Campus Martius Park

Campus Martius Park
Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument in Campus Martius
Type	Municipal (City of Detroit)
Location	Detroit
Coordinates	42°19′52″N 83°2′47″W / 42.33111°N 83.04639°W / 42.33111; -83.04639
Area	1.2 acres (4,900 m2)
Created	1850; 2004
Operated by	Detroit 300 Conservancy
Open	All year
Public transit access	Cadillac Center Detroit People Mover station

Cadillac Square Park
Bagley Memorial Fountain on Cadillac Square facing Campus Martius
Type	Municipal (City of Detroit)
Location	Detroit
Coordinates	42°19′53″N 83°2′41″W / 42.33139°N 83.04472°W / 42.33139; -83.04472
Created	2007
Open	All year

Campus Martius Park is a re-established park in Downtown Detroit, Michigan. After the fire of 1805, Campus Martius (from the Latin for Field of Mars, where Roman heroes walked) was the focal point of Judge Augustus Woodward's plans to rebuild the city.

The park is located at the intersection of Woodward Avenue and Michigan Avenue, four blocks south of Grand Circus Park. The original park covered several acres and was a major gathering area for citizens. The park was lost in the 1900s as the city's downtown was reconfigured to accommodate increased vehicular traffic. Hart Plaza, along the riverfront, was designed to replace Campus Martius as a point of importance. But as Hart Plaza is a primarily hard-surfaced area, many residents came to lament the lack of true park space in the city's downtown area. This led to calls to rebuild Campus Martius, the site of the Civil War-era Michigan Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, located across from the new Compuware Headquarters.

The park is also where the "point of origin" of Detroit's coordinate system is located. Seven miles (11 km) north of this point is Seven Mile Road; eight miles (13 km) north is Eight Mile Road, and so on. The point of origin is marked by a medallion embedded in the stone walkway. It is situated in the western point of the diamond surrounding the Woodward Fountain, just in front of the park's concession building.

The new Campus Martius Park was dedicated November 19, 2004 and includes two performance stages, sculptures, public spaces and a seasonal ice skating rink. At 1.2 acres (4,900 m²), the park is smaller than its predecessor, as a full restoration of the original would have required the demolition of several buildings. However, the city increased the amount of park space in the area by constructing the new Cadillac Square Park, which opened in summer 2007, immediately to the east of Campus Martius. The park's skating rink is designed to resemble the Rockefeller Center rink in New York City but is larger in size. Since its opening the rink has been operated by Magic Ice USA, Inc. Campus Martius Park is the home of the annual Motown Winter Blast, an event that has drawn more than 450,000 people to the downtown area every year and it has become the site of the city's annual Christmas tree lighting celebration, held the Monday before Thanksgiving. Thousands come to hear Christmas music and countdown to the lighting of the city's official Christmas tree and other decorations to mark the start of the holiday season.