tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27529023383776375452024-03-15T21:09:19.557-04:00Corktown HistoryPaul Sewickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07669801736415800340noreply@blogger.comBlogger61125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2752902338377637545.post-52382017494933698972015-12-21T09:16:00.000-05:002015-12-21T09:16:21.542-05:00New Blog!I have a new blog called Detroit Urbanism. It's about the way history shapes our maps and built environment in both the city of Detroit and its suburbs. Posts on the new blog will be similar to the last few ones that I have posted on Corktown History, and a whole new site seemed more appropriate home for future articles. <a href="http://detroiturbanism.blogspot.com/">Click here</a> to read and enjoy!Paul Sewickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07669801736415800340noreply@blogger.com227tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2752902338377637545.post-74307730334708901262015-10-23T10:26:00.003-04:002016-12-07T08:35:11.891-05:00The Origins of Eight Mile Road<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/733/22210972009_4625779151_o.jpg"></center><br />
Inspired by the 200th anniversary commemoration of the survey of Michigan and surveyor Joseph Fenicle's <a href="http://www.pobonline.com/articles/97566-marker-pays-tribute-to-ohio-surveyors">April 2015 article on the subject</a>, I've spent the last couple of months researching the field notes of the original surveyors (scans of which are available on SeekingMichigan.org) and the <a href="http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951d012849497;view=1up;seq=7">Territorial Papers of the United States</a> in order to understand how our road system and municipal boundaries in Metro Detroit took the shapes that they did. I've been especially interested in the establishment of Eight Mile Road, because this October 24th marks exactly 200 years since the first surveyor's marks were left upon it.<br />
<br />
When Michigan was part of the Northwest Territory, the Federal government desired to sell and settle as much land as possible. This necessitated a systematic, economical method of parceling out the land, which we now call the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Land_Survey_System">United States Public Land Survey System</a>. Land was divided into townships measuring six miles by six miles, then townships were later subdivided into square mile sections. The first step was establishing vertical and horizontal axes. The east-west axis upon which virtually all land in Michigan (aside from the old French claims and their extensions) was divided is Michigan's Baseline. When land was surveyed and settled, roads tended to be built on township and section lines. Roads have been built on the Baseline throughout the state, and in the Detroit area, 45 miles of it is called Eight Mile Road.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/651/21772642363_3f69564da9_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Eight Mile Road.</i></center><br />
On April 18, 1815 surveyor Alexander Holmes entered into a contract with Edward Tiffin, Surveyor General of the Northwest Territory, to establish the Baseline. He was also to survey a portion of the 96 townships that had been set aside to be divided and used as payment to soldiers and officers who had served in the Revolutionary War. Holmes received permission to give half the contract to his surveyor brother, Samuel. The contract stipulated a payment of $2.50 per mile of township and section line surveyed, and $3.00 per mile of baseline surveyed. Each surveyor had to pay his own crew out of these funds. They measured their path with a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunter%27s_chain">Gunter's chain</a>, cut down trees that were in their line of sight, and planted posts every half mile along their path.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5800/22403890061_21373d1c15_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Surveyors and their tools, circa 1850.</i> (<a href="http://tuesday-johnson.tumblr.com/post/25395482462/ca-1850s-disorderly-daguerreotype-portrait-of">Source.</a>)</center><br />
Alexander Holmes had attempted to begin running the Baseline in May of 1815, but was <a href="http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015071159175;view=1up;seq=569;size=150">driven back to Detroit by Indians</a> who disagreed over the description of boundaries given in the 1807 Treaty of Detroit, which granted most of southeast Michigan to the U.S. government. It's not known whether Holmes actually reached the Baseline then, and if so, how much work he accomplished, or if any of that work might coincide with today's Eight Mile Road.<br />
<br />
<br />
<center><h2>Why <u>There</u>?</h2></center><br />
Why was the Baseline drawn where it was? Various proposals were considered before surveying began. Surveyor General of the United States Josiah Meigs suggested a baseline "beginning at Detroit, running from thence ... due west" in March of 1815. But Edward Tiffin proposed a scheme where the Baseline would be run north of Detroit, and Meigs approved. Tiffin's contract with Holmes simply instructs him to run "a true base line due West from a point above Detroit". For a long time I believed that the location of Michigan's Baseline was tied with the Point of Beginning in Woodward's plan of Detroit--Ford Road, which coincides with a section line in the survey system, appears to <i>almost</i> line up with Michigan Avenue, which is an arterial road in Woodward's plan. This appears to be only a coincidence.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5727/22204355478_634c46024f_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Ford Road and Michigan Avenue are misaligned by only 300 feet, but<br />
the Woodward Plan probably did not influence the survey of Michigan.</i></center><br />
The real reason had to do with the 96 townships of military bounty land mentioned earlier. This area was to measure eight townships wide by twelve townships long. The western border was to rest on the Michigan Meridian, the north-south axis of the survey. The Baseline was to run directly through it, putting 48 townships north of the Baseline and 48 townships south of it. The surveyors needed to ensure that this land in no way interfered with Ohio's land claims. Ohio's northern border had not yet been surveyed, but it was supposed to terminate at the Maumee River Bay, possibly as far as the northernmost cape within the bay, well within present-day Erie Township, Michigan.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/617/22223065099_059e2eda0e_b.jpg"></center><br />
Surveyor Benjamin Hough was contracted to survey the Michigan Meridian, which coincided with the western border of land ceded by Native American tribes in the 1807 Treaty of Detroit. According to the treaty, the border began at Fort Defiance, Ohio and ran due north. Hough first traveled to Maumee Bay, and on May 27, 1815 observed the position of the sun at noon and calculated his latitude to be 41°47'07" North. (He made this observation at the northernmost cape in Maumee Bay, apparently as a means of extreme caution. Ohio's actual border, surveyed the following year, began 3.7 south of this point.) Hough used this data to determine how far north the military bounty land should lie, and then rounded this figure so that there would be a whole number of townships between Fort Defiance and the military reserve. Hough calculated that Fort Defiance should be at the southwest corner of the 13th township south of the Baseline, and that the military land would begin seven townships north of there.<br />
<br />
Thirteen townships measuring six miles on a side is 78 miles. <b>Michigan's Baseline and Eight Mile Road exist where they do because the center of the military bounty land needed to be 78 miles north of Fort Defiance in order for that land to lie completely outside of the State of Ohio. </b><br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5706/22204848728_5d1a17016e_o.jpg"><br />
<i>A monument at Fort Defiance marks the beginning of the Michigan Meridian.</i></center><br />
<br />
<br />
<center><h2>The Survey Begins</h2></center><br />
Alexander Holmes teamed up with Benjamin Hough, who began his work at Fort Defiance on September 29, 1815. The two apparently traveled north together and planned to split up once they reached the calculated position of the Baseline. Instead, they were blocked by the impassable and flooded Grand River in what is now Leoni Township. Rather than meticulously measuring a path around the flooded area using a surveying technique called "meandering," Holmes backtracked slightly and began surveying east on a line twelve miles south of and parallel to the Baseline.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/563/22366097836_8b9689e3ca_o.jpg"></center><br />
In the vicinity of Detroit, Alexander Holmes met up with his brother, Samuel, who was waiting for him with additional provisions and assistants as planned. On October 23rd 1815 they set north simultaneously from the east-west line that Alexander had surveyed. Alexander's team worked north on what is now Haggerty Road, which was originally intended to be the western border of the 96 military reserve townships. Samuel's team surveyed north on what is now Napier Road.<br />
<br />
The field notes taken by both teams indicate that they reached the Baseline and set their marks on October 24th. The spot where Alexander Holmes drove a post into the ground is preserved by a modern surveyor's marker, protected by a cast iron cover and marked with a white X in the median on Eight Mile Road just west of I-275. It still denotes the legal corner between present-day Farmington Hills, Novi, Northville Township and Livonia. Everyone interested in the history of Farmington knows that Arthur Power was the first white settler in the township, but the surveyors came first--clearing a path through the forest and leaving their marks almost a decade before Arthur Power arrived.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/764/22366098026_dd65246340_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Excerpt from Alexander Holmes' field notes when he<br />
planted a post at today's Eight Mile Road and Haggerty.<br />
Image courtesy of the Archives of Michigan.</i></center><br />
<center><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5696/22384647672_678d647af8_o.jpg"><br />
<i>The exact spot where surveyor Alexander Holmes set his<br />
first marker on Michigan's Baseline on October 24, 1815.</i></center><br />
<center><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5734/21776709823_cf24a9fb0a_o.jpg"><br />
<i>This cast iron cover protects a modern surveyor's mark, set<br />
over the spot first marked by Alexander Holmes 200 years ago.</i></center><br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/674/22210971629_a4cb25149e_o.jpg"><br />
<i>"Mommy, why is that man taking pictures of the street?"</i></center><br />
Six miles west of Alexander's mark, the post Samuel planted on the same day is similarly preserved, and serves as the corner of Novi, Lyon Township, Salem Township, and Northville Township. Who is to say which brother arrived at the Baseline first?<br />
<br />
After several weeks of hacking township borders through swamps and forests, Alexander's team again reached the Baseline, on November 14th. There they set the third post on the line, which is now the southwest corner of the City of South Lyon. From there, Alexander began to survey the Baseline toward the east. Although other teams may have surveyed portions of the Baseline in Jackson County, this is the first surveyor's line drawn on the Baseline where it coincides with Eight Mile Road. Well, almost... After reaching Samuel's post at today's Napier Road, he found that he had reached it 594 feet too soon, and had to resurvey that six mile segment from east to west. (Townships were supposed to be surveyed so that any deficiencies would lie on their west and north borders--this line was resurveyed so that the deficient mile would appear on the western edge of Lyon Township.)<br />
<br />
Samuel Holmes reached the South Lyon post and then began surveying the Baseline west on November 16th. After a few miles he ran into Whitmore Lake. Rather than meander around the 677-acre lake, he left the Baseline to continue dividing townships south of the area.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, Alexander Holmes continued east along the Baseline, all the way to what is now the Ferndale-Detroit border. After setting a quarter section post one half mile east of today's Livernois Ave. on November 18th, he wrote in his field notes: "We have been wading in ice water for three days and are completely worn out -- quit and went to Detroit which is situate [sic] a little E. of South and about nine miles distant." <br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/632/21769721434_04273c0a71_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Excerpt from the field notes of Alexander Holmes, November 18, 1815.<br />
Image courtesy of the Archives of Michigan.</i><br />
<br />
<img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/695/22204081520_d2cb5a60e9_o.png"></center><br />
The team rested in Detroit, hoping that the swamps would freeze enough to allow the surveyors and their horses to walk across their surface rather than slush through them. Alexander Holmes returned to the field nine days later, but did not continue the Baseline. Samuel Holmes, however, did reach the western side of Whitmore Lake in December. He surveyed the 1.3 miles of the Baseline on the other side of the lake, including the point that is considered the western terminus of Eight Mile Road. He continued the line six more miles west, but the field notes are crossed out and his work was evidently redone.<br />
<br />
<br />
<center><h2>Finishing the Job</h2></center><br />
The remainder of the Baseline that coincides with Eight Mile Road was surveyed the following year by Joseph Fletcher. He began at the post established by Alexander Holmes at today's Haggerty Road on September 23rd, 1816. From there he headed east, resurveying Holmes' work. Fletcher reached Lake St. Clair five days later. In a letter to Edward Tiffin, he wrote:<br />
<blockquote>"I ... proceeded agreeable to my instructions to the base line, the line being very badly blazed. I was obliged to trace it with the compass on examination found I was not authorised by my instructions to vary from the line already run by Mr. Holmes only in measurement. I then proceeded with the line to the western border of lake St. Clair....<br />
<br />
"... the lines vary very much from the field notes and plats--and the lines being indifferently blazed--renders it one of the most disagreeablest jobs I ever was engaged in..."</blockquote><br />
<center><img src="http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/vegan27/1133666/435648/435648_original.jpg"><br />
<i>Eight Mile Road's eastern terminus in St. Clair Shores,<br />
about one and a half miles west of Lake St. Clair.</i></center><br />
Fletcher complained that the Baseline in this area runs slightly to the northeast by 2°40'. Here is the reason why that is. Back at Fort Defiance, Benjamin Hough carefully observed the North Star in order to calculate the difference between true north and magnetic north. He found the deviation to be 4°39' east. Following this deviation worked very well in the beginning, but that observation became less accurate the farther the surveyors moved from Fort Defiance. Additional astronomical observations should have been made to update the proper deviation from magnetic north, but the surveyors were suffering many hardships and running out of time. Alexander Holmes simply pressed on to get the job done. After Fletcher finished the eastern portion of the Baseline following to Holmes' path, he realized that running range lines according to true north would result in rhombus-shaped townships and sections. In order to maintain squareness and consistency, he ran his lines perpendicular to the Baseline. This is why our major roads and municipal borders in Metro Detroit all appear slightly skewed on a map aligned to true north.<br />
<br />
Despite these inaccuracies, the imposition of a rectangular grid on the forested surface of a spheroid planet two centuries ago is an impressive human achievement.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5621/22397803235_54d809e417_o.jpg"><br />
<i>This obelisk in Farmington Hills close to Eight Mile Road is part<br />
of sculptor David Barr's <a href="http://www.thedetroiter.com/site/baseline8.html">Coasting the Baseline</a> series.<br />
Barr passed away on <a href="http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20150831/NEWS/150839982/david-barr-artist-behind-hart-plaza-arch-michigan-legacy-art-park">August 28, 2015.</a></i></center><br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/684/22209813980_1e47e487a1_o.jpg"><br />
<i>"Surveyors exhibited courage, determination, integrity and ingenuity in the heroic feat of measuring Michigan from 1815-1853. Their work resulted in global implementation of innovative methods of land measurement and ownership. The history of the surveying of the Base Line reveals the collision of four contrasting concepts of property: Native American, European Aristocratic, Colonial American, and Jeffersonian. From this emerged a new uniquely American set of principles which profoundly shaped our landscape, laws, and way of life."</i></center>Paul Sewickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07669801736415800340noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2752902338377637545.post-61705572615769107682015-04-01T13:58:00.003-04:002015-04-01T13:58:45.473-04:00Moving OnI became a Corktown resident ten years ago today. My first address in the neighborhood was a large Victorian house that had been divided into apartments. Since then I have had three other Corktown addresses--on Wabash St., Ash St., and Bagley Ave. Most of the years of my adult life have been spent here.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/vegan27/1133666/20450/20450_900.jpg"><br />
<i>1368 Pine Street, my first Corktown residence.</i></center><br />
Today I am sad to announce that I will be moving away. No, this isn't world's lamest history-blog-related April Fool's Day prank. Although I've never had a reason to discuss personal information here, I think I do owe an explanation for my leaving. It has nothing to do with Detroit's infamous quality of life issues (crime, insurance costs, <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/hipsters-trying-too-hard/amylindorff?var=3&utm_expid=16418821-95.1qjMvFhnTUe61_EDzZKP9g.2&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F">or worse</a>). I think I came well equipped to handle those.<br />
<br />
My problem is that I'm extremely sensitive to noise, especially low frequencies. Corktown is not only an urban neighborhood at the center of a major metropolitan region, but it's a nighttime entertainment district. Noises don't necessarily have to be at a high decibel level in order to cause severe discomfort for me. Sometimes when I am disturbed by a band playing in a bar close to my house, my girlfriend will barely be able to hear the music at all. I've discussed noise with my neighbors, but they see it as just an inconvenience and not a cause of extreme discomfort or psychological stress. Now, the last thing the internet needs is another blogger diagnosing himself with some sort of medical issue via Google--<i>but having said that</i>--there is an unmistakable overlap between my experience and the symptoms of conditions like hyperacusis, misophonia, and selective sound sensitivity syndrome.<br />
<br />
So, Corktown, "it's not you, it's me." I don't want to be the prude who goes around the neighborhood wagging his finger at people and telling them to turn their music down. I think it will be wisest for me to peacefully bow out.<br />
<br />
It will be a few more weeks until the actual move, but in a lot of ways I'm regretting it already. I've never lived anywhere else where I knew as many of my neighbors as I do here. I've never carved out a niche for myself or felt more productive and useful as I do when practicing my abilities as a researcher of the history of Detroit's oldest neighborhood. And it goes without saying that Corktown's architecture and walkability will be very sorely missed.<br />
<br />
After carefully considering other communities in southeast Michigan, my girlfriend and I ultimately chose a place in Farmington. As my neighbor Jon asked, "Farmington?!? Why!?!" Our basic criteria were that the new house had to 1.) be old (pre-WWII), 2.) be affordable, and 3.) located in a city with a walkable downtown, but 4.) not in an area that is a major nighttime party destination. We found a cottage built in 1935 on a wooded acre in Farmington Hills just one mile from downtown Farmington. There is one neighbor on the north side, a daycare to the south, and undeveloped forest to the east. We got a good deal because the house needed a total rehab--the asbestos-wrapped ducts needed to be removed, and it needed a new roof, furnace, plumbing and electrical systems. The kitchen and bathroom have been gutted completely, and I've been working at the house every weekend for five months--plus using up all of my vacation time at work--to get the job done on time. As I write this, the rough building, plumbing and electrical work has been approved and the drywall is just barely up (and scheduled to be finished this weekend). The bathroom and kitchen should be functional just in the nick of time for our scheduled move-in. In the summer I will remove the aluminum siding and repaint the original cedar lap siding beneath.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/vegan27/1133666/442077/442077_900.jpg"><br />
<i>The Harold and Adaline Jamieson Cottage, built in 1935.<br />
Farmington Hills, Michigan.</i></center><br />
