Historical Information Sites
This marks the place where 34 physicians from Harper Hospital
founded the American Academy of Pediatrics on June 24, 1930.
James A. Bailey Home
Inside Cobo Arena at 1 Washington Boulevard
This marks the birthplace of James McGinnis on July 4, 1847. He joined a
circus at age 14, adopted the name Bailey and eventually joined with Phineas
T. Barnum in creating the nation's most famous circus.
At this site in July, 1763, Chief Pontiac led a surprise attack to drive
the British from Detroit killed commander Captain James Dalyell about 60 of
his soldiers. This British eventually suppressed Chief Pontiac's uprising.
Birth of National Exchange Club Site
Location:
The first Exchange Club in the United States was founded in Detroit in
1911.
This marks the birthplace of Ralph Bunche, the Under Secretary General
of the United Nations for 16 years who successfully mediated the 1948 war
between Israel and their Arab neighbors. He was the first African American
to win the Noble Peace Prize.
Catholepisteiad or University of Michigan Founding Site
Corner of Larned and Bates
This is where the Catholepistemiad founded by the Father Gabriel Richard
was located. This state-supported educational institution eventually became
the University of Michigan and moved to Ann Arbor in 1837.
Chicago Road Commemorative Site
At the corner of Michigan Avenue and Washington in downtown
Detroit
The Great Sauk Trail was an important Indian trial leading from Detroit
toward Chicago and the Midwest. While representing Michigan he Congress in
the early 1820s, Father Gabriel Richard successfully sought federal funds
to plank this road - large oaks placed over compacted dirt.
The Evangelismos Greek Orthodox Church was founded here in 1910 and became
the center of the city's Hellenic community.
George DeBaptiste Home
Southwest corner of East Larned and Beaubien
George DeBaptiste was one of the leaders of Detroit's black community in
the 1850s. He was involved with the Underground Railroad. He had been employed
in Washington as William Henry Harrison's personal valet. He organized Michigan's
Colored Regiment during the Civil War.
Detroit City Hall
Woodward Avenue at Cadillac Square
Detroit began building a magnificent city hall in 1860 and dedicated the
building 11 years later. It was one of the nation's most decorated and appealing
municipal building but, after much controversy, was razed in 1961. The preservationist
movement was not powerful enough to keep this building.
In 1891, the first college of law was founded on this site. It the 1980s,
it became affiliated with Michigan State University and moved to East Lansing.
Detroit Medical College
3800 Woodward at Martin Place
In 1868, five physicians who had ministered to the injured in the Civil
War founded the city's first medical school. In 1933, it became affiliated
with Wayne State College.
Detroit Plaindealer Office
Southwest corner of Shelby and State in downtown Detroit
The Plaindealer was the city's first successful African American newspaper
founded in 1883 with Robert Pelham as managing editor. It ceased publication
in 1894.
Detroit's First Public School
Woodbridge Street near Shelby
The first public school in Detroit opened in 1843 using space over a grocery
store that no longer exists.
On March 12, 1859, Frederick Douglas and John Brown met in the home of
William Webb to discuss the termination of slavery in the United States. Brown
thought that a bloody insurrection would be needed and worked to that end.
Frederick Douglas, the leading black spokesman of the pre-Civil War era, disagreed
and refused to join Brown in the raid on Harper's Ferry that helped propel
the nation toward the Civil War.
Early Detroit: 1701-1760 Commemorative Site
Cobo Hall at 151 West Jefferson
This commemorates the modest development of the village of Detroit during
the era from Cadillac's arrival in 1701 until the British occupation. Perhaps
the most obvious reminder of the French settlement is the name of the city
and the names of many major streets.
William Ferguson Home site
661 Alfred
William Ferguson was the first African American to serve in the state legislature,
having been elected in 1893. He was a printer, a real estate broker and lawyer
who won a then-famous suit upholding Michigan's Reconstruction era laws prohibiting
Jim Crow in public places. Despite the 1890 legal ruling, Jim Crow was the
rule in many Detroit restaurants until after World War II.
