About historydetroit.com

If you only know Detroit, Michigan through the stories you hear on the news, you are really missing out. If you only know Detroit, Michigan through this website, you are still really missing out as it paints an obviously and woefully incomplete picture.

Sadly, the site is likely to remain incomplete without the help of fabulous people like yourself -- yes, you! I am addressing YOU! Like you, I don't have countless hours to spend writing about Detroit -- well, not if I want to be able to pay my ISP bill and eat, anyway. I cordially invite you -- beg you? -- to send me your Detroit story (or stories). I can't pay you, but you can see your name in lights -- the brilliant lights of computer monitors everywhere.

You're thinking about it, aren't you? Maybe you're thinking, "Sure, Tina, but I'm no historian!" Or maybe you're thinking, "That sounds swell, but I'm not a writer." Well, neither am I! I'm not a historian -- I'm a website designer and code writer. Frankly, we're all lucky that the site isn't written like this:

if ($cadillac == "explorer" && $you == "reader") {
echo "Hey, $you, look at all of this cool info about Cadillac -- the $cadillac.";
}

So, be brave, take heart, try your fingers at typing up your Detroit story. What's the worst that could happen?

Looking for a Speaker for Your Detroit Event?

Trust me, you don't want me to do that! Did I mention that I'm not a historian or a writer?

Want to Interview Me?

Oh, would that I had something interesting to say. You are looking for a real expert -- not me!

Need Help Writing Your Paper for School?

Where to begin... You are a college student! How do I know this? Because high school students don't have the [insert your own noun] to think that I would write a paper for them. So, as I was saying, you are a college student! 1) Shame on you for using the web as your main source of research; 2) You REALLY don't want me advising you on your paper. Do what I did -- crack a book or fifty.

Using This Site for Research?

This site is for entertainment purposes only. No, I didn't make any of this stuff up, but I could have. That's the thing about the web -- you never know, do you? I could be an alien (of the ET variery) and you'd never know. Hmmm...

Still Want to Know About This Site?

It's simple. I love Detroit. During the first year of my residence in Detroit (1999-2006), I read every Detroit history book I could get my hands on. I published some of the stories I learned right here on this very website. Despite the fact that I no longer live in Detroit, am no longer a stone's throw from the Detroit library, and update the site once every 5 years or so, I keep it alive. It's rather popular despite its failings. And, as hope does often spring eternal, I keep thinking that maybe, some day, someone will want to help me keep Detroit history alive.

Good Lord -- Are Your Still Here?

This Ought to Do It...

If you've made it this far down the page, you are either a masochist or very bored, so I might as well tell you something about myself. My name is Tina Granzo. I have a bachelor's degree in fine art. I own my own website design/development business City Beautiful Design. The business keeps me busy enough that my own site (see previous link) is bordering on the ghastly. It needs some, eh-hem, updating. Maybe, when I'm done updating this site -- which was in even worse shape -- I'll give my own business a facelift. It is a poor advertisement for my design skills.

What else? Well, I live in Portland, Oregon now. Sorry, Detroit, but I LOVE-LOVE-LOVE Portland. There is no *real* place I'd rather live.

Still want more? Well...I do a little illustration work. You can see some in The Christmas Carol Murders by Christopher Lord. The second book in the Dickens Junction Series, The Edwin Drood Murders, is due out in the fall of 2013 and will contain more of my work. I love eye candy (you can see some of my eye candy on Pinterest). I have two sadly neglected blogs (Fates Guild and Fruit Intolerance). Yikes. There's a theme here, isn't there? You know what? I'd better go get updating some sites...

One Last Thing...Tina IS King of Monster Island!

Yes, I am.

Thanks for visiting! XOXO

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Glossary:
Algonquin

General term used to describe Native Americans of the following tribes (and others): Delaware, Fox, Huron, Miami, Ojibwa (Chippewa), Ottawa, Potawatomi, Sac, Shawnee and Winnebago.
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Glossary:
arquebus

A 39 pound (approximate) musket that two men would prop on a tri-pod and fire with a small torch. The arquebus was used by Champlain's men against the Iroquois to defend the Hurons. This may be the cause of decades of Iroquois abuse of the Hurons.
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Glossary:
clay and wattle

Building technique used in the construction of chimneys in the early days of Fort Ponchartrain. The technique involved piling sticks and packing them - inside and out - with clay and mud.
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Glossary:
Colbertism

Name for early French mercantilism in America, which Jean-Baptiste Colbert was influential in developing.
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Glossary:
conges

Trade permits issued by the Canadian government/court of France in the late 1600s to early 1700s.
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Glossary:
coureurs de bois

Very early French inhabitants of the current US and Canada who gave up their farmsteads for lives in the fur trade. They often lived with Native Americans.
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Glossary:
District of Hesse

Land district provisioned by the Canadian Council on July 24, 1788. The area was on the east side of the Detroit River.
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Glossary:
Fox

"Properly ""Mesh-kwa-ki-hug"". Native American tribe living in the area between Saginaw Bay and Thunder Bay at the time Detroit was founded. The French called the tribe Renyard. An allied tribe of the Sacs and Mascoutin."
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Glossary:
Huron

A Native American tribe that built a village near Fort Ponchartrain.
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Glossary:
Iroquoian

General term sometimes used to describe Native Americans of the following tribes: Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, and Seneca.
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Glossary:
Iroquois

"A Native American tribe known for antagonizing and brutalizing the Hurons (see also arquebus)"
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Glossary:
Mascouten

Native American tribe living in the Grand Traverse Bay area at the time Detroit was founded. An allied tribe of the Foxes and Sacs. Also spelled Mascoutin.
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Glossary:
Miami

A Native American tribe that built a village near Fort Ponchartrain.
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Glossary:
Muskhogean

General term used to describe Native Americans of the following tribes: Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Creek.
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Glossary:
New York Currency

First standard currency used in Detroit (first used in 1765).
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Glossary:
Ottawa

A Native American tribe that built a village near Fort Ponchartrain.
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Glossary:
Outagamies

Native American tribe living in the Grand Traverse Bay area at the time Detroit was founded. An allied tribe of the Foxes (and Sacs?).
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Glossary:
Plains Indians

General term used to describe Native Americans of the following tribes: Apache, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Comanche, Kiowa, and Pawnee (Pani).
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Glossary:
Potawatomi

A Native American tribe that built a village near Fort Ponchartrain.
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Glossary:
Quebec Act

Act of June 22, 1774, in which British Parliament decides to exercise English law in criminal cases and old French provincial law in civil cases in western settlements. The idea was to discourage people from settling in the west.
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Glossary:
Renyard

See Fox
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Glossary:
ribbon farms

Original land grants given by Cadillac. The lots were typically around 200 feet wide at the river front, with lengths up to 3 miles.
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Glossary:
Sac

See Sauk
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Glossary:
Sakis

See Sauk
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Glossary:
Sauk

Native American tribe living in the area between Saginaw Bay and Thunder Bay at the time Detroit was founded. The French called the tribe Sakis; English and Americans generally call them Sacs. An allied tribe of the Foxes/Renyards and Mascouten.
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Glossary:
Shoshonean

General term used to describe Native Americans of the following tribes: Bannock and Shoshone.
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Glossary:
Treaty of Montreal

Treaty ending the war between the Iroquois and France and England. Negotiations began in July of 1698 and the treaty was signed in August of 1701.
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Glossary:
Treaty of Ryswick

September 20, 1697 treaty ending war between France and England.
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Glossary:
voyageurs

Early French explorers who traveled mainly by water.