Belle Isle (Detroit)
| Belle Isle | ||
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| Waters | Detroit River | |
| Geographical location | 42 ° 21 ′ 0 ″ N , 82 ° 58 ′ 0 ″ W | |
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| surface | 3.9 km² | |
Belle Isle is a 3.9 km² island in the Detroit River. It is administered as an urban park by the Detroit Department of Parks and Recreation and is connected to the rest of the city by the MacArthur Bridge . On it is the Detroit Yacht Club , the Dossin Great Lakes Museum , a Coast Guard post , a municipal golf course, and the zoo . On the waterfront is the only 800 m long beach in the Detroit metropolitan area.
The island was landscaped in the 1880s by Frederick Law Olmsted . The 1908 Belle Isle Casino is used for public events. A special attraction was the oldest aquarium in the USA until it was closed in 2005. A botanical garden is also located on the island. The casino and aquarium were designed by the Detroit architect Albert Kahn .
For more than 50 years the island has been home to a herd of European fallow deer . In 2004 the last 300 animals were caught and brought to the zoo grounds. Some are slated to stay there when the zoo reopens.
The park has suffered from the economic hardship of the city of Detroit. The zoo was closed in 2002, but has since reopened. The Belle Isle Aquarium, opened in 1904, closed on April 3, 2005 for financial reasons. On August 2, 2005, however, there was a referendum, which ended with 88% in favor of a reopening.
From 1992 to 2001, a motorsport circuit named Raceway at Belle Isle was established on the island . Since 2007 races of the IndyCar Series have taken place there again .