Finney Hotel
46 State Street at the northwest corner of State and Griswold
Seymour Finney was a tailor and innkeeper who owned Finney's Hotel. He
erected a barn behind his hotel and, in the 1850s, used it as a hiding place
for fugitive slaves who then escaped to freedom in Canada under the cover
of darkness. Thus he ran a well-know station on the Underground Railroad.
First Detroit Public Library Commemorative Site
Griswold and State streets
Detroit's first public library was erected here in 1877—an impressive
five story arcaded building with ornamental iron columns.
Near this site, a group of German-Jewish immigrants met at the home of
Isaac and Sarah Cozens and formed the Beth El Society, and conducted the first
Jewish religious service in Detroit.
First Michigan Colored Regiment Commemorative Site
Duffield School Grounds, 2700 Clinton Street at Joseph Campau
Early in the Civil War, northern African Americans volunteered for military
service but were rejected. Later, President Lincoln changed this policy but
mandated Jim Crow for the northern Army. The 102nd U. S. Colored Troops was
organized here in February, 1864 as Michigan's unit. About 900 men departed
in March of that year and saw service in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.
First Mile of Concrete Highway
Woodward Avenue between Six and Seven Mile Roads in Palmer Park
By 1909, concrete was used in the construction of massive industrial building
but its first used to pave a highway in this section of Woodward. It was a
successful innovation benefiting the vehicle industry.
First United States Troops in Detroit Commemorative Site
Griswold at Jefferson in Hart Plaza
On July 11, 1796, the first US infantry men, led by Colonel John Hamtramk,
came ashore at this point to take possession of Detroit from the British.
Ford Automobile Birthplace
220 Bagley Avenue
In a small one-story brick structure at this location, Henry Ford built
his first motor vehicle in 1892.
On March 7, 1932 - in the midst of the Depression and just before the inauguration
of President Roosevelt, the Michigan Communist Party organized a march of
hungry workers. When they turned onto Miller Road and approached the Ford
plant, they were fired upon and five were killed.
Ford Motor Company Birthplace
140 Griswold at Jefferson in the Hart Plaza adjacent to the Ford Auditorium
This marks the location where 11 of Detroit business leaders met with Henry
Ford and formed the Ford Motor Company on June 16, 1903.
Fort Lernoult Site
Fort and Shelby Streets in downtown Detroit
This fort was built by the British and named for its commander. He surrendered
to American forces and, for the first time, an American flag was flown over
Michigan on July 11, 1796. The British recaptured Fort Lernoult in the War of
1812. US forces renamed this place Fort Shelby.
Fort Pontchartrain Commemorative Site
2 Washington Boulevard
The first French settlement was located on this site in July, 1701. A military
fort was established but, as a result of the French and Indian War, the French
surrendered to the British in 1760.
Charles Brady King Auto Site
618 St. Antoine
Charles Brady King designed and built the first gasoline powered automobile
to operate on the streets of Detroit at this location. His first drive was
on March 6, 1896.
Birth of Kiwanis Commemorative Site
Griswold and Grand River Avenues
The Kiwanis International Service organization was founded here on January
21, 1815.
Martin Kundig Commemorative Site
3300 Jefferies
Father Martin Kundig was born in Switzerland, educated as a priest in Rome
and came to work in Detroit in 1833. He was a leader in trying to minimize
the cholera epidemic of that time and became Wayne County's first superintendent
of the poor. He served as a regent of the University of Michigan.
William Lambert Homesite
1930 East Lafayette
This marks the home of William Lambert, a black leader who was born in
New Jersey in 1817 but came to Detroit as a young man where he helped lead
the state's anti-slavery movement. He also helped organized the Underground
Railroad in Detroit and was a successful businessman.
On July 24, 1701 Cadillac and his convoy planted the flag of France on
the banks of the river near the intersection of West Jefferson and Shelby
thereby founding the city
La Cote Du Nord-East Site
Joseph Campau Avenue at the Detroit River
After founding the city, Cadillac and French ministered divided the land
northeast of Fort Ponchatrain into long "ribbon" farms.
