This oval button is a careful remade copy of The Detroit Convention and Tourist Bureau button circa 1918. The Detroit Convention and Tourist Bureau used the phrase "Detroit-Where Life is Worth Living" as the city's unofficial motto.

It’s a big ol’ button at 2.5’’x 3.2”. Looks lovely either side of the river, on jackets, bags, scarfs, corkboards, or dog collars.

In 1907 Detroit was on the hunt for a city motto that would look good on swag, memorabilia, and advertisements. “It shall arise from the ashes; We hope for better things” the city’s official motto for nearly a century by this time,  just wasn’t cutting it. 

An advertising executive named Alfred M. Woodward (no relation to Woodward Ave.) came up with the slogan “In Detroit, Life Is Worth Living” although versions of this phrasing had floated around town for many years. Strohs had said “take a bottle out of the ice box and make life worth living” the year previous and Silas Farmer’s popular Detroit street guides of the early 1900s claimed “our advantages are many and exceptional - In Detroit, where life is worth living.” 

But on March 23rd, 1907 Detroit launched its new, unofficial slogan, and The Detroit Free Press didn’t miss a beat. Their young, up and coming poet - Edgar Guest wrote the lines now credited with the creation of the slogan:

In Detroit, Life's Worth Living,

Every day;

In Detroit, we are giving 

Love awar.

In Detroit, it is true,

That our skies are always blue,

There’s a smile for me and you,

Blithe and gay.

Edgar Albert Guest (20 August 1881 – 5 August 1959) was born in England but became a revered American poet, earning the title of the People's Poet. Born in Birmingham, England, Guest's family relocated to Detroit, Michigan, in 1891, where he spent the entirety of his life. Starting as a copy boy at the Detroit Free Press, Guest's poetic journey began in 1898, leading to the creation of over 11,000 poems syndicated in 300 newspapers. Honored as Michigan's Poet Laureate, the first person ever granted the title, Guest's prolific career extended to radio and television, leaving an enduring legacy in American literature. He found his final resting place in Detroit's Woodlawn Cemetery upon his death in 1959. 

His slogan, or in fact the group project that was this slogan, became common on advertisements for the Detroit River and waterfront Michigan vacations. This button is a remake of a 1915 button created using the slogan. 

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