I Remember Detroit

By John Christian Lodge

Here are the memoirs of a man who has since grown up with Detroit since the first years of the Civil War and who was intimately associated with its business, athletics and government over a long period. Mr. Lodge is now (at the time of writing his memoirs) eighty-seven years old and recalls in his book the tremendous transformation that has occurred in this, the city of his birth, the skyline, the streets, the buildings, the manufactories, the wholesale and retail businesses. He recalls early athletics in Detroit, when the chief sport of the young men was rowing, the organisation of the Detroit Athletics Club—he is one of the founders and the oldest living member—and the beginnings of both amateur and professional baseball—he himself played until late in life., he watched the present city hall being erected in 1871 and has been almost continuously associated with it since, in one way or another, as reporter and city editor of Detroit Free Press, as Alderman and Councilman, as president of the Council and as mayor.



I remember Detroit will appeal to all citizens of Detroit and Michigan, for the narrative itself and for the interesting and informative sidelights it throws upon the life of the city and its industrial and political leaders of a by-gone era.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Barakaldo Books
• Release date: Apr 23, 2020
• ISBN: 9781839743252

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Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.

We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.

I REMEMBER DETROIT

BY

JOHN C. LODGE

IN COLLABORATION WITH M. M. QUAIFE

Mr. Lodge in 1928, in his first year as Mayor.

Table of Contents

Contents

Table of Contents 5

AUTHOR’S PREFACE 6

COLLABORATOR’S EXPLANATION 7

THE PICTURES 8

CHAPTER I—FAMILY BACKGROUND 10

CHAPTER II—CHILDHOOD AND SCHOOL DAYS 22

CHAPTER III—ATHLETICS 36

CHAPTER IV—MY YEARS IN JOURNALISM 49

CHAPTER V—I ENTER POLITICS 65

CHAPTER VI—ALDERMAN AND COUNCILMAN 73

CHAPTER VII—MAYOR 73

CHAPTER VIII—SOME BUSINESSMEN OF YESTERDAY 73

CHAPTER IX—MORE BUSINESSMEN OF YESTERDAY 73

CHAPTER X—PROFESSIONAL MEN OF YESTERDAY 73

CHAPTER XI—RANDOM MEMORIES 73

REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER 73

AUTHOR’S PREFACE

THE NARRATION of these recollections was undertaken in the summer of 1948 at the suggestion of my collaborator, Dr. M. M. Quaife. I am indebted to him for giving them appropriate literary expression, and for prompting my memory by asking hundreds of questions. I am indebted also to Miss Mabel Ford, my one-time secretary, for her accurate and patient stenographic labor. One’s memory is a fallible thing, and I can scarcely expect that the recital of my own recollections of over four-score years is wholly free from errors of detail. Such of these as may occur, however, should not materially affect whatever value the narrative may possess.

I have passed my entire life in the city which my parents chose for their home a century ago. Detroit has been exceedingly kind to me, and the recital of my lifetime memories, undertaken as a labor of love at the close of my active career, will show how deeply I am indebted to the great city I have the good fortune to claim as my own.

On June 24, 1948 I removed to the Cadillac Nursing Home at 1533 Cadillac Avenue. This excellent institution is supervised by Mrs. Kathleen G. Moncrieff, who has made my life here decidedly pleasant. In fact, during my stay I have never experienced an unpleasant moment.

JOHN C. LODGE

SUMMER, 1949.

COLLABORATOR’S EXPLANATION

WHEN THE MEMBERS of the Editorial Board of the Wayne University Press assumed the responsibility of publishing Mr. Lodge’s narrative they requested me to supply pertinent explanatory notes concerning many of the persons and incidents mentioned by Mr. Lodge. The current scene is constantly receding into the past and newcomers unfamiliar with what has gone before are constantly appearing. For Detroit there is the further consideration that the city has grown so rapidly in recent decades that comparatively few citizens of the present day have any firsthand acquaintance with the men and events of a quarter of a century or more ago.

Mr. Lodge, however, has lived here for almost ninety years. He has an unusual memory, and he has enjoyed unusual opportunities for witnessing and understanding the life of Detroit in his time. Quite naturally his narrative assumes a familiarity with actors and scenes of the past which many—perhaps most—of his readers do not possess. To assist them to enjoy his story is the objective of the editorial footnotes which are appended to each chapter. Mr. Lodge’s own narrative has been patiently reread and approved by him. The footnotes are entirely my work and the reader should clearly understand that Mr. Lodge has no responsibility for, nor even advance knowledge of, their contents.

