Pictured is Monroe’s historic courthouse, located on East First Street. (Photo provided)

A unique location

          This city of nearly 21,000 boasts a “unique asset that no one else in North America” has, according to Cochran.

          “In one converging point, we have Michigan’s second-most visited state park (Sterling State Park) along the banks of one of the Great Lakes (Lake Erie), where the River Raisin joins an entity of the National Park Service (River Raisin National Battlefield Park) and the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge, the only international wildlife refuge in the world. This great asset provides great experiences for visitors seeking an adventure rooted in nature, wildlife, history and culture.”

          These assets provide opportunities for outdoor recreation like canoeing, kayaking, fishing and exploring.

          The area’s Heritage Master Plan complements the city’s master plan to reinvent Monroe as a national destination like Williamsburg or Gettysburg.

          Since the National Park Service opened its operation at the battlefield park in 2009, three new hotels have been built in the vicinity and two more are in the development phase

          “In the past year, the park received nearly 250,000 visitors from all 50 states and 14 foreign countries,” Cochran said. This number is significant since the park is still fairly young and not yet fully developed.

          Among the additions will be the renovation of a former municipal ice rink to create an education and visitors center as well as the first recreation of one of the original French ribbon farms that were in the area when the Battles of River Raisin occurred. Ribbon farms were a unique agricultural configuration that laid out farm plots in long narrow strips with the farmhouse at one end of the property.

          He said city officials expect that when the development of the River Raisin Heritage Corridor is complete, it will contribute $30 million annually to the regional economy with 400 new jobs in both Michigan and Ohio.

Continue on Page 5…