Belle Isle Aquarium--Detroit, Michigan America's oldest Aquarium

Designed by renowned architect Albert Kahn the Belle Isle Aquarium opened on Aug. 18, 1904, and was the longest continuously running aquarium in the United States and the only aquarium in Michigan, until closing it's doors April of 2005. Clarence M. Burton, in his history on the city of Detroit, attributes the idea of an aquarium to Rep. David E. Heineman, who had visited Naples, Italy, and studied that city’s Anton Dorhn Aquarium. Heineman, who had earlier been the city’s chief assistant attorney, introduced a bill in the Legislature to provide funding for the conservatory and aquarium. The act authorized that $150,000 in bonds be issued (about $3.7 million today) was passed on May 26, 1899.

The firm of Nettleton & Kahn drew up the plans for the buildings. The building’s price tag: $165,000 (about $4.06 million today). At the time of its opening, the aquarium was among the six largest in the world. Its high-tech equipment allowed for the keeping of both seawater and fresh-water marine life and the keeping of the right water temperatures in the tanks. The water was recycled through the tanks because, it was said, that fish survive better in water they’ve been in before.

The front of the slender, brick building features an elaborate Baroque entrance with carvings of dolphins and a grotesque of Neptune, the Roman god of water. In the center is the city’s seal showing the two maidens and the Detroit motto, “Speramus meliora; resurget cineribus” – “We hope for better things; it will rise from the ashes.” Below that, the word “aquarium” is carved in capitalized, bold letters. The intricate details are sometimes masked by robust ivy that covers the front of the building.

In April 1954, the aquarium closed for more than a year before reopening July 1, 1955, following a $200,000 renovation (about $1.5 million today). The fish moved into new refrigerated, backlit, aluminum-faced tanks that helped keep things cool in the summer months. A giant pool in the center of the building was tiled over and replaced with large tanks. Old floor pools that had long been filled with carp were replaced with enormous tropical fish exhibits. The tanks were outfitted with driftwood and water plants. The aquarium’s latest star would be an 86-pound snapping turtle.

At the time of the renovation, the aquarium had about 3,600 fish of 150 species on display. It was, according to then-curator Keith Kreag, the largest collection of fish ever put on display and perhaps the finest collection of freshwater fish in North America. It boasted everything from piranhas to lampreys to electric eels at the time.