In addition to the house itself being a good find, there is a lot to like about Farmington/Farmington Hills. They appear to have a very active local history community and take a lot of pride in their <a href="http://fhgov.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapTour/?appid=38219b04190d43a48c21d760d954a037">historic architecture</a>. The <a href="http://ci.farmington.mi.us/Services/EconomicAndCommunityDevelopment/FarmingtonVisionPlan/2013VisionPlan.pdf">City of Farmington's Vision Plan</a> is right-on as far as urbanism and walkability are concerned. And Farmington is where architects Wells D. Butterfield and his daughter, Emily Helen Butterfield--the designers of <a href="http://corktownhistory.blogspot.com/2011/11/cymbre-apartments.html">a previous home of mine</a> settled and continued to work when they left Detroit.<br />
<br />
This isn't the final entry for this blog--I have a few more research ideas that I'd like to work out. There is no need for me to start a blog about Farmington's history, which is already well-researched--but I do have a vague idea for a new website that combines history, maps, and architecture. The concept still needs some work.<br />
<br />
One final note--sometimes a few local blogs will highlight anecdotes of Detroit city residents expressing hostility to newcomers. Maybe that happens occasionally. But my own experience of moving into the city after only having spent a small part of my childhood here has been overwhelmingly positive. The lifelong Detroiters I've met in Corktown and elsewhere are <b>especially</b> tolerant, friendly, and agreeable people. If you move here, I believe you will feel very welcome. Paul Sewickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07669801736415800340noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2752902338377637545.post-62479892389665136852014-10-20T07:15:00.001-04:002014-10-20T16:43:05.668-04:00Indian Trails and Woodward's PlanLast Thursday, michiganradio.org published a story in answer to the question, "<a href="http://michiganradio.org/post/8-mile-road-eight-miles-where">8 Mile Road is eight miles from where?</a>" I love everything about the early urban planning history of Detroit and I was glad to see the subject come up in the local media. The essential answer given (that 8 Mile Road is eight miles from Campus Martius in downtown Detroit) is correct, but there were some inaccuracies in the piece that deserve correction.<br />
<br />
The story claims that the spoke-wheel layout of downtown Detroit is not the work of Augustus Woodward--who of course drew up a new plan for the city after it burned in 1805--but it was based on the Indian trails that converged in Campus Martius. "When Detroit was settled, Campus Martius was deemed the center of town because it was where all of these main roads came together," the author writes.<br />
<br />
Campus Martius was not at all the center of early Detroit. The location of the original French fort was chosen for its defendability and convenience, not because of any confluence of Indian trails. There was not yet a settlement (European or Native American) for these trails to converge upon. Old Detroit stood at the water's edge near what is now the intersection of Jefferson Avenue and Shelby Street. The fort gradually grew until it reached about the size of four modern city blocks. In 1779, the British built a more modern military fort north of the old French town at what is now the intersection of Fort and Shelby Streets. Below is a map of Detroit from around 1796 (when the United States took over) with the city's modern street grid superimposed over it. Campus Martius, on the upper right hand corner, was well outside of the settlement.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5597/15549386826_2867a7256a_b.jpg"></center><br />
Even as the city rebuilt following the 1805 fire, some Detroiters scoffed at the idea that the town would ever expand far enough to encompass what is now Campus Martius. John Gentle <a href="http://rotunda.upress.virginia.edu/founders/default.xqy?keys=FOEA-print-04-01-02-6519">petitioned President Thomas Jefferson directly</a>, complaining about taxes being wasted on "digging wells and erecting pumps ... near half a mile behind the town of Detroit, where in our opinion no town will ever exist." In the new town's early days, the greatest concentration of buildings was <i>south</i> of Jefferson Avenue, roughly where Hart Plaza is today. <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=eYk-AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA471&lpg=PA471&dq=%22detroit+in+1819%22&source=bl&ots=8TWA6ZdLPt&sig=5EUaagqoVuw7a3zUvPmWInYb6Ww&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ZuhEVLmFLsGsyAShuILoBg&ved=0CDYQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=%22detroit%20in%201819%22&f=false">As late as 1819</a>, the main streets of the town were Jefferson, Woodbridge, and Atwater, and the north-south streets barely even reached Campus Martius.<br />
<br />
The conventional wisdom that the spoke-wheel street pattern of Detroit came from Augustus Woodward's ideas is actually correct. Here is one engraving of his magnificent plan:<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5612/15574930015_3e3f0fbed5_b.jpg"></center><br />
The English-built fort, just west of Campus Martius, gives us a reference point for understanding its relation to the old settlement. Why did Woodward place Campus Martius, the center of the new city, where he did? It was simply because it was in the middle of the public grounds. Under French rule, none of the land immediately outside of the fort was ever granted to private individuals. It was surrounded by a large common area which was flanked on either side by privately owned ribbon farms.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5615/15574930165_5db250998d_b.jpg"></center><br />
How do we know that our spoke-wheel roads are based on Woodward's plan? Let's look at how the plan is organized. Its foundation is a 4,000-foot equilateral triangle, outlined in green below. The triangle is bisected three times with streets (outlined in orange) that all intersect at Campus Martius.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5604/15388791128_b30098377b_b.jpg"></center><br />
Woodward's plan, if it was allowed to be fully carried out, would look like this, if the map is rotated so that due north is straight up:<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3949/15388791348_97d0906f5f_o.png"></center><br />
The scheme viewed from farther out:<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3932/15391933609_98a8a257f6_o.jpg"></center><br />
There are differences between this plan and the roads we have today, which I will get to in a moment. The point here is that these roads are all based on the bisected equilateral triangle, yielding avenues separated from one another by 30° angles. Indian trails followed the land, sticking to high ground, avoiding obstacles, crossing streams at their narrowest point. The roads built by the United States government cut straight, rigid paths through the land. Indian trails were unplanned, unmapped, and developed emergently under the feet of travelers following the most convenient route to a destination. They might branch out and reconnect, and did not have pinpoint beginnings and endings. Indian trails and Woodward's plan are two very different systems with very different origins. <br />
<br />
How do today's roads diverge from Woodward's plan? First, Washington Avenue never continued north of Grand Circus Park. Second, Gratiot Avenue was built one block north of where it "should" have been because <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=WBYUAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Edmund+A.+Brush+had+a+fine+orchard+which+would+have+been+spoiled%22&dq=%22Edmund+A.+Brush+had+a+fine+orchard+which+would+have+been+spoiled%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=bEFEVJbcDI2dygTfkYHYCw&ved=0CB8Q6AEwAA">the owner of the Brush Farm had an orchard that was in the way</a>. And third, Grand River Avenue didn't extend through Grand Circus Park from Miami Avenue (which is now named Broadway) but it is two blocks south of that. This is probably because <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=kL9ABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA84&dq=swamp+and+dumping+ground+as+late+as+the+1840s&hl=en&sa=X&ei=eE1EVML0Hc2GyASb7ICwAw&ved=0CCEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=swamp%20and%20dumping%20ground%20as%20late%20as%20the%201840s&f=false">Grand Circus Park was a swamp</a> when construction began on Grand River Avenue in 1832.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5612/15552718046_1a9a4ab0d2_o.jpg"></center><br />
Having said all that, didn't some of our roads begin as Indian trails? Definitely. US-24 between Detroit and Toledo mostly lies upon an old segment of the Maumee Trail, expanded and improved upon by the U.S. government in 1814. Much of the St. Joseph Trail is preserved by various rural highways. Shiawassee Road in Farmington coincides with an Indian trail that appears in an 1817 survey:<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/vegan27/1133666/432028/432028_original.gif"></center><br />
If I do make one concession to the idea that Woodward's plan is connected to the Indian trails, it would be to say that Woodward Avenue did replace the old Saginaw Trail between Detroit and Pontiac. This path appears on an 1817 survey of Royal Oak Township (which was once a six-mile-by-six-mile square bound by 8 Mile Rd., Dequindre, 14 Mile Rd., and Greenfield). Here is that path (which splits into two and then comes together again) superimposed over a modern map of the area:<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3937/15392407127_e541424ce3_o.jpg"></center><br />
When you are driving on Woodward Avenue in Detroit, you aren't exactly retracing the steps of the Native Americans and pioneers of two centuries ago, but you are at least headed in approximately the same direction.<br />
<br />
It is claimed that Michigan Avenue (US-12) follows the Sauk Trail. This is true for much of US-12 in the middle of the state, but it is not true of Michigan Avenue within today's Detroit city limits. Michigan Avenue begins at Campus Martius and heads in a straight line due west for almost five miles before turning south to eventually meet the old Indian path many miles later. Most likely, it appears that eastbound travelers on the Sauk Trail came to Detroit by first arriving at the River Raisin, following it down to the Detroit River, and then following the shoreline upstream to Detroit.<br />
<br />
Some say that Gratiot Avenue follows the old Moravian Road, but that is not correct. The Moravian Road actually began at Connor's Creek, 4.5 miles east of Campus Martius. It curved to the northeast and ended at the Moravians' settlement in what is now Harrison Township. Gratiot Avenue begins in downtown Detroit, runs in a straight line for fifteen miles before its first curve, and terminates in Port Huron. These roads head in roughly the same direction, but one is not based on the other.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5610/15392753128_20bd1c1ed0_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Detroit and vicinity circa 1797.</i><br />
<small><i>Source: King, Robert after Patrick McNiff. A Rough Sketch of part of Wayne County Territory of theUnited States North-west of the River Ohio [map]. In: Dunnigan, Brian L. Frontier Metropolis: Picturing Early Detroit, 1701-1838. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2001, p. 106.</i></small></center><br />
Grand River Avenue has a similar story to Michigan Avenue. It is often claimed to be an Indian trail, but that is only true for some portions well within the interior of the state. It began as a road to Howell before being extended to the west side of Michigan. Perhaps it is confused with the Shiawassee trail, which intersected Grand River Avenue in downtown Farmington. This trail appears to begin well west of the settlement at Detroit, and heads north to Saginaw after passing through Farmington.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3937/15555385316_8ed928eb1a_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Detail from an 1825 survey of Michigan, showing the Shiawassee Trail.</i> (<a href="http://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/clark1ic/x-000081782/39015091187123">Source</a>.)</center><br />
There is SO MUCH MORE that I wish I could write about. I didn't even mention <a href="http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMV83_Point_of_Origin_Detroit_Michigan">the Woodward plan's Point of Origin</a>, which you can see in Campus Martius Park; or the amazing <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Land_Survey_System">Public Land Survey System</a>; or the beautiful connection between the two, or their relationship to 8 Mile Road (which, by the way, has nothing to do with the Wisconsin/Illinois border as the article also claims).<br />
<br />
Thank you, Michigan Radio, for bringing up my favorite subject! Honestly, this has made me want to start a whole new blog just about the urban planning history of Detroit.Paul Sewickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07669801736415800340noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2752902338377637545.post-23730522568187718722014-10-13T06:53:00.000-04:002016-03-21T21:13:13.666-04:00Sam's Loan Office -- aka "Gold Cash Gold"<img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3950/15338897897_f83f4ca41b_b.jpg" width="0" height="0"><center><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5613/15319906869_dd9afa1219_o.jpg"></center><br />
Prior to 1889, only a small, single-story brick building stood on the northwest corner of Michigan Avenue and Wabash. Built in 1878, it was last occupied by wagon maker James Cullen. It stood for about a decade, then was torn down to make way for a much larger structure.<br />
<br />
On June 4th, 1889, the Detroit Fire Marshal issued permit #828 to the contracting firm Topping & Fisher for the construction of this mixed-use, three-story building, estimated to cost $12,000. It would contain three commercial spaces on the ground floor with three apartments and offices above. The architect is unknown.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3927/15272493907_b44659bbf1_o.jpg"><br />
(<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=Fkh5AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA80&dq=%22ira+topping%22+%22george+w+fisher%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=rKgyVJq6OJOnyAT7joGQCg&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22ira%20topping%22%20%22george%20w%20fisher%22&f=false">Source</a>.)</center><br />
Although the building permit index and a notice in the <i>Detroit Free Press</i> confirm the date of the permit, construction evidently started before that point. The <i>Free Press</i> reported on May 29th of that year that Topping & Fisher's masons went on strike the previous Saturday, May 25th. Of the masons employed, according to the paper, fourteen were working on the <a href="http://www.historicdetroit.org/building/municipal-court-building/">new police court building</a>, and eleven were at the Michigan Avenue and Wabash site. They walked off the job after George Fisher's brother, Jerry Fisher, was employed by the firm but refused to join the masons' labor union even after the other workers offered to pay his initiation fee. On June 1, it was reported that work on the court house resumed after fourteen non-union men were hired, but no more information about the Michigan Avenue strikers has been found.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5599/15455918831_eda30571b6_b.jpg"><br />
<i>2100 Michigan Ave. as it appeared in a Nov. 17, 1912 </i>Detroit Free Press<i> notice.<br />
Note the decorative brickwork along the roof line that is now missing.</i></center><br />
<br />
<center><h3>Early Occupants</h3></center><br />
The pre-1921 addresses of the building, from left to right (west to east), were 636, 634, and 632 Michigan Avenue. The first occupant of No. 636 according to the 1890 city directory was Crimmins & Conway, a saloon owned by 26-year-old David Crimmins of 351 14th Street and 31-year-old Thomas D. Conway of 75 Jones Street. Crimmins immigrated from Ireland in 1883, and Conway was born in Michigan to Irish-American parents. Their business did not last more than one year.<br />
<br />
The middle unit, No. 634, was not occupied when the 1890 directory was published. But from 1891 through 1897, it was a shoe store owned by 44-year-old William P. Lyons of 392 17th Street. The longest-running tenant to occupy this space before the 1960s was a Kroger grocery store, from 1916 through 1933. Kroger had bought out the Schneider Grocery Co., which had occupied that space since 1911.<br />
<br />
The first business to set up shop in the right-hand corner unit, No. 632, was the bakery of George Pearce. Mr. Pearce lived in the flat above his business, but relocated by 1893. His bakery was followed by that of Eugenia and John Mayer. They also lived in the flat above their bakery and operated out of this location for nine years. The subsequent businesses at this address until 1920 would all be bakeries. Note the word "Bakery" barely visible above the doorway in the photograph above.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3932/15438977906_ebb65f39a0_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Source: Detroit Free Press, Dec. 15, 1907.</i></center><br />
Not every past tenant of this building will be researched here, but it is worth highlighting at least one early long-term proprietor, Mrs. Johanna Sullivan, owner of a cigar and confectionery store at 636 Michigan Avenue from 1908 through 1925. She was born in Ireland in 1873 as Johanna Fitzgibbon. She immigrated to the United States in 1888 at the age of fifteen. In 1898 she married Cornelius Sullivan, a machinist fellow Irish immigrant. They had at least four children together. On January 24, 1907, Cornelius died from influenza at the age of 35. Johanna and her four children (one of them a newborn) moved from their home on Livernois Avenue to 636 Michigan Avenue where she opened up her confectionery and cigar store in 1908. It remained open at that location for eighteen years, making Mrs. Sullivan the longest-renting proprietor in this building until Sam's Loan Office occupied it decades later.<br />
<br />
The building permit index indicates that some renovations occurred in the 1920s. A permit was issued on March 6, 1922 for work on the storefront, and another on March 22, 1922 to convert the offices into additional apartments, increasing the number of living spaces in the building to six. In 1921, the addresses of the building changed from 636, 634, and 632 to 2110, 2106, and 2100.<br />
<br />
Below are all of the ground-floor commercial occupants of this building through 1936. <br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5601/15274677999_ba4c0b41a9_o.png"></center><br />
Between 1936 and 1937, William and Nellie Doherty expanded their grocery store at 2106 Michigan Avenue, combining it with the vacant unit at No. 2110. Below are the tenants who occupied this building in the new configuration through the end of the 1950s. Note that very few city directories are available after 1941.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5598/15461179942_99126fcf81_o.png"><br />
<br />
<img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3927/15305392900_2c2252f74f_o.jpg"><br />
<i>The 2100 block of Michigan Avenue in 1953. The awning on the side reads "Tierney's."<br />
Image courtesy Detroit Historical Society.</i></center><br />
All three commercial spaces would be combined into one unit in the early 1960s.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<center><h2>Samuel H. Rubin</h2></center><br />
<center><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3944/15483834396_307a97c149_o.jpg"><br />
<small><i>Source:<br />
Leslie Gold, </i>For What It's Worth: Business Wisdom from a Pawnbroker<i> (New York: Penguin Group, 2013).</i></small></center><br />
Sam Rubin was born in Poland in 1893 and immigrated to the United States at the age of twelve. Being very poor as a young man, he would collect junk found by the side of the road to sell. He worked tirelessly for a better life, eventually learning the tailor's trade and opening a used clothing and tailor supply business on Hastings Street, which was then the center of Detroit's Jewish community (and has since been bulldozed for the construction of I-75 and I-375). Rubin first went into the clothing business with a man named Meyer Goldberg, and their shop first appears in the city directory of 1913. On December 28 of that year, Rubin married Katherine Sassin, also a Polish immigrant. They were wed by Rabbi Joseph Eisenman of Congregation Beth Tefilo.<br />
<br />
Goldberg and Rubin moved their clothing shop north on Hastings Street several times before settling at 3840 Hastings, at the southeast corner of Leland Street. Sam and Katie Rubin lived in the apartment above the store. By 1920, the only name on the business was Samuel Rubin, who had evidently parted ways with Goldberg.<br />
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In the 1940s, Rubin opened a pawnshop in Corktown at the southeast corner of Michigan Avenue and Fifth Street. The transition from retailer of used men's clothing to pawnbroker is not as great a leap as it sounds. Historically, clothing was the most valuable commodity owned by working class people, and <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=hwHQsIO1HowC&pg=PA44&dq=%22the+most+common+pawns+were+items+of+clothing%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=-CA3VM3FJo2syATSg4HADw&ved=0CB8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22the%20most%20common%20pawns%20were%20items%20of%20clothing%22&f=false">it was the item most frequently pawned</a>. Some even believe that <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=Z4-L5cHVXYcC&pg=PA180&lpg=PA180&dq=%22The+word+pawn+itself+probably+derives+from+the+Latin+root+pannus,+meaning+cloth+or+rag.%22&source=bl&ots=tkYlAubBmU&sig=A4hIAnNqQKEPYjGZhJaCNlAGj8g&hl=en&sa=X&ei=SCM3VOnGCYOvyAT5poDADA&ved=0CCEQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22The%20word%20pawn%20itself%20probably%20derives%20from%20the%20Latin%20root%20pannus%2C%20meaning%20cloth%20or%20rag.%22&f=false">the word "pawn" derives from the Latin word for cloth</a>. In its early days, Sam's Loan Office sold men's suits, pants, shoes, and hats in addition to jewelry and other items.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3933/15281464759_0065684652_o.jpg"><br />
