Detroit's Belle Isle

One of the most unique urban parks in the world, Belle Isle has long been a source of civic pride in Detroit. In 1879, just as its population, land area, and industry were flourishing, the city of Detroit purchased this 700-acre island for use as a park. Famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted was soon commissioned to transform the island into an idyllic retreat from the industrial city. This book uses remarkable images drawn from the Walter P. Reuther Library to document Belle Isle's distinctive history. Throughout the city's periods of accomplishment, economic flux, and social turmoil, Belle Isle is revealed as a romantic haven where Detroit's many cultures came together to relax, celebrate, and play.

About the author

Michael Rodriquez is a humanities librarian at Michigan State University. Thomas Featherstone is an audiovisual archivist at the Walter P. Reuther Library at Wayne State University in Detroit, and the co-author of another Arcadia title, Labor in Detroit: Working in the Motor City.

Product details

• Authors: Thomas Featherstone, M. Rodrigues, Michael Rodriguez
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing (SC)
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.02.2003
• EAN: 9780738523156
• ISBN: 978-0-7385-2315-6
• No. of pages: 128
• Dimensions: 165 mm x 239 mm x 10 mm
• Weight: 299 g
• Series: Images of America (Arcadia Pub; Images of America (Arcadia Pub; Images of America
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature > Letters, diaries; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous