1806-1915 | EPISODE ONE
Act 1 Scene 1
After 1805 most homes were destroyed by fire. The land and was owned by the US. There was no law authorizing its division. In 1805, the bank of Detroit began and lasted until 1808 without congressional approval. It was closed by a law passed that prohibited unauthorized banking.
Act 1 Scene 2
Russell Sturgis, Nathaniel Parker, Dudley S. Bradstreet, and Henry Bass, Jr. craft a fake fault letter stating that they are businesmen that have been working in the fur trade having a difficult time moving specie. They lobby for an “Act of Incorporation of a Bank” with a capital of not less than $80,000 nor more than $400,000. None of them ever had interest in the fur trade.
Act 2 Scene 1
Hull and Woodward leave for Washington on Oct 11, 1805 for December meeting of Congress in order to craft the legislation to incorporate the City and the Woodward Plan. Governor Hull goes to Boston to obtain funding from Capitalists.
Act 2 Scene 2
1806 Gov. Hull returns to Detroit with prospective cashier from Hull family, bringing with him his bond as cashier in the sum of $15,000, signed by all the petitioners, except Russell Sturgis and a safe door and bar iron for use in the construction of the vault of the new bank building.
Act 3 Scene 1
The Bank is set up, and is a true pioneer. It has no competitor West of the Alleganies. Sold at $2 stocks. The bank is set up, and people show up to deposit gold coin. Meanwhile, paper money is sent back East.
Act 3 Scene 2
Andrew Dexter leads to demise of bank because of paper currency (specie vs. current) because of his paper currency swindling scheme of owning far away banks and dispersing their paper currency at a far distance from the bank. First bank of Detroit is one of them.
1835-1845 | EPISODE TWO
Act 1 Scene 1
Federal Survey opens up the western frontier to development $1.5 per acre creating a huge influx of population and land speculation. Creates a capital shortage. Michigan is deemed to become the wealthiest state in the Union.
Act 1 Scene 2
Bank of Michigan chartered in 1817 with primarily East coast whig money but majority with General Lewis Cass money., Michigan State Bank founded in 1835 by John R. Williams with the help of Albany capitalists.
Act 2 Scene 1
State Constitution written in 1835, Michigan Democratic party from 1835 to 1839 was controlled by “the poor and radical element” that was “hostile to monopolies and vested interests that wished to break down the power of monied men in politics.”
Act 2 Scene 2
Law passed by Mason March 15, 1837 was a forerunner of fully fledged “Free banking” which Fritz Redlich has aptly termed a “sort of land bank open to all.” Any twelve freeholders in any county might organize a bank with a minimum capital of $50,000, 30% of which had to be paid in specie (gold coin) before commencement of operations.
Act 3 Scene 1
Number of Michigan banks jumps dramatically. Other states follow and adopt Free Banking Acts.
Act 3 Scene 2
... meanwhile Federal policies under the Jackson Administration are attempting to control banks require specie that creates a run on the banks.
1933 | EPISODE THREE
Act 1 Scene 1
After the stock market crash and ensuing economic hardship, many banks are closing. Detroit banks are losing millions each week. The deepest banking crisis of the Great Depression was touched off by the pending failure of two Detroit banks in early 1933 (The failure of Guardian National Bank of Commerce and the First National Bank in Detroit is among the five largest national bank casualties of that period).
Act 1 Scene 2
Major Detroit banks were on the verge of failure so they asked Ford to subordinate some of his owed amount for a new loan from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation.
Act 2 Scene 1
Ford refuses so Herbert sends Aurthur A Ballantin and Roy D Chapin (Detroit Car Capitalist, Hudson Motors). Ford threatens to take out his assets which would be worse than the bank failure.
Act 2 Scene 2
Bank holiday gets called in Michigan to keep Ford from taking funds out.
Act 3 Scene 1
Federal Reserve Bank of New York at the end of the Day lost over $200,000,000 in gold through wire transfers, gold earmarking, and exports and $150,000,000 in currency. Decided they needed drastic measure of calling National Bank Holiday. Drafting of the Emergency Banking Act of 1933.
Act 3 Scene 2
Reconstruction Finance Corporation worked with Alfred Sloan, President of General Motors, to create the National Bank of Detroit. This bank received federal funding and assumed the assets of the two failing banks -- First National Bank of Detroit and the Guardian National Bank of Commerce.
PRESENT DAY | EPISODE FOUR
Act 1 Scene 1
Starting with the rise of automation and post-Fordist production, manufacturing jobs are relocated outside of the city of Detroit; racial tensions and white-flight induced suburbanization continually put downward pressure on population density.
Act 1 Scene 2
With Wall Street’s help, Detroit under the Kilpatrick Administration borroweds $1.44 billion in a flashy high-finance deal to restructure pension fund debt. That deal, which could cost $2.8 billion over the next 22 years, now represents nearly one-fifth of the city’s debt.
Act 2 Scene 1
Kresge Foundation and other industrio-philantropic interests emerge as key players in shaping the in pre-crash Detroit Real Estate Market, looking to invest in Downtown (waterfront) and Midtown areas, the City puts out a plan to shrink the city. Dan Gilbert’s Quicken Loan emerges as one of the largest non-depository mortgage credit intermediaries of the Great Housing Boom, with large presence in the US subprime markets.
Act 2 Scene 2
The Real Estate crash occurs, Kresges pull funding from smaller projects and invest in Detroit Future City Plan. Dan Gilbert, chairman and founder of Rock Ventures and Quicken Loans, beings to emerge as a key figure and with a visionary (financial) committment to downtown and Midtown.
Act 3 Scene 1
Quicken Loans moved its headquarters and 1,700 of its team members to downtown. Gilbert-owned businesses employ 11,500 people in the city. Rock Ventures’ downtown Detroit real estate investments include more than 30 properties, totaling 7.6 million square feet.
Act 3 Scene 2
One of the country’s largest-ever urban farming projects gets green light from Detroit and state officials. Both Governor Snyder and Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr signed off on a development agreement that lets Hantz Farms acquire about 140 acres of land on Detroit’s east side. Hantz Farms is owned by Hantz Group, primarily a financial services company. Developers propose to buy Belle Isle.