In the work of preparing them, I have drawn upon many sources of information, chiefly, however, upon the great store of newspaper clippings and other data assembled in the Burton Historical Collection of the Detroit Public Library. To it and to its courteous and helpful staff of attendants I am much indebted.

The creation of any serious historical book involves the pains-taking cooperation of numerous workers. Mr. Lodge has expressed his obligation to several who have been concerned with the present volume. I wish, also, to record my appreciation of the consideration accorded me by Professor Alexander Brede and his associates of the Wayne University Press. The future of the University will be limited only by the wisdom and prosperity of Detroit itself. The University Press will give to the world, as time passes, scores of useful publications.

Detroit is soon to celebrate with fitting ceremony its two hundred and fiftieth anniversary. Mr. Lodge’s memories cover one-third of the entire period, and it is peculiarly fitting that his narrative should occupy a position near the head of this list.

M. M. QUAIFE

THE PICTURES

Mr. Lodge in 1928 in his first year as Mayor

Mr. Lodge’s father, Dr. Albert Edwin Lodge

Mr. Lodge at age four

Mr. Lodge as a youth of sixteen

The east side of Griswold Street,

about 1875

The west side of Griswold Street, about 1875

The southwest corner of Griswold and Lafayette, showing the Patterson School

Woodward and the Campus Martius from the new City Hall, 1872

Moffat’s sawmill and log booms at the foot of Dubois about 1875

The High School in Capitol Park

Detroit Athletic Club, Amateur Champions 1889

William E. Quinby, editor and publisher, the Detroit Free Press

The Russell House

The foot of Woodward Avenue in 1890

Billy Boushaw’s place

Cadillac Square in 1901

Michigan and Woodward avenues, about 1880

John R and Woodward Avenues

The Campus Martius about 1881

The Joseph Campau house

Windmill Pointe, by Robert Hopkin

Oft in the stilly night

Ere slumber’s chain has bound me,

Fond Memory brings the light

Of other days around me:...

When I remember all

The friends so linked together

I’ve seen around me fall

Like leaves in wintry weather,

I feel like one

Who treads alone

Some banquet-hall deserted,

Whose lights are fled,

Whose garlands dead,

And all but he departed!

THOMAS MOORE

CHAPTER I—FAMILY BACKGROUND

I WAS BORN in the home of my parents on Jefferson Avenue in Detroit, August 12, 1862. Now eighty-six years later, I am still living on a much-changed Jefferson Avenue in a city and a time that have changed even more. At the time of my birth Detroit had a population of about 50,000. The city extended from the Detroit River on the south to Holden Road on the north and from Mt. Elliott Avenue on the east to Twenty-fourth Street on the west.{1} I was a grown man when Grand Boulevard was first thought of in the early eighties, and even then the project of its development was ridiculed as being too far out in the country to ever be of any real use to the city. Hamtramck Township then hugged the borders of Detroit. On the east it extended somewhat beyond Fisher Road; on the north, to Base Line, or Eight Mile Road; and on the west to the edge of Greenfield Township, about one-fourth of a mile beyond Woodward. The township included what is now the city of Hamtramck, the city of Highland Park, and a portion of the city of Detroit.{2}

Our city from its beginning was not an indolent one. Even the Detroit River, because of its depth to the mainland, lent itself to industry rather than to recreation. Nature had provided no beach for the enjoyment of pleasure seekers, and no one thought of facilities for play along our stretch of the river which forms such an important link in the chain of the Great Lakes.

Some wiseacres in Chicago in those early days referred to Detroit as Old Slow Town. But there were indications, even then, that a highly mechanized city was evolving. No one was fanciful enough, however, to think that within a single lifetime Detroit would become the fourth largest city in the United States, and the throbbing industrial center that it is today. When I was a boy, my father, impressed by the indications of our growing city, said to me: I think you will live to see Detroit a city of 200,000. Many years later, my friend, John Kelsey, indulged in a more extravagant prediction—Maybe you don’t get around to see what is happening to the limits of Detroit. But I shouldn’t be surprised if the city grows to have a population of half a million.