<i>The original Sam's Loans at 955-959 Michigan Ave. in 1959.<br />
Image courtesy Detroit Historical Society.</i></center><br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2946/15305077987_8cdc1b8ca0_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Suspended from the sign for Sam's Loan were three gold balls--the<br />
universal symbol of the pawnbroker, <a href="http://americanenterprise.si.edu/2012/11/the-three-balls-lost-and-found/">dating back to the Middle Ages</a>.<br />
Image courtesy Detroit Historical Society.</i></center><br />
You have probably heard of Sam Rubin's grandson, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Gold">Les Gold</a>, third-generation pawnbroker and star of the reality TV show <a href="http://www.trutv.com/shows/hardcore-pawn/index.html">Hardcore Pawn</a>. In his book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/For-What-Its-Worth-Pawnbroker/dp/1591846390"><i>For What It's Worth: Business Wisdom from a Pawnbroker</i></a>, Gold writes about growing up around the business, spending Saturdays with his grandfather, whom he called "Popsie." It was in the original Sam's Loan Office at Michigan Avenue and Fifth Street that Gold made his first sale at the age of seven.<br />
<br />
According to Gold, his parents (Louis Gold and Shirley Rubin) married after getting pregnant with him. Rubin brought Louis Gold into the family business in order to ensure that his daughter and grandchild would be provided for.<br />
<blockquote><i>Impregnating my mom was a real stroke of luck for my dad. Before he met her, he had been a pool hustler and worked in a refrigerator factory. But when my grandfather gave him a job at the pawnshop, L.G. had a chance at real success. He had a golden opportunity to learn from Popsie, a man who worked his way up from nothing to build a solid business.</i></blockquote>The area surrounding the original Sam's Loan Office was known as skid row, and the local businesses consisted largely of flophouses, liquor stores, and other pawnshops. The entire district--including all of the buildings on Michigan Avenue between Cass Avenue and the Lodge Expressway--was condemned in an urban renewal project in 1961 and demolished between 1962 and 1963. It was then that Rubin moved his business from the old Fifth Street location to the building at 2100 Michigan Avenue. Rubin combined the all of the ground-floor commercial spaces into a large, single store.<br />
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<center><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5611/15466940686_0d96326ec6_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Sam's Loan Office, 2100 Michigan Avenue, in 1976.<br />
Image courtesy State Historic Preservation Office.</i></center><br />
Sam Rubin passed away in 1969, and his business continued to operate under his family's management. Les Gold opened a branch location, American Jewelry and Loan, in 1978. In 1981, he parted ways with his father and bought out his share of the new store, running it as an independent business.<br />
<br />
<br />
<center><h2>Troubled Times</h2></center><br />
<center><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3929/15280900909_acb44ec4bc_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Source: Detroit Free Press, Jan. 1, 1972.</i></center><br />
At approximately 1:20pm on December 31, 1971, three armed robbers walked into Sam's Loan Office and demanded money and jewelry. As Louis Gold emptied the safe, he activated a silent alarm, alerting the police. When the call went out, Officer William Schmedding Jr., a sixteen-year Detroit Police veteran, volunteered to respond despite being on patrol alone. When he entered the store, he was met with a barrage of gunfire and killed.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3928/15280900279_33099b13dc_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Source: Detroit Free Press, Jan. 1, 1972.</i></center><br />
The robbers tried to flee but were met by the other officers responding to the call. One of the robbers, Gus Smith, died in the gunfight that ensued. His brother, Robert J. Smith, was wounded, and Leon Smith (who was not related to the other two) was captured unharmed. Two of the twelve customers at the store were also wounded when they fled the store in a panic and were mistaken for other robbers.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3932/15281091320_43a9e33ea3_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Source: Detroit Free Press, Jan. 1, 1972.</i></center><br />
<center><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3932/15464651311_95bbd4287f_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Source: Detroit Free Press, Jan. 1, 1972.</i></center><br />
Officer Schmedding was 39 years old when he died, and left behind a wife, two daughters, and a son. He was the sixth Detroit Police Officer to die in the line of duty in 1971.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3941/15497434081_bf5744de1b_o.jpg"></center><br />
This was far from the only time that Sam's Loan Office was held up. According to Les Gold, the store was robbed on December 5th two years in a row, in 1979 and 1980. After that, one employee refused to work there on December 5th ever again.<br />
<br />
The incident in 1971 wasn't the only deadly robbery. On July 2, 1983, three gunmen--Taveen Lakiff Tupper, Charles Ross, and Derrick Mills--entered the store around 1:30pm, pretending to be customers. Mills was disguised as a woman as part of the holdup attempt. When they got close to Louis Gold, they demanded money.<br />
<br />
An employee was speaking on the phone to her husband when the robbers entered the back office and hung up the phone. Her husband called back and one of the robbers answered, claiming to be a new employee. Knowing that this was a lie, the husband called the police. When the robbers attempted to flee the store, they saw that the police had arrived. They took Louis Gold hostage and attempted to cross Michigan Avenue to enter Gold's 1982 Cadillac and escape.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2950/15280890209_0cfa3c586c_b.jpg"><br />
<i>Source: The Detroit News, Jul. 3, 1983.</i></center><br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2947/15281081120_9734fab146_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Gunmen attempt to force Gold into his Cadillac, parked in front of 2125 Michigan Ave.<br />
Source: The Detroit News, Jul. 3, 1983.</i></center><br />
Before they could enter the car, one of the gunmen's firearms discharged and Gold fell to the ground. The police opened fire on the three. In the gun battle, fifteen police officers fired more than 80 bullets. No officers were injured, but Mills was killed and the other two robbers were injured. Some baseball fans who had watched the Tigers play the Baltimore Orioles that afternoon returned to their cars to find them punctured with bullet holes. Gold had been beaten badly during the robbery attempt, and it was found that he had been shot in the left buttock, but he survived.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2948/15467779005_df5464dbb4_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Source: The Detroit News, Jul. 3, 1983.</i></center><br />
<center><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5598/15281150948_296023d7e7_b.jpg"><br />
<i>Source: Detroit Free Press, Jul. 3, 1983.</i></center><br />
<center><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5597/15280890089_ed8bdf1230_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Source: The Detroit News, Jul. 3, 1983.</i></center><br />
Louis Gold, who was 60 at the time of the robbery, left the business a few years later. In 1987, the store was run by B & C Jewelry and Loan Corp., owned by William J. Connell of Farmington Hills. The Gold family retained ownership of the building.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<h2><center>"GOLD CASH GOLD"</CENTER></H2>In 2010, a new business entity named Diamonds and Rifles--a reference to the odd pawnbroker advertisements painted on the building--purchased the building from the heirs of Louis Gold, who passed away in 2008. Diamonds and Rifles is owned by members of the Cooley family, famous for Slow's Bar-B-Q, which opened on the same block in 2005.<br />
<br />
Under new ownership, the upper floors of the building have already been <a href="http://detroit.curbed.com/archives/2014/06/three-glorious-lofts-still-available-above-gold-cash-gold.php">renovated into six apartments</a> and rented, and the ground floor commercial space will soon open as a comfort foods restaurant called <a href="http://www.goldcashgolddetroit.com/">Gold Cash Gold</a>, another reference to the building's odd exterior lettering. Curiously, the new owners have decided to restore the pawnshop-era paint scheme.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5602/15320125848_04388fc80d_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Source: Gold Cash Gold's <a href="https://www.facebook.com/goldcashgold">Facebook page</a>.</i></center><br />
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<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2946/15483659426_3403a11632_o.jpg"><br />
<i>2100 Michigan Avenue cira 2010.<br />
Source: Gold Cash Gold's <a href="https://www.facebook.com/goldcashgold">Facebook page</a>.</i></center><br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2947/15319906659_eacd391e8a_o.jpg"><br />
<i>2100 Michigan Avenue, October 2014. Photograph by the author.</i></center><br />
Gold Cash Gold is expected to open by November.Paul Sewickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07669801736415800340noreply@blogger.com386tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2752902338377637545.post-31486577741087576252014-09-30T07:07:00.000-04:002014-09-30T08:49:30.540-04:00The Henry Hart Map of 1853In 1853, New York surveyor Henry Hart published a map of Detroit that indicated the location of every building within the city limits. This map not only allows us to see the state of the development of Corktown, which was still a new neighborhood, but it can help us determine which houses in Corktown are the oldest. This is not always easy--building permits were not required until 1878, and city directories can be inconsistent and incomplete.<br />
<br />
At the time, the western border of the city roughly coincided with Eighth Street. The area beyond that would have still been part of Springwells Township, and was excluded from the document. Just over the border was the Woodbridge Farm, which wasn't legally subdivided into individual building lots until 1858.<br />
<br />
Until now, I have only had access to low-resolution images of the Hart map. But I recently noticed that the Detroit Historical Society <a href="http://detroiths.pastperfect-online.com/33029cgi/mweb.exe?request=record;id=F9F18FB8-DDE5-474C-B667-052170499300;type=301">has a copy of this map in their online archives</a>, and a high-resolution version available to paid members. Below is a detail of the area including Corktown.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3865/15381938151_fa9ec534f3_b.jpg"><br />
<i>Image courtesy Detroit Historical Society.</i></center><br />
Superimposing this map over a modern aerial photograph can help researchers determine which structures in Corktown were built before 1853.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3920/15362113106_bf13b3398a_o.jpg"></center><br />
The houses that I believe coincide with existent structures are highlighted in yellow. Some buildings appear to coincide with the 1853 map, but they are known to have been built afterward. For example, today's Most Holy Trinity Church was built after the older wooden structure was demolished in June 1856.<br />
<br />
Of the small handful of houses in Detroit that predate the publication of Hart's map, these seven can be found in Corktown.<br />
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<br />
<center><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2942/15198578180_38f5faa658_o.jpg"></center><b> • 1362 Bagley.</b> The house next door to this one (<a href="http://corktownhistory.blogspot.com/2013/09/moore-house-1366-bagley.html">1366 Bagley</a>) probably also dates to the 1850s.<br />
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<br />
<center><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3884/15198663308_2a147e60b4_o.jpg"></center><b> • 1232 Labrosse.</b> According to the Detroit Historic Designation Advisory Board, the John Purdon house was constructed around 1851. Like many of the other houses on this list, this home would have had a very simple design originally, with Victorian details being added at a later date.<br />
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<br />
<center><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2948/15198754867_a8ee437e65_o.jpg"></center><b>• 1319 Labrosse.</b> I am least confident about the date of this house, but if it does predate 1853, then the corbels, window bay and window hood are clearly Victorian additions.<br />
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<br />
<center><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2948/15198577060_3d644cae2b_o.jpg"></center><b>• 1323 Labrosse.</b> The <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/corktownhistory/6432536409/in/set-72157628224070957">booklet from the 1994 Corktown Historic Homes Tour</a> calls this the Hall House and dates it to 1848.<br />
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<center><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3842/15384952402_2b2295c2cd_o.jpg"></center><b>• 1337-1339 Labrosse.</b> The porch on this duplex is not original to the structure. When first built, it would have looked similar to the Worker's Row House, pictured below.<br />
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<center><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3927/15382074011_6dfae9b4e1_o.jpg"></center><b>• 1430-1438 Sixth St.</b> <a href="http://clasweb.clas.wayne.edu/Multimedia/CLAS/files/Newsletters/CLAS_NotesSumemr2009.pdf">Previous research on the building</a> indicates that it was probably built in 1849, or not long after.<br />
<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3855/15210162337_e1154300c7_o.jpg"></center><b>• 1200 Porter.</b> Confirmation that the Michael Keenan House was built by 1853 is found in <a href="http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/platmaps/dt_image.asp?BCC_SUBINDEX=8261">an 1852 re-subdivision of the block</a>, which indicates a house already existing on the lot at the time.Paul Sewickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07669801736415800340noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2752902338377637545.post-51428659821684320412014-09-24T06:38:00.003-04:002014-09-24T06:38:58.843-04:00Stereoscopic ImagesI recently learned that "<a href="http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/wigglegrams">wigglegrams</a>" (brief animated GIFs that create an illusion of three-dimensional space) can be made from old <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereoscopy">stereoscopic images</a>. I have made a few out of the few vintage stereoscopic images of Corktown that I'm aware of.<br />
<br />
The one that turned out the best was of the former Trumbull Avenue Congregational Church, once located on the northeast corner of Trumbull and Bagley Avenues. It was built in 1868 and moved to this location in 1881. It was replaced by a larger building that was torn down by 1950, and today the space is occupied by the parking lot for St. Cece's Pub.<br />
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<center><img src="http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/vegan27/1133666/444597/444597_original.gif"></center><br />
The other stereoscopic Corktown images do not offer the same amount of dramatic movement, but I have included them here anyway.<br />
<br />
This photo is of Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church, built on Trumbull Ave. for Corktown's growing population of German-speaking Lutherans in 1865. The congregation moved to a new brick building at Pine Seventeenth Streets in 1873 and took the old wooden structure with them to use as a school. Today this spot is occupied by the vacant lot in between Checker Cabs and UFO Factory.<br />
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<center><img src="http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/vegan27/1133666/444140/444140_original.gif"></center><br />
The Detroit Fire Department's firehouse for Engine Company No. 8 was constructed in 1871 at the southwest corner of Bagley and Sixth Streets. It was replaced by a new structure in 1918, which is still standing, but converted into offices.<br />
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<center><img src="http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/vegan27/1133666/443865/443865_original.gif"></center><br />
Other images that might technically fall within Corktown's borders are of stately brick mansions that once lined Lafayette and Fort Streets before the encroachment of industry.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/vegan27/1133666/443454/443454_original.gif">Click here</a> for a wigglegram made from photos taken from Detroit's Old City Hall, looking east across Campus Martius.Paul Sewickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07669801736415800340noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2752902338377637545.post-61912186748831798712014-09-02T07:12:00.000-04:002014-09-02T07:12:44.942-04:00Daniel O. Donovan House - 1221 Bagley<center><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5587/14713251785_898e8e54ee_o.jpg"></center><br />
The index to building permits for the City of Detroit contains two entries for 11 Baker Street, the original address of this home. It is not clear why. The first permit was issued on November 6, 1878, and the second on July 21, 1879. The <i>Detroit Free Press</i> announced on July 27, 1879 that this second permit was issued to John Brennan, and that the construction was estimated to cost $650. At the time, the house stood on half of the same lot occupied by the home of William B. and Lacyra Wesson, the brick Greek Revival home now addressed as 1227 Bagley.<br />
<br />
On December 20, 1880, the Wessons sold 11 Baker Street to Rose V. Lane for $2,069.33. Mrs. Lane was born Rose Virginia Sherlock in Detroit in 1856, and married Thomas H. Lane around 1877. Mr. Lane was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts in 1850. He was a shoemaker with a store on Monroe Street. Both Mr. and Mrs. Lane were first-generation Americans whose parents were Irish immigrants. Mr. and Mrs. Lane had lived at 11 Baker Street since it was built, although the purchase was not made until 1880.<br />
<br />
Rose Lane sold 11 Baker street to Mary Moynahan for $3,350 in July of 1882. This is an example of 19th century Corktown's tradition of female home ownership. In Irish households at the time, wives were in charge of the domestic finances, and property was often held in their names.<br />
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<center><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2900/14640428343_47af08cf2f_o.jpg"><br />
<i>11 Baker St. in 1884. The front part of the house had two stories and was attached to several<br />
one-story additions. The house would have had a very different appearance at the time.</i></center><br />
The home's new owner, Mary Moynahan, was a first-generation Irish-Canadian, born in Ontario in 1846. Her husband, Matthew J. Moynahan, was an Irish immigrant. The couple married around 1876 and had two children. Two years after moving into the home, Matthew Moynahan passed away. Mrs. Moynahan was listed at 11 Baker Street through 1887, after which she rented the house to Martha Fessenden, a widow. One of Mrs. Fessenden's son's, Mark, died at the home on February 15, 1889, at the age of 26.<br />
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Other boarders listed at this address in 1887 and 1888 included Thomas W. Richardson, a porter for Thorp, Hawley & Co.; Walter Parrish, a lineman for the Brush Electric Co.; and Frank Hutchinson, a clerk.<br />
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<h2><center>Daniel & Isabelle Donovan</h2></center><br />
On June 5, 1889, Mrs. Moynahan sold 11 Baker Street to Daniel and Isabelle Donovan for $4,000.<br />
<br />
Daniel O. Donovan was born outside of Chatham, Ontario on October 28, 1851 to Irish immigrants John and Helen (Driscoll) Donovan. At the age of 21, he began his study of medicine, ultimately receiving a Doctorate of Medicine from the University of Michigan in 1876. He practiced in Manistee and Ludington, Michigan before moving to Corktown in 1881.<br />
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Dr. Donovan was united in marriage to Isabelle Genevieve Lynch by James Savage of Most Holy Trinity Church on April 30, 1889. Miss Lynch, a first-generation Irish-American, was born in Detroit in 1858. Dr. and Mrs. Donovan purchased the Baker Street home just a few weeks after their marriage.<br />
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<center><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3886/14618809224_5cfdfa2782_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Isabelle and Daniel Donovan and their five children,<br />
Edna, Daniel Raymond, Ella, Florence, and Marian.<br />
Photo courtesy of Colleen Mahan.</i></center><br />
In addition to the children pictured above, Dr. and Mrs. Donovan had a baby girl, Mary Isabelle, born in 1904, but died at less than four months in age.<br />
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<br />
<h2><center>"Old Corktown's Physician"</h2></center><br />
