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Page 27 text:
“
NE hundred years ago the University of Detroit was a malarial swamp-the remnant of a lake which in glacial times had covered the entire northwest portion of the city. All the land comprising the present campus save the A lT i'xi ' sand drifts along Livernois was under water during the greater part of the year. A dense growth of tamaracks, willows and cranberry bushes covered the ground. There were no roads and the only access to the district was that afforded by the old Indian trail which ran north from the Grand River Road to the edge of the tamarack swamp and then branched off in various directions along the ridges of the sand drifts. In 1835 the district was surveyed for the government by Hiram Wilmarth. At this time Detroit was going through the throes of its first real estate boom and Judge B. H. Witherell, who had platted a village on a landfgrant just east of the campus, conf ceived the brilliant idea of stimulating sales by launching a mining boom. To this end he imported three wagon loads of iron ore from Ohio and planted them in the woods near Florence and Muirland. Iron was then discovered and in the ensuing excitement Witherell succeeded in selling about thirty lots of swamp land before the truth leaked out. When the purchasers of the lots examined their acquisitions they considered the district so unpromising that they allowed their claims to lapse and the paper village of Cassandra was soon forgotten. In the forties and Hfties the tamarack forest was lumbered by one John Rumney, who had set up a sawfmill in the neighborhood. The next step toward making the district habitable was taken when the county officials constructed a system of drainage ditches which drew the water off to the northeast and emptied it into Connor's Creek. As late as ten years ago one of these ditches still ran through the campus, parallel with Fairheld under what is now the east stand of the stadium. With the draining of the swamp a new and different growthof timber fchiefly elms and oaksj sprang up and was in turn cleared by the settlers who moved in and divided the district into small farms of about forty acres each. The large elm in front of the Faculty Building and the two large oaks southeast of the Physics Building are remnants of this second growth. ' The first occupants of the present north campus were two farmers, Kubick and Horkey. Horkey, whose land was low and fertile, went in for truck gardening and raised onions, radishes, potatoes and cabbages. He clung to his land long after his neighbors had sold out to real estate subdividers and when he finally consented to part with it to the University in 1921 he insisted on being paid in small bills-a whole suit' case full. Less than ten years ago there was not a single modern dwelling in the entire University district. There were no street cars or busses, Livernois was not paved and the Six Mile Road was a string of mud holes. The campus was a farm, the stadium a cow pasture, the Commerce and Finance Building an onion patch, the Physics Building a barnyard, the Chemistry building a swimming hole and the Engineering Building a sheep pasture. 11171
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Page 28 text:
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ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO V8 f:YfIfQ f' QZTFPEV Y 12 -Q x 1-5 ' .I 'K 10 xx X as-as it 5 i ,gmt E QI X I ,mr I I I , II I-44 A II :I 1-Qvfwieli 5 ' ' 155:94 X' mmf . B 'N 'R' ' N' F E In D JDS' A 'Z V- 179! JW! . X, , I X -' xg fr fn mu I - :es ----as Q., - 4 X b i U 0 yi. a X51 ' I 1 - vm I -' X as N ff' B0 l 21 l A 'Y-fu i 1 I-I If ts 'A 'X i W5 r X ,- if, so O 0' 5, . 6 IIII, In XI D III, ISQ I, 21 g 22 , ' fs V X ' , ' 9 , X - -' 'J X e. ff , ' 1 --Q I II I ,, X, T I q, III 5 . Z ,, 993'-1 xo I I , c5xR ,IIIIX- to If - SII II! I. as . '- I ,- - ,ln 1 , f' 'f ' ng, X 5 29 ,Q Ig,f5Q,'iil, s . 2 2 e xx ' ' , E I, ' H .. I1 I 4, ..-' f ' ,Z I .JJ . ' I-' f xf I I V I I I ' N .I ', gf l fx XX GIRL , I3 .1 . Vg-:XA , 1, Y U4 21 if. 47: ,X X :X , I. 'Z -. X x ,ll IQIX' ' 1 x W ,. X. . . , - , A -.lxg N ' ' - V Y 5 l - I X. -, .LQ r ,U . N - - 4 Do X , f .5 T l ix I A X N 15 I X I I at f N , gx 0 ,Q f XM- :Y l u' X V -- xy! 5' x x. 'L xg X1 if 8 A '61 ,Q VAZXX f X K I bl I x 19 ,f 4. as as X 2Q so f se N df j A 11 1, It V 1 5,4 gf .R is m 1, ' Q I -,A 88 I 34 x H X I ms' 1.159 YK N 2 ' f X M Q , X I ff: l N N 'x x X X X X A fx 6 -Q I X X v fx be 1 5 X M X X Q X XX N514 - -5 x W N XM. . .l ' nl X 'I X . N X 2 .gk XXX xl inf 'li X X 5 . Ways lx ' N Q X I gifs o J X 1 ' x ' 5 7 , x A ' X X .3 - :1 x X - X X I X Q l' X X A' 1 Id' uf ll Ss X l 'M 1 l 'V' X f X '35 , X x 5 ' x r Q I, QQ xv ' Q X A Y -r xx R 0 l x V A 9 , y X Q 2 X 0 IIQIXII Q, Q X x X L 4 ,lt f If Tl if ,Aft l ' -A.. fy XX 'D 1' L 4- T x X f f M Q , , X H W ' 5 f 491. f , jf , .. j SI :I f ,I I ' I H- xII -.1 IXKI XIIXIII' ' 'lb ' XII I' ' i - W- ' ' , '- , 15 it 1 I ., 'l 'M l '. - l I if-I ak ox Xt V Y! I ,I 2 ixivxr' MI ' -,.1 I. , I ,I Q., I .I T' I V Kgs- ' IIIELII I 'XI .-XII 3,1 XI, II 'HI . I a x Nr' ., A 3 . N be uf - .- 'aww 5- - -ips! . , -K X-Pl., i , ' ' fs? , FMQXSV it E 1 11 W tr , A I-JVI I IZIII MAI -I Y I,I II I X ' -I I X ,ix-IG.I:'I .Ii-Qi 5 A5 ' hi.-?ts11.2fgs-E X Q Lf ,ret ,- . X . .,, ,-,-F'fE ?'2 a -- k 1 B7 R M ,al Wi' ' l X , V 'X . -'E-', fm . , ,... ' - ' .- J W: -- . ,' -A' XX, ,: f -- --M' ' Q, X x 7 .,: .. NQYEX L . mary 154' . II ,,,'1Z,11' Windsor X '51 , Q I I F,-I ,fAI!I 4, Ii. V V A JY-'-Y -'1 9 ' Q fi . wi, gg' . s ' I X II,f: 5 f'X.Q,I I ,,, ZA, QI Q',, ',- ' . Sarlclvvich if 4 J ll - - Q: ., If' .1 .U-II 'ur-uso. -I.. ' I If-X -u,, 1' if ,. A A' ' s M , If ,,f'g,f I -Uruverstty Detroit LSZSH an , 1 f, ' III55, :-L, I I , I I II W5 ,- ' f, , .5121 , 7. , When the University of Detroit was nine miles from Detroit. What is now the campus was then known as the northwest quarter of section Hfteen, Greenfield Township. The twisting lines near the University site indicate old Indian trails. The campus was a tamarack swamp, under water during the greater part of the year. Wolves, bears and rnosquitos were the only inhabitants of the district. E181
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