Speramus Meliora; Resurget Cineribus (Detroit, Merrill: home, purchase, design)

[zthatzmanz28]

Speramus Meliora; Resurget Cineribus

Detroit suffered its greatest destruction in 1805. Three men, Father Gabriel Richard, Reverend John Monthieth and Judge Augustus Brevoort Woodward refused to let the city perish in the fire of 1805. From its initial creation on 1701, Detroit had no logical reason to exist. Detroit was not a major port like Philadelphia, Baltimore or Boston. There were no major trade routes that passed through the city. Michigan itself was deemed “uninhabitable” by Federal examiners and folks were told to stay away from the marshlands. Even Chicago has justification for existing. At least Chicago was on the water and acted as a major hub for those going west in the late 1700s and after the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. But Detroit was nothing more than a gamble from day one. And the odds were heavily stacked against the city.
So after Detroit was leveled by the fire of 1805, it was only appropriate that these three men, who would be known as the fathers of Detroit (and probably of Michigan as well) would design the city seal with these words inscribed on the plaque--Speramus Meliora; Resurget Cineribus---WE HOPE FOR BETTER DAYS; IT SHALL ARISE FROM ITS ASHES.

referenced from -- Bingay, Malcolm W., DETROIT is my OWN HOME TOWN, 1946, Bobbs-Merrill Co.


So MERRY CHRISTMAS DETROIT...and if we know anything about the past--because if we know our past then we know our STRENGTH--we will be able to stand proudly and shake the dust from our feet and pick up the tools and begin to build as we once again hope for better days. This isn't Detroit's first rodeo, nor will be the last.

[zthatzmanz28]

So I picked up a book I have been hauling around the country for the past 4 years. I acquired the book at Boysville when we were cleaning out closets. The title is DETROIT IS MY OWN HOMETOWN written by Malcolm Bingay. This is the 1st edition published in 1946. Misspellings and grammar issues galore.
Malcolm was a writer for the Detroit News from 1921 as a reporter at 17 until 1928 when he was fired as managing editor. After a year of doing other work, Malcolm found a position at the Detroit Free Press in 1930. He was the creator of Iffy the Dopester.
Malcolm's book tells the industrial history of Detroit. The time when Detroit could and would do anything better than anyplace in the world.
As I read the history thus far (I am at the point in history when Walter Chrysler has taken control of Dodge) I am feeling both awe and frustration for a city that now sits solidly at the bottom of US cities in every category except crime. To read how John Dodge told the Secretary of War, Newton Baker to sit down and shut up, just let Detroit do what it does best, is inspiring to say the least. In those days Detroit just needed a blueprint of something and their engineers and craftsman could reproduce a identical copy.
Now the city can barely create a viable economy. It is caught up in political infighting, playing the race card and sharing the wealth amongst a select few in politics and business cronies at the expense of the citizens who so badly need to believe in someone.