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{{short description|Park in the United States}}{{About|the park in Detroit|the public area of ancient Rome|Campus Martius|the historic fortification in Ohio|Campus Martius (Ohio)|other uses|Campus Martius (disambiguation)}}

factoids

1.2m2}}| created = 1850; 2004| operator = Detroit 300 Conservancy| visitation_num = | status = Cadillac Center (Detroit People Mover)>Cadillac Center Detroit People Mover station and QLine streetcar. | open = All year}}

factoids

| area = | created = 2007| operator = | visitation_num = | status = | open = All year}}Campus Martius Park ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|ɑːr|ʃ|ʌ|s}} {{Respell|MAR|shuss}})WEB,weblink Are you pronouncing Michigan city names correctly? Now you can check, 2017-01-12, Click on Detroit, Graham Media Group, 2022-01-25, Campus Martius Park (KÂMP-əs MÄR-shəs PÄRK), is a re-established park in Downtown Detroit, Michigan. After the Great Fire of 1805, Campus Martius (from the Latin for Field of Mars, where Roman heroes walked) was the focal point of Judge Augustus Woodward's plans to rebuild the city.NEWS, David Lee, Poremba, Sep–Oct 1999,weblink Detroit's Field of Mars: Campus Martius, Michigan History Magazine, 0026-2196, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20061220155813weblink">weblink December 20, 2006, It was named for the principal square in Marietta, Ohio, the first capital of the Northwest Territory.BOOK, Farmer, Silas,weblink History of Detroit and Wayne County and Early Michigan: A Chronological Cyclopedia of the Past and Present, 1890, S. Farmer & Company, 978-0-7222-0097-1, en,

Description

(File:CampusMartius1907.JPG|thumb|left|Campus Martius in 1907)(File:Detroit Front.jpg|thumb|left|Campus Martius in 1914)The park is located at the intersection of Woodward Avenue and Michigan Avenue, four blocks south of Grand Circus Park. The original park covered several acres and was a major gathering area for citizens. The park was lost in the 1900s as the city's downtown was reconfigured to accommodate increased vehicular traffic. Hart Plaza, along the riverfront, was designed to replace Campus Martius as a point of importance. But as Hart Plaza is a primarily hard-surfaced area, many residents came to lament the lack of true park space in the city's downtown area. This led to calls to rebuild Campus Martius, the site of the Civil War-era Michigan Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, located across from the new Compuware Headquarters.The park is also where the point of origin of Detroit's coordinate system is located. {{convert|7|mi|km|spell=In}} north of this point is Seven Mile Road; {{convert|8|mi|km|spell=in}} north is Eight Mile Road, and so on. The point of origin is marked by a medallionWEB,weblink Campus Martius Park - Point of Origin medallion, campusmartiuspark.org, 2013-12-28, embedded in the stone walkway. It is situated in the western point of the diamond surrounding the Woodward Fountain,WEB,weblink Campus Martius Park site plan, campusmartiuspark.org, 2013-12-28, just in front of the park's concession building.The new Campus Martius Park was dedicated November 19, 2004 and includes two performance stages, sculptures, public spaces and a seasonal ice skating rink. At {{convert|1.2|acre|m2}}, the park is smaller than its predecessor, as a full restoration of the original would have required the demolition of several buildings. However, the city increased the amount of park space in the area by constructing the new Cadillac Square Park, which opened in summer 2007, immediately to the east of Campus Martius. The park's skating rink is designed to resemble the Rockefeller Center rink in New York City but is larger in size. Since its opening the rink has been operated by Magic Ice USA, Inc. Campus Martius Park is the home of the annual Motown Winter Blast, an event that has drawn more than 450,000 people to the downtown area every year and it has become the site of the city's annual Christmas tree lighting celebration, held the Monday before Thanksgiving. Thousands come to hear Christmas music and countdown to the lighting of the city's official Christmas tree and other decorations to mark the start of the holiday season.

