Fort Detroit, Military fort in Detroit, Michigan
Fort Detroit was a French military installation on the northern shore of the Detroit River that controlled the waterway between Lake Erie and Lake Saint Clair during the early 18th century. The fortification consisted of wooden palisades with bastions at the corners and contained barracks, storehouses, and dwellings for officers and traders.
Antoine Laumet de La Mothe-Cadillac founded Fort Pontchartrain du Detroit in 1701 with 100 soldiers and settlers from Montreal to secure the fur trade for the French crown. The British took control of the fortification in 1760 after the Seven Years' War and lost it in 1796 to the young American republic.
The fort sat at the intersection of trade routes between different indigenous nations and European colonies, where merchants, soldiers, and traders from different countries exchanged goods. Inside the palisades stood a busy market that brought furs from the north in exchange for tools, weapons, and cloth from Europe.
The former fortification stood in present-day downtown Detroit northeast of the Washington Boulevard and West Jefferson Avenue intersection, where modern buildings now occupy the site. Street signs and historical markers show visitors the original locations of the bastions and gates.
In 1703, the Sainte-Anne de Detroit chapel was built inside the palisades as the first stone church on the upper Great Lakes, and it continues to operate today at a different location in Detroit. The original place of worship served as a spiritual center for French settlers and indigenous converts who attended services together.
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