clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

The Old Military Fort Aiming To Host New Detroit Music Festival

New, 1 comment

Photos by Nick Hagen.

With the news released earlier this month that the Prospecto folks that planned a music festival in Grand Rapids, MI are now working on a Detroit version, we thought it was time to take a closer look at location, location, location. In this case, we are talking Fort Wayne which is in the Delray neighborhood. That also being the hood where the proposed NITC bridge to Canada is supposed to land at a future date. But the area's history is not about connecting to Canada, it is about trying to keep the British from attacking us via Canada. Fort Wayne is 96 acres and was built as a base while America was warring with the British to free Canada from their control (the conflict was resolved before the Fort could start firing cannons). So what has it been doing since then? It had a role in American Civil War (1861) and remained used by the military until the 1920s. During the Great Depression, it housed homeless families; after the 1967 Detroit riots displaced families, it had another stint as housing with some staying there up until 1971. The property was slowly turned over to the city, and from 1949 until 2006, the Detroit Historical Museum operated a military museum there; currently various parts are rented out for events. So this music festival, should it really happen (pencil in the weekend of August 24-26) will put you in the seat of Detroit history. Hopefully while Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr plays that We Almost Lost Detroit song.

· Nick Hagen Photography [Official]
· Historic Fort Wayne Coalition [Official]
· Detroit Could Get A Big Riverfront Music Festival This Summer— At Ft. Wayne [Deadline Detroit]
· Prospecto [Official]

Historic Fort Wayne

650 S Livernois Avenue, Detroit, MI 48209