Discuss Detroit » Archives - Beginning January 2006 » Hart Plaza namesake « Previous Next »
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Krawlspace
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Username: Krawlspace

Post Number: 254
Registered: 04-2004
Posted From: 69.246.59.170
Posted on Sunday, May 21, 2006 - 9:37 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Did a not so in depth search, but didn't turn up anything.

Anyone able to fill in the blanks for me as to who Hart was and how the Plaza came to be named for him/her?

Thanks!
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Aiw
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Username: Aiw

Post Number: 5551
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 64.228.195.166
Posted on Sunday, May 21, 2006 - 9:43 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

It is named for Philip A. Hart, a former Senator.

Bio here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P hilip_A._Hart
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Neilr
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Username: Neilr

Post Number: 257
Registered: 06-2005
Posted From: 69.242.223.67
Posted on Sunday, May 21, 2006 - 10:47 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Sen. Hart was married to Jane Briggs Hart who was the daughter of Walter Briggs. He was the owner of the Tigers, hence the name Briggs Stadium. The Briggs family lived in an enormous stone mansion on Boston Blvd., just east of Third.
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Krawlspace
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Username: Krawlspace

Post Number: 255
Registered: 04-2004
Posted From: 170.20.11.116
Posted on Sunday, May 21, 2006 - 1:13 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Ironic I get clarification from a Canadian! :-)

Thanks to you both!
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The_rock
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Username: The_rock

Post Number: 1259
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 68.42.251.225
Posted on Sunday, May 21, 2006 - 2:43 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Phil Hart lived in Birmingham when I did as a youngster. He and my dad were friends though of opposite political affiliations back then. Hart was known as the "Conscience of the Senate" and was well-respected by both parties. We could use more Phil Hart's in Congress now.
When I worked at the Grand Hotel, I would occasionally see him and wife , Jane. He was a very warm individual.
And I am honored to say that he wrote my recommendation to Georgetown Law School.
I visited his gravesite last year on Mackinac Island.
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Oldredfordette
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Username: Oldredfordette

Post Number: 736
Registered: 02-2004
Posted From: 68.60.177.56
Posted on Sunday, May 21, 2006 - 3:12 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

One of the great Michiganders.
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Gistok
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Username: Gistok

Post Number: 2132
Registered: 08-2004
Posted From: 4.229.81.31
Posted on Sunday, May 21, 2006 - 4:03 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Phil Hart also received an honor in Washington DC... he had one of the 2 Senate Office Buildings named after him... the Hart Senate Office Building. (The other is the Cannon Senate Office Building, IIRC.)
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Aiw
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Username: Aiw

Post Number: 5554
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 64.228.195.166
Posted on Sunday, May 21, 2006 - 4:43 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I thought that too Krawlspace, but I thought I'd let it slide :-)
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River_rat
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Username: River_rat

Post Number: 126
Registered: 02-2006
Posted From: 71.126.175.26
Posted on Sunday, May 21, 2006 - 7:19 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"Sic transit gloria". How soon the good ones are forgotten!

Phil Hart was a fine man who had the respect of members of both parties. He would object to my using the phrase to describe him as he was a self-effacing individual who never sought personal glory. This country (and especially Michigan) need more like him now.
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56packman
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Username: 56packman

Post Number: 306
Registered: 12-2005
Posted From: 65.185.132.134
Posted on Sunday, May 21, 2006 - 7:52 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Neilr-You mention Walter Briggs, as tiger owner, and his great mansion, but did not mention how he earned his fortune. He owned Briggs body mfg. a major supplier to Ford, Chrysler, Hudson and Packard. Briggs built complete bodies "in white" for those manufacturers. The business was sold to Chrysler after Walter's death in 1953.
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Ray1936
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Username: Ray1936

Post Number: 580
Registered: 01-2005
Posted From: 207.200.116.139
Posted on Sunday, May 21, 2006 - 9:25 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Simple grave site in a family plot.
hart
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Bvos
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Username: Bvos

Post Number: 1452
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 66.238.170.34
Posted on Monday, May 22, 2006 - 9:13 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

A very humble grave marker for such a great man. It says a lot about him.
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Southwestmap
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Username: Southwestmap

Post Number: 475
Registered: 01-2005
Posted From: 64.79.90.206
Posted on Monday, May 22, 2006 - 10:30 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Following the decision to make Mackinac Island the burial site for Sen. Hart, Jane Hart donated a large plot of graves in Holy Sepulchre cemetary in Southfield (which had been bought for the family)to Msgr. Clement Kern of Most Holy Trinity church in Detroit. The grave plots are close to the plots of her family and many of the families she is related to - a prestigious group.

Msgr. Kern used the donated graves to bury several of the down-and-outers that he championed and some hispanic men who had no families here to bury them. Its great to walk there and realize what Jane Hart and Clem Kern knew: that "God is no respecter of the honors of this world."
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Danindc
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Username: Danindc

Post Number: 1477
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 67.100.158.10
Posted on Monday, May 22, 2006 - 2:52 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)


quote:

Phil Hart also received an honor in Washington DC... he had one of the 2 Senate Office Buildings named after him... the Hart Senate Office Building. (The other is the Cannon Senate Office Building, IIRC.)




Point of clarification: there are 3 Senate office buildings, one of which is Hart. (The other two are Russell and Dirksen.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H art_Senate_Office_Building

Cannon is on the House side, at Independence and 1st Streets SE.
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Ron
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Username: Ron

Post Number: 161
Registered: 03-2006
Posted From: 66.174.79.234
Posted on Monday, May 22, 2006 - 4:50 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I thought it was named after former Police Chief William Hart?!? Go figure. :-)

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