11 Baker Street was not only the Donovan family's home, but it served as Dr. Donovan's home office for forty-six years of his sixty-year medical career. Patients did not always need to come to the house, however, since doctors in those days very frequently made house calls.<br />
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<center><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2928/14696420363_70cb904eb7_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Dr. Daniel O. Donovan, circa 1920s.<br />
Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.</i></center><br />
At the end of his life, obituaries referred to him as Old Corktown's physician. <i>The Detroit News</i> related:<br />
<blockquote><i>his commanding figure, dressed in a Prince Albert coat and topped by a hat of the style worn by Civil War veterans on parade, was a familiar one on the streets of Detroit between Cass and Trumbull avenues and Grand River avenue and Fort street, the heart of Corktown. He made his rounds on foot. There wasn't an Irishman who didn't know Dr. Donovan's home next to the fire engine house at Sixth and Bagley, then Baker Street. ... His practice, friends relate, was extensive enough to have made him a rich man, but he was the type who gave freely of his services and many of his patients were poor.</i></blockquote><br />
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<h2><center>Home Addition</h2></center><br />
In 1898, the old house was renovated and partially rebuilt, giving it an entirely new look. This was at a time of an upward social mobility of Corktown's residents--the poor, hardworking immigrants who founded the neighborhood grew into a middle class, well-educated and more integrated into American culture. Small worker's cottages were torn down and replaced with larger homes at the turn of the 20th century. The new facade of 11 Baker Street, which some have classified as late Victorian/Colonial Revival, would have been keeping up with these changes.<br />
<br />
A notice printed in the <i>Detroit Free Press</i> of April 24, 1898 stated:<br />
<blockquote><i>Architects Grenier & McLain </i>[sic]<i> are receiving bids for building a two-story frame veneered dwelling, to be erected on the southeast corner of Lafayette avenue and Nineteenth street. Arthur Lefevre is the owner. <b>Also, for a two-story frame residence, located on the corner of Baker and Sixth streets. Dr. Donovan is the owner.</b></i></blockquote>The architecture firm mentioned had just been organized that year by Frank J. Grenier of Detroit and Joseph G. McLean of Windsor.<br />
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It does <i>not</i> appear that 11 Baker Street was demolished and a new home built from scratch. On May 4, 1898, permit #128 was issued to builders Reynolds & Dolan for a two-story wood <i>addition</i> to the front of the home, measuring 24 feet by 15 feet. The estimated cost was $1,100. No incorporated firm by the name of Reynolds and Dolan was listed in the city directory, but it's likely that this refers to Henry Reynolds, a builder listed on Sidney Street; and carpenter Edward B. Dolan of Gratiot Avenue.<br />
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<center><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2903/14625781361_aa1fff2494_o.jpg"></center><br />
There is no way to know what the house looked like before this renovation, but the Sanborn maps reveal some clues. Before the addition, the home consisted of a front section two stories high and a one-story rear section. Following the renovation, most of the home was stories tall. A set of bay windows on the second floor of the west side and a large front porch have been added. The new second-story sleeping porch was almost certainly part of the 1898 addition, as the concept became popular at the turn of the 20th century for its reported health benefits.<br />
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<br />
<br />
<h2><center>Tragedy</h2></center><br />
Before the days of modern snow plows, horse-drawn bobsleds were a common method of transportation in winter months. A bobsled driven by John Palmer for pork producer Raymond S. Webb was traveling south on Sixth Street from Michigan Avenue around noon on Saturday, February 4, 1905. Two of the Donovan girls--Marian, age 9; and Edna, age 11--were playing on a sidewalk with a group of other children when Palmer rode by. They ran up and hitched a ride by jumping on the back of the sled.<br />
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The bobsled made a left-hand turn onto Abbott Street, which used to run farther east before the construction of the Lodge Freeway. In the process, the sled crossed street car lines on Abbott. Mr. Palmer's view of eastbound traffic was blocked by a saloon on the northwest corner of the intersection, as well as a large grocery truck stopped in the westbound lane. Just as the sled was crossing the tracks, it was hit by an eastbound street car, Baker car no. 379.<br />
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Marian Donovan was the most severely injured of the children, having suffered a crushed pelvis and legs. Fifteen-year-old John O'Donnell of 155 Beech Street suffered a fractured skull. The sled driver and the other children were injured, but not severely. A fireman nearby called the local hospitals by telephone and several ambulances arrived. Mrs. Donovan was alerted of the accident and went with Marian in the ambulance to <a href="http://quod.lib.umich.edu/d/dpa1ic/x-dpa2186/DPA2186.TIF?from=index;lasttype=boolean;lastview=thumbnail;resnum=1;size=20;start=1;subview=detail;view=entry;rgn1=ic_all;q1=emergency">Emergency Hospital</a> at the southwest corner of Porter and Second Streets. Dr. Donovan was out making house calls, but was found and brought to the hospital. The <i>Detroit Free Press</i> reported:<br />
<i><blockquote>At the hospital, everything possible was done for the little Donovan girl... It was immediately seen by Dr. Stapleton that the girl could not recover. Her father and mother staid by until the end came, shortly after 2 o'clock. Fr. Savage arrived at the hospital in time to administer the rites of the church to the little girl before she passed away. She was unconscious and in a delirium and sang occasionally <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3_YoQp_gic">Good-Bye, Little Girl, Good-Bye,"</a> a song now popular with the children.</i></blockquote><br />
<center><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3919/14656880233_9f1a01d461_o.jpg"><br />
<i>The </i>Detroit Free Press<i> of February 5, 1905.</i></center><br />
Marian's funeral was held at her home and at Most Holy Trinity Church on the morning of Tuesday, February the 7th, 1905. Four of her classmates were pallbearers. The scene was described by the <i>Free Press</i>:<br />
<i><blockquote>Many beautiful floral pieces have been sent to the grief stricken home. Among the number was a handsome piece from the members of Engine Co. No. 8, which is stationed near the dead child's home. Marion was a favorite with the firemen and her daily visit to their quarters will be greatly missed.</i></blockquote>The home and church were filled with friends, family and neighbors paying their last respects. At the church, the hymns "Nearer, My God, to Thee" and "Face to Face" were sung in addition to a requiem mass. According to the <i>Free Press</i>:<br />
<blockquote><i><br />
While the coffin was being carried out of the church, a Sherman street car bore down upon the hearse and a collision was narrowly averted. One side of the hearse was scraped by the car...<br />
<br />
Undertaker Frank J. Blake says that the car which hit his hearse is the one that ran into the sleigh and caused the death of the child whose remains were being interred.</blockquote></i><br />
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<center><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2895/14655492063_e0a65cf8f8_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Marian C. Donovan's grave at Mount Elliott Cemetery, Detroit.</i></center><br />
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<h2><center>Other Members of the Donovan Family</h2></center><br />
Of the six children born to Dr. and Mrs. Donovan, four reached adulthood:<br />
<br />
<ul><li><b>Florence</b> (1891-1985) Enjoyed a long career as a teacher in the Detroit Public Schools. Never married.</li>
<li><b>Ella</b> (1890-1980) Lived with her sister Florence, but did not work due to ill health.</li>
<li><b>Daniel Raymond "Dr. Ray"</b> (1893-1960) Became a physician and served in the U.S. Army 302nd Medical Corps in World War I, receiving a Bronze Star. Married Married Rheta Grace McCubbin in the 1920s, but the couple did not have any children.</li>
<li><b>Edna</b> (1894-1968) Married Theophilus Mahan in 1925, had three children.</li>
</ul><br />
<center><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3885/14490090577_4687cc7d1b_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Dr. Daniel Raymond Donovan, son of Dr. Daniel O. Donovan.<br />
Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.</i></center><br />
Colleen Mahan, a great-granddaughter of Dr. Daniel O. Donovan, has shared with me some of the memories of the family homestead passed down by her Aunt Mary (a daughter of Edna [Donovan] Mahan) and Great-Aunt Florence Donovan. The following information comes from these relatives. Although Dr. Donovan did make some house calls on foot, there was also a barn at the rear of the property where a horse and carriage were kept for longer distances. Dr. Donovan hired an elderly African-American man to tend to the horses and drive the carriage, and he ate his meals in the family's kitchen. When automobiles became common, Dr. Donovan purchased a Plymouth, but he never learned to drive. Instead, his daughter Florence would drive him. The house was situated next to the Detroit Fire Department's Engine Co. No. 8, and if the firefighters had to rush off to a fire, the family would go next door to ensure that the stove burners were turned off if the firemen were in the middle of cooking. Beggars would collect food from the side door of the home, and when one did, he would mark the stepping stone at the curb (for climbing into carriages) with a piece of chalk, presumably to let other transients know that the house had already given that day.<br />
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<center><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5566/14918168437_cd6b8519af_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Detail from a photograph of Engine Company No. 8, built in 1918 to replace an<br />
older building on that site. The Donovan house barely appears at the edge of<br />
the photo, which was probably taken soon after the firehouse's completion.<br />
Image courtesy of the Manning Brothers Historic Photo Collection.</i></center><br />
Isabelle Donovan died on April 21, 1928. Her husband survived her by eight years, passing away at home on July 13, 1936. He remained active in medicine until the end of his life, as his obituary in <i>The Detroit News</i> noted: "In later years he attempted something of a retirement, but until the last he received patients at his home and even made calls on old friends who insisted on having his advice and care."<br />
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<center><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3921/14448961529_dd171df4a2_o.jpg"><br />
<i>The Donovan family plot at Mount Elliott Cemetery, Detroit.</i></center><br />
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<br />
<h2><center>Anthony & Jessie Xerri</h2></center><br />
On September 20, 1937, the children of Daniel and Isabelle Donovan sold the home they grew up in to Anthony and Jessie Xerri. By then, the address had changed from 20 Baker Street to 1221 Bagley.<br />
<br />
Anthony Xerri was born in Victoria, on the island of Gozo, part of the nation of Malta, on January 8, 1896. He was employed as an auto worker at Ford. Giuseppa "Jessie" (Mallia) Xerri was born in Hamrun, Malta, in 1907. The couple had three children: Mary, Joseph, and John.<br />
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<center><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5542/14443573097_7ef7f47919_o.jpg"><br />
<i>1221 Bagley Avenue in 1976.<br />
Photo courtesy of the State Historic Preservation Office of Michigan.</i></center><br />
Anthony Xerri spend the last 47 years of his life in this home, passing away September 7, 1984.<br />
<br />
On May 10th, 1985, Jessie Xerri sold 1221 Bagley to Barbara Anderson. She has since married John Prusak, and the couple continue to lovingly maintain the home of "Old Corktown's Physician."<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2909/14526605008_900f0c6c82_o.jpg"></center>Paul Sewickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07669801736415800340noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2752902338377637545.post-47182131923333220792014-08-06T07:02:00.003-04:002016-05-02T09:47:47.953-04:00John K. King Books<center><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2725/4379524678_3d70dc933b_z.jpg" width="602" height="402"><br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/rochephoto/4379524678/sizes/o/">Photo by Flickr user Roche Photo.</a></center><br />
<a href="http://www.rarebooklink.com/cgi-bin/kingbooks/index.html">John K. King Used & Rare Books</a> hardly needs an introduction to any readers in Metro Detroit. Located in a former four-story factory at Lafayette and the Lodge Expressway for thirty years, the million-book collection is the biggest in Michigan and among the largest in the United States. John King Books has long been popular destination for local bibliophiles as well as tourists.<br />
<br />
This is the story of the building it now occupies, the land on which it sits, and how the massive structure was moved 250 feet sixty-six years ago to its present location.<br />
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<br />
<center><h2>The Land</h2></center><br />
This block was part of the ribbon farm which DeGarmo Jones purchased in 1821 and owned until his death in 1846. Jones' widow, Catherine H. (Annin) Jones, subdivided the farm south of Michigan Avenue into blocks, lots, streets and alleys in 1851. Mrs. Jones reserved one block--bounded by Fort Street, Lafayette Boulevard, 4th St. and 5th St--for a palatial mansion that she had built soon afterward. The home, set in the center of the block, appears the 1853 map of the city drawn by Henry Hart. Mrs. Jones died in 1865.<br />
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<center><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3920/14547829880_5f1da0773a_o.jpg"><br />
<i>The Jones Mansion block in 1853.</i></center><br />
By the 1880s, this block had come to be owned by the Connecticut Mutual Insurance Company. In September of 1882, this company paid the contracting firm Wellington & Coughlin to move the mansion from the center of the block toward Fort Street so that an alley could be added and the rest of the block divided into individual lots for sale. It was on two of these northerly lots that the future home of John K. King Books would be built.<br />
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As for the mansion, it was sold, renovated, and reopened as the Detroit Sanitarium. The Sanitarium was more or less a private hospital that treated chronic ailments, but not contagious diseases. It was moved to Providence Hospital on West Grand Boulevard in 1914, and the building was converted into a hotel.<br />
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<center><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3860/14732088241_1e58aaed7c_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Advertisement in an 1884 Detroit city directory.</i></center><br />
William A. Moore, a local attorney for the Connecticut Mutual Insurance Company, <a href="http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/platmaps/dt_image.asp?BCC_SUBINDEX=11476">subdivided</a> the block into twelve 50-foot-by-130-foot lots in 1889. When the Detroit Museum of Art was in search of a site for a permanent institution in 1884, the Connecticut Mutual Insurance Company offered to sell five of the six lots on the north side of this block for $40,000 (over $1 million today, adjusted for inflation). A different site was chosen, and these lots sat vacant for several years.<br />
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<br />
<center><h2>A New Factory for Edson, Moore & Company</h2></center><br />
James L. Edson, George F. Moore, and Ransom Gillis founded their dry goods (fabric and clothing) wholesale business, Edson, More & Co., in 1872. By 1898, the company was producing their own "shirtwaists" (blouses) as the Ste. Claire Manufacturing Company, first operating out of a shared industrial space on Porter and Fourth Street.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5562/14741645552_2740f5bd7b_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Advertisement from a 1905 newspaper.</i></center><br />
The business continued to grow until it became necessary to build its own factory. The <i>Detroit Free Press</i> of January 8, 1905 announced:<br />
<blockquote><i>For the new building that is to be erected for the Ste. Claire Manufacturing Co., corner of Fourth street and Lafayette avenue, Architects Stratton & Baldwin have let the following contracts: Mason work, J. B. Le Reau & Co.; carpenter work, Harcus & Lange; steel work, H.B. Lewis; painting, Fred Ramford & Co.; roofers, Hartman & Scharf; plumbing, S. H. Morgan. The new building is to be 50x130 feet, four stories high, with a full cellar.</i></blockquote>A few years later, the architects--William Buck Stratton and Frank Conger Baldwin--would go on to design the Pewabic Pottery studio on East Jefferson Avenue. In 1917, Mr. Stratton married <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Chase_Perry_Stratton">Mary Chase Perry</a>, a co-founder of Pewabic Pottery.<br />
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<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2903/14763495906_25a9d0d298_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Architects William B. Stratton </i>(<a href="http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/images/detail/william-buck-stratton-6527">source</a>)<i> and Frank C. Baldwin </i>(Det. Free Press 9/20/1908).</center><br />
<br />
The site selected for the factory was the southwest corner of Lafayette Boulevard and Fourth Street--lot #1 of the former Jones Mansion block, also known as the William A. Moore subdivision. The building permit was issued to the general contracting firm LeMay & Whelan (Nelson Le May and Charles J. Whelan), according to the March 19, 1905 edition of the <i>Free Press</i>. The estimated cost of construction was $23,000.<br />
<br />
<center><img SRC="https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3885/14555209749_881305f842_b.jpg"></CENTER><br />
Within months of opening, the new factory was praised by inspector Mary Girardin of the Michigan Bureau of Labor in a report dated November 30, 1905:<br />
<blockquote><i>Two hundred girls are working in the new factory of the Ste. Claire Manufacturing Company here and they have fine facilities for the care of their employes. In the basement is a cafe where they are served with noon day lunches at cost prices. The company takes a decided interest in its employes and has found that it was an excellent business investment.</i> (<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=kk9aAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA279&dq=%22claire+manufacturing%22+detroit&hl=en&sa=X&ei=bXPIU-WIOISLyASTiYKYDA&ved=0CCcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22claire%20manufacturing%22%20detroit&f=false">Source</a>.)</blockquote><br />
The December 20, 1905 edition of the Detroit merchants' weekly journal, simply entitled <i>Trade</i>, remarked:<br />
<blockquote><i>Some years ago the large demand for ladies shirtwaists, wrappers, etc. made it necessary for the firm [Edson, Moore & Co.] to start a factory of their own for the manufacture of this class of merchandise. This venture has proved a large and thriving business in itself. Last year they erected their new factory, corner Lafayette avenue and Fourth street. This is the most complete factory of its kind in the middle west, being a five-story building, mill construction, employing three hundred to three hundred and fifty people. The product of this company is distributed not only in this territory but throughout the entire west. The factory is run as a separate organization under the name of the Ste. Clair Mfg. Co.</i> (<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=qacxAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA6-PA58&lpg=RA6-PA58&dq=%22edson+moore%22+factory+shirtwaist&source=bl&ots=NtEqOhe-GJ&sig=zqMLnmXkgsCmdOrbVKl0bvBSQQg&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ojHJU6iLMIWxyATJtoGQCQ&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22edson%20moore%22%20factory%20shirtwaist&f=false">Source</a>.)</blockquote><br />
Although Edson, Moore & Co. continued to do business for years, the Ste. Claire Manufacturing line seemed to disappear just a few years after the opening of the factory on Lafayette and Fourth. 1908 is the last year that they are listed at this address.<br />
<br />
<br />
<center><h2>National Color Co. & Crown Hat Manufacturing Co.</h2></center><br />
Following the departure of Ste. Claire Manufacturing, the building was occupied by two affiliated businesses: Crown Hat Manufacturing Co. and National Color Co., both founded by Arthur Drury Mitchell. Crown Hat Manufacturing began in 1902, first producing ladies' hats on Park Place just north of Michigan Avenue. The building on Lafayette and Fourth was a branch factory for the company at least as early as 1908, and became its sole manufacturing center soon afterward. The National Color Co., incorporated in 1909, manufactured dyes especially for milliners. It was initially listed at a building farther west on Lafayette Boulevard, but the company appeared at this address by 1910.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5595/14721281366_c116e65e25_o.jpg"><br />
