History of Detroit, a chronicle of its progress, its industries, its institutions, and the people of the fair City of the straits, / by Paul Leake ... [Vol. 3]

HISTORY OF DETROIT

887

troit and its members long held possession of the now beautiful and celebrated Belle Isle, one of the finest city parks in the United States. This
island, in the Detroit river, was granted to George McDougall by King
George III, of England, and the island remained in the possession of
representatives of the McDougall and Campau families until it was sold
to the city, in 1879, for park purposes. Alexander IM. and Barnabee
Campau and their two sisters, Archange Piquette and Emily Campau,
were the heirs who thus transferred the fine island property to the city,
one of whose greatest attractions it now constitutes. The first white
child born in the Northwest Territory was a Campau and the original
representatives in Michigan came to Detroit from Canada as contemporaries of Antonie de Laumet Cadillac, the virtual founder of the city, as
he was here the builder of the earliest frontier post, known as Fort Pontchartrain.
IIe whose name initiates this review secured his early educational
discipline in the Catholic parochial schools of Detroit and supplemented
this by a course in Georgetown College, at Georgetown, District of Columbia, in which institution he was graduated. He had also the distinction
of being a member of the first class in the newly founded University of
Michigan, whose faculty at that time consisted of but two professors, the
while the enrollment of students had a total of only eleven persons. Mr.
Campau studied law, but he never found it expedient to engage in active
practice. Upon his father's death, it devolved upon him to assume the
management of the large family estate, consisting of much realty and
other property, and through his progressive methods and high civic loyalty he thus contributed much to the development and upbuilding of his
native city, whose every interest lay close to his heart. He became one
of the most influential and honored citizens of the Michigan metropolis,
was a man of high intellectuality and sterling integrity and he ever commanded secure vantage ground in popular confidence and esteem. A man
of spirit and fine instincts, he was fond of outdoor sports, and he was specially prominent as a patron of turf activities, in which connection he
owned standard-bred and thorough-bred horses and was, prominent in
racing circles. He was a charter member of the Detroit Boat Club and
was greatly interested in all lines of legitimate athletic sports, in connection with which his sons also became leaders. He and three of his
sons constituted a formidable boat crew in the early days of aquatic contests on the Detroit river, and the father and sons won decisive victories
in the various boat races in which they took part. Mr. Campau also
maintained an excellent fishery at Belle Isle, where he lived during a
portion of each year and where he built up in this line a flourishing industry, the same having been founded by his honored father. For many
years this fishery was one of the sights of Detroit and prominent visitors
to the city were invariably given and accepted invitations to visit the
fine place, on which Mr. Campau gave employment to a force of one hundred and fifty French Canadians.
There was a distinctive fineness about the entire makeup of Alexander
M. Campau and he was recognized as one of the most cultured men of
Detroit. He had all the elements which make for commanding influence
in the directing of human thought and action and had his wealth been
less and his ambition roused he would have undoubtedly become a power
in statesmanship and diplomacy. He did much for Detroit and Michigan
and his loyalty to the city and state was of the most insistent order. He
was the head of a family whose prominence in the leading social and
civic activities of Detroit has long been undisputed. He never manifested
any desire for political office, though none was better equipped for positions of high public trust, but he was loyal to all civic duties and respon