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Waterworks Park

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1910–1931, Field, Hinchman and Smith. Bounded by E. Jefferson Ave., Marquette and Parkview drs., and the Detroit River
  • (Detroit Publishing Company Collection, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress)

Detroit's main waterworks have been located on this site since 1878, but none of the original buildings or equipment are extant. Two major sets of pumping equipment are situated in the High Lift Building (1910) and the Low Lift Building (1924). On E. Jefferson Avenue at Cadillac Avenue the ornate Beaux-Arts classical Hurlbut Memorial Gate (1894) marks the entrance to the park. It was designed by Herman A. Brede and Gustave Mueller and erected in memory of Chauncey Hurlbut (1803–1885), president of the Board of Water Commissioners, who left his estate for the beautification of the park. The gate was restored in 2007. The fantastic 185-foot brick and sandstone water tower no longer stands. This and the main pumping station and filtration plant of the municipal water system originally were surrounded by a beautifully landscaped park. In 2010, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department's newest water treatment plant is located at Waterworks Park, but the green space is gated off.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Kathryn Bishop Eckert
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Data

What's Nearby

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Citation

Kathryn Bishop Eckert, "Waterworks Park", [Detroit, Michigan], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/MI-01-WN109.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of Michigan

Buildings of Michigan, Kathryn Bishop Eckert. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2012, 107-107.

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