Elijah McCoy was born in Canada to fugitive slaves and educated as a mechanical
engineer in Scotland. He returned to the US and worked for the Michigan Central
Railroad where he patented the first automatic lubrication system for locomotive
engineers thereby improving their efficiency and safety. His invention gave
rise to the phrase "The real McCoy."
Michigan State Medical Society Birthplace
85-87 Woodward between Congress and Larned
About 100 physicians from across Michigan met her on June 5, 1866 for establish
the Michigan State Medical Society.
Michigan's First Capitol Building
Griswold and State streets in Capitol Park in downtown Detroit
Michigan's first territorial capital building was begun here in 1823 and
completed in 1828. The building burned in 1896.
Michigan's First Seat of Government Site
313 Woodward
The first meeting of the governing officials of Michigan territory met
on this site at Richard Smyth's Tavern in 1805 shortly before the village
was destroyed by fire.
Michigan's First Theater Site
Approximately the foot of Wayne Street
The first theater performance in Michigan was given at this site in 1819.
Ransom Eli Olds Commemorative Designation
Near the picnic shelter on Central between Casino Wayne and Ruse Roads on
Belle Isle
In 1901, Olds produced 425 curved dashed Oldsmobile in his East Jefferson
factory making his a mass producer of cars. Apparently all of them were test
driven on Belle Isle.
The first major league baseball game in Detroit was played here on May
2, 1881. The baseball park was home to a championship team in 1887.
Religious of the Sacred Heart Designation
Southside of East Jefferson between Beaubien and St. Antoine
The Antoine Beaubien family, in 1851, encouraged five nuns of the Religious
of the Sacred Heart to migrate from France to Detroit to establish a school
on this site.
The Richard Press Designation
5450 West Jefferson
This commemorates the Spring Hill site where Father Gabriel Richard established
his first school and then used his printing press to publish the first newspaper
and book in Michigan in 1809.
Fannie Richards was the city's first African American schoolteacher. She
opened a private school for blacks in 1863 and then, in 1865, was appointed
to teach in the city's Jim Crow schools. She helped file suit in 1869 to challenge
racial segregation in the city's school, a plea the state Supreme Court upheld.
Saint Antoine YMCA Site
635 Elizabeth in downtown Detroit
In 1909, Joseph Hudson funded the Douglass Institute to provide social
activities to the city's African American youth. This evolved into the St.
Antoine (or colored) branch of the YMCA and a building was constructed in
1924.
Saint John's Presbyterian Church site
1961 East Lafayette
On April 27, 1919, 39 people met to organize the first African American
Presbyterian Church in Detroit. The church was razed in the urban renewal
efforts of the 1960s.
Saint Philip's Lutheran Congregation Site
2884 East Grand Boulevard
St. Philip's was founded in 1934 as the first Lutheran church in Michigan
to serve African-Americans. Subsequently three other black Lutheran churches
were founded in Detroit.
Salvation Army Commemorative Designation
Randolph Street between Congress and Larned
In 1887, Captain Fink was sent by British officers of the Salvation Army
to found a mission in Detroit. By 1902, Detroit became the headquarters for
the Salvation Army in Michigan and Indiana.
In 1930, Detroit native Robert Scherer invented a machine to produce soft
gelatin capsules for medicines. He developed a firm to produce the required
machines.
Shrine Circus Birthplace
Northwest corner of Brush and Larned in the parking lot of the Light Guard
Armory
At this location on February 26, 1906, spectators watched the first Shrine
Circus. In subsequent decades, Shrine Circuses across the nation raised funds
for charities.
Stearns Telephone Site
511 Woodward in downtown Detroit
The city's first telephone was installed at this site in September, 1877
just 18 month after Alexander Graham Bell invented the phone.
Augustus D. Straker Homesite
428 Temple in Detroit
Straker, an African American born in Barbados, educated in the law at Howard
University in Washington and moved to Detroit late in the 19th century where
he became one of the city's early civil rights lawyers.
American troops recaptured Detroit on September 29, 1813 but during that
winter, American forces in Ohio could not supply them. In December, 1813,
a cholera-like disease broke out and upward of 700 of the 1300 American troops
in Detroit died.