Others relaxed with a good book or gathered to play cards under its roof.
Recreation-seeking Detroiters could grab a bite to eat there, or seek some shade or dry ground in case of rain. The casino was considered a model for the country at the time it was built. For more than 20 years, year-round, those five words were included in almost every plan for get-togethers, picnics and romps in the snow on Belle Isle.Īmong the earliest structures after Belle Isle opened as a park was its first casino, a wooden structure designed by the Detroit firm Donaldson & Meier, which opened in June 1887.
