perature, 48.4° F.—January, 24.6°; July, 72°; average annual rainfall, 36.19 inches.
The river, sometimes called ‘The Dardanelles of the New World,’ which is here the boundary between the United States and Canada, is half a mile wide and over thirty feet deep. It affords a splendid harbor, with a water-front of about nine miles. Fort Wayne, with its extensive works, commands the channel. Ferries connect with the Canadian side. The river contains many beautiful islands, which, with those on Lake Saint Clair, are popular as places of summer residence and as resorts. Grosse Isle is the largest of these river islands, and Belle Isle has been converted into the city's finest park.
The city has an area of 29 square miles, and is finely situated on ground rising gradually from the river. It has a reputation for broad, clean, well shaded and paved streets. Of a total of about 600 miles of thoroughfares, more than one-half is paved, the principal streets being laid with brick or asphalt. Most of the streets cross at right angles, but these are intersected by several broad avenues, radiating from the Grand Circus, a semicircular park of live and a half acres in the heart of the city. Woodward Avenue extends through this, and divides the city into nearly equal portions. This intersection of streets and avenues has resulted in a number of small triangular parks, some of which contain handsome fountains. Woodward Avenue, the principal business street, and at its northern end the centre of a fine residence district, is the location of many of the city's most prominent buildings. The Campus Martius, a considerable plot of ground about a half-mile from the river, is a part of Woodward Avenue. Jefferson Avenue, in part also an important business centre, and West Fort Street, contain costly dwellings. Michigan, Gratiot, and Lafayette avenues have many notable buildings; the banking houses of Griswold Street compare favorably with those of Wall Street, New York City. Grand Boulevard, 150 feet wide and paved with macadam, has its head at Jefferson Avenue, and its terminus at Fort Street, on the opposite side of the city. It surrounds the heart of the city, being about twelve miles long, and is a magnificent thoroughfare.
The street railway system of Detroit, operated over about 130 miles of track, is characterized by efficient and rapid service. On the roads of this system a series of interesting experiments have been conducted to determine a minimum fare and a maximum distance for one fare.
Buildings. The Wayne County court-house is the largest and one of the most attractive of the public edifices. The City Hall, facing the Campus Martius, is 200 feet long by nearly 100 feet wide, built of sandstone, at a cost of $600,000. On the Campus is the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, by Randolph Rogers, 55 feet high, and surmounted by a representation of ‘Michigan.’ The Majestic Building, near the City Hall, is one of Detroit's finest office-buildings. The post-office, Chamber of Commerce, Detroit Athletic Club house, Y. M. C. A. Building, and Harper and Grace hospitals are notable. Among the finest ecclesiastical structures are Saint Anne's (Roman Catholic), First Unitarian, First Presbyterian, Fort Street Presbyterian, Trinity (Protestant Episcopal), Sacred Heart of Mary (Roman Catholic), Woodward Avenue Baptist, Saint John's (Protestant Episcopal), and Christ Episcopal churches, and Temple Beth El. The Museum of Art has a library, and collections on art, archæology, science, local and general history, valued at $300,000. Its special features are the Stearns collection of Oriental curios, one of the finest in America, and the Scripps collection of old masters, which includes valuable specimens of famous artists.
Parks. The most notable feature of the public park system, which includes some twelve hundred acres, is the island park, Belle Isle, of 707 acres. It lies opposite the eastern section of the city, with which it is connected by an iron bridge, erected in 1889 at a cost of $315,000. Nearly a million and a half dollars have been expended in improving the natural features of this park. The beauty of its river location is supplemented by a series of interior lakes and canals, which extend around the island, while a further improvement is projected in the reclamation of the shoal at the western end of the island, which will add at least one hundred acres to its territory. Palmer Park (141 acres) on Woodward Avenue, six miles north of the City Hall, contains a famous log cabin, and other historical relics, and a large colonial casino. It was acquired by gift in 1894. Other parks are Clark (25 acres) and Voigt (9⅓ acres).
There are several cemeteries in the city, the most notable of which are Elmwood (Protestant) and Mount Elliott (Roman Catholic), both in the eastern section of the city, of great natural beauty and containing handsome monuments.
Institutions. Detroit has, besides numerous public and parochial schools and private secondary institutions of learning, a normal school (city), Detroit College (Roman Catholic), opened in 1877, the Detroit College of Law, the Detroit College of Medicine, which maintains schools of dentistry and pharmacy, and the Michigan College of Medicine and Surgery. The Detroit Bar Library has over 10,000 volumes, and there are several educational and institutional libraries. The public library, founded in 1865, contains over 166,000 volumes, and has established several branches, of which one is in each of the three high schools.
The city has a poor fund, administered by a Poor Commission. There are about thirty private charities. The Detroit Association of Charities is a general organization, representing a number of allied institutions. The House of Correction, which has a plant valued approximately at $500,000, with accommodations for 600 inmates, has a wide reputation as a reformatory institution. Besides the United States Marine Hospital, there are four large general hospitals, including Grace and Harper hospitals, in connection with which are training schools for nurses. Other institutions are Saint Mary's and Emergency hospitals, Home for the Friendless, Saint Vincent's Orphan Asylum, Protestant Orphan Asylum, Arnold Home for the Aged and Hospital for Incurables, Thompson Home for Old Ladies, Florence Crittenton Home, Deaconess's Home, and Home for the Aged Poor. In 1894 Detroit originated the scheme of cultivating vacant lots by aid of the unemployed. The success of the experiment led to its adoption in a number of other American cities, in most of which, however, it was conducted by authorized representatives of the municipality, or of charitable organi-
