Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/59

DETROIT 51 wide, 66 ft. high to the cornice, and 180 ft. to the top of the tower, completed in 1871 at a cost of $600,000. It is built of sandstone, in the Italian style, and consists of three stories above the basement, with a Mansard roof. In the square fronting the city hall stands a monument in memory of the Michigan soldiers who fell in the civil war. Facing the Campus Martius on the north is the opera' house, one of the largest and finest edifices of the kind in the country. The custom house, which also contains the post office, is a large stone build- ing in Griswold street. The board of trade has a handsome building near the river. The Eoman Catholic cathedral is the largest church edifice in the city. St. Paul's church (Epis- copal) is noted for its self-sustaining roof, and the central Methodist and Fort street Presby- terian churches are fine specimens of architec- ture. The convent of the ladies of the Sacred Heart, in Jefferson avenue, is a large and beau- tiful building. One of the most noteworthy structures is the Michigan Central freight depot, 1,250 ft. long and 102 ft. wide, consisting of a single room, covered by a self-sustaining roof of corrugated iron. Near it is the great wheat elevator of the company, the cupola of which commands a fine view. The principal cemete- ries are Woodmere, on high ground 4 m. W. of the city ; Elmwood, 2 m. E. of the centre of the city ; and Mt. Elliot (Catholic), adjoining Elmwood ; besides which there are a Lutheran and four Jewish cemeteries. Eight lines of railroad radiate from Detroit, viz. : the Michi- gan Central, extending to Chicago ; the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern, to Buffalo and Chicago ; the Detroit and Milwaukee, to Grand Haven ; the Great Western of Canada, to Detroit. Niagara Falls ; the Grand Trunk to Portland, Me. ; the Detroit, Lansing, and Lake Michigan, to Howard City; the Detroit and Bay City, between those places ; and the Canada South- ern. Eight lines of street railroad, with more than 40 m. of track, intersect the city, and three lines of ferry boats ply across the river to Windsor on the Canadian side. There are seven steamboat lines, with 70 boats running to various points on the lakes. The foreign commerce of Detroit, as shown by the report of the bureau of statistics, is exclusively with Canada, though a few vessels have loaded di- rect for Liverpool. For the year ending June 30, 1873, the imports amounted to $1,900,228, the exports to $2,818,408. There were entered and cleared 1,949 American vessels of 307,760 tons, and 1,522 foreign vessels of 489,596 tons. In the coastwise trade the entries were 1,184 steam vessels of 581,243 tons, and 2,022 sailing vessels of 203,666 tons ; clearances, 1,174 steam vessels of 568,131 tons, and 2,056 sailing ves- sels of 204,995 tons. There were 365 vessels of 78,546 tons belonging to the port ; of which 188, of 27,828 tons, were sailing vessels ; 120, of 35,849 tons, steamers ; and 57, of 14,869 tons, barges;- 17 vessels, of 4,180 tons, were built during the year. The imports from Can- ada included 33,672 bushels of barley, 40,478 of peas and beans, 629,101 Ibs. of fresh fish, 53,456 dozen of eggs, and $171,584 worth of wood. The exports consist chiefly of Indian corn, oats, wheat, lumber, railroad cars, cot- ton, hogs, bacon, ham, and lard. The domestic trade is important, large quantities of pro- duce, chiefly from Michigan, passing eastward through the city. The following table exhibits the receipts, almost wholly by rail, for four years, of the principal articles of commerce, ex- clusive of those in transit not reshipped :