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Campus Martius Park
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Campus Martius Park is a re-established park in downtown Detroit, Michigan. After the fire of 1805, Campus Martius (from the Latin for Field of Mars, where Roman heroes walked) was the focal point of judge Augustus Woodward's plans to rebuild the city. It is where the "point of origin" of Detroit's coordinate system is located. Seven miles (11 km) north of this point is 7 Mile Road; eight miles (13 km) north is 8 Mile Road, and so on.
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Campus Martius Park is a re-established park in downtown Detroit, Michigan. After the fire of 1805, Campus Martius (from the Latin for Field of Mars, where Roman heroes walked) was the focal point of judge Augustus Woodward's plans to rebuild the city. It is where the "point of origin" of Detroit's coordinate system is located. Seven miles (11 km) north of this point is 7 Mile Road; eight miles (13 km) north is 8 Mile Road, and so on. The precise point of origin is marked by a medallion embedded in the stone walkway. It is situated in the eastern point of the diamond surrounding the Woodward Fountain , just in front of the Au Bon Pain store.
The park is located at the intersection of Woodward Avenue and Michigan Avenue. The original park covered several acres and was a major gathering area for citizens. The park was lost in the 1900s as the city's downtown was reconfigured to accommodate increased vehicular traffic. Hart Plaza, along the riverfront, was designed to replace Campus Martius as a point of importance. But as Hart Plaza is a primarily hard-surfaced area, many residents came to lament the lack of true park space in the city's downtown area. This led to calls to rebuild Campus Martius, the site of the Michigan Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument of the American Civil War located across from the new Compuware Headquarters. Grand Circus Park is on Woodward Avenue, down the street from Campus Martius Park.
The new Campus Martius Park was dedicated on November 19, 2004. It includes two stages, sculptures, public spaces and a seasonal ice skating rink.
At , the park is smaller than its predecessor, as a full restoration of the original would have required the demolition of several buildings. However, the city is currently working to increase the amount of park space in the area by constructing the new Cadillac Square Park immediately to the east of Campus Martius. Cadillac Square Park is scheduled to open in the late summer of 2007.
The park's skating rink is designed to resemble the one at Rockefeller Center in New York City and is actually larger in size than the Rockefeller rink. Campus Martius Park is the home of the annual Motown Winter Blast, an event that draws 450,000+ people to the downtown area every year. One of the newly most beloved events in Metro-Detroit is the annual tree lighting celebration that is held around Thanksgiving time every year. Thousands come out to hear Holiday music and countdown to the tree lighting up for the start of the holiday season.
Cadillac Square Park
Cadillac Square Park is a re-established park in downtown Detroit, Michigan. The city of Detroit is currently working to increase the amount of park space in the area by constructing the new park, which is immediately to the east of Campus Martius Park. Cadillac Square Park opened in the late summer of 2007. The city moved Bagley Memorial Fountain to Cadillac Square from its former location on Campus Martius.
In January 2008, the City of Detroit announced plans for a new Cadillac Centre, a $150 million mixed-use residential entertainment-retail complex attached to the Cadillac Tower. Designed by architect Anthony Caradonna and patterned after the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, the contemporary steel and glass 24-story skyscraper complex to be located on Campus Martius Park, was planned to begin construction in the fall of 2009, but was indefinitely postponed by the city in October of that year when the developers failed to meet key agreements with city.
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