DETROIT – Belle Isle has been a part of Detroit’s history for nearly 150 years.
In 1879, Detroit bought the island from the Campau family for $200k, about $6.5 million in today’s money.
The park was bought to go toe-to-toe with Central Park in New York.
Detroit even hired Central Park designer, Frederick Law Olmsted for the project.
The park opened and operated under Detroit from 1880-2014.
Now Detroit still owns Belle Isle, but the Michigan Department of Natural Resources runs it.
Th 982 acre island is often known as “Detroit’s Backyard”.
Belle Isle is the most visited park in Michigan, last year the park had 5.7 million visitors, one million more than the population of Southeast Michigan.
Last year the state put $11 million into the park, bringing a new bike trail around the entire island, Belle Isle Casino reopening and in-progress restoration of the Scott Fountain.
Coming the park will be to expanding the beach for a new gathering space near the aquarium.
Meagan Elliott, president and CEO of the Belle Isle Conservancy joined Local 4 Live to tell us about what is coming for the park.
You can watch the full interview in the video at the beginning of this article.