The first Soap Box Derby was held July 17-20, 1935 on Derby Hill in Rouge Park. The Detroit Chevrolet Dealers Association and the Detroit News co-sponsored the event and the winner advanced to the national race in Akron, OH in August. The first year drew a crowd of 3,000 and 5,000 respectively for the first two days of qualifying races and 10,000 for the finals on July 20. The Soap Box Derby instantly became an annual Rouge Park institution, and for the next 20 years attracted an ever-growing number of contestants and spectators lining Spinoza Drive from the top of Derby Hill down nearly to Tireman Street. ​

The final championship race was usually preceded by a parade and marching band and family picnics afterwards. The winner received an all expense paid flight on the Detroit News airplane to the national championships in Akron, OH. Awards for second and third place included cash prizes, bicycles and more. ​

​In 1940, the Detroit winner at Derby Hill was a 12 year old named Tom Fisher. He went on to be the first (and last) Detroiter to win the National Championship in Akron and became an instant Detroit celebrity.
The Derby was canceled during the WWII years of 1942-45, but resumed in 1946 with record crowds. In 1947, when television was in it’s infancy and less than 1% of Americans owned a TV, the Rouge Park Soap Box Derby was among the very first televised events in Detroit history.

​The original plan for Rouge Park envisioned a grand entrance to the park at Joy Rd. and Trinity St. The Joy & Spinoza area was to be the center of activity in the park complete with a bus station for Detroiters arriving at this rural park, over five miles from the nearest Detroit neighborhood.

Arriving at the park, a short walking path would lead visitors to “The Mall,” a ¼ mile long, 200 ft. wide promenade. Strolling down the center of the mall, a park visitor would first pass a large amphitheater named the “Music Court” on their right that could seat hundreds. To their left they would walk along three acres of formal gardens in front of a glass conservatory similar to the one on Belle Isle. Continuing on, they would pass an acre of perennial gardens to arrive at a large Casino building on par with the one on Belle Isle.

But alas, the Great Depression struck before construction began and the project was put on hold. Gardens were eventually built, but not until World War II, and they were the Victory Gardens grown during WWII and not formal flower gardens planned. Buildings were also eventually built, but they were for the soldiers staffing the Nike Missile Complex on Outer Drive south of Joy Rd in the Mid-1950s, not the conservatory, casino or amphitheater. After the decommissioning of the Nike base in 1963, 20 acres were taken for the construction of Lessenger Junior High in 1964 and two softball fields were added, but the original project was never built.

Since 2002, the Friends of Rouge Park have used this area for the annual Rouge Park Appreciation Day event that usually attracts about 300 volunteers to clean-up and improve the park. Every summer, the sweet singing eastern meadowlarks use the open grasslands there to raise their young. Nationwide, their population has declined by 75% since 1966, so the Friends of Rouge Park have worked out an agreement with the city to leave this area un-mowed until August so as not to disturb the nesting area for this beautiful and vanishing bird.
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In future newsletters we’ll look at some of the other early plans for Rouge Park including a 30,000 seat amphitheater, a 100 acre lake, a dance pavilion and many others.