Grand Circus Park

01 / The story of this place

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After Detroit's Great Fire of 1805 leveled the small frontier town, territorial judge Augustus B. Woodward drew up an ambitious new city plan, borrowing from Pierre L'Enfant's design for Washington, D.C., with grand avenues radiating out from a series of circles and triangles. Grand Circus Park, laid out from 1807, became the northern anchor of that plan, splitting Woodward Avenue into east and west halves as it curves around the park's edge. For decades it stayed a rough, informal public ground until the city began improving it in 1843 and 1844, grading the land and planting trees. Today the park sits at the center of Detroit's theater district, ringed by landmarks like the Fox Theatre and the David Whitney Building, and it still hosts public events, from summer concerts to a winter ice rink, more than two centuries after Woodward first sketched it.

1. Part of Judge Augustus Woodward's 1807 city plan after the Great Fire of 1805
2. Splits Woodward Avenue into east and west halves
3. Became an official, landscaped city park in 1843–1844
4. Sits at the center of Detroit's theater district today