1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Saginaw

SAGINAW, a city and the county-seat of Saginaw county, Michigan, U.S.A., situated on both banks of the Saginaw river, about 16 m. from its entrance into Saginaw Bay and about 96 m. N.W. of Detroit. Pop. (1890) 46,322, (1900) 42,345, of whom 11,435 were foreign-born, (1910) 50,510. Saginaw is served by the Grand Trunk, seven divisions of the Pere Marquette (which has repair shops here) and four divisions of the Michigan Central railways, by interurban electric railways to Detroit and Bay City, and by steamboat lines to several of the lake ports. The city is built on level ground covering an area of about 13 sq. m. and somewhat more elevated than the surrounding country. In the city are St Vincent's Orphan Home 0875) and St Mary's Hospital (1874) under the Sisters of Charity, a Woman's Hospital (1888) and the Saginaw General Hospital (1887); the Hoyt Library and the Public Library; a large auditorium, belonging to the city; an armoury; the Germania Institute, with a kindergarten, a gymnastic school and a German library; and a free bathhouse and manual training school (1903), a part of the public school system. There is an annual music festival in May. The city has parks, including Hoyt Park (27 acres), used for athletic sports, Rust Park (150 acres), occupying an island in the river, and Riverside Park, a pleasure resort. Saginaw is situated in a good farming region with a fertile soil, especially adapted to the culture of sugar beets; other important crops are beans, cabbages, tomatoes, cucumbers, hay, apples and grains. In the vicinity of the city there are salt wells, and Saginaw county is the most productive coalfield in the state - in 1907 its output was 1,047 ,9 2 7 tons, more than half the total for the state. The city is an important distributing centre, has a large wholesale trade (especially in groceries, hardware, boots and shoes, and dry goods), and in 1904 in the value of its factory products ($10,403,508, 20.2% more than in 1900) it ranked fifth among the cities of the state. The municipality owns and operates the water-works. The first settlement was made on the west bank of the river in 1815 and was called Saginaw City; the settlement on the east side of the river made in 1849 was called East Saginaw and was financed by Eastern capitalists. East Saginaw in 1855 was incorporated as a village. East Saginaw and Saginaw City each received a city charter in 1859, but in 1890 the two were consolidated as the city of Saginaw, and in 1897 the charter was revised.