(<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=otFOAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA7-PA2&dq=%22black+our+specialty%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=9cPSU-DSNcyuyATF5YDQCQ&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=%22black%20our%20specialty%22&f=false">Source</a>.)</center><br />
Although Crown Hats were made in Detroit, the company's flagship store was at 604 Broadway in New York City. The photograph below depicts their New York showroom as it appeared in 1909.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2912/14583313047_15cca3ec7c_o.jpg"><br />
(<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=XMxOAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA97&lpg=PA97&dq=%22CROWN+HAT+MANUFACTURING%22+FOURTH&source=bl&ots=8Djd_0yhht&sig=dPyCtfXlGtKc9j2pP-UlyvFXLpc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=MXDSU9KXGY63yASg9oHYDw&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=%22CROWN%20HAT%20MANUFACTURING%22%20FOURTH&f=false">Source</a>.)</center><br />
The image below, taken from a 1910 edition of <i>The Illustrated Milliner</i>, displays some of the items made in the Crown Hat Manufacturing Company's Detroit factory. <br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5574/14583147568_aea27f13f3_b.jpg"><br />
(<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=s9NOAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA101&dq=%22Examples+of+Smart+Shapes,+Sbown+by+lbe+Crown+Hat%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=pZfWU5r8CdOiyATUlIGIAQ&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22Examples%20of%20Smart%20Shapes%2C%20Sbown%20by%20lbe%20Crown%20Hat%22&f=false">Source</a>.)</center><br />
On January 11, 1912, a factory immediately to the south of the Crown Hat Mfg. Co., which housed the Chamberlin Metal Weatherstripping Co., was destroyed by fire. The Crown Hat building is barely discernible in the background on the left hand side of the photo below.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2916/14811270285_06ceb4db8f_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Source: </i>Detroit Free Press<i>, January 5, 1912.</i></center><br />
Crown Hat experienced a fire of its own on December 29, 1914, believed to have been due to faulty wiring. Although it was contained to the top floor and extinguished before it could spread, stock on the lower levels were damaged by water and 250 employees were put out of work. The company was protected by an insurance policy and made a full recovery.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3843/14808144123_f5ecd175c0_b.jpg"><br />
<i>A postcard depicting Lafayette Boulevard, Detroit, circa 1917.</i> (<a href="http://detroiths.pastperfect-online.com/33029cgi/mweb.exe?request=record;id=10FFBFC1-128E-4539-8B33-550851961407;type=301">Source</a>.)</center><br />
The image below, taken from the 1922 Sanborn fire insurance maps, shows the factory in its original location. The Jones mansion/Detroit Sanitarium had been turned into a hotel by that point, and most of the block was still empty. <br />
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<center><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3842/14589878580_e85c5a00db_o.jpg"></center><br />
Ultimately, the Crown Hat Manufacturing Company fell victim to the Great Depression, becoming bankrupt in May of 1930. The 1931 directory lists the factory as vacant, which it remained for several years.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h2><center>Advance Glove Manufacturing Company</h2></center><br />
The founder of Advance Glove Manufacturing, Joseph Frenkel, was born in the Ukraine in 1899 and immigrated to the U.S. in 1921. In 1929, he started the company at the corner of Russell Ave and Vernor Highway. The operation later moved to a five-story building Jefferson Avenue between Woodward and Griswold, but it burned completely in a spectacular fire on May 10, 1937. It moved again to 1040 West Fort Street before finally settling at 901 West Lafayette in the 1940s.<br />
<br />
The company expanded with factories in Ohio, Illinois and Georgia, and manufactured other safety and industrial clothing, such as welding aprons and firefighter suits.<br />
<br />
<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/kodamakitty/2917398570"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3160/2917398570_f98a8a8cf8.jpg"></a><br />
<i>Floor mat still at the entrance of the building.</i><br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/kodamakitty/">Photo by Flickr user Kodamakitty.</a></center><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<h2><center>The Big Move</h2></center><br />
The factory had sat where it was built for more than four decades. But as the United States entered the disastrous urban renewal frenzy of the mid-20th century, this happened:<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5594/14617624967_8bf50472df_o.jpg"><br />
<i>A Detroit Plan Commission map showing the proposed route of the Lodge Expressway.<br />
Image courtesy Detroit Historical Museum.</i> (<a href="http://detroiths.pastperfect-online.com/33029cgi/mweb.exe?request=record;id=D738F30D-191C-4273-AE38-523753844001;type=301">Source</a>.)</center><br />
One of the first freeways to be built in Detroit was the John C. Lodge Expressway, and the Advance Glove factory stood in its path. The construction of this freeway, which began in January 1947, destroyed thousands of homes and buildings in the city. But the Advance Glove factory was spared, and was instead jacked up and rolled 250 feet westward in 1948, from the corner of Lafayette and Fourth Street to the corner of Lafayette and Fifth Street.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3901/14788263026_a6cd7df032_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Work crews prepare to move the Advanced Glove building in 1948.<br />
Source: </i>Detroit Free Press<i>, September 19, 1994.</i></center><br />
Work in the factory was not interrupted by the building's move. According to Ted Oresky, who worked on the project and was quoted in a 1994 article in the <i>Detroit Free Press</i> about John King Books, the factory was moved on log-like rollers made of Alabama gum wood.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2909/14786492925_5c5583791b_o.jpg"><br />
<i>The future home of John K. King Books in 1936.</i> (<a href="http://dlxs.lib.wayne.edu/cgi/i/image/image-idx?q1=lafayette;rgn1=vmc_all;op2=And;rgn2=vmc_all;med=1;c=vmc;back=back1405710544;chaperone=S-VMC-X-435%20435;evl=full-image;chaperone=S-VMC-X-435%20435;quality=1;view=entry;subview=detail;cc=vmc;entryid=x-435;viewid=435;start=;resnum=2">Source</a>.)</center><br />
<center><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3838/14806338703_c7e5f496ae_o.jpg"><br />
<i>The same block in 1962, fourteen years after the building was moved.</i> (<a href="http://dlxs.lib.wayne.edu/cgi/i/image/image-idx?q1=lodge;rgn1=vmc_all;op2=And;rgn2=vmc_all;c=vmc;med=1;back=back1406667453;chaperone=S-VMC-X-201%20201;evl=full-image;chaperone=S-VMC-X-201%20201;quality=1;view=entry;subview=detail;cc=vmc;entryid=x-201;viewid=201;start=;resnum=1">Source</a>.)</center><br />
<center><img SRC="https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3918/14590373317_576965ecd1_o.jpg"><br />
<i>The factory at its new location. Image courtesy Sanborn maps.</i></CENTER><center><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3918/14593048290_31ee12809f_o.jpg"><br />
<i>The Advance Glove factory, behind the Otis Elevator building, in 1966.</i> (<a href="http://dlxs.lib.wayne.edu/cgi/i/image/image-idx?q1=OTIS;rgn1=vmc_all;op2=And;rgn2=vmc_all;med=1;c=vmc;back=back1405710323;chaperone=S-VMC-X-47335%2047335;evl=full-image;chaperone=S-VMC-X-47335%2047335;quality=1;view=entry;subview=detail;cc=vmc;entryid=x-47335;viewid=47335;start=;resnum=3">Source</a>.)</center><br />
On March 19, 1981, the Advanced Glove Manufacturing Company filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. The following November 30, the case was converted to chapter 7 and the company's assets were liquidated.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<center><h2>John K. King Books</center></h2><br />
<center><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5247/5340968290_b6a7a738c7_z.jpg" width="602" height="402"><br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/salticidae/5340968290/sizes/z/">Photo by Flickr user Salticidae.</a></center><br />
John K. King got into the book business in 1965, first at a small shop downtown and briefly expanding into a store in Dearborn. When the Dearborn store was not successful, he returned downtown, opening a store in the Michigan Theater Building on Bagley Street. Twelve years later, having outgrown that location, Mr. King asked an employee of his to search classified ads for a new location for the business. The former Advance Glove Manufacturing Co. was listed among the ads, and it happened to suit his needs. Mr. King purchased the building in 1983 and opened his new location on January 1, 1984.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2352/2052750174_9c6cf63f29_z.jpg" width="600" height="400"><br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mechmed/2052750174/sizes/z/">Photo by Flickr user MarkinDetroit.</a></center><br />
Indications that this building was once a glove factory are scattered throughout the building. A large painting of a glove on the structure's facade remains intact. A rubber floor mat reading "Advance Gloves" is still at the building's entrance. The factory's wood-paneled offices on the first floor have been stuffed with books and incorporated into the retail floor space. Many signs admonishing workers "<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesbursa/8907455355/">NO SMOKING IN PLANT</A>" remain hanging above the bookcases.<br />
<br />
Mr. King outgrew even this building, and his collection has spilled over into another former factory, located immediately to the south of the former factory on Lafayette. This second building, which houses more rare collections that are seen by appointment only, was constructed in 1909 by the Vinton Company for the Otis Elevator Company of New York. Before being purchased by Mr. King, it housed the architecture firm Eberle M. Smith Associates for several decades.<br />
<br />
John K. King Used & Rare Books is located at 901 West Lafayette Avenue in Detroit, and is open 9:30am to 5:30pm Monday through Saturday.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/152/386892921_c4ea1a4157_z.jpg?zz=1" width="600" height="400"><br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/danepstein/386892921/sizes/z/">Photo by Flick user danepstein.</a></center>Paul Sewickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07669801736415800340noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2752902338377637545.post-35306216611880208622014-06-10T10:51:00.001-04:002014-06-10T11:10:52.599-04:00Kaul Glove Factory / Robert Keller Ink Co.<center><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3832/14118600530_2bbffcc7e3_o.jpg"></center><br />
Nestled amongst century-old homes, a playground, and a sandwich shop, there is a side street in Corktown so quiet that I sometimes forget that there is a four-story factory standing there. Letters attached to the vacant building, at 1441 Brooklyn Street, read, "ON HAND SINCE 1912 - KAUL GLOVE CO.", but its first occupant was the Robert Keller Ink Company in 1917.<br />
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<br />
<center><h1>Robert Keller Ink Co.</h1></center><center><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2917/14253206455_eb63ef7989_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Image from an advertisement in a 1918 Detroit city directory.</i></center><br />
Robert Keller was born in Germany on July 29, 1860, six months before his family moved to Switzerland, where he lived until he was 21. Keller immigrated to the United States in 1881 and settled in Detroit two years later. He was employed by various drug stores until he ultimately owned his own business. In 1886, Keller married Sarah Grace McConville, with whom he had two children who survived infancy: George Robert and Edwin Charles.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2900/14230053986_dc5054b547_o.jpg"><br />
(<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=NN8DAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA108&dq=president+and+manager+the+robert+keller+ink+co&hl=en&sa=X&ei=4pB_U8D-FdGpyATBv4D4Bg&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=president%20and%20manager%20the%20robert%20keller%20ink%20co&f=false">Source</a>.)</center><br />
Robert Keller began to manufacture ink out of the basement of his drug store at the corner of Third Street and Warren Avenue in 1886, experimenting with and improving his formulas. What began as a side business became his full-time occupation with the incorporation of the Robert Keller Ink. Co. in 1899. In addition to ink, Keller made sealing wax and "mucilage", which is just a nauseating word for glue. Keller's business outgrew several factories, including one on Fort Street east of 12th Street. The company finally found a suitable home in Corktown with the construction of a modern building during World War I.<br />
<br />
<br />
<center><h1>"A Model Factory"</h1></center><center><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2911/14230054116_c5b50256aa_b.jpg"><br />
(<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=BGlYAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA22-PA22&lpg=RA22-PA22&dq=%22robert+keller+ink%22+brooklyn&source=bl&ots=DixMes-lcK&sig=7BON-mcHwsh8nb-N2hFLhYnWm5Y&hl=en&sa=X&ei=vXp_U4yNOcmVqAawlIHoBA&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22robert%20keller%20ink%22%20brooklyn&f=false">Source</a>.)</center><br />
Work began on the building in February of 1917. In addition to factory space, it housed the company's offices and laboratories. The structure was designed by the architecture and engineering firm Preston, Brown & Walker, and it was estimated to cost $30,000. The four-story building measures 80 feet by 40 feet and covers approximately 20,000 square feet of floor space, including the basement. Keller wanted a "model factory" with all modern amenities, including automatic fire doors, sanitary drinking fountains, "noiseless" mastic flooring, an inter-department telephone system, and a two-ton electric elevator.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5572/14251022832_79ab39d063_b.jpg"></center><br />
Robert Keller died June 9, 1932 in Windsor, Ontario.<br />
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<br />
<center><h1>Kaul Glove & Manufacturing Co.</h1></center><br />
The Kaul Glove and Manufacturing Co. traces its origins to the incorporation of the Cravanette Glove and Manufacturing Co. on December 3, 1912. Its founding board of directors was Peter R. Will, Julius Robinson, and George P. Kaul. Kaul, who was just 22 years old when Cravanette was incorporated, would ultimately control the company. Through a series of acquisitions and name changes, the Cravanette Glove and Manufacturing Co. ultimately became the Kaul Glove and Manufacturing Co.<br />
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<center><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2922/14230054236_ce7f96acc2_o.jpg"><br />
<i>The Kaul Glove and Manufacturing Company in 1976.<br />
Courtesy Michigan State Historic Preservation Office.</i></center><br />
I am not able to research a detailed timeline of the factory's ownership for the time being, but I can say that Keller Inks occupied the property as late as 1936, and Kaul Glove was here as early as 1952. George P. Kaul died on December 31, 1976 at the age of 86, and the building is now affiliated with Michael George Conniff Jr, whose grandfather, Alphonsus John Conniff, was a business partner of Mr. Kaul. In 1998, Kaul Glove was acquired by the <a href="http://www.choctawkaul.com">Choctaw-Kaul Distribution Company</a>, which operates on Vinewood Street in southwest Detroit. Michael Conniff serves as that company's Chief Financial Officer.<br />
<br />
Although the building is very quiet today, it is evidently maintained--taxes are paid and graffiti is cleaned up. In my opinion, this would be the perfect location for condo lofts, similar to the nearby Sixth Street Lofts and the <a href="http://www.grinnellplace.com/">Grinnell Place Lofts</a>. This seems like <a href="http://www.freep.com/article/20140608/BUSINESS04/306080045/Condos-conversion-Detroit-FD-Lofts">the right time</a> for such a project.Paul Sewickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07669801736415800340noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2752902338377637545.post-26312227532197139932014-04-03T22:58:00.000-04:002014-04-04T11:54:49.723-04:00Ramara FlatsThe Detroit Fire Department was called to the scene of a a fire at a vacant apartment building at 2628 Rosa Parks Boulevard in North Corktown in the early morning hours of April 2nd. No one was injured in the blaze, which amazingly was prevented from spreading to an occupied building just a feet away.<br />
<br />
<center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/8nHS4khLI44" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center><br />
The owner of the ruined building is Rumzzy Ahmed Mamodesene, 30, of Silver Spring, Maryland. Taxes have not been paid on the property in several years, and Wayne County issued a notice of forfeiture in March of 2013. Mr. Mamodesene was able to redeem the property in January of this year, but it still appears that the taxes have not been paid. Although Mamodesene's name remains on the tax records, a quit-claim deed granting the property to Eddie W. Smith and Norman Smith of Detroit, dated September of 2011, was filed with Wayne County.<br />
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<center><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3672/13614230654_e632061f86_z.jpg"><br />
<i>The Ramara Flats on April 3, 2014. The rubble was still smoldering.</i></center><br />
These apartments were noticeable for <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/metroblossom/8240212574/">the large, enigmatic mural</a> on its south wall that read: "Out of a job yet? Keep voting Republican. Bet $10,000. Obama & Biden. Vote 2012." It was never clear to me exactly what the bet <i>was</i>.<br />
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<br />
<center><h2>History</h2></center><br />
This 105-year-old building was of frame construction with a brick veneer, and contained six apartments. It was clearly almost identical in layout to its next door neighbor. In fact, there were originally <i>three</i> six-apartment flats on the southeast corner of Rosa Parks Boulveard (then called Twelfth Street) and Spruce Street--the Ramara Flats, the building that just burned; the Orena Flats, the one that survives; and the Elaine Flats, which faced Spruce Street and stood behind the Orena.<br />
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Contractor William Hart purchased these lots in February of 1909 and obtained the permits to build them that same month. The estimated cost of construction was $16,000, and they were projected to be completed within three months. William Hart was the junior partner of the construction business Hart Bros., which he operated with his brother John.<br />
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The Hart brothers' parents, John and Martha Barisdale Hart, were both born in Ireland and immigrated to Canada at early ages. The younger John Hart was born in Ontario in 1861, and his brother William was born two years later after the family had immigrated to Michigan. John and William's parents died in the early 1880s, leaving the young men to take over the family farm in Southfield. In the 1890s, the men had moved to Detroit to seek better opportunities. John became a mason and William a carpenter. In 1901, they formed a contracting and real estate firm Hart Bros., operated from an office in the <a href="http://detroit.curbed.com/tags/detroit-chamber-of-commerce-building">Chamber of Commerce Building</a>.<br />
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<center><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2894/13613876655_d241b62f2f_z.jpg"><br />
<i>Advertisement in the 1903 Detroit city directory.</i></center><br />
<center><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3781/13614316163_3bb8220133_z.jpg"><br />
(<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=NrU-AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA200&dq=%22john+hart%22+%22successful+men+of+michigan%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=-RI-U4yzPJO2sASwxoAg&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22john%20hart%22%20%22successful%20men%20of%20michigan%22&f=false">Source</a>.)</center><br />
<center><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3707/13614228634_bdb8417711_z.jpg"><br />
<i>Advertisement from </i>Detroit Free Press<i>, July 9, 1911.</i></center><br />
Although Hart Bros. engaged in all types of home construction, they specialized in a standardized six-apartment flat, of which the Elaine, Orena, and Ramara were examples. When John Hart retired in 1917, he estimated that his firm constructed approximately 150 of these buildings throughout his career. Perhaps there are a few other survivors scattered throughout the city.<br />
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Small, middle-class families occupied these three buildings at the time of the 1910 census. They were mostly young couples, and none had more than two children. The breadwinners included clerks, managers, machinists, brass finishers, laborers, a fireman, a pharmacist, an engineer, a night watchman, a tailoress, and an auctioneer. Most were born in the United States or Canada, with just a small handful of immigrants from England and Ireland.<br />
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<center><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2878/13625115903_122526a60c_z.jpg"><br />
