward J. Dee, Superintendent of
Branch Banks; Fred C. Andrews, Credit Manager; H. N. Baxendale,
Auditor; and Clarence D. Atwood, Auditor of Branches.
When Detroit was a smaller city the banking houses were all
concentrated in the business center of the city, chiefly on Griswold
Street and that vicinity, but presently the power of advertising
and of suggestion was taken into consideration as well as a desire
to better serve the convenience of the depositors. A few branch
banks were established on the main thoroughfares in closer connection with the outlying business houses and the residence districts,
so as to permit daily deposits of funds in a neighborhood branch
bank of the larger banking houses.
Development of Branch Banks
The realization appears to have exceeded the expectation, for
in recent years the city has witnessed a remarkable extension of
the branch bank service in every direction. The Detroit Savings
Bank now has 18 established branches located as follows: at Gratiot
Avenue, corner of St. Antoine; Dix Avenue, corner of Junction;
Woodward Avenue, corner of Milwaukee; at 3765 Woodward
Avenue, near Selden; Grand River Avenue, corner of Warren;
Jefferson Avenue, corner of Hillger; Michigan Avenue, corner of
24th Street; Mack Avenue, corner of Gratiot and Elmwood;
Holden Avenue, corner of Greenwood; Oakland Avenue, corner
of Clay; Canfield Avenue, corner of Russell; Kercheval Avenue,
corner of Van Dyke; Fort Street, corner of Campbell; Hamilton
Boulevard, corner of Collingwood; Warren Avenue, corner of
Junction; Oakland, corner of Woodland; Grand River Avenue,
near Joy Road; and Linwood Avenue, near Hazelwood.
All these locations have been chosen with particular care with
equal regard for the public convenience and their strategic value.
The innovation has accomplished material benefits by enabling








041landAve. (orner WoolandAv,.                Mhn Ave. Corner Twei


Fort St., Cone Campbell Ave.


I Oaklan(i Ave., Corner Clay Ave.


IV1acek Ave., k-ornr uratiot anti 1.' rewooe


THE DETROIT SAVINGS BANK BRANCH BANKING HOUSES




----- - - - - D                  -B-K- "" — R-A"- -C-H -B  H O
Gratiot ArDE., (Crer St. Antoine St.  Grand R.iver Ave., Corner aVG rren Ave.
THE DETROIT SAVINGS BANK BRANCH BANKING HOUSES




[54]


residents and business men remote from the down-town district
to bank their money near at home. It has promoted a greater
thrift as well as greater convenience, saving time and car fare, and
avoiding the overcrowding of the main or central banks during
business hours. Institution of branch banks has necessitated
considerable investment in real estate, but in a rapidly growing
city like Detroit with population steadily expanding and property
values always steadily on the up-grade these investments are all
of a sort that business shrewdness and foresight will eadily approve.
The policy of The Detroit Savings Bank from the beginning has
been to encourage the small depositors and every consideration
is given the requirements of its business patrons who need the se-vice
a big, strong bank can render. As the Detroit Savings Fund
Institute it had a very modest beginning in a building on the
northeast corner of Woodbridge and Griswold Streets. From there
it moved to the west side of Woodward Avenue, just below Jefferson. Its next home was in the Waterman Block on Griswold
Street. On January 1, 1879, the bank removed to the northeast
corner of Griswold and Lamed Streets. Its next removal occurred
March 1, 1906, to the quarters it is now vacating in the Penobscot
Building on the south side of Fort Street near Griswold. Nearly
every person in Detroit is already familiar with the Bank's new
location in The Detroit Savings Bank Building, corner Griswold
and State Streets.




I








A