The Capitol Park Historic District is a historic district located in downtown Detroit, Michigan. It is roughly bounded by Grand River, Woodward and Michigan Avenues, and Washington Boulevard. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.DescriptionCapitol Park itself is a triangular plot of land bounded by Shelby Street, Griswold Street, and State Street. The plot is an artifact of Augustus Woodward's 1805 plan for the city of Detroit. The Historic District includes the park and seventeen surrounding buildings for a block in each direction. Buildings within the district include the Farwell Building, the Griswold Building, the David Stott Building, the Detroit Savings Bank Building and the Industrial Building.HistoryIn 1823, the population of Detroit had increased to the point that the US Congress transferred governance of what was then the Territory of Michigan to the governor and legislative council. To house the new government, a courthouse was built in Capitol Park in 1823-28. When Michigan became a state in 1837, the building became the state capitol, and functioned so until 1847 when the governmental seat was moved to Lansing. The building was then used as a public high school until 1893, when it was destroyed by fire. The land was then converted to a park, and it has remained a public space up to the present.
