Federal Park

Written by Anna Mae Maday, Manager, Eddy Historical & Genealogy Collection of Hoyt Public Library in Saginaw, Michigan
September 2000


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On January 25, 1899, the United States Congress approved an act authorizing Saginaw to use the property between the Post Office and Hoyt Library for a public park. On May 26, 1902, Aaron T. Bliss, governor of Michigan, wrote to the Saginaw City Council:

I have noticed with interest your action relative to contemplated improvements in Federal Park, soon to become through your efforts one of Saginaw's beauty spots, and in connection therewith, if acceptable to your honorable body and the city which has so long been my home, it will be my pleasure to present to Saginaw, to be one of the ornaments of the park referred to, an appropriate soldiers' fountain, made of bronzed metal fastened to a substantial base of brick and concrete.
The fountain which I have selected (contingent upon your acceptance), I believe will be in harmony with the adjacent fine public buildings and grounds. It is 13 feet 3 inches in height, viz: to the top of pan 7 feet, above which is a life-size statue 6 feet 3 inches of a Federal soldier in full uniform of the Civil war. There will be no conditions whatever in connection with your acceptance, excepting that it is understood the Park will be improved as contemplated by the action already taken by your honorable body. I presume by the laying out of walks in the grounds, placing of suitable seats, therein, etc., and that proper water pipe connection shall be made by the city after the fountain has been erected and that in the future it to be cared for as is other city property. Sincerely hoping that the "Soldier Fountain" will be pleasing to the people of Saginaw for many years to come, and knowing they hear in kindly remembrance the veterans of our country's wars, the deeds of whom this statue will by its character and position serve to commemorate, I remain, Respectfully, A. T. Bliss

In the summer of 1902, the fountain was installed. In 1903 A. T. Bliss donated property on North Michigan Avenue for a park, and in 1906 his will provided funds for a Civil War memorial for Bliss Park. Before her death, Alleseba Bliss expressed an interest in having the Soldier Fountain moved to Bliss Park, and in the 1920's the city agreed. By 1936 when the post office addition was underway, the fountain was moved. In 1940 wind destroyed the fountain and damaged the statue. It was repaired, but vandalism forced removal of the statue. Only the pedestal with a commemorative plaque remained. The background of this picture, taken between 1902 and 1905, showed what historian James C. Mills called "Saginaw's first billboard," located at the downtown site which became Jeffers Park.

Suggested Reading
  • Annual Reports of the Parks and Cemetery Commissioners.
  • Mills, James Cooke. History of Saginaw County. 1918.
  • Saginaw Courier Herald. May 24, 1902, July 6, 1902 & August 20, 1903.
  • Saginaw News. September 9, 1969.

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Keywords: Federal Park  ; Jeffers Park  ; Bliss, Aaron Thomas, 1837-1906  ; Bliss, Allaseba Morey Phelps  ; Parks  ; Public spaces  ; Fountains  ; Bliss Park  ; 
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