The county of Wayne has grown in like manner with Detroit. Not so many years ago there was no city of Hamtramck, no village of Hamtramck, no city or village of Highland Park. Dearborn, the lovely old home of the Arsenal,{3} had a population of only a few hundred. There were no cities of River Rouge, Plymouth, and Northville. The only city in the county, apart from Detroit, was Wyandotte. It used to be known as Wayne County’s second city.

I got my Christian name in a way which I imagine is not uncommon. Father wanted to name me Christian, after his good friend, Christian H. Buhl, who was just completing his term as Mayor of Detroit. But my mother wouldn’t stand for it. She said: We are going to call him John, after my father. So they compromised on John, and Father’s choice became my middle name—John Christian Lodge. August 9, by the way, is Mother’s birthday. When I was city editor of the Free Press my office boy was Eddie Guest, whose birthday is August 20.{4} Lots of good people seem to have the habit of being born in August.

From my earliest years I have been fortunate in the possession of a keen and active memory. Such a memory accumulates many things in the course of a long lifetime, and in the pages that follow I will endeavor to set down some of them. One thing, however, the reader must not expect to find. When I was yet a boy my mother once gave me this admonition: Son, you have a good mind and memory. As you go through life strive to store them with good and pleasant, instead of evil and ugly things. I have done so, and the memories I am about to relate will dwell upon the good I have found in my fellow men, ignoring such evil as I may have encountered.

My paternal grandfather, Edwin Lodge, came from England to the United States shortly after the close of the War of 1812. He was the first member of his immediate family to migrate to America. The Massachusetts Lodges, to whom we are distantly related—perhaps sixth or seventh cousins—came much earlier. When I was working for the Free Press, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, grandfather of the present Massachusetts Senator, came to Detroit to address the Republican Club of Michigan on the occasion of a Washington’s Birthday party. When I was presented to him he mumbled quite icily something about this great family of ours. The Massachusetts Senator was obviously not deeply impressed by the contact with his Detroit namesake.

Grandfather Lodge was a lawyer of New York City. Shortly before my father’s birth he returned to England for a year or more, taking my grandmother with him, in order to continue his legal study at some school—possibly the Middle Temple. There my father, Edwin Albert Lodge, was born, May 6, 1822, in Kent, just outside London, almost within sound of Bow Bells.

Grandfather Lodge had two sons: Henry, born in New York in 1820; and Edwin, my father. New York became his permanent home, and although I do not know where he lived, I know he continued his practice there until his death. Father studied medicine at the Bellevue Hospital College in New York City. The homeopathic theory of the treatment of diseases had been propounded by Dr. Samuel Hahnemann of Germany in the closing years of the eighteenth century, and although its proponent encountered bitter opposition, his ideas in certain respects were far in advance of his time. The new system was introduced in the United States in 1825 by Dr. Hans Gram, but not until 1844 was the American Institute of Homeopathy, now the oldest national medical organization in the United States, founded. The Bellevue College was an early advocate of the homeopathic system of healing, and so my father became a homeopathic physician. In his practice, however, he followed the same procedure of doing whatever he could to promote the welfare of his patient, regardless of adherence to homeopathic theory.

In some way unknown to me Father had become acquainted with Christiana Hanson, a Baltimore girl of combined Scotch, Norse, and Irish descent, and they were married in New York City in 1842. Following his graduation from Medical College Father practiced there for two or three years, and there Emma and Ella, my two eldest sisters, were born. But Father believed that the East had a surplus of doctors, and he had read and heard a great deal about Detroit, which in the middle forties was fast approaching the 15,000 mark. Accordingly, he removed here in 1847 to begin a practice which he followed for forty years. About two years before his death his health began to fail and during these closing years of his life his practice was much curtailed. Mother outlived him many years. She died on July 11, 1903, the anniversary of the first unfurling of the American flag at Detroit in 1796.

After the fashion of their time, my parents reared a large family of sons and daughters. Of their five sons, only my brother Edmund and myself did not study medicine. Edmund for many years was a city employee. Dr. Edwin Lodge, who was born in Detroit the year following my parents’ removal here, obtained his higher education at the University of Michigan, where he received his M.D. degree in 1871. He married Alice Berry, whose father, Joseph H. Berry, had come from England to Detroit. A few years before the Civil War started, Joseph and his brother Thomas began making varnish in a small way, using, I suppose, just a kitchen boiler. The business grew until it became enormous, and they accumulated a large fortune. At the time of Joseph’s death his estate was estimated to be worth $14,000,000. He acquired extensive holdings of river and lake frontage, and built the largest and finest house in Grosse Pointe. The house, which stood right on the Pointe, was razed only a year or so ago.

