  Richard_bak Member Username: Richard_bak Post Number: 101 Registered: 04-2008 |
I was wondering why today's date was bugging me. It was July 24, 1701---307 years ago today----that Cadillac (not the car) and 100 high-smelling French voyagers (not the van) parked their canoes and said, "Good place for some beaver" (remember, this was an all-male expedition) or something like that and held what was in effect the first ethnic festival near what is now Hart Plaza. So here we are 307 years later...wonder what they would think of the place today?? | ||
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise Post Number: 3002 Registered: 09-2007 |
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DETROIT! And I wish her many more to come!  | ||
Richard_bak Member Username: Richard_bak Post Number: 102 Registered: 04-2008 |
Thanks, DR...she got the card but the only thing is you forgot to put a twenty in it. Next year, then.... | ||
Bragaboutme Member Username: Bragaboutme Post Number: 380 Registered: 02-2008 |
Now make a wish and blowout the corruption!••• | ||
Johnlodge Member Username: Johnlodge Post Number: 7784 Registered: 10-2003 |
Happy Birthday Detroit! Thanks for rescuing my ancestors from Italian Fascists! | ||
Eastsidedame Member Username: Eastsidedame Post Number: 426 Registered: 12-2006 |
Joyeux anniversaire, d'étroit! Actually, Cadillac was quite a character and a typical Detroiter, i.e., "reinvented" himself and was a big-time go-getter. His story is pretty fascinating, actually. Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac would probably think, "Mon Dieu! Those British bastards took my city, and now look!" LOL | ||
Detroitstar Member Username: Detroitstar Post Number: 1255 Registered: 01-2006 |
Joyeux Anniversaire Détroit! | ||
401don Member Username: 401don Post Number: 675 Registered: 11-2007 |
"wonder what they would think of the place today." Probably that the pheasant hunting has improved. | ||
Bulletmagnet Member Username: Bulletmagnet Post Number: 1499 Registered: 01-2007 |
I like your interruption of the discovery of Detroit, Richard_bak. Some French dudes on a cool camping trip, cruising up the straits, knocking back a few cold ones, just like now. | ||
Kathleen Member Username: Kathleen Post Number: 2950 Registered: 10-2003 |
Here's to Pierre Roy, one of Cadillac's advance scouts and my earliest Detroit ancestor! Merci beaucoup! Bonne Anniversaire a la ville de Detroit! | ||
Ray1936 Member Username: Ray1936 Post Number: 3444 Registered: 01-2005 |
Yeah, and I was thinkin' that YESTERDAY was the 41st anniversary of you know what. And no one mentioned it on DY. Probably for the best. | ||
Royce Member Username: Royce Post Number: 2715 Registered: 07-2004 |
Happy Birthday, Detroit! You are and forever will be the place I call home. | ||
Eriedearie Member Username: Eriedearie Post Number: 2441 Registered: 08-2007 |
Happy Birthday, Detroit!  | ||
Alley Member Username: Alley Post Number: 446 Registered: 02-2008 |
http://www.historydetroit.com/ part_2.asp | ||
Eastsidedame Member Username: Eastsidedame Post Number: 428 Registered: 12-2006 |
For those of you who know about this kind of stuff. Astrological birth chart for Detroit (charted for Noon EST): Leo, with Libra Rising and Pisces Moon.  | ||
Richard_bak Member Username: Richard_bak Post Number: 103 Registered: 04-2008 |
Just for the helluva it, I looked at July 24, 1701 on the perpetual calendar and Detroit was founded on a Thursday. Maybe those canoeists got a three-day weekend after all that mad paddling from Montreal. | ||
Detroitstar Member Username: Detroitstar Post Number: 1257 Registered: 01-2006 |
I would bet that Cadillac would be pissed off is he saw 2008 Detroit. He risked his life, and that of his men on a settlement for Frnace. Now it flies under the colors of another nation. Today was the first I ever heard that the settlers actually came from the north, through Lk St Claire and stayed at Grosse Isle the first night. That really is an interesting footnote to history! | ||
Lefty2 Member Username: Lefty2 Post Number: 1583 Registered: 07-2007 |
Good call Richard_bak I'll drink to that. If only the old sailors could see it now. | ||
Eastsidedame Member Username: Eastsidedame Post Number: 436 Registered: 12-2006 |
Leos have a lot of pride, expensive tastes and are fabulous hosts. Libra rising is generally hot-looking and often elegantly gorgeous. Even the plain ones have a "certain something". Pisces moon is very sensitive, and artistic in some way: music, art, dance, writing. In short, Detroit doesn't like being like it is. It's at its best being rich, pretty, artistic and SHOWING PEOPLE A REALLY GOOD TIME! (Message edited by eastsidedame on July 25, 2008) | ||
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise Post Number: 3020 Registered: 09-2007 |
Ironically, Detroit's a Leo. So that's a good sign in general. In short, it should be (and will once again become) one of the greatest cities in the universe (in terms of perception, culture, & history). I bet if you were to walk up and ask any random Detroiter, they wouldn't even know this was Detroit's birthday. We should do more to celebrate it. (Message edited by DetroitRise on July 25, 2008) | ||
Eastsidedame Member Username: Eastsidedame Post Number: 437 Registered: 12-2006 |
The "Ville D'etroit Days" was one idea that never happened. Like an early 1700s "Renaissance Festival". Someone was once building a full size replica of Le Griffon, Cadillac's ship. OMG! I guess the biggest obstacle was getting some guy to play Cadillac..nobody wanted to wear a long white wig and high heels! LOL | ||
Hamtragedy Member Username: Hamtragedy Post Number: 221 Registered: 10-2007 |
Oddly, Lake Erie was the last "discovered " Great Lake. The Iroquois were well known for scalping most white folks who dared make their way down the St. Lawrence onto Lake Ontario. The Hurons gave them the alternative route from Montreal, which essentially sent the white dudes up the Ottawa River into the North Bay Ontario region, (aboot 150 miles east of the soo) and after much getting out and portaging (walking, with canoes over their shoulders), dropped into a river that led them into Georgian Bay (northern Lake Huron). This probably took several days. Or months. Early in this abbreviated history lesson, and paddling fairly close to the shore in these handmade sturdy watercraft, Mackinac Island popped up, and became a strategic starting point for discoveries in all directions. Not to mention, you could see who was coming, in their canoes. Our fair city, sans corruption, was discovered fairly early in the grand scheme of things. From here, you could also see who was coming. Like the Good Ship Kwame, which seems to be floating down that lonely river, running aground every so often. Oh wait, I've confused that with Schitt's Creek. Enough history for today kids. | ||
Detroitstar Member Username: Detroitstar Post Number: 1262 Registered: 01-2006 |
As I understand it Sault Ste. Marie, MI, and Detroit are two of the oldest establishments west of the Appilation mountains. Can anyone tell me exactly where they fall in that grand scheme. It seems like various historical resources all clarify their age differently. (Message edited by detroitstar on July 26, 2008) | ||
Hamtragedy Member Username: Hamtragedy Post Number: 222 Registered: 10-2007 |
Don't forget Mackinac. Great lakes discoveries are usually dated from the early 1600s. Lake Erie, being the last is app. 40 yrs after the discovery of Lake Ontario. Mackinac was established somewhere in the middle, 1630 or 40, as I recall from the historic marker up there. |
