Detroit News and Greenfield Village News

Two items of local importance.
First -
In a recent survey of 2,500 employees and entrepreneurs across the nation conducted by Yahoo Real Estate, Detroit was voted 2nd worst place to live and work in the United States. Only New York 'bested' Detroit as the absolute worst.
The best? New York - best and worst.
New York was voted best because of its entertainment, Central Park and great public transportation. However the high rent, cramped subways and long suburban commutes vaulted it to the top of the worst list.
Why is Detroit such a rotten place? Well, the city's public relations image, dwindling population, collapsing auto industry, schools, poverty in the city, and the text message scandal as reason's they would not want to live and work here. The top two negative attributes of Detroit according to the poll were health and safety and image.
Last April, I wrote a blog about What Others Are Saying About Us and it's amazing how quickly this area went from bad to worse. What bothers me even more is that this black zit of a city is bringing down the whole state of Michigan; when folks abroad think of Michigan, they invariably think of Detroit.
That's what happens when incompetence runs a major city, and the state's governors (for the last 30 years) allows it to happen.
Yes, we have wonderful things in the Detroit area - and in all of Michigan - but not enough to keep the natives from moving - there are no jobs and the prospects are slim.
And I don't see light at the end of the tunnel.
So what happens now? Lots of politically correct and feel-good speeches, but that's about it.

OK, enough politics. Back to history.
And second -
Unfortunately, some more bad news, although this will have a happy ending - -
The Sarah Jordan Boarding House in Greenfield Village, which was built in New Jersey in 1870, housed many of Thomas Edison's workers during its 1870's/1880's heyday and was one of the first ever to have electricity installed by Edison himself, caught fire on the afternoon of Monday January 5th. One of the workers at the Village wrote this on Facebook: No major structural damage. The front room's ceiling (floor of the front right bedroom) is a bit bad, but has some bracing. Most things made it out alright, but will need cleaned/dried. Lots of cosmetic damage. With the water on the roof, it may need replaced, but may not. The porch will need replaced.

The house is now badly scarred - fire totally torched the top two rooms and most of the bottom parlor, as far as I could see (I couldn't go in). All the artifacts (charred, dirty, untouched, and everything in between) were moved all night until the house was stripped.

He went on to say that many of the artifacts were damaged, and some were lost, but most were saved.
It seems that a construction worker may have accidently started the fire while working on the gutter.
The folks at The Henry Ford have all of the original blueprints from when Henry Ford's chief architect, Ed Cutler, brought the structure to the Village in 1929, so repairs will be wonderfully accurate.
Still, it's upsetting to come so close to losing such an important piece of history.

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Detroit - A True Colonial City

New York (New Amsterdam), NY 1625
Boston, MA 1630
Charleston, SC 1670
Philadelphia, PA 1682
Detroit, Mi 1701
Trenton, NJ 1719
Concord, NH 1725
Baltimore, Md 1729
Richmond, VA 1733

The above list shows the years these well-known colonial American cities were founded. And right smack dab in the middle is Detroit.
Wait! Detroit? A colonial city?
Yup. Ha! It's even older than Baltimore, and only 19 years younger than Philadelphia!

Here's a quick history from Wikipedia:

The city name comes from the Detroit River (French: l'étroit du Lac Erie), meaning the strait of Lake Erie, linking Lake Huron and Lake Erie; in the historical context, the strait included Lake St. Clair and the St. Clair River. Traveling up the Detroit River on the ship Le Griffon (owned by La Salle), Father Louis Hennepin noted the north bank of the river as an ideal location for a settlement. There, in 1701, the French officer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, along with 51 additional French-Canadians, founded a settlement called Fort Ponchartrain du Détroit, naming it after the comte de Pontchartrain, Minister of Marine under Louis XIV. France offered free land to attract families to Detroit, which grew to 800 people in 1765, the largest city between Montreal and New Orleans. Francois Marie Picoté, sieur de Belestre (Montreal 1719–1793) was the last French military commander at Fort Detroit (1758–1760), surrendering the fort on November 29, 1760 to the British. Detroit's city flag reflects this French heritage.

Joseph Campau built this house before 1760 - his farm consisted mostly of fruit trees.
The church was built for use of the people who lived along the Detroit River.

During the French and Indian War (1760), British troops gained control and shortened the name to Detroit. Several tribes led by Chief Pontiac, an Ottawa leader, launched Pontiac's Rebellion (1763), including a siege of Fort Detroit. Partially in response to this, the British Royal Proclamation of 1763 included restrictions on white settlement in Indian territories. Detroit passed to the United States under the Jay Treaty (1796). In 1805, fire destroyed most of the settlement. A river warehouse and brick chimneys of the wooden homes were the sole structures to survive.

From 1805 to 1847, Detroit was the capital of Michigan. As the city expanded, the street layout followed a plan developed by Augustus B. Woodward, Chief Justice of the Michigan Territory. Detroit fell to British troops during the War of 1812 in the Siege of Detroit, was recaptured by the United States in 1813 and incorporated as a city in 1815.