Edwin and Alice Berry Lodge had two children; a son, Joseph Berry Lodge, and a daughter, Adelaide. She is now living on the Berry property in Grosse Pointe Farms. Joseph supervises his mother’s and his aunt’s estates.

Dr. Albert Lodge graduated from the University of Michigan in 1877, and established his practice in Detroit. Following Father’s death his practice increased greatly and he became a busy and successful physician. One of his patients was Hazen S. Pingree, later Governor of Michigan. Albert was the first man to be appointed by the Governor to the Board of Examiners of Physicians, and he remained a member of the Board throughout its entire existence. He was a very strong man physically, slightly over six feet tall and weighed 215 pounds. He was too busy with his medical practice to indulge in athletics, although he sometimes found time to watch a boat race or part of a ball game. He was a keen student, and was greatly interested in the welfare of the Public Library.

My brother Augustus married a daughter of James Moore, who owned a large farm just outside the village of Milford. Originally Augustus had intended to begin his medical practice in Detroit, but Father said to him: There are three Lodge doctors in Detroit already; with you coming to join the ranks, how will people be able to distinguish one Dr. Lodge from another?

Father knew the prosperous village of Milford needed a physician and he advised Augustus to locate there. He did so, and remained for over fifty years, until his death a couple of years ago at the age of eighty-nine. During his active years his medical practice extended all over Oakland County.

My other brothers had such confidence in Augustus that whenever they felt the need of professional advice they called for him. They understood the popular fallacy that city doctors or lawyers are superior to those in small towns. Sometimes our greatest lawyers develop in small towns. They can’t rely on bar libraries and are compelled to dig up their information for themselves. Of the four men who are known as the Big Four of Michigan’s Supreme Court—Justice James V. Campbell of Detroit, Justice Thomas M. Cooley of Bay City, Justice Isaac P. Christiancy of Adrian, and Justice Benjamin F. Graves of Battle Creek—all were the product of small towns.{5} Yet their legal opinions were, and are, considered the last word in Michigan. It doesn’t matter where a man comes from; it is his character and what he has in his head that count.

Three of my brothers were older than I was—Edwin by a good many years. Emma, my oldest sister, married John Witherspoon of Detroit. As a youngster he worked at the printing trade, and when the Civil War began he enlisted in the army and became Captain of Company A, Twenty-fourth Michigan Infantry.{6} After his return from the war he was appointed Deputy Collector of Customs at Detroit, continuing in this office for about twenty years. In 1885 Grover Cleveland became President of the United States, being the first Democrat elected to the Presidency since James Buchanan, almost thirty years earlier, and Witherspoon, who was a Republican, was, of course, removed from office.

He had several children and he didn’t want his boys to grow up in the city where they would have to hunt for $40 a month jobs. He went to Nebraska, where land was still cheap, and planned to take up a section of land and make a new home for his family out there. But he was killed in a tornado within two weeks of his arrival there, and the plan to settle his family in Nebraska died with him.

John Homer Witherspoon, now a member of the Corporation Counsel’s staff, is one of his grandsons. He graduated from the University of Michigan with literary and legal degrees in 1927. Mayor John W. Smith appointed him Assistant Corporation Counsel and this was played up a little later when Smith and I were running against each other for the office of Mayor. I bumped into Homer—that is John Witherspoon’s middle name—in the hall one day and said to him: Now that this campaign has started, if you have anything to say, say it in favor of John Smith.

I will do what you tell me, he replied, but of course it will be hard for me if they do or say anything against you. Mr. Smith, however, was very decent about Witherspoon’s situation, and he served as Police Commissioner for a year and a half under appointment from Mayor Jeffries but he is now back in the Corporation Counsel’s office. He is responsible for answering all questions pertaining to tax matters and he has built up the reputation of being the best tax lawyer in the State.

