Detroit Has an Island Park Bigger Than Central Park (Designed by the Same Guy)

In the middle of the Detroit River, between the U.S. and Canada, sits an island park most non-Detroiters have never heard of. It’s called Belle Isle. It’s 982 acres. That’s about 140 acres bigger than New York’s Central Park. And it was designed by the same architect: Frederick Law Olmsted.

Detroit bought the island in 1879 for $200,000, then hired Olmsted — the most famous landscape architect of his time, the designer of Central Park, the U.S. Capitol grounds, and the parks around Niagara Falls — to plan it. Olmsted’s relationship with Detroit didn’t go smoothly. The city rejected most of his vision, he resigned in frustration, and only portions of his plan were ever built. Even so, what got built was extraordinary.

Belle Isle holds two American “oldests” you may not have known about. The Belle Isle Aquarium opened on August 18, 1904, designed by celebrated Detroit architect Albert Kahn, and it is the oldest aquarium in the continental United States. (Its arched ceiling is covered in green glass tiles to make the space feel underwater.) Right next door, the Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory also opened in 1904 and is the oldest continually operating conservatory in the country.

The island fell into disrepair under city management. In 2014, it became a Michigan State Park, and the state has since invested over $170 million in restoration. Today you can drive a loop around the island (about five miles), bike, swim at a half-mile beach, picnic, or stand at one of the best free skyline views of downtown Detroit. Across the water, you can see Windsor, Ontario.