The Great Fire of 1805

[Detroitdave]

I was wondering are there any buildings or structures that still exist before the great fire of 1805 ?

[Gistok]

No.... the oldest extant structure in Detroit is the Trowbridge House [[1380 E. Jefferson)....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Trowbridge_House

Since it was built in 1826..... no building in Detroit survives from the first 125 years [[1701-1825) of the city's history.

Just as an FYI... the oldest building in Michigan is the Officer's Stone Quarters of Fort Mackinac on Mackinac Island, which dates to 1780.

[Danny]

Judge Augustus Woodward made some plans for Detroit's street Grid after the 1805 fire. His first plan to make the street grid look like the streets of Washington D.C. but the folks in D.C. and Congress said HELL NO!!! So Woodward redesign Detroit's street grid to look one big half wagon wheel. That is the plan we see today.

[Danny]

The Catholepistimiad was built on E. Jefferson near Beaubien in 1817. It later become the University of Michigania. When it move to Ann Arbor, MI. it became the University of Michigan. Most of the old buildings where University of Michigan is it still there.

[EastsideAl]

There is one pre-1805 survivor, but it isn't in Detroit anymore, or even in the U.S.

The Park House in Amherstburg was built in what's now Detroit around 1794 [[probably around Delray). However, the owners were British loyalists and when Detroit and surrounding territory were ceded by the British to the U.S. in 1796 [[under the Jay Treaty that settled unresolved issues from the American Revolution) they found themselves living in a country they wanted no part of. So, around 1798, the house was disassembled and moved by canoe across the river to Amherstburg, to a site on Dalhousie St in the middle of town. There it had several owners over the years, including, for a little over 100 years, the Park family for whom the house in now named.

In 1972 the house was moved again, a few blocks north on Dalhousie to the King's Navy Yard Park, where it stands today as the oldest structure in the greater Detroit-Windsor area and is open to the public as a museum.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_House_Museum
http://www.puredetroit.com/index.php/history/detroits-oldest-house-is-in-canada-321.html
http://www.parkhousemuseum.com/

[AarunFast]

Judge Augustus Woodward made some plans for Detroit's street Grid after the 1805 fire. His first plan to make the street grid look like the streets of Washington D.C. but the folks in D.C. and Congress said HELL NO!!! So Woodward redesign Detroit's street grid to look one big half wagon wheel. That is the plan we see today.

Very interesting stuff! Do you have any suggestions to look for more info on this? [[Books, websites, microfiche, tumblr accounts, etc.) I find the planning of cities fascinating.

[archfan]

Very interesting stuff! Do you have any suggestions to look for more info on this? [[Books, websites, microfiche, tumblr accounts, etc.) I find the planning of cities fascinating.

Here are a couple of links summarizing Woodward's plan:

http://www.metrotimes.com/Blogs/arch...-197-years-ago

http://nighttraintodetroit.com/2010/...1805-the-fire/

[Detroitdave]

There is one pre-1805 survivor, but it isn't in Detroit anymore, or even in the U.S.

The Park House in Amherstburg was built in what's now Detroit around 1794 [[probably around Delray). However, the owners were British loyalists and when Detroit and surrounding territory were ceded by the British to the U.S. in 1796 [[under the Jay Treaty that settled unresolved issues from the American Revolution) they found themselves living in a country they wanted no part of. So, around 1798, the house was disassembled and moved by canoe across the river to Amherstburg, to a site on Dalhousie St in the middle of town. There it had several owners over the years, including, for a little over 100 years, the Park family for whom the house in now named.

In 1972 the house was moved again, a few blocks north on Dalhousie to the King's Navy Yard Park, where it stands today as the oldest structure in the greater Detroit-Windsor area and is open to the public as a museum.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_House_Museum
http://www.puredetroit.com/index.php/history/detroits-oldest-house-is-in-canada-321.html
http://www.parkhousemuseum.com/

WOW , thank you Eastside AL. That is a lot of good information. With a city as old as Detroit , it's a shame the nothing from the old city remains.
But the city still has a lot of history and amazing architecture, from the 1800's on.
Thanks again

[EastsideAl]

Thanks! It would be impossible for any buildings in the center of the city to predate the 1805 fire, because that fire was so bad that it apparently destroyed literally every structure in the town. Good thing it happened in the early summer, or it may have been very difficult for the settlers to make it through the winter. There were a couple of surviving buildings that were on the outskirts that stood for many years - the Cass House on Larned near First and the Moran house at Woodbridge and St. Antoine - which are both described in the Silas Farmer history of Detroit. But those were swept away by 'progress' by the beginnings of the 20th century.

http://detroithistorical.org/learn/e...reat-fire-1805