Going round and round on streetcars and automobiles

Sometime later this summer, the first shovels are supposed to crack dirt to mark the start of a new light-rail line that will run along Woodward Avenue from Jefferson to the New Center. The hope is that it will spawn new businesses along Woodward as people find it easier to get from, say, Campus Martius out past the stadiums and to the DIA.

Ironically, part of that same stretch of road is currently marked by the Woodward Avenue Cultural Heritage Tour, a simple series of sidewalk markers that recall notable events of the past, including one that pays homage to Detroit's once-proud network of electric streetcars. (Perhaps you remember reading about the sign commemorating the original Vernor's store location. Or perhaps not, in which case you can click on that link that you just passed.)

In any case, streetcars in Detroit enjoy a somewhat strange history. They were born in the late-1800s as a result of the auto industry (people had to get to work) but also died in the mid-1950s in large part because of the auto industry (people started driving cars rather than riding public transit). The final car made its run down Woodward on April 8, 1956. Reports say the new light-rail system will be running by 2013.

Battling 'sin and iniquity' in 19th Century Detroit

I told you, these Michigan Historical markers are everywhere!

Planted in the median of Randolph Street, not far from the RenCen (as you can see), stands a marker signaling where the Salvation Army once set up its Detroit post in the 1880s. When organizing the post, Captain Fink wrote to her British superiors: "This is the Metropolis of Michigan...a beautiful city, but oh, the sin and iniquity that abounds here."

"Iniquity," my dictionary tells me, means "wickedness." Not sure exactly what types of wicked acts were prominent back in the day, but apparently it was rampant. The sign goes on to tell of the Salvation Army concentrating its efforts near Cadillac Square, "a haven for persons of ill repute." Not far from that Cadillac Square location was Detroit's City Hall, which makes you wonder how Captain Fink and her superiors would've viewed some of our more recent political figures in the D.

Honoring the beer-making skills (and the other good deeds) of Peter Stroh

Planted mere feet from the Detroit River just east of the RenCen, a statue of the late Peter Stroh stands to remind us that, in addition to making what was once a pretty famous beer, Stroh also dabbled in a few other noteworthy projects, not the least of which was the redevelopment of the riverfront on which the statue now lives.

Stroh was a committed environmentalist, and a strong believer that the Detroit River should be accessible to and enjoyed by all, a fairly bold vision considering the entire stretch was once viewed only by people wearing coveralls and carrying shovels. He championed the U.S.-Canadian cooperation that led to the Detroit River being designated the only river system with both Canada and American Heritage River status, and helped create the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge. Plus he made beer.

His statue on the riverfront, pictured here during the grayer days of early spring, lives in a recently opened stretch of the RiverWalk east of Rivard Street. That's Caesar's Windsor across the river in the background, in case that helps put it in perspective for you. Better yet, it's very near the site of the former Stroh Brewery. Where they made beer.

The original home of the Maize 'n Blue

You wander around downtown, you always stumble across one of these Michigan Historical markers that you hadn't seen before. They're everywhere.

Still, I was surprised to spot this one earlier today marking the original home of the University of Michigan. The marker is hanging on the side of building on Congress, just a block east of Woodward, in an area that shows no evidence that there was once a university located there. The sign, which includes an old picture of what the building looked like before the campus moved to Ann Arbor in 1837, explains why. It reads:

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGANIA
The Catholepistemiad, or university, of Michigania resided in a building near this site from 1818 to 1837. Conceived of by the Reverend John Montieth, Father Gabriel Richard and Judge Augustus Woodward, the university was established by territorial law on August 26, 1817. Modeled on the University of France, created by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807, the institution was the center of a statewide system of primary, secondary and college education. Reverend Montieth, the first president, and Father Richard held the first professorships. In 1837 the university was relocated to Ann Arbor. The original building was razed in 1858.