The First French Fort / The First Playground in Fort Wayne
[Left side of marker]:The First French Fort
The French lived among the Miami at the Three Rivers as early as 1697 when Jean Baptiste Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes (d. 1719), and Francois Marie Bissot de Vincennes, the son of Jean Baptiste (d. 1736), served as royal agents to the Miamis.
The first fort was built in 1722 on this site by Capt. Dubuisson upon the orders of the French governor in Quebec. The fortification was called Fort St. Philippe or Fort Miamis, was garrisoned by as many as thirty men, and commanded the fur trade in the area and the portage between the St. Mary’s and Wabash rivers.
In 1747, the Wyandot chief Sanosket (known also as Old Britain or La Damoiselle), encouraged by the British, attacked and burnt the fort. A new French commandant, Capt. Charles DeRaimond, repairedthe fort and used it for three years until a new fort could be completed on the St. Joseph.
[Right side of marker]:The First Playground in Fort Wayne
The six-acre site of the first fort was developed as the city’s first playground through the efforts of Addie Guldlin, after whom the present-day park is named.
Concerned that children had no safe places to play in turn-of-the-century Fort Wayne, Mrs. Guldlin and several other “progressive” women used their club associations to raise the funds to create a large, safe place for hundreds of children to play, complete with elaborate playground equipment. The playground was dedicated on May 20, 1911. This was all swept away in the great flood of 1913.
Marker is at the intersection of Van Buren Street and Michaels Avenue, on the right when traveling north on Van Buren Street.
Courtesy hmdb.org