Cadillac Square Park

Cadillac Square Park is another re-established park in the area. It lies immediately to the east of Campus Martius Park. Until 2001, the area where the park is located was occupied by a bus transfer station constructed in the 1960s.NEWS, Detroit Bus Station Work Set to Start, The Detroit News, detnews.com, February 28, 2007, Louis Aguilar,weblink January 6, 2011, {{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} From 1841 until 1891, Cadillac Square was the site of the Detroit Farmer's Market.WEB, Market History, Eastern Market Detroit, Deeb, Ed, 2013-12-28,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20131201075434weblink">weblink 2013-12-01, dead, The new park is site of the relocated Bagley Memorial Fountain which previously occupied a spot on Campus Martius.In January 2008, the city of Detroit announced plans for a new Cadillac Centre, a $150 million mixed-use residential entertainment-retail complex attached to the Cadillac Tower. Designed by architect Anthony Caradonna and patterned after the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, the contemporary steel and glass 24-story skyscraper complex to be located on Campus Martius Park, was planned to begin construction in the fall of 2009,PRESS RELEASE, 6 January 2008,weblink Detroit Gets New Era in Downtown Living With Iconic $150 Million Cadillac Centre on Campus Martius Park, Northern Group, Inc., Reuters, 2013-12-28,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20131230235434weblink">weblink 30 December 2013, dead, dmy-all, but was indefinitely postponed by the city in October of that year when the developers failed to meet key agreements with the city.NEWS, Cadillac Centre project in trouble,weblink Detroit Free Press, Gallagher, John, 3 October 2008, freep.com, 2013-12-28, 2013-12-27,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20131227185347weblink">weblink dead, The French sport of pétanque is played at Cadillac Square each workday from noon to 1 p.m. The similar Italian sport of bocce is also played there.

Gallery

File:Old map 1807 plan.jpg|Augustus Woodward's plan following the 1805 fire for Detroit's baroque styled radial avenues and Grand CircusFile:CadillaclookingupDetroit.jpg|Cadillac Tower, looking up from Cadillac SquareFile:MichiganSoldiersSailors.jpg|Michigan Soldiers' and Sailors' MonumentFile:Detroit December 2015 24 (Campus Martius Park).jpg|Michigan Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument in December 2015File:ChaseBuildingDetroit.JPG|Detroit Financial District from Campus MartiusFile:DetroitCampusMartiusPark.jpg|View from Campus Martius Park ice rinkFile:MikerussellCampusmartiusParkDetroit.jpg|View from Campus Martius Park ice rinkFile:Campus Martius Park Skating rink.JPG|Campus Martius Park skating rinkFile:Detroit December 2015 22 (Campus Martius Park).jpg|Campus Martius Park skating rinkFile:Campusmaratdetroinight.jpg|Campus Martius at nightFile:ViewupWoodwardfromCampusMartius.jpg|Looking north up Woodward AvenueFile:HardRockCafesignfromCampusMartuisdetroit.jpg|Hard Rock Cafe in Compuware World HeadquartersFile:Woodward Fountaindetroit.jpg|Woodward FountainFile:Cadillac Square Detroit 1899.jpg|Cadillac Square in 1899, City Hall is on the left and the Majestic Building is to the rightFile:CadillacSquareParkdetroit.jpg|Same view of Cadillac Square in 2007; One Kennedy Square stands on the site of the old City Hall and 1001 Woodward has replaced the Majestic Building

See also

• Cadillac Center Detroit People Mover station
• Detroit International Riverfront
• Grand Circus Park Historic District

References

{{Reflist}}

Further reading

• BOOK, Hill, Eric J. and John Gallagher, AIA Detroit: The American Institute of Architects Guide to Detroit Architecture, 2002, Wayne State University Press, 0-8143-3120-3, registration,weblink
• BOOK, Sobocinski, Melanie Grunow, Detroit and Rome: building on the past, Regents of the University of Michigan, 2005, 0-933691-09-2,

External links

{{Commons category|Campus Martius (Detroit)}}

• Official Campus Martius Park website
• weblink" title="archive.today/20130121114005weblink">Detroit News: Campus Martius Park history
• weblink" title="archive.today/20130122183651weblink">Video review of the park with on-site footage

{{Downtown Detroit}}{{Parks in metropolitan Detroit}}{{Architecture of metropolitan Detroit}}{{Detroit Neighborhoods}}{{Authority control}}