<i>Detail from 1910 census, listing the residents of the Ramara<br />
Flats (446 12th St.) and the Orena Flats (450 12th St.).</i></center><br />
Regarding the names of the buildings themselves, I am stumped. I once researched an apartment building that was named after the contractor's mother, but the Hart brothers had no relatives named Elaine, Orena, or Ramara that I could find. Any meanings behind them--if there ever were any--may be lost forever.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3755/13613888363_4128bc83f2_z.jpg"><br />
<i>Source: </i>Detroit Free Press<i>, August 13, 1911</i></centeR>Soon the remnants of the Ramara Flats will be torn down and carted off. The vacant lot will be filled in and graded, and only one lonely sibling will remain on the corner where three once stood.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2811/13613890693_909f707f1f_z.jpg"></center><br />
As of my writing this, the surviving building is <a href="http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/2638-Rosa-Parks-Blvd_Detroit_MI_48216_M34138-60612?row=1">currently for sale</a> with an asking price of $275,000.Paul Sewickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07669801736415800340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2752902338377637545.post-20531099250327030252014-03-19T22:25:00.000-04:002014-04-04T15:23:46.847-04:00The "Bagley Vision" BuildingThis building on the border of Corktown and Mexicantown at 2144-2150 Bagley is <a href="http://www.realestateone.com/homes/214018550_MIRC-2150_BAGLEY_Street-Detroit-MI-48216">for sale</a>, with an incredible asking price of $550,000.00. Although the price will clearly need to fall before the property is sold, there is something compelling about this building, and I believe it is worth keeping an eye on.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7338/13233102784_ca1158d9a5_o.jpg"></center><br />
The structure sits on two lots of the former Godfroy farm--numbers 97 and 100--which combined measure 145 feet on Bagley and 103.94 feet on Fourteenth. Before it was built, five one-story wood houses stood here, having probably been constructed in the 1870s or 1880s. The current building was originally a two-story factory with offices located in the front-center. Although city records state that it was constructed in 1933, the building permit (#19537) was actually issued on June 8, 1921. Originally there were two business listed at this address. <br />
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<br />
<h2><center>Detroit Mirror Works</h2></center><br />
The Detroit Mirror Works was founded in 1897 by George Wangbichler. He was born in Germany in 1869 and came to the United States in 1888. Prior to moving to this location, the Detroit Mirror Works business operated at the corner of Porter and 4th Streets. At the time, Wangbichler was a resident of Grosse Ile.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3795/13233101804_e712b19af5_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Advertisement from the 1921 Detroit city directory.</i></center><br />
<center><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7416/13233872843_8b70b67f3b_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Photo from Mr. and Mrs. George Wangbichler's passport, issued in 1923.<br />
Image courtesy Ancestry.com.</i></center><br />
In 1923, Wangbichler retired, having sold his business to William A. Richards and Frederick W. Weber. In May of 1930, Richards bought out Weber's share of the company and became the sole owner. The name was later changed to the Detroit Mirror & Glass Company.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h2><center>Detroit Mausoleum Equipment Works</h2></center><br />
The other business that first occupied this factory was the Detroit Mausoleum Equipment Works, founded by Charles Bovensiep Jr in 1911. He too was a native of Germany, born in 1871 and immigrated in 1882. The Detroit Mausoleum Works manufactured exclusively bronze doors and plaques for mausoleums and other memorials. Before moving to this site, the company previously occupied a building on Fort Street and Second Avenue.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7417/13243339044_ca9d1d6441_b.jpg"><br />
<i>Advertisement from </i>Granite, Marble & Bronze<i>, October 1922.</i></center><br />
<center><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7343/13243740475_d78420d7bc_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Photo from the </i>Detroit Free Press<i>, March 20, 1910.</i></center><br />
Both the Detroit Mausoleum Equipment Works and the Detroit Mirror & Glass Company occupied this building until the early 1940s. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<h2><center>Tragedy</h2></center><br />
By the mid-1940s, the building was occupied by the C. & P. Metal Co. and the National Tent & Awning Company. At the time, National Tent was manufacturing canvas coverings for army vehicles.<br />
<br />
At 2:30 p.m. on December 5, 1944, a fire broke out in the sewing room of the National Tent & Awning Company. Before long it had become a five-alarm blaze, fueled by stockpiles of canvas and engulfing the entire building.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7362/13278247665_cd1dae274e_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Source: </i>Detroit Fire Department Apparatus History<i> by Matthew Lee.</i></center><br />
Many of the company's thirty employees were on the second floor when the fire occurred, and had to escape by jumping out of windows. According to the <i>Detroit Free Press</i>, employee Leonard J. Clark carried four of his coworkers down a fireman's ladder. Tragically, three women did not escape in time: Frances Spencer, 44, Bessie Daisley, 52, and Merry Rolston, 38. <br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3819/13278246925_99568fb786_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Source:</i> Detroit Free Press<i>, December 6, 1944</i>.</center><br />
In addition to the three who lost their lives, three other employees were injured when escaping the building. It was believed that smoking in a prohibited area of the factory caused the fire. The <i>Free Press</i> reported that the building was "almost completely demolished"--although it appears that the brick facade was left intact. The flames were so intense that firemen needed to spray water between the building and the recently-completed U.S. Postal Service garage next door to prevent the fire from spreading.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3820/13585497153_39d3958f84_z.jpg"><br />
<i>Photo from</i> Detroit Free Press<i>, December 6, 1944.<br />
File source: Detroit Historical Society.</i>.</center><br />
There was evidently a <i>second</i> fire in this building on February 17, 1947, when it operated as a distribution center for radio manufacturer Philco, Inc. According to the Detroit Fire Marshall's Annual Report of 1947, damages exceeded $350,000.00.<br />
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<br />
<br />
<h2><center>Rebuilding</h2></center><br />
After multiple renovations and repairs, 2150 Bagley was occupied by the Century Bar & Restaurant Equipment Company by 1949.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2838/13223515035_a64736e11f_o.jpg"></center><center><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7040/13223850584_b6c202aa00_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Image courtesy City of Detroit.</i></center><br />
This image is from the 1950 edition of Sanborn's fire insurance maps of Detroit:<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3669/13223676993_e354fdd903_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Image courtesy Sanborn Maps.</i></center><br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3797/13584103875_2a92db2e31_z.jpg"><br />
<i>Aerial view of 2150 Bagley looking north, circa 1965.<br />
Courtesy Detroit Historical Society.</i></center><br />
<center><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3742/13585229314_f2ce8a0fb7_z.jpg"><br />
<i>Aerial view of 2150 Bagley looking east, circa 1965.<br />
Courtesy Detroit Historical Society.</i></center><br />
<br />
<br />
At some point the factory was sheathed in a bizarre combination of wood shakes and aluminum siding, as seen in this 1976 photo.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7125/13223515875_bb47080ba2_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Image courtesy Michigan State Historic Preservation Office.</i></center><br />
One year after this photo was taken, owner Charlotte Hamilton sold the property to George J. Ondik and his wife Josephine M. Ondik. The Ondik family is still connected to the property.<br />
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<br />
<br />
<h2><center>Decline</h2></center><br />
Much of the odd siding seen in the 1976 photos has since been removed. However, the building--now ninety-three years old--has deteriorated severely in recent years.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7418/13232772475_c0b32b3cbe_o.jpg"></center><br />
One business that has operated here more or less continuously since 1977 is an optical company founded by George Ondik. Originally incorporated in 1960 as Cameo Optical, this optometry service has been run by members of the Ondik family under various names--Bagley Vision, Bagley Optical, Corktown Optical, Park Bagley Corp, Park Bagley LLC, Opt T Optical, and Precision Optical. The property owner today, as indicated by tax records, is <b>Park Bagley LLC</b>. The LLC's listed agent is West Bloomfield resident Donna Tarnas, a daughter of George Ondik.<br />
<br />
This building has gained notoriety for its intermittent use as an illegal after-hours club. The following incident, reported by the <i>Detroit Free Press</i>, is only a recent example:<br />
<br />
<blockquote><h3>46 people cited, drugs found during raid</h3> A raid on a southwest Detroit blind pig early Sunday resulted in several arrests, the impounding of numerous vehicles and the confiscation of illegal drugs.<br />
The raid by the Wayne County Sheriff's Office occurred about 4 a.m. at 2214 [sic] Bagley and was in response to complaints about noise, after-hours illegal alcohol sales and drug use, according to a news release from the Sheriff's Office.<br />
In all, 46 individuals were cited and 25 vehicles were impounded. Various amounts of cocaine and marijuana were confiscated, as well as one handgun, the release said.<br />
Investigators said they believe the blind pig has been running for months and had been the subject of a previous raid. (<i>Detroit Free Press</i>, 3/5/2012)</blockquote><br />
On the day that news story was published, George Ondik filed to organize Bagley Avenue Properties LLC. Three weeks later, on March 28, 2012, he filed a quit-claim of the property with Wayne County designating the LLC as the grantee. <i>Potential buyers would be well advised to ensure a clean title by obtaining title insurance when attempting to purchase this or any other property.</i><br />
<br />
In addition to decay and illicit uses, 2150 Bagley is beset by yet another problem: tax foreclosure. Taxes have not been paid on this building in several years, and together with fees and interest they total <a href="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3784/13268955943_da3f614e4d_o.png">over $30,000.00</a>. On March 1, 2013, the Wayne County Treasurer initiated the foreclosure process by issuing a certificate of forfeiture for nonpayment of 2011 taxes.<br />
<br />
Despite this building's serious issues--and despite the aggravation of having spent five years of my life living next to a two-story code violation that emitted techno music--there is something I love about this building. Maybe it's the sound of the passing trains, its very close proximity to Honeybee Market, or the proper urban street wall formed by the facade. Or maybe I'm just a hipster who thinks that living in a repurposed factory is "cool." Whatever it is, I sincerely hope that a wise and capable investor rescues this living artifact of our neighborhood's history.<br />
<br />
Interested parties should contact O'Connor Realty at (313) 963-9891.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3786/13232772085_d21882cd31_o.jpg"></center>Paul Sewickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07669801736415800340noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2752902338377637545.post-61502379256495748072014-01-21T06:42:00.001-05:002014-01-21T10:40:34.356-05:00Practice·Space<center><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3833/11988612823_f7ae1965f6_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Photo source: practicespace.org</i></center><br />
If you've driven down 14th Street any time in the last year, you have probably noticed this eye-catching building at the corner of 14th and Perry Streets. The windows in this former Standard Oil filling station, which had been bricked in, have more recently been replaced with the metal sculptures pictured here. This new facade symbolizes the mission of the building's current occupant, Practice·Space--the adaptive reuse and reactivation of Detroit's vacant buildings.<br />
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<br />
<br />
<center><h2>Pre-History</h2></center><br />
Two homes used to stand on this lot--a two-family flat that faced 14th Street, and a smaller house on the rear of the property adjacent to the alley. These were rental homes owned by Captain Edward John Donoghue and his wife, Ida.<br />
<br />
Captain Donoghue was born in Clayton, New York in 1859 to Irish parents. He first sailed as a cabin boy at the age of 10 and was a captain by the age of 19. He was a survivor of the wreck of the <a href="http://www.dtmag.com/dive-usa/locations/DavidDows.html"><i>David Dows</a></i> in November of 1889, which nearly resulted in him losing his hands and feet to frostbite. Donoghue developed a reputation as as captain who ruled his ship with an iron fist, and became known by his colleagues as "the wild Irishman".<br />
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<center><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2830/11376682585_964a16ddb7_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Captain Donoghue in in 1906 and in 1931.<br />
1931 image courtesy Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.</i></center><br />
In 1898, Captain Donoghue married Ida M. Kerschky, a German immigrant nineteen years younger than himself. Beginning in 1906, he commanded the ship that supplied sand for the concrete in the construction of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Central_Railway_Tunnel">railway tunnel to Canada</a>, and in 1918 he joined the Detroit Fire Department as captain of a fire boat.<br />
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On August 16th, 1922, Captain and Mrs. Donoghue sold their rental homes at Perry and 14th Street to the Standard Oil Corporation of Indiana for $10,000.00. The buildings were demolished and a small filling station was built on the site, including a 914 square foot structure that survives today. Unfortunately, this building could not be located in the index to building permits, and its builder and exact date of construction could not be determined.<br />
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<center><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7364/11468574776_f958459f65_o.jpg"><br />
<i>The northwest corner of Perry and 14th St. in 1921 and 1950. Source: Sanborn Maps.</i></center><br />
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<br />
<center><h2>The Filling Station</h2></center><br />
Throughout the 1930s, the city directories listed local resident Lawrence Jones as the manager of this Standard Oil Co. filling station. Few city directories after available after World War II. In 1956 this address is listed as "Ward's Standard Service Gas Station", managed by Robert B. Flenniken. In 1958 it was "Nick's Standard Service Gas Station," managed by A. L. Nickerson.<br />
<br />
On December 31st, 1960, as part of Standard Oil's reorganization, the ownership of the property was transferred to The American Oil Company (better known as Amoco), which was a wholly owned subsidiary of Standard. Business looked bad for the old filling station, and it was listed as vacant in the remainder of the available city directories (1964, 1965, 1970, and 1973). It does appear that some effort was made to expand the business within that time period, as a 1,328 square foot addition was built in 1966.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7369/11575680434_fda86e9589_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Source: City of Detroit</i></center><br />
Amoco lost the property from nonpayment of taxes in 1973. It was later purchased by Joseph P. Greck of Milford, Michigan at the 1977 tax sale. Ownership was officially transferred to Greck on May 11, 1979. Large additions to the building were completed in 1987. Mr. Greck is the "Joe" whose name is emblazoned on the building's exterior.<br />
<br />
On February 25, 2005, Greck sold the property to Henry Partlow for $2,000. Two years later, on September 13, 2007, Partlow sold it to M-I-I-A, Inc. for $5,000. M-I-I-A, Inc. is owned by Detroit resident Jerry L. Esters.<br />
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<br />
<center><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3774/11988612433_8886093bab_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Photo courtesy of Jerry Esters.</i></center><br />
<br />
<br />
<center><h2>Practice·Space</h2></center><br />
In 2013, the former garage was leased to a new business incubator called Practice·Space, founded by architect Justin Mast and designer Austin Kronig. Although there have been a growing number of incubators for tech startups in Detroit, Mast and Kronig wanted to create an organization that focused on brick-and-mortar startups--especially those that reused existing buildings. Although Detroit has an abundance of inexpensive land, vacant buildings, and people willing to put them to productive use, there are few consolidated resources to get these entrepreneurs in touch with the expertise they need. In addition to Mast and Kronig, Practice·Space's staff includes a five-member advisory panel knowledgeable in architecture, real estate, community development, and the legal and financial aspects of opening a small business in Detroit.<br />
<br />
Practice·Space has updated the building to include studio and presentation spaces, a library, and a lounge, while preserving elements from the old auto shop. To learn more about programs offered at Practice·Space, go to <a href="http://practicespace.org/">practicespace.org</a>.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3760/11991408046_d90a3a7455_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Photo source: Detroit Jewish News</i></center><br />
<center><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5500/11991377686_777ecfeed8_o.jpg"><br />
<i><small>Photo source: the Detroit Free Press</small></i></center>Paul Sewickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07669801736415800340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2752902338377637545.post-2898780162024419162013-12-19T21:25:00.000-05:002013-12-19T21:25:45.125-05:00Corktown's Blurry Borders<center><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2812/11439437006_3720f1a068_o.png"></center><br />
People occasionally ask me--and I've seen the question come up in online discussion groups more than once--what the boundaries of Corktown are. The short answer is that there aren't any exact borders. A neighborhood is an idea that develops emergently, and it's based on the characteristics of its people, architecture, and geography. Whether an area is considered part of a neighborhood or not can change over time, or not even be completely agreed up on from the start. In <i>All Our Yesterdays: A Brief History of Detroit</i> (1969), authors Frank Bury Woodford and Arthur M. Woodford wrote:<br />
<blockquote><i>Corktown existed almost as much in sentiment as in geography as its borders are rather vaguely defined. Some place it between Lafayette and Myrtle </i>[now Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.]<i> with its eastern boundary at First Street and its western limit at Brooklyn or even beyond. But many an Irish-Detroiter born outside these boundaries claimed Corktown as his native hearth...</i></blockquote><br />
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<center><h2>Old Corktown</h2></center><br />
The oldest published geographic description of Corktown that I have found appears in Silas Farmer's <i>The History of Detroit and Michigan</i>, published in 1884. He defined the neighborhood as:<br />
<blockquote><i>the larger portion of the territory on Fifth and Sixth Streets, for several blocks each side of Michigan Avenue...</i></blockquote>A profile of the neighborhood published in the June 19, 1919 edition of the <i>Detroit Free Press</i> explained that Irish immigrants in the early 19th century first settled along the river. Later, they were attracted to the west side after several farms were divided into individual lots for sale:<br />
<blockquote><i>The Irish, who were home makers, crowded over into the new addition to the city and became almost the exclusive occupants of the territory between Third and Eighth streets and the river to the Grand River road. The concentration was south of Michigan Avenue.</i></blockquote>When searching for more definite boundaries of early Corktown, the most common outline given is that which is described in the following example. On September 4, 1947, the <i>The Detroit News</i> published a question from a reader identified only as "F.R.", who wrote:<br />
<blockquote><i>Ever since coming to Detroit people have been telling me of a neighborhood called Corktown. Could you give me some information about it? What were its boundaries? Did many prominent people come from there?"</i></blockquote>The editor replied:<br />
