impounded. Abraham Edwards was allowed payment of a bill of $23.26 on September 9, 1817, for lighting the city. Lighting was by oil lamps on posts at the street corners. John R. Williams submitted an ordinance compelling alleged tavern keepers to keep food and beds for chance lodgers instead of catering exclusively to the casual users of strong drinks.

In July, 1817, the rigors of the law were so relaxed as to permit hogs to run at large in the public streets provided their noses were properly ringed to prevent them from rooting up lawns and penetrating into private gardens. In August, Thomas Palmer was authorized to purchase a good fire engine from New York. In November, 1818, permission for the first sewer, private, was granted to Antoine Dequindre, to extend from his house on Jefferson Avenue to the river between Randolph and Bates streets.

A man named Pollard escaped from jail, leaving in possession of the gaoler one barrel of fish valued at $10. He had damaged the stovepipe to the extent of $3 and left unpaid jail fees and board amounting to $7. The trustees allowed the gaoler to keep the barrel of fish on payment of $4 to the treasurer. In 1819 Benjamin Woodworth was allowed to build a wharf at the foot of Randolph Street to be not more than 40 nor less than 20 feet wide. Woodworth kept the Steamboat Hotel at the corner of Bates and Woodbridge streets. The physicians of the city promoted a clean-up of the river front. Citizens were in the habit of dumping all manure, dead animals and garbage in the river and the shore line was marked by a windrow of offal which smelled to heaven. To correct this the trustees authorized the filling in of the river front between Wing's Wharf, at Griswold Street, and Berthelet's Wharf, at Randolph. A levy of 500 days' work was made upon the citizens.

The year 1817 was marked by one event in local history which furnished plenty of excitement at the time and gossip for several years following. President James Monroe arrived on an official visit August 13 and remained here for five days. His arrival was preceded by a letter from the Secretary of War ordering the revenue cutters placed at his disposal for traveling

about the lakes and rivers. President James Monroe was and still is one of the greater figures in the history of the United States. He had been three times governor of the State of Virginia. He had been minister to Great Britain, France and Spain; one of the signers of the treaty by which we acquired Louisiana, and three years after his visit to Detroit he was to promulgate the celebrated Monroe Doctrine, which says to the powers of the old world: "Hands off American territory.'

At this time President Monroe was 53 years of age. He was a man a little above middle height with a compact, muscular figure. He still adhered to the dress of Washington's time, knee breeches, silk hose, low cut shoes fastened with silver buckles, a sash with brass buttons, flare coat, buff vest with a frilled ruffle of his shirt fluttering in the breeze. His mouth was large with firmly set lips which gave his face an air of sternness in repose. His forehead was broad, his eyes bluish gray. His face was long, narrowing slightly toward the chin. His hair was combed straight back from his forehead and slicked down by an application of hair oil.

His arrival at the Government wharf was signaled by the booming of cannon and practically every man, woman and child was gathered near the river front to see the foremost man of the American Government set foot on the soil of Detroit. A carriage was at hand for his reception and the leading citizens were dressed in their best, many of them being mounted to give the President a triumphal procession through the streets of the town before conducting him to his hotel. Maj. Oliver Williams had been appointed marshal of the parade.

Gov. Cass, Gen. Alexander Macomb and Gen. Jacob Brown, heroes of the late war, met the President at the wharf and after greetings and introductions conducted him to his carriage in which they accompanied him. The procession, led by Marshal Williams, moved up the hill and turned east on Jefferson Avenue, moving at a slow pace. As the head of the procession arrived in front of Marshal Williams' own house a handkerchief was waved from an upper window and there was a call which caused the marshal to halt the procession. He rode close to the house,

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held a brief conversation with some one inside and then dismounted to rush up the steps of the house next door where the sign of Dr. William Brown was displayed. A strong ring at the door bell brought the doctor to the door. After a few hasty words the marshal resumed his place and the procession proceeded on its way. The bewildered dignitaries had waited in wonderment but they noticed that Dr. Brown immediately entered the Williams' house.

That night a grand ball was tendered the President at Woodworth's Hotel following a banquet at which an address of welcome was made by Maj. Charles Larned, the silver-tongued orator of the Territory, to which the President made a dignified response expressing his appreciation of the courtesy and hospitality shown him. At the end of the banquet program the toastmaster, with a roguish twinkle in his eye, called attention to the interrupted progress of the procession and called upon Oliver Williams for an explanation. Mr. Williams, slightly flushed by the refreshments, arose to say that he had no apologies to make, but it gave him great pleasure to announce the arrival at his home of a baby boy, which, in honor of their distinguished guest and this great day in Detroit history, he had named James Monroe Williams. If the speaker had any further remarks to offer they were drowned in rousing cheers in which the dignified President joined heartily.

The streets of the town were illuminated with oil lamps and several transparent displays gave welcome to the distinguished visitor. One bore the words: "Welcome, Our Nation's Chief"; another: "The Pilot Who Weathered the Storm." Next day the President reviewed the local troops and attended another reception. Detroit was his last stopping place in an extended tour which included Maryland, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New York. At Niagara the President was shown unusual courtesy by the British officers of the post.

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CHAPTER XLIII

RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL PROMOTIONS

ROM the founding of Detroit in 1701 until 1818 old Ste. Anne's Church had been the center of religious promotion in Detroit. Various regimental chaplains had exercised their function among the soldiers who defended Detroit through all the troubled years, but while there had been many Protestants in Detroit since 1760, they had never manifested enough interest in religion to organize a society, much less a church. Rev. David Bacon and his wife were sent here in 1800 by a federation of Congregational churches in Connecticut. They kept two schools here for a time, one for boys and one for girls, and Mr. Bacon preached every Sunday in the council house. Later they were sent to Mackinac and after two years in mission work there they were ordered to Ohio.

The first itinerant Methodist minister, Rev. Nathaniel Bangs, appeared in Detroit in 1804 and he was followed by a succession of circuit-riding ministers. Rev. Nathaniel Bangs was the great-grandfather of John Kendrick Bangs, Jr., now a resident of Detroit. Then Rev. William Case came to carry on a mission. As a result of his labors Rev. William Mitchell was able in 1810 to organize a little group of Methodist converts into a class or church with the following members: Robert Abbott, Betsy Abbott, his wife; William McCarty, Maria C. McCarty, his wife; William Stacey, Betsey Stacey, his wife, and Sarah McComb. Mr. McCarty was appointed class-leader. In 1811 Rev. Mitchell held religious services in the home of William Weaver, a Roman Catholic resident of River Rouge. Later in the season Rev. Henry Ryan, presiding elder of a Canadian circuit about the River Thames, held religious services in Detroit, assisted by Rev. Ninian Holmes. Six years later the organization numbered 30 members.

In the summer of 1816 Rev. John Monteith was sent to Detroit by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and it was through the ministration of this Presbyterian

preacher that the First Evangelistic Society of Detroit came into existence by organization on March 27, 1818.

It was in the summer of 1817 that the Rev. Gideon Lanning was sent here by the Genesee conference. He promoted the building of the first Protestant church in Michigan at the River Rouge, but an attack of fever and ague followed by a long siege of malarial fever compelled him to leave the finishing of the work to other hands. It was through the labors of many