This 4-page letter was handwritten in black ink on slightly yellowed paper by William C. Maybury

Description:

This 4-page letter was handwritten in black ink on slightly yellowed paper by William C. Maybury who was the Mayor of the City of Detroit. The paper is printed with the Executive Office letterhead at the top and shows a watermark that consists of a shield and crown emblem with the words, "Pure Linen Stock." The four pages were bound at the top with a narrow pink ribbon (not shown in the digital images). The text of the letter has been transcribed as follows: "December 31st 1900 Midnight To His Honor - The Mayor of Detroit in 2001 and to the generation whose privilege - and I hope pleasure - it will be to read the letters in this box contained. Health and Greeting - The papers herein contained and now for the first time brought to light by you - after a retirement of one hundred years - were prepared at my request by men and women prominent in the activities of Detroit at the close of the nineteenth Century. Our chief desire and purpose is to convey to you across the long span of the Century a brief and concise statement of the present and past conditions of the community in which we live and to give you as clear an insight as is possible into the social, religious, moral, commercial and political affairs of Detroit and of the times in which we live. There will be given to you testimony from living witnesses of the events chronicled and of conditions described. From testimony so transmitted you will be the better able to discern what advancement you have made from the modest beginnings of which we are witnesses. We are well aware that the century closing has been marvelous in its achievements and we might be fairly excused for believing that the ultimate limits of possibilities has been accomplished in many ways. But on the contrary we do not so believe, because the past has thought us that what seemed to be impossible has been already accomplished and we would therefore not be greatly surprised at more wonderful accomplishments in the future. We communicate by telegraph and telephone over distances that at the opening on the nineteenth century were insurmountable. We travel at a rate of speed not dreamed of then. The power of electricity has been marvelously applied while compressed air and other agencies are now undergoing promising experiment. We travel by railroad and with steam power from Detroit to Chicago in less than eight hours and to New York City by several routes, in less than twenty hours. How much faster are you traveling? How much further have you annihilated time and space, and what agencies are you employing to which we are now strangers? We talk over long distance telephones to the most remote parts of our own land, and with a fair degree of practical success. Are you talking to foreign lands, and to the islands of the sea by the same method? And thus throughout all the various pathways of human progress the papers in this box will bring to you a correct knowledge of present conditions, and possibly words more or less, prophetic of the future. How correct our prophecies may prove we know not, for we write them with hesitation and doubt, but yet with hopefulness. We write in full anticipation that you will stand upon a vantage ground of experience far higher and more resplendent than our own. We ask therefore, for those who assume to prophesy, your kindliest consideration, and judgment, especially when we assure you that our prophets are not without honor, even in their own Century and in their own times. If we may judge from the history of human life as so far told - and of all experience very few - if any - of the 300,000 souls now inhabiting Detroit - will live here when you open this box; which we so solemnly close. And yet it may be possible that such which we now accept from faith may be to you certainty and knowledge - and possibly that knowledge may be accompanied by consciousness that we are witnesses and even listeners to the voices that interpret our words. We humbly ask that you accept for usefulness all that may tend to information and to good, and that you may look most kindly upon that which time has changed or which may have passed out of the realms of live and living. May we be permitted to express one hope - in our hearts - superior to all others - that whatever failures the coming century may have in store - in things material and temporal - you may realize that as a nation, people, and city, you have grown in righteousness for it is this that exalts a nation. Respectfully and affectionately submitted, William C. Maybury Mayor Written hastily and in the last hours of the century at my home on the southwest Corner of streets now called 8th St and Lafayette Avenue - near where I was born."

Date Issued:

1900-01-01T00:00:00Z

Data Provider:

Detroit Historical Society

Subject Topic:

Mayors and 1901 Time Capsule

Subject Name:

Maybury, William Cotter

Format:

Letter

Language:

English

Rights:

No Copyright - United States

URL:

http://detroithistorical.pastperfectonline.com/archive/722CF692-A3C8-4A4E-B649-427225079999