<blockquote><i>Detroit's Corktown had its origin in the disasterous </i>[sic]<i> potato famine in Ireland (1845-47), which forced much of the population to emigrate. Many of them found their way to Detroit and settled in the parish of the Holy Trinity Catholic Church, whose boundaries are considered to coincide with those of Corktown: <b>Third avenue to the east, Grand River avenue and Ash avenue on the north, National avenue </b></i>[now Cochrane Street]<i><b> and Eleventh street to the west, and the Detroit River on the south</b>. Within this area were some 1,000 Irish families, together with a few Scotch and German families. In 1938 George W. Stark wrote, "The old neighborhood's ancient glory was fast fading. The shady old streets had lost character. Famous families had moved away. Just the ghost of a tradition was left..." Promiment Corktownians include Gene Buck (song writer), Judge John J. Scallan, the Daniel J. Crowley family, Dinan brothers, and many others.</i></blockquote>These borders are the same that appear in an illustration published in 1938 entitled "Animated map of Old Cork Town, 1849, the shrine of the Irish race, and the Kerry Patch of Old Detroit," by Denis Henry O'Meara.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3778/11411225503_095543ffaa_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Image courtesy of Ann Aldridge.</i></center><br />
Deviations from this description can be found. Former Detroit mayor John C. Lodge (1862-1950) wrote in his memoir, <i>I Remember Detroit</i> (1949):<br />
<blockquote><i>Another district which is still well remembered, although its old-time character is completely gone, is Corktown. It extended northward from Lafayette to about half a mile beyond Michigan Avenue. There was always a debate over its easterly boundary--whether it was First or Third Street. I always claimed it was First Street, and that all of the area westward of that thoroughfare belonged to Corktown.</i></blockquote><br />
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<center><h3>Urban Renewal and the Western Annex</h3></center><br />
The shape of Corktown was drastically altered by urban revitalization in the mid-20th century. The construction of the Lodge Expressway and the demolition of "Skid Row" cleared everything east of Sixth Street. The <a href="http://corktownhistory.blogspot.com/2013/02/ethel-claes-and-west-side-industrial.html">West Side Industrial Project</a> wiped out almost half of what was left of the neighborhood. Finally, in the 1960s, the construction of the Fisher Freeway and the leveling of houses for Tiger Stadium parking divided the last remnant of Corktown in half, with the northern part becoming known as the Briggs neighborhood.<br />
<br />
In the midst of this destruction, Corktown's borders expanded westward. Expressways and industry had enveloped an area stretching from Sixth Street to Seventeenth Street, the breadth of which was characterized by Victorian working-class homes. Corktown, having lost its northern, southern, and eastern extremities, naturally melded with the adjacent and architecturally similar area to its west.<br />
<br />
In the mid-1950s, when the Corktown Homeowners Association protested accusations that their neighborhood was a "slum," they made posters with photographs of the area showing a clean and functional neighborhood, including many buildings on Vermont, Wabash, and Fourteenth Streets. This indicates that these streets were by then embraced as part of the same neighborhood.<br />
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<center><img src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6039/6330652426_7d9cf70323_z.jpg" width="600" height="468"><br />
<i>Fourteenth Street in 1954, by then considered part of Corktown.</i></center><br />
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<center><h3>The Historic Districts</h3></center><br />
When Corktown was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on July 31, 1978, it only included the part of the neighborhood east of Rosa Parks Boulevard:<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5501/11456246183_ff3dee6c84_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Corktown Historic District, as described in National Register of Historic Places Inventory.</i></center><br />
When Corktown preservationists fought for a city-recognized historic district (which offers more protection against demolition than the national designation), they attempted to include several blocks between Vermont and Fourteenth Streets. The local historic district was approved on December 24, 1984, but like the NRHP designation, it went no further than Rosa Parks Blvd. In fact, the two districts are nearly idenetical. Then-mayor Coleman A. Young stated that the western part of Corktown was of "dubious historic value" and castigated preservationists for "reckless designation of historic buildings and areas."<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3742/11425047926_a7fccbc17d_o.jpg"></center><br />
Note that in the map shown above, Michigan Central Station was considered to be part of Corktown by that point (early 1985). The train station was also a stop on <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/corktownhistory/6432518793/in/set-72157628224070957">the very first Corktown Historic Homes Tour</a> in 1987. That same year, when the Corktown Citizens' District Council placed those now-familiar "<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/corktownhistory/sets/72157634815863687/">Corktown: Detroit's Oldest Neighborhood</a>" signs throughout the area, one was placed as far west as 16th Street and Michigan Avenue.<br />
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Corktown's so-called "western annex" finally won local historic designation on September 25, 1998. The Corktown Historic District, as now defined by the Detroit Historic Commission, is illustrated below:<br />
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<center><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7335/11413242013_d9a9c40654_o.jpg"><br />
<i>The Corktown Historic District as recognized by the Detroit Historic Commission.</i></center><br />
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<center><h3>A New Definition</h3></center><br />
Obviously there is no one correct demarcation of Corktown. But it is worth attempting to create a definition that leaves room for interpretation while being restrictive enough to be meaningful: <i>Corktown is the area west of downtown Detroit marked by a more or less continuous population of pre-World War I structures including Most Holy Trinity Church.</i> Under this definition, today's Corktown is represented in the illustration below by the blue and green areas:<br />
<br />
<center><a href="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3723/11436452104_f1c85a7ca7_o.jpg"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3723/11436452104_f1c85a7ca7_o.jpg" width="600" height="600"><br />
<i>Click the image for a larger version.</i></a></center><br />
Whether the areas in the yellow-shaded portion of this map should be considered part of Corktown is a matter of personal opinion. The north side has been separated from the core of the original neighborhood by freeways and parking lots, and like its southern neighbor, has expanded westward. Referring to this area as "North Corktown" seems to be a reasonable compromise that acknowledges its historical connection to Corktown as well as distinguishes its own unique character.<br />
<br />
On the south side, every Victorian building within the West Side Industrial District was wiped clean off the map in the mid-1950s. Only the streets remain, and even those have been altered. However, if someone claims that <a href="http://lepetitzincdetroit.com/">Le Petit Zinc</a> at 1055 Trumbull is located in Corktown, it would seem pedantic to disagree with them.<br />
<br />
Finally, that brings us to "Corktown Shores", the name given to the area surrounding the revamped <a href="http://greendotstables.com/">Green Dot Stables</a> restaurant at the corner of Lafayette and Fourteenth Street. I'm pretty sure those guys were just kidding.Paul Sewickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07669801736415800340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2752902338377637545.post-41026565333403671002013-09-17T13:00:00.005-04:002019-03-29T08:43:28.786-04:00The Corktown House Moving Project of 1985(<i>Special thanks to Corktown Citizens District Council member Rebecca Robichaud for allowing me access to the organization's files on this subject!</i>)<center><br />
<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7293/9784836984_3d12607f5a_o.jpg"><br />
<i>1301, 1309-17, and 1325 Bagley Street, Detroit.</i></center><br />
There is nothing out of the ordinary about these three houses southwest of Bagley and Brooklyn streets in Corktown. They all match the style and the age of the homes around them, each being over a century old.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5348/9784911273_7edeb6dd4d_o.jpg"><br />
<i>1301, 1309-17, and 1325 Bagley Street, Detroit.</i></center><br />
As it turns out, they have occupied this space for only twenty-eight years. As a creative method of housing infill, the city of Detroit moved these homes from areas where houses were being torn for Tiger Stadium parking in the 1980s. This is how they got there and where they came from.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3701/9671603627_e8dedb0eba_o.jpg"><br />
<i>In this map of Corktown in 1921, green structures are those that are still<br />
standing today, and the blue structures are those that were moved in 1985.</i></center><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<center><h2>The Bagley Site Before 1985</h2></center><br />
<center><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7443/9680632916_dd42d93723_o.jpg"><br />
<i>An aerial view of Bagley and Brooklyn streets, circa 1980.<br />
Photo courtesy of Bruce Beresh and Ben Newman.</i></center><br />
The new lots chosen for these houses once contained similar wood-frame houses, but they had been demolished by the 1950s as the neighborhood became increasingly industrialized.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2871/9672242637_511789697f_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Sanborn maps of Bagley Street, west of Brooklyn, in 1921 and 1950.</i></center><br />
The rear of these lots still contained an old freight depot whose address was 1531 Brooklyn Street. This had been a commercial property since the Brooklyn Cartage Company was established here in 1908. In the 1920s, it was the service station for the Detroit branch of the Kelly-Springfield Motor Truck Company. The last business to operate here was Parent Cartage, Ltd. By the 1980s, the building was vacant and owned by the city.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5519/9680414162_e0cc7e596d_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Parent Cartage Ltd. at 1531 Brooklyn Street, 1976.<br />
Image courtesy Michigan State Historic Preservation Office.</i></center><br />
<center><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7311/9677177903_28db9d85d1_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Parent Cartage Ltd. at 1531 Brooklyn Street, 1976.<br />
Image courtesy Michigan State Historic Preservation Office.</i></center><br />
Not everyone supported the demolition of this building. Some Corktowners wanted it renovated and used as a community center. The conflict resolved itself when the building caught fire and was no longer usable.<br />
<br />
<br />
<center><h2>The Move</h2></center><br />
<center><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3823/9677769982_af9161ee8f_o.jpg"><br />
<i>The Buzzard-Kratz duplex, being transported to its new home on Bagley Street.<br />
Source: The </i>Detroit Free Press<i>, July 25, 1985.</i></center><br />
The 1985 Corktown House Moving Project was funded by the city of Detroit through a Community Development Block Grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The city's Community and Economic Development Department reviewed bids and prepared contracts for the job, and coordinated with the Corktown Citizens District Council and the Corktown Non-profit Housing and Development Corporation.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7427/9674540137_f145fbba3d_o.jpg"><br />
<i>The Sullivan house coming down 12th Street on July 24, 1985.<br />
Image courtesy of the Corktown Citizens District Council.</i></center><br />
In addition to the purchase and moving of the houses, the $207,494 cost included a new basement for each house, repair of the old lots, utility hookups, new chimneys, landscaping, and a historically appropriate renovation for each exterior.<br />
<br />
The moving and construction were coordinated by the Foremost Development Corporation. Resource Design Group, Inc. was the architect, and the Stanson House Moving Corporation trucked the homes to their new locations. These organizations had to coordinate with the local telephone and electrical companies in order to lift or temporarily reroute utility lines that would have blocked the movers' paths. <br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3774/9736355474_3598c9f812_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Utility lines were moved to accommodate the<br />
Buzzard-Kratz duplex as it headed down Trumbull.<br />
Image courtesy of Amelia Wieske and Paul Royal.</i></center><br />
This complex operation had to be scheduled when the Tigers would not be playing at home. The date of July 24, 1985 was chosen, and all three houses were moved on the same day.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5485/9733123803_83619374bb_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Image courtesy of Amelia Wieske and Paul Royal.</i></center><br />
Once the old lots were vacated, they were used for Tiger Stadium parking. The Sullivan house on Kaline Drive was donated to the project by Frank and Mary Formosa, who moved to Dearborn in 1981. They retained ownership of the lot, half of which had already been used for parking for many years. The Buzzard-Kratz duplex on Church Street was purchased from Rose Gale, Vince Gale, Joe Gale, and Mary Gale Micallef, who grew up in the home. The lot was among several that they operated as parking lots. The Simpson house on Elizabeth Street was purchased from <a href="http://blog.detroitathletic.com/2012/09/17/remembering-the-queen-of-corktowns-parking-lots/">Irene Sember</a>, who lived next door at 2100 Eighth Street and used several adjacent lots for stadium parking.<br />
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<center><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7448/9736355610_76b488ac3f_o.jpg"><br />
<i>The Buzzard-Kratz duplex making a wide right turn onto Michigan Ave. from Tenth St.<br />
Image courtesy of Amelia Wieske and Paul Royal.</i></center><br />
Once the exterior renovations were completed, the next step was to find new owners to renovate the interiors. Each home was sold for $6,500 to buyers who could demonstrate that they could complete the job in one year, but it doesn't appear that any of them were finished on time. The first purchasers were Paul and Mary Grima (1301 Bagley), David M. Brown (1309-1317 Bagley), and Gary J. Kaufman (1325 Bagley).<br />
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<center><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2833/9674826986_228ba76488_o.jpg"><br />
<i>An elevation of what the completed project would look like, circa 1984.<br />
Image courtesy of the Corktown Citizens District Council.</i></center><br />
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<hr SIZE=5><br />
<center><h2>HISTORIES<br />
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* * * * *<br />
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The Michael & Mary Sullivan House</h2><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3732/9784836864_903fc375c7_o.jpg"></center><i>Current location:</i> <b>1301 Bagley St.</b> (Lot 1, Block 59, Baker Farm)<br />
<i>Original address:</i> <b>315 Cherry St.</b> (Lot 3, Block 5, Thompson Farm)<br />
<i>Subsequent addresses:</i><ul><li><b>1839 Cherry St.</b>, following 1921 address change</li>
<li><b>1839 Kaline Drive</b>, following August 2, 1970 renaming after <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Kaline">Al Kaline.</a></li>
</ul><br />
Michael Sullivan was born in County Cork, Ireland in December 1847. He immigrated to America at a young age with his parents, Dennis and Catherine Sullivan. Around 1878 he married Mary Evans, born in Michigan in 1858 to Irish immigrants. Michael and Mary Sullivan had at least seven children, whom Michael supported with his work as an iron molder at the Russell Wheel and Foundry Co.<br />
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The city issued the building permit for this house to Michael Sullivan on October 29, 1895. The estimated cost to build it was $1,500. Michael and Mary Sullivan would spend the rest of their lives here. Michael passed away June 3, 1920, followed by Mary, who died some time in the late 1920s.<br />
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On January 27, 1910, one of the Sullivans' daughters, Lillian (born August 1882), married steamboat captain Frederick Henry Pauls (born June 14, 1884 in Danbury, Ohio). At first Mr. and Mrs. Pauls lived in a home on Ash Street. But since Captain Pauls' work had him away so often, the couple moved in with Lillian's parents. Fred and Lillie Pauls had two children, but neither survived infancy.<br />
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From 1911 through 1919, Captain Pauls was the master of the <i>Frank E. Kirby</i> of the Ashley & Dustin line, which ran between Detroit and Sandusky, Ohio daily. The ship was named for her architect, who also designed the <i>Columbia</i> and <i>Ste. Claire</i> (aka <a href="http://www.boblosteamers.com/">the "Bob-Lo Boats"</a>).<br />
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<br />
<center><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2887/9675037072_412e55d654_o.jpg"><br />
<i>The steamer</i> Frank E. Kirby. (<a href="http://www.mhsd.org/passenger/frankekirby.htm">Source</a>.)</center><br />
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After the <i>Frank E. Kirby</i> was sold, Captain Pauls found work on the <i>Mackinac</i>, and ultimately became captain of the brand new <i>Greater Detroit</i>, the largest passenger vessel on the Great Lakes at the time.<br />
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<br />
<center><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7425/9675130818_a780e43f03_o.jpg"><br />
<i>The steamer </i>Greater Detroit. (<a href="http://detroiths.pastperfect-online.com/33029cgi/mweb.exe?request=record;id=709385CE-F51E-42F9-860B-630681361831;type=301">Source</a>.)</center><br />
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In August of 1931, Captain Pauls was removed from command of the <i>Greater Detroit</i> due to a drinking problem. Two weeks later, on September 5th, Pauls' body was discovered in the basement of his home by his brother-in-law, Frank Sullivan. Pauls was found to have committed suicide by wrapping his head in a towel soaked in chloroform. His wife had been away on vacation when the incident occurred.<br />
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Mrs. Lillian G. Pauls lived at 1839 Cherry Street--later renamed Kaline Drive--until her death on January 22, 1954.<br />
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<center><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5495/9672051435_8f22ee7c6d_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Mrs. Lillian G. Pauls (1882-1954). <br />
Source: </i>The Detroit News<i>, 5 May 1952</i></center><br />
<center><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7397/9677178049_099976491e_o.jpg"><br />
<i>1839 Kaline Drive in its original location in 1976.<br />
Image courtesy of the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office.</i></center><br />
<center><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2841/9677177959_905dab0926_b.jpg"><br />
<i>1839 Kaline Drive in its original location in 1976.<br />
Image courtesy of the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office.</i></center><br />
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<hr SIZE=5><br />
<br />
<center><h2>The Buzzard-Kratz Duplex</h2><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3683/9784837154_fc4e44e30c_o.jpg"></center><i>Current location:</i> <b>1309-17 Bagley St.</b> (Lot 2, Block 59, Baker Farm)<br />
<i>Original address:</i> <b>54-56 Church St.</b> (Lot 14, Block 82, Woodbridge Farm)<br />
<i>Subsequent address:</i><b>1610-12 Church St.</b>, following 1921 address change<br />
<br />
This two-family home appears to have been built around 1905. It came from a lot on Church Street where a previous single-family home was constructed about 1874. Although I have not been able to locate the building permit data, I believe this house is not the same as the one built in 1874 for two reasons: 1) The address 56 Church doesn't appear in the directories until 1906 (prior to that, only 54 Church appears); and 2) The Sanborn maps before and after 1905 clearly show different houses:<br />
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<center><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2882/9675548874_ded1f4d083_o.jpg"></center><br />
<br />
The duplex now faces 180 degrees from its original orientation, so that the lower original address of 54 (1610) Church St. now corresponds to the higher new address of 1317 Bagley, and the higher original address 56 (1612) Church St. address is now the lower new address of 1309 Bagley.<br />
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<br />
<br />
<center><h3>Irvin & Agnes Buzzard</h3></center><br />
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The first occupants of 54 Church Street--the downstairs unit--were Irvin and Agnes Buzzard, first listed at this address in the 1906 directory.<br />
