Canoeing was once Belle Isle’s most popular activity, especially on hot summer days, when picnickers and canoeists gathered for band and orchestral concerts. These free performances were one of the most popular events in town since they began in 1891, and a small rustic band shelter was built near the Loop Canal and Central Avenue.
In July 1902, this marble-columned pavilion was completed over the Grand Canal -- just north of the current Belle Isle Casino -- and quickly became one of the hottest spots on the island. The cost to build it was $2,490, about $89,000 in 2024 valuation, when adjusted for inflation.
The bandstand bridging the main canal "became the island's unrivaled center of gaiety," The Detroit News wrote Nov. 23, 1972. "Every Sunday afternoon, the crowd on benches lining the canal would overflow into lawn parties enjoying the concert. In the water below the bandstand, hull almost touched hull as pillow-laden canoes floated lazily past. Each tried to remain within range of the music as long as possible."
The bandstand was similar in style to a bridge having stone abutments with arches and steel girders, and had a seating capacity for 50 musicians. Canoeists would cram around the pavilion to hear the band play on Sunday afternoons.
"Band members sat on the bridge that arched the grand canal," according to an Aug. 22, 1940, Detroit News article. "The banks were lined with benches and bicycles were parked by the dozens around every nearby tree. The canal itself was choked with canoes, filled with pillows and decorated with Gibson girls, who reclined with great swank upon the cushions, their voluminous sleeves barely missing the water."
Added George W. Stark, taking a trip down memory lane in a July 24, 1941, column in The Detroit News: "If it were a band concert night, we never thought of going home until the concert was over. And it is no exaggeration to say that the band concerts have endeared Belle Isle to Detroit as much as any other of its manifold attractions."
Detroit's beloved band leader
On June 23, 1907, a contract was awarded to a 29-year-old musician named Herman W. Schmeman to serve as the bandmaster for the canal concerts. He would hold the honor of bandmaster for decades, as he and Schmeman's Military Band would regale Detroiters with Sousa marches, Strauss waltzes and "newer hits" of the early 20th century. Among those "chart-toppers" were: "The Merry Widow Waltz," "Put on Your Old Gray Bonnet," "Yip-I-Addy-I-Ay," "The Yama-Yama Girl," "Cubanola Glide," "Oh, You Candy Kid," "My Wife's Gone to the Country" and "I've Got Rings on My Fingers."
Schmeman was born in Detroit on Feb. 24, 1878. He had become a newsboy, and one day in 1890, it was decided that the boys would form a marching band. Schmeman had never played an instrument before, but was made a cornet player. Before long, music became his greatest passion. He and the boys performed at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893 and the inauguration of President William McKinley in 1897. They'd go on to perform all over the country and in Canada. Schmeman went on to become bandmaster of Detroit's Light Guard, or First Regiment Band. He organized his own group in 1906, just in time to land the Belle Isle concert contract. As testament to his popularity, Schmeman's band was named Detroit's official band in 1916, and he was considered the city's best-known band leader.
On July 16, 1922, the Schmeman band's music was broadcast from this pavilion to the largest audience ever to hear an open-air concert up to that time, as its concert was blasted out on that nation's first radio station, WWJ.
As the years went on, cars pulled up alongside the canal instead of bicycles. Canoeists put phonographs in the canoes that competed with the band. "These innovations and this waterwise competition dismayed Mr. Schmeman no more than the neighing of a horse was wont to do in the olden days," The Detroit News wrote June 18, 1930. "Mr. Schmeman is a token of Detroit's summer. ... In Detroit, it is still officially spring, however the calendar may stand, until Mr. Schmeman begins discoursing honest, heartening band music on Belle Isle. Carrying the summertime in his pocket and displaying it to his fellow citizens at the proper time is part of Mr. Schmeman's program of philanthropy."
In 1932, amid the throes of the Great Depression, the concerts on Belle Isle were suspended after a quarter century of Schmeman's leadership. Schmeman kept the music going, using his position as president of the Detroit Federation of Musicians to tap the group's welfare fund to hire unemployed musicians to perform a series of free public concerts. There were four orchestras, each of about 50 members, performing at Belle Isle and around the city.
Schmeman, who also served as president of the Old Newsboy and Detroit Federation of Musicians, died Sept. 29, 1934, at age 56, following an abdominal operation. His death was front-page news in the following day's papers. After his death, his orchestra renamed itself the Herman W. Schmeman Memorial Band, and continued to play at Belle Isle, Palmer Park and other parts of the city.
The bad stand
Time was not kind to the bandstand, either. "When a bass drummer fell through its sagging planks - drum and all - it was clear that replacement was in order," The Detroit News wrote Nov. 23, 1972. HistoricDetroit.org was unable to locate any articles in the local papers confirming that this accident happened, let alone when.
On Nov. 19, 1941, the Detroit Evening Times reported that "because the foundation is falling apart, the old bandstand over the canal on the northeast side of the Casino on Belle Isle, soon will be razed."
Curiously, concerts were announced in April 1942 that were to be held on the old canal bandstand, though it's unclear whether they were held. Given its condition, and with plans for a new band shell under way, the bandstand was soon removed. The Jerome H. Remick Music Shell was completed in 1950.
More on this lost Belle Isle landmark coming soon.