This is a recent photo I purchased of the square from the opposite angle. I'm wondering if anyone can date it. You can see it larger at Tattered and Lost Photographs. I'd love to know more about the image.

tterrace, did you know that Al Shean was an uncle of the Marx Brothers? His sister, Minnie, was the mother of that incredible group. She tried to turn her boys into a respectable, well-mannered, singing group. Fortunately, she was only minimally successful at that endeavor! I wonder if they played the Miles Theater?

Jeff, thanks for the definition of "Advanced Vaudeville"!

As Griswold Street stretches towards Canada and the Detroit River, one can spy the marquee for the Garrick Theater on the left, ... it's in the first block south of Capital Park.

The Garrick was another famous theater in Detroit, and could lay claim as being the last place Houdini performed, Oct. 24, 1926. He took the stage with a 104 fever; after the show he returned to the Statler Hotel on Grand Circus Park, where the house doctor diagnosed a ruptured appendix. He was rushed to Grace Hospital in the early hours of the 25th where he died Oct. 31, 1926.

The Garrick was torn down for the David Stott building in the late 1920s.

Houdini, has not expressed an opinion on the demolition.

The park is still there, but it's a lot less green.
It's still being utilized by people from the looks of it.
As far as thriving shops and theaters...well, there's room to grow!

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Future additions to the skyline in this view: the mighty Penobscot, the David Stott and the magnificent Guardian Building. Capitol Park has certainly seen a lot of change and is currently being restored to again be pedestrian-friendly.

William Richert, mayor of Detroit, died on June 16, 1912. Possibly why the half-staff flags.

[And let's not forget the Titanic. - Dave]

Who was being mourned in Detroit circa 1912?

Why did we ever give up spaces to relax and read a paper downtown outdoors? We've lost so much with air-conditioned cars and buildings. Maybe I overstate, but this park looks so inviting, and "planned" for pedestrian use. Shops and theaters surround the park. Just a wonderful gathering place. Wish more towns and cities had them centrally located for everyone's benefit.

The Miles was demolished in 1927 along with other buildings to its left to make way for the Griswold Building, which was completed in 1929. The theatre switched from vaudeville to movies in the early 1920s. Sources indicate the 1000-seat Miles installed a two-manual, 29-rank Hillgreen-Lane organ at a cost of $9,600 in 1921, which was an unusually large pipe organ for a theatre that size.

The two buildings at right center are still there; the others have been replaced. Capitol Park was converted to an outdoor bus terminal and is nearly all concrete today. I remember waiting for the Grand River streetcar at that location in the 1940s.

Sigh.

Mr. Gallagher: "Who was that cosine I saw you with last night?"
Mr. Shean: "That was no cosine, that was my tangent."

Wow--am reading Rick Altman's terrific book "Silent Film Sound" at the moment, so I have just learned that "Advanced Vaudeville" was actually another term for movies c. 1910, or for a vaudeville program combining movies, performers, and illustrated songs. No slide rule required!