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Irvin George Buzzard was born in Groveland Township, Michigan on April 28, 1856. As a young man he worked as an apprentice at the Phoenix Iron Works. Later, he found employment as a marine engineer. On November 17, 1881, he married Agnes Cecelia Gleason. She was born in Michigan in April of 1859. They had two children: Harold G. (1883-1909) and Gleason M. (1898-1979), the latter of whom Mrs. Buzzard birthed at the age of 39.<br />
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In December of 1905, Mr. and Mrs. Buzzard co-founded the Jefferson Iron Works Company. Mr. Buzzard was the company's president and manager, and Mrs. Buzzard was vice-president. Their co-founders were Alfred R. Kean (the company's secretary and treasurer) and his wife, Sarah Kean. <br />
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<center><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2870/9675749748_9c6e9c2599_o.jpg"></center><br />
Mr. and Mrs. Buzzard lived in this house only though 1908. By 1909, it was occupied by a postal clerk named Frederick S. De Galan. Irvin Buzzard lived until 1924, and Agnes Buzzard until 1931. Their company <a href="http://www.jeffersonironworks.com/">still exists</a>, now operating out of Ferndale.<br />
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<br />
<br />
<center><h3>Oscar & Clara Kratz</h3></center><br />
56 Church Street--now 1309 Bagley, the upstairs unit--was first occupied by Oscar Eugene Kratz and his first wife, Clara. By the time they lived in this house on Church Street, Mr. Kratz was a machine operator for Hamilton Carhartt Inc., which at the time was <a href="http://corktownhistory.blogspot.com/2011/07/carhartt.html">located directly behind his house</a>. By 1908, he had worked his way up to factory superintendent. Mr. Kratz also designed clothing for Hamilton Carhartt, and his name appears on some of their design patents.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3718/9687615470_5b042eccf1_o.jpg"><br />
(<a href="https://www.google.com/patents/US1152289?dq=kratz+carhartt&hl=en&sa=X&ei=CuMpUtjBGarY2QWam4CYDg&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAA">Source</a>.)</center><br />
In 1909, Mr. Kratz had become suspicious of his wife and hired a private detective to follow her. He and the detective agreed to meet at a hotel cafe where he would point out his wife. When Mr. Kratz walked in, he found the detective sitting with Mrs. Kratz. "What are you doing with my wife?" he asked, according to a newspaper account of the incident (<i>Detroit Free Press</i>, 23 Mar 1909). The detective had no idea that the woman he was talking to was Mrs. Kratz, who told the detective that she was unmarried. Mr. Kratz obtained a divorce soon after. On November 9th of that same year, Oscar Kratz married Nanno L. Hunt, and they would have at least two children together. Mrs. Nanno Kratz passed away in 1934. In 1941, Oscar Kratz married a third time, to Miss. Ada C. Floyd.<br />
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Mr. Kratz lived in the duplex on Church St. through 1908. In 1909, he was listed at an address on Columbia Street.<br />
<br />
In 1917, Mr. Kratz left Hamilton Carhartt and moved to Kansas City, Missouri to take up a position with the <a href="www.lee.com">H. D. Lee Mercantile Company</a>, manufacturers of workers' clothing, known today as Lee Jeans.<br />
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<center><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3791/9687674570_2cbe487e0c_b.jpg"><br />
(<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=oTwwAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA86&lpg=PA86&dq=%22O.+E.+Kratz%22&source=bl&ots=hT7hmRuJdm&sig=qfCftHggB-AaljCaH3WTw4r5SrI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=WO4gUrvzHaeL2AWD4oCICw&ved=0CEAQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false">Source</a>.)</center><br />
Kratz continued to design clothing for Lee, including this jean jacket in the 1940s.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5485/9688087154_9bbb41beb4_o.jpg"><br />
(<a href="https://www.google.com/patents/USD153438?pg=PA1&dq=o+e+kratz&hl=en&sa=X&ei=z_EpUpakEM3k2wWJp4D4Aw&ved=0CEMQ6wEwAg">Source</a>.)</center><br />
Kratz's jean jacket is now known as the Lee 101-J. It has been called an "<a href="http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?70233-Buying-the-right-Lee-101J">archetypal</a>" and "<a href="http://mydenimlife.com/blog/vintageversusrepro1/">iconic</a>" jean jacket, and is still in production. <br />
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<center><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7448/9684924153_826f8c8594_o.jpg"><br />
(<a href="http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/sanshin/item/10411-626-ac09/">Source</a>.)</center><br />
Oscar E. Kratz passed away on January 13, 1969 in San Diego, California at the age of 92.<br />
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<center><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3750/9680414298_a9d198bcb8_o.jpg"><br />
<i>The Buzzard-Kratz duplex in its original location on Church Street in 1976.<br />
Image courtesy of the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office.</i></center><br />
<center><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5484/9677178105_5e848dc202_o.jpg"><br />
<i>The Buzzard-Kratz duplex in its original location on Church Street in 1976.<br />
Image courtesy of the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office.</i></center><br />
<center><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3827/9733123695_dfb9c59706_o.jpg"><br />
<i>The Buzzard-Kratz duplex, being escorted down Michigan Ave. on July 24, 1985.<br />
Image courtesy of Amelia Wieske and Paul Royal.</i></centeR><hr SIZE=5><br />
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<center><h2>The William T. Simpson House</h2><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3732/9784642211_782cd960a8_o.jpg"></center><i>Current location:</i> <b>1325 Bagley St.</b> (Lot 3, Block 59, Baker Farm)<br />
<i>Original address:</i> <b>228 Orchard St.</b> (Lot 8, Block 88, Woodbridge Farm)<br />
<i>Subsequent address:</i><ul><li><b>412 Elizabeth St.</b>, following c. 1912 union of Orchard and Elizabeth streets</li>
<li><b>1360 Elizabeth St.</b>, following 1921 address change</li>
</ul><br />
William Thomas Simpson purchased the original lot that this house stood on from Samuel Zug on September 25, 1883 for $850. A home first appeared at this address in the city directory in 1884.<br />
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Simpson was born in Ontario in January 1839. He moved to Rochester, New York in 1860 where he learned the art of artificial limb making from Dr. Douglas Bly. During the Civil War he moved south in order to supply maimed soldiers with his products. In 1875, Simpson accepted the invitation of James A. Foster of Detroit to join him in the business of artificial limb manufacturing. Foster died in July 1881, leaving Simpson his appointed successor. Simpson's business prospered, filling orders throughout the United States and Canada.<br />
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<center><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2834/9674888858_a7251027f3_o.jpg"></center><br />
William Simpson's first wife, Lettie Moitmoir Simpson, passed away on February 25, 1893, at the age of 41. Mr. Simpson married again, on October 30, 1894, to Clara Beuttner. Neither of Simpsons' marriages produced any children.<br />
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<center><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3771/9686794226_612eaf9fdc_o.jpg"><br />
<i>William Thomas Simpson (1839-1915)</i> (<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=Fkh5AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA152&dq=%22william+thomas+simpson%22+detroit&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Mb8pUoetKoLmqgHOg4GIAw&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22william%20thomas%20simpson%22%20detroit&f=false">Source</a>.)</center><br />
Mr. Simpson operated his business downtown until 1912, when he moved it to Corktown. The final address of his shop would have corresponded to 1342 Michigan Avenue, a space that is now a vacant lot. He lived in his home on Elizabeth Street until his death on December 27, 1915. Mrs. Clara Simpson subsequently spent the rest of her life in this home, passing away on February 26, 1939.<br />
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<center><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3714/9674540397_82bc8a3d7c_o.jpg"><br />
<i>The Simpson house on cribbing in preparation to be moved.<br />
Image courtesy of the Corktown Citizens District Council.</i></center><br />
<center><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7414/9677769770_e6688b88a4_o.jpg"><br />
<i>The Simpson House almost at its new location on Bagley Street.<br />
Image courtesy of the Corktown Citizens District Council.</i></center><br />
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<hr SIZE=5><br />
<br />
Although this project was slow to progress through the government's bureaucracy, it was ultimately a success. These homes and their tangible connection to Corktown's history were saved from being destroyed to make room for gravel parking lots. Old houses injected new life into a formerly industrialized block begging to be reactivated as a residential area. In this instance, the taxpayers' money was well-spent.<br />
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A project similar to this one would make sense in parts of the city where one can find blocks consisting of only one or two lonely houses. In light of the Corktown relocation project, and the <a href="http://detroitfuturecity.com/">Detroit Future City</a> report calling for the deactivation of under-populated neighborhoods, moving houses out of such areas to more stable communities seems like a superior alternative to demolition, especially if the homes happen to be well-cared for, historic, or architecturally significant.<br />
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<center><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3804/9679824229_0066e923a4_o.jpg"><br />
<i>All three houses just after having been set in their new locations.</i> (<a href="http://store.historicimages.com/product_p/dfpz71117.htm">Source</a>.)</center>Paul Sewickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07669801736415800340noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2752902338377637545.post-23628344170529680902013-09-03T09:02:00.001-04:002014-07-14T12:26:53.185-04:00Moore House - 1366 Bagley<center><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3681/9564124546_14223dd6de_o.jpg"><br />
<i>1366 Bagley Street, Detroit.<br />
Photo courtesy of Blake Almstead and Joshua Clark.</i></center><br />
This quintessential mid-19th century <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=MpdEu3tOcFsC&pg=PT1&dq=michigan's+corktown+cottages&hl=en&sa=X&ei=FVQWUvLfMsm62AXt3YDIDg&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=michigan's%20corktown%20cottages&f=false">worker's cottage</a> has stood at the corner of Bagley and Eighth Street for at least 139 years. Addressed as 70 Baker Street early in its history, it has been home to more than a dozen working class families in its life.<br />
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<center><h2>When was it built?</h2></center><br />
It's not certain when 70 Baker Street (now 1366 Bagley) was constructed. One potential source of information could be a map drawn by New York cartographer Henry Hart in 1853, indicating the location of every existent building in Detroit.<br />
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<center><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5457/9555157016_eed1c7f655_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Detail from Henry Hart's 1853 map of Detroit.</i></center><br />
There is only one problem. This house was literally <i><b>a few feet</b></i> outside of the city limits when that map was drawn. The Baker farm had been annexed by the city in 1849, but this house stands just within the former Woodbridge farm, which wasn't annexed until 1857. Below is a comparison of this block as it appears on the 1853 Hart map and an 1885 real estate atlas. Due to the blurriness of the 1853 image, I've outlined the structures and property borders to make them more visible.<br />
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<center><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7392/9568276607_e3f90d6f99_o.jpg"><br />
<i>The block containing 70 Baker St. as shown on the 1853 Hart map and an 1885 atlas.</i></center><br />
It appears that the house to the <i>right</i> of 70 Baker Street <i>is</i> indicated on the 1853 map. These two houses are very similar in appearance, being almost mirror images of each other. It seems reasonable to believe that they were built at the same time. However, the earliest known city directory listing for 70 Baker appears in 1874. I combed through the 1870 census for this area and checked those names and addresses against the city directories, but I could not find any indication that this house existed at the time.<br />
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Although the property wasn't formally platted until 1858, this doesn't necessarily preclude the possibility of the house existing before then. <a href="http://corktownhistory.blogspot.com/2011/04/kingston-house-part-ii-1861-1899-joseph.html">Joseph Kingston</a>, for example, was listed on Baker Street on the Woodbridge farm one year prior to platting.<br />
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The strongest indication that the house could predate 1874 is that the property was sold in 1865 for $450, and again in 1871 for $1700. Was this 375% increase due to the construction of a house on the lot, or was there simply an increase in demand for property in a rapidly growing city?<br />
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<center><h2>Owners--1850 to 1950</h2></center><br />
The lot beneath this house was part of the William and Juliana Woodbridge farm, which became part of the City of Detroit on February 12, 1857. Mr. and Mrs. Woodbridge submitted a plat plan of their land to Wayne County on September 14, 1858. They had both passed away by 1861, leaving many unsold lots to their children.<br />
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<center><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7291/9552381829_9dd7d11abc_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Detail of 1858 plat of Woodbridge farm. 1366 Bagley/70 Baker stands on block 58, lot 6.</i></center><br />
After platting:<br />
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<ul><li><b>July 22, 1865</b>--Samuel Sullivan purchased the lot from Juliana Trumbull Woodbridge Backus, daughter of William and Juliana Woodbridge, for $450.</li>
<li><b>July 29, 1871</b>--Following the death of Samuel Sullivan in 1870, John Sullivan sold the lot to William Moore for $1,700.</li>
<li><b>June 16, 1904</b>--William Moore died, leaving the property to his wife, Margaret.</li>
<li><b>February 7, 1922</b>--After Margaret Moore's death in 1920, her heirs agreed that her son John W. Moore would own this lot, and he agreed to pay them $600 for the property.</li>
<li><b>May 6, 1952</b>--John W. Moore died in 1946, followed by his last surviving sibling Katherine in 1950. The relatives who inherited the property subsequently sold it on a land contract to Nora Kelly.</li>
</ul><br />
Because the Moore family owned the property for 81 years (longer than anyone else), and because they may have been the ones to build the house, I suggest calling it the Moore house. William Moore was born in February of 1818, and his wife, Margaret Sullivan Moore, in March of 1830--both in Ireland. They married there on March 8, 1848, and very soon afterward immigrated to Canada. They remained there until about 1870, when they came to Detroit. William Moore's occupation was always listed simply as "laborer". When he died in 1904 at the age of 86, his death certificate indicated that he was the father of seven children, five of whom were living. Margaret Moore survived her husband by sixteen years, finally passing away on February 12, 1920 at the age of 89. The son who inherited the property on Baker Street was John W. Moore, born March 1, 1868 in Essex County, Ontario. He never married or had children.<br />
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None of the owners of the home before Nora Kelly used it as their own residence. Had it first been owner-occupied, the city directories might have been used to help determine a more precise date of construction.<br />
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<br />
<center><h2>Renters--1874 to 1951</h2></center><br />
<h3>1874-1877 -- William and Anna Dick</h3>William Dick, a chair maker, was born in Prussia in 1850. His family immigrated to the United States when he was still an infant. His wife, Anna Pip, was born in Michigan to Prussian parents. They had two children while living in this house--Agnes in 1874 and Caspar in 1877.<br />
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<h3>1878 -- Edward H. Day</h3>Day was born in Elyria, Ohio in 1853. He was a sales agent and a bachelor at the time he lived on Baker. In July of the following year, he married Mary L. Little, a native of Oswego, New York.<br />
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<h3>1879-1880 -- Robert E. and Ellen Cuppage</h3>The directories list Robert Cuppage, a telegraph operator for Western Union, as the occupant of this home. The census, however, only lists his sister Ellen Cuppage and a boarder named Julia Rouen. Ellen and Robert were born in Canada in 1857 and 1858, respectively.<br />
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<center><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3703/9555034959_800cf8214d_o.jpg"><br />
<i>70 Baker Street in the 1884 Sanborn map of Detroit.</i></center><br />
<h3>1881-1887 -- Gore A. Stacey and Family</h3>Gore A. Stacey was born around 1833 in Ireland and worked as a baggage handler for the rail road. By the time he and his wife Anne moved to 70 Baker Street, they had at least six children: John (b. 1857), twins Gore Jr. and Anne (b. 1861), William E. (b. 1866) and Joseph H. (b. 1868). Gore Stacey died at home on March 14, 1885. A notice was published in the <i>Detroit Free Press</i> two days later, but his name was misspelled as "Tracy".<br />
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<center><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2827/9197849036_688200f934.jpg"></center><br />
The Stacey family lived at this house through 1887.<br />
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<h3>1888-1893 -- Squire and Catherine Emick</h3>Squire Henry Emick and his wife Catherine, originally from Indiana, came to Detroit around 1886 with three sons, Charles, Morris and Emery. Squire worked as an express messenger. At 70 Baker Street, Catherine gave birth to a daughter, Edith.<br />
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On June 14, 1893, the Emicks' eldest son, Charles, drowned in the Rouge River at the age of 14:<br />
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<center><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7298/9198107268_c542f10edb_o.jpg"></center><br />
By the following year, the Emick family had moved to another home in the neighborhood.<br />
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<h3>1894-1898 -- Thomas and Theresa Sage</h3>On June 22, 1893, Thomas J. Sage, a bartender, married Theresa A. Manning--both were first-generation Americans born to Irish immigrants. The year after their marriage, they moved into 70 Baker Street, where they had two daughters, Marie and Mildred.<br />
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<h3>1899-1912 -- Charles and Helen Johnston</h3>In 1899, Helen "Nellie" Horn was listed at this address in the city directory. On June 28 of that year, she married electrician Charles James Johnston, who moved in with her immediately afterward. They were both 24 years old at the time, and both originally from Michigan. The 1900 census shows two borders living with them--Joseph Leahy, a printer; and John Leahy, a student.<br />
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At 70 Baker Street, the Johnstons had two children--Madeline (born circa 1901) and Edgar (born July 10, 1902).<br />
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<center><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7403/9572457200_f820c939f9_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Charles and Helen Johnston, with their children Edgar and Madeline.<br />
Image courtesy of Blake Almstead and Joshua Clark.</i><br />
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<img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2806/9569661817_276f842282_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Edgar Johnston in front of 70 Baker Street, circa 1910.<br />
Image courtesy of Blake Almstead and Joshua Clark.</i></center><br />
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<h3>1913-1915 -- James Fox, clerk</h3><br />
<h3>1916 -- William Ditmus, printer</h3><br />
<h3>1917 -- Ernest and Caroline Noyes</h3>Ernest Noyes, a laborer, was born in New York in 1869. After his first wife died in 1912, he married Caroline McKenzie, who had been married twice before. She brought into the family two surviving sons from her first marriage, Leo and Ralph Gilbert, born in 1899 and 1901, respectively. The photograph below was printed in the <i>Detroit Free Press</i> about the birth father of these two boys attempting to kidnap them in 1907. The boys did live with their mother when she resided at 70 Baker Street.<br />
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<center><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7387/9252976280_ce23e09bb7_o.jpg"></center><br />
Caroline Noyes died of sepsis at Harper Hospital on July 23, 1917 at the age of 40. The following year, on May 12, Erneset Noyes died at the Wayne County Poor House from locomotor ataxia at the age of 49.<br />
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<h3>1918-1920 -- Foster Curtis Lenderbeck</h3>Foster Lