About Me
Known as Wah-nah-be-zee(White Swan) to the Chippewa and Ottawa Native American tribes, today Belle Isle reflects the late 19th century movement to create metropolitan parks begun in Paris and emulated in America by landscape architects like Frederic Law Olmsted. In 1752, the French governor granted title to the island to M. Douville Dequinder. By 1760, the British had gained possession of Detroit and King George III, in 1768, gave George Mcdougall permission to live on the island as long as Detroit was maintained as a strategic military post. Lt. Mcdougall purchased the Island from the Chippewa and Ottawa Indians for five barrels of rum, three rolls of tobacco, three pounds of red paint and a belt of wampum. In 1793, Mcdougall's heirs sold Belle Isle to William Macomb for 1600 English pounds. Then in 1817, Macomb's sons sold the island to Barnabas Campau. It was his descendants who sold Belle Isle to the City of Detroit in 1879 for $200,000. In 1883, the city secured the services of Frederick Law Olmsted, the prominent landscape architect and planner responsible for New York's Central Park and the grounds surrounding the Capitol in Washington D.C. After Olmsted's design was completed, other buildings were slowly added to the island. The most famous structures on Belle Isle are undoubtedly the Aquarium and Horticulture Building. Inspired by the Naples aquarium, the firm of Nettleton & Kahn designed a building with a highly articulated brickwork facade, copper roof and a huge interior space to hold the great aquariums, where diverse marine habitats were once displayed. The Horticulture building, also called the Conservatory, includes a fernery and a tropical plants section and is surrounded by three acres of formal gardens, lily ponds and greenhouses. Another noted building is the Belle Isle Casino, designed by Albert Kahn in 1908. Once said to be the finest casino in the United States, ornate towers frame the building's four corners, and verandas provide picnickers with shelter. The first bridge connecting the mainland with Belle Isle was built in 1889, but was destroyed by fire in 1915. A temporary bridge was built and used until 1923 when the present, 2,193 foot bridge was completed. A beautiful public park of memorials, fountains, athletic fields, man-made lagoons, and dramatic buildings, Belle Isle is a green oasis near the city's center.Located in the middle of the Detroit River and accessed from the MacArthur Bridge, which connects Belle Isle to East Grand Boulevard. Belle Isle is a Detroit city park and open to the public.