As you can see, Detroit played an important role in the history of our nation - much more important than let on by the history books.
And here's some descriptions from primary sources of everyday life in the late 18th century on the streets of old Detroit (taken from the book "Michigan Voices" by Joe Grimm:
The first I have here are of two offenses by a couple of residents: Two cows belonging to Mr. Wm. Scott were found in the street, and a Mr. G. McDougal left his cart in the street all night. Also, a number of hogs are running in the street daily, to the great detriment of the public.
Speaking of streets, they tended to be in just as bad a shape in the 1790's as they are today:
The street opposite the church was in bad order, and there was a log missing in front of George Leith & Co. And poor Mr. Hand had no logs at all in front of his house!
Neighbor troubles are nothing new, just ask the local tanner, Mr. George Setchelsteil. He was assaulted while on horseback by Simon Girty. It seems Mr. Girty seized Setchelsteil's horse by the bridal, making use of abusive words in doing so. Mr. Setchelsteil found some means to turn his horse away and was able to distance himself from Mr. Girty. Girty, however, was throwing stones at the man, one of which struck him in the head and gave him a wound from which much blood gushed out. Setchelsteil claimed there was no provocation given to cause this.
Ah, city life. Not much has changed, eh?

It is sad that when colonial settlements are spoken of, Detroit is never on the list - never.
And it doesn't help that Detroit very rarely celebrates its colonial past. In fact, nearly all history books I have of Detroit spends very little on pre-Civil War era Detroit. For example, in the book "Echoes of Detroit - A 300 Year History" by Irwin Cohen, only 8 pages out of 131 are dedicated to its first 100 years - the colonial period - and the next 18 pages takes us all the way up to 1874! Nearly 200 years in 26 pages and just over 100 pages to cover the last 125 years.
Another book, "Detroit: A Motor City History" by David Lee Poremba does a much better job by giving the city's early history nearly 60 pages out of 149.
But, "A Motor City History" is a rarity. Most others that I have looked at while browsing in the book stores tend to forget the founding years and concentrates mainly on the automobile years.
I would like to know why Detroit does not celebrate its colonial past. I mean, even it's 19th century past is rarely celebrated; if it wasn't for those of us who do Civil War reenacting, I believe most of Detroit's pre-20th century history would be forgotten. Even Greenfield and Crossroads Villages no longer celebrate Detroit's colonial heritage - both Village's have done away with their colonial festivals.
I would love to see Detroit mentioned on the national stage as more than just a blip on the pages of history until the automobile era.
And, unless we celebrate that here locally, it will never have a chance nationally.

(If you are interested in reading about the way our colonial ancestors lived, please click HERE)




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What Others Are Saying About Us

While in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, I had the opportunity to meet folks from around our country, since Gettysburg is one of the hot vacation spots in the U.S. I met people from upstate New York, Virginia, Maryland, Indiana, Delaware, etc., and some fine conversations ensued. When asked where we were from, however, some curious responses were given:


"So, where are you from?"
"The Detroit area."
1. "Oh! Home of the 'Hip-Hop Mayor'!"
2. "Are you packin'?"
3. "I'm sorry."
4. Oh! Little Baghdad!"
----------------------------------
"So, where are you from?"
"Michigan."
"Oh. Do you still own your house?"

Yes, these are actual comments/statements made to me during conversations made while on vacation out of state. Of course, I had to laugh because, well, show me what's not true? More people are losing their homes to foreclosure than ever before (there are probably at least a half dozen on my street alone - no kidding). Job loss due to lay offs, outsourcing, and just plain greed has affected, in one way or another, nearly every one I know, and the idea that the only jobs left are to become a greeter at Walmart or to become a fast-food employee has become a reality for far too many. And I am just a paycheck away from being in the same boat.
Detroit? Well, except the few years that the city had Dennis Archer as its mayor, Detroit has been nothing but an embarrassment to Michigan, as well as to the United States as a whole. It is a third world city in every sense of the word. Crime ridden like no other, its citizens are flocking to the suburbs in droves - faster than folks are leaving Michigan for the more prosperous southern states. Our socialist governor has done nothing to help the economy - oh, she talks up a storm, but has taken to keeping her nose up Kwame Kilpatrick's butt, doing whatever the hip-hop mayor wants her to do. She has been noticeably quiet during the latest text-message scandal...hmmm...could she have a role in it herself? One has to wonder...
Does anyone out there see a light at the end of the tunnel? I certainly don't. It's not mayor Kwame; it's not guv'ner Granholm; it's definitely not any of the Democratic candidates running for president (Hillary R. Clinton, B. Hussein Obama, or John McCain. Wait-----are you saying that McCain is a Republican? Ha! Could have fooled me!); it's definitely not our current president. There's no light at the end of the tunnel, and it's only going to get darker.
I have no answers - well, yes I do but none that will come to pass:
-Stop the outsourcing of decent paying jobs to low-income private companies on a local and national level.
-Bring back to the U.S. all current outsourced jobs
-Send back to their homeland all illegal immigrants. If you want to come to this country, enter legally and go through the proper channels
-Get rid of school of choice in all communities - forcing parents to actually to get involved and to work toward the betterment of their schools and community thus keeping the money brought in by their children's attendance in their neighborhood school system
-Lower gas prices to $1.50 a gallon - very reasonable - and keep it there. The oil companies would still be making billions but the morale of our citizens would get a major boost - pride would return, spending on goods would increase, and then the economy would strengthen tremendously. It's as simple as that.
As I stated, however, this will not happen. Instead, our country will cave in on itself within a matter of five years and the United States will be no better than the third world countries that Detroit has emulated. Especially when one of the BIG THREE presidential candidates gets into office.
Oh, the sad times in which we live.