Sister Laura, a beautiful girl, died unmarried when she was still in her early twenties. She had gone over to Berlin (now Kitchener), Ontario to visit Mrs. John Wesley, who was one of her intimate friends. During the visit she became ill, and in response to a telegram from the Wesleys my brother Edwin and I went over. There is an odor about typhoid fever which my brother recognized as soon as we entered the door, and he immediately said to me: It is typhoid. You must arrange at once for a private car to take her back to Detroit. So we brought her home, but she lived only four days after her return. The disease which terminated her young life was then a commonplace affliction. Today it has become so infrequent that physicians seldom encounter a case of it.

Sister Ella married Dr. Charles B. Barrett, who removed with her to Philadelphia. They had one son, born in 1869, who never married. He lives in San Francisco, where I understand he is a somewhat prominent citizen, but I have lost touch with him and do not recall what profession or business he follows.

Sister Harriet remained unmarried, and she and I made our home together until her death on January 16, 1943. She was a splendid woman and a wonderful sister.

Sister Evangeline married Dr. Charles H. Land, a dentist of Detroit. He was a man of great mechanical skill, and among other things invented the furnace which dentists have been using for many years. Dr. and Mrs. Land had two children, a son and a daughter. The son, Charles H. Land, Jr., graduated from the School of Mines at Houghton, and has served at various times as a consultant on technical problems.

Evangeline Land, my niece, attended the University of Michigan, where she majored in chemistry. She subsequently attended Columbia University, where she obtained the degree of Master of Arts. At Ann Arbor she met her future husband, Charles A. Lindbergh of Little Falls, Minnesota. He was an Apollo for physical beauty, and my niece was soon swept off her feet. He was a Progressive in politics and a warm friend of Theodore Roosevelt. He died in 1925 while serving as Representative in Congress from the St. Paul district.

Charles A. Lindbergh, the famous aviator, was the only child of Congressman and Mrs. Lindbergh. In expectation of his birth she came from Little Falls to Detroit, for both she and her mother were determined that the baby should be born here. Charles was born in his grandmother Land’s home at 258 West Forest Avenue on February 4, 1902.

He grew up in Washington and Little Falls. Although he never lived in Detroit, he often visited here. I knew him intimately when he was a little fellow, and he never fails to call on me when he comes to Detroit. He was a thoughtful boy, quiet and reserved, who always saw everything and was always experimenting with something. He was an outdoor boy, fond of hunting and an excellent marksman.

I think that he and his wife, the former Anne Morrow, are as fine a couple as I have known. He is well over six feet tall and she is almost a foot shorter. She is lovely, modest, and a bit retiring. They first met when Charles and his mother were guests of Ambassador Dwight Morrow in his temporary home in Mexico City.

Mrs. Evangeline Lindbergh, the widow of Congressman Lindbergh, was for years a teacher of chemistry in Cass Technical High School. Superintendent Frank Cody once told me that despite her reticence, which almost amounted to diffidence, she was one of the best chemistry teachers he had ever known. She is now living in retirement in Grosse Pointe. After her son became a celebrity she sought to avoid public notice and was reluctant to attend any of the functions held in his honor.

Following his removal to Detroit, Father became a very successful physician. He never kept any books, and Mr. Buhl said to him once: A few of us have about decided that we will pay you by the year. You never send us a bill. So they did. Even wealthy patients never received a bill from him. They either paid him or they didn’t. I am afraid such a system would hardly prove workable today. Yet his income was quite good. At the time of his death in 1887 the Free Press stated that his medical practice was one of the largest and most lucrative ever enjoyed by any physician in Detroit.

I wish you could have seen him write. He wrote like lightning, a beautiful hand, and had no need for a stenographer. He was a thoughtful, scholarly man, keenly interested in whatever tended to promote the standards of his profession. In 1864 he established The American Homeopathic Observer, and continued to edit and publish it for over twenty years. This is more significant in view of the fact that Detroit was not then a medical center, or the seat of a medical college. He never made any money from the Observer and he had not founded it from any motive of financial gain; instead, he published it solely from a desire to advance the interests of the medical profession.

He enlisted the cooperation as co-editors of leading physicians in Cincinnati, Chicago, and other cities. One of them was Dr. Bushrod Washington James of Philadelphia, a grandnephew of George Washington. Another was the famous New York physician, William Tod Helmuth.{7} Father went to Cincinnati quite often, because that city was for a long time the leading cultural center of the West and he wanted