Hurlbut Memorial Gate is a monumental structure, long, high, and in depth, at the entry way to Water Works Park located at East Jefferson Avenue and Cadillac Boulevard in a historic area of

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

. It is named after Chauncey (sometimes "Chauncy") Hurlbut, a 19th-century Detroit grocer, president of the Board of Water Commissioners, and philanthropist.Laurie J. Marzejka (June 14, 2000
"Detroit's Water Works Park a gateway to the past,"
. Michigan History, ''The Detroit News.'' Retrieved on March 28, 2009. The gate was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1974 and listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1975.Rebecca Mazzei (11-30-2005
Still Standing
''Metro Times''. Retrieved on July 4, 2010. The monument was built in 1894 and fully restored in 2007.

History

The city of Detroit began building its water system as early as 1824, with the construction of a waterworks at the foot of Orleans.
from Detroit1701.org The prosperity of the city in the time after the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

allowed Detroit to develop a municipal water system, using water from the

Detroit River The Detroit River flows west and south for from Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie as a strait in the Great Lakes system. The river divides the metropolitan areas of Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario—an area collectively referred to as Detro ...

. In 1868, the city began developing Water Works Park, on Jefferson Avenue near at the foot of Cadillac Boulevard. The main function of the site was to provide water to the municipal system, but it was also intended to use the grounds to be used as a public park. By 1879, the pumping station was completed, and by 1900, the park had become the second most-used park in the city.. Retrieved on March 28, 2009. Early

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

settlers planted twelve missionary pear trees "named for the twelve Apostles" on the grounds of what is now Water Works Park.Marzejka, Laurie J. (June 14, 2000
Detroit's Water Works Park a gateway to the past
. ''The Detroit News''. Retrieved on February 17, 2010. Water Works Park was named Gladwin Park in 1910 in honor of Major

Henry Gladwin Major-General Henry Gladwin (1729 or 1730 – 22 June 1791) was a British army officer in colonial America and the British commander at the Siege of Fort Detroit during Pontiac's Rebellion in 1763. He served in the disastrous campaign of Ed ...

during Siege of Fort Detroit from

Pontiac's Rebellion Pontiac's War (also known as Pontiac's Conspiracy or Pontiac's Rebellion) was launched in 1763 by a loose confederation of Native Americans dissatisfied with British rule in the Great Lakes region following the French and Indian War (1754–176 ...

; however, the park is still more widely known as Water Works Park.

Chauncey Hurlbut

Chauncey Hurlbut (1803–1885) was born in Oneida, New York, and moved to Detroit in 1825.Silas Farmer
''History of Detroit and Wayne County and Early Michigan,''1890, p. 1156 He worked as a saddler and harnessmaker for a few years, then went into the grocery business with his brother-in-law. In 1837, Hurlbut bought out the grocery store, and continued in the trade until his death. Hurlbut was also heavily involved in public service, serving on the board of the fire department, as a city alderman, as a director of the Detroit Board of Trade, and as a sewer commissioner. Hurlbut also served on the Detroit Board of Water Commissioners from 1861 to 1863,"Hurlbut Memorial Gate,"
''In the Flow,'' Vol. 7, No. 2, Summer 2007, Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, p.6 and again from 1868 to 1885.Hurlbut Memorial Gate
from the city of Detroit He was president of the commission from 1871 onward, when he presided over the original acquisition of property for and planning of Water Works Park. When Chauncey Hurlbut died in 1885, he willed the bulk of his fortune, some $250,000, to beautify Water Works Park. The architectural philosophies of the era called for construction of monumental gates at the entrances to public places, to symbolically separate the park from the hustle and filth of the city. Part of Hurlbut's fortune was used to construct just such a gate.

Description

Herman A. Brede and Gustave Mueller were chosen to design this gate at a cost of $30,000. The structure is a three tiered triumphal arch, in length, in depth, and over high, built from limestone. It is decorated with carved garlands, water fonts and roundels, and an American eagle with outstretched wings tops the entire structure. Two stairways lead to a terrace twelve feet above the ground. The gate originally featured a statue of Chauncey Hurlbut inside the center dome, and an ornamental iron gate for vehicle entry, but both are now gone. The gate was substantially restored in 2007, with damaged limestone repaired or replaced, a stairway reconfiguration, repair of the eagle sculpture, and repair and replacement of light fixtures.Kelli B. Kavanaugh
"Restoration of Hurlbut Gate at Water Works Park nears completion," ModelD, August 7, 2007

History

Chauncey Hurlbut

Description

References

Further reading