Dean Savage Memorial Park

**French777** · July-07-12, 10:22 PM

My Michigan Avenue Coalition is looking to expand, and going to aid in the effort to clean and maintain Dean Savage Memorial Park in Corktown. I've created a short term plan for mowing the grass, fixing a couple of the park benches [[pending City Approval) and so forth.

Yet, after closer studying of the park, there is a large concrete area I can't quite understand what it used to be. It looks as if it once could have been Shuffleboard courts. Can anyone confirm this?

Also, if you want to help out on a clean up, find us on Facebook at Michigan Avenue Coalition or email us Mi.avenue.coalition@gmail.com

**rb336** · July-07-12, 11:21 PM

they sure look like shuffleboard to me

**mikefmich** · July-07-12, 11:55 PM

Curious, who was Dean Savage? Google didn't produce any results for me.

**rb336** · July-08-12, 08:27 AM

The only thing I saw was a reference to him as a Detroit bishop

**gazhekwe** · July-08-12, 08:54 AM

It might have been Dean, the title, James Savage. Pastor of Most Holy Trinity Church, he was an amateur archeologist:

Page 14 and following of this work, describing an archeological mystery find in 1906: http://www.artbulla.com/zion/MichiganControversy2.pdf

This 1996 Detroit News article describes the find, Savage's involvement and the controversy.

http://apps.detnews.com/apps/history/index.php?id=137

Here is a bio of him from Who's Who in Michigan Relics:

Father James Savage

James Savage is a key figure in the saga of the Michigan Relics because it was his dedicated collecting that built the largest surviving collection of relics. A priest for more than fifty-eight years, he was Dean of the Western Detroit Diocese and Pastor of the Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Detroit. He was greatly loved and respected by his parishioners in the old Corktown area.Despite his parish responsibilities, Father Savage found time for a variety of hobbies. He assembled a major collection of prehistoric Native American artifacts and rare coins. He owned a small cabin on the Au Sable River near Grayling, where he relaxed and fished with friends. He took them on relic-hunting expeditions in the area as well.Savage became a single-minded defender of the relics' authenticity, even to the point of having his personal letterhead printed with the "mystic symbol": IH/. His unimpeachable position in the community gave his opinions great authority. In his most definitive writing, he linked the Relics to the ancient copper miners of the Upper Peninsula. To the end of his life, Father Savage remained a confirmed believer in the Relics.

http://www.hal.state.mi.us/mhc/michrelics/people.html

There is a Dean Savage who was active in the civil rights movement in the 1960s, but his biography shows he was never in Detroit. He worked from NY to NC, SC and GA.