Belle Isle Casino Detroit Michigan
'Meet me at the Casino.'
Detroit’s Belle Isle is a beautiful natural space in the middle of the Detroit River. It offers a range of public facilities including sporting fields, a beach and conservatory. The 982-acre (397-hectare) park was designed by Frederick Olmsted, a renowned American landscape designer who also worked on Boston’s “Emerald Necklace.”. This Belle Isle Casino Detroit Michigan Opening Souvenir c1908 is in good antique condition. It features the front of the Casino and the lawn and walk ways that have now been replaced with parking areas. The picture was transposed from a photograph and has an ol timey car and bicycles and people in. Colleen Baidoon (28 and a registered nurse) and Michael Kiehl (33 and a sales executive) had their relaxed wedding ceremony at Ann Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory on Belle Isle in Detroit, Michigan. Surrounded by a koi pond, a beautiful English garden with fountains, there was plenty of room for their guests to sit in the sun and enjoy the weather. 'We picked this location because it was calming.
The Belle Isle Casino is a remarkably beautiful wedding venue. The environment is beautiful, the interior is breathtaking, and there is a lot that you can do with the space. We got tons of compliments on how gorgeous the venue is, and we definitely agree. It was the perfect place for us to get married.
Belle Isle Casino Detroit Michigan
For more than 20 years, year-round, those five words were included in almost every plan for get-togethers, picnics and romps in the snow on Belle Isle.
Among the earliest structures after Belle Isle opened as a park was its first casino, a wooden structure designed by the Detroit firm Donaldson & Meier, which opened in June 1887.
The casino was considered a model for the country at the time it was built. Recreation-seeking Detroiters could grab a bite to eat there, or seek some shade or dry ground in case of rain. Others relaxed with a good book or gathered to play cards under its roof.
'Through the heat and cold, in season and out of season, the casino has done service,' the Detroit Free Press noted in 1908. 'Were those old walls to speak, they could tell strange tales, for the people who found a shelter beneath the roof ... were gathered from all walks and conditions of life.'
But the structure was made of wood and had already started to show its age by the turn of the century. And by 1900, Detroit had outgrown its quaint little casino, and talk began about replacing it with something newer, bigger and more grand.
In the spring of 1908, a new casino, designed by the firm Van Leyen & Schilling, opened just to the south of the old one. Parks commissioners looked at whether the old building could be disassembled and put back together again at another location in the park, but the cost was deemed too high. It was decided that the old landmark should be razed, and workers started bringing it down that March.
'To countless thousands, not only in Detroit bur throughout Michigan and the country at large, announcement that the old casino at Belle Isle is being demolished will be a source of sincere regret,' the Free Press wrote as workers started taking leveling the building to 'which so many fond memories cling.'
One of the first structures built on Belle Isle after it became a park was the first Belle Isle Casino, opening in June 1887.
There was no gambling in this type of casino, which relies more on the traditional definition of the word, meaning a building used for meetings, entertainment, dancing and the like. The city’s first stab at a casino was designed by the firm Donaldson & Meier, and offered Detroiters a place to rest, grab a bite to eat or seek shelter from nasty weather. However, it was made entirely of wood, and after only two decades, was already showing its age. With the city’s fortunes and population both swelling, a decision was made to build a new, larger casino nearby.
When the current structure opened in May 1908, the old one was demolished.
Belle Isle Casino Detroit Address
The current Casino, designed by Van Leyen & Schilling — not Albert Kahn, as often misattributed — continues the tradition of serving as a meeting place and event spot, hosting everything from fairs to weddings. The casino was one of the most popular attractions on the island. Its centerpiece was a beautiful marble soda counter, which was tragically pounded to pieces in 1972 during a misguided attempt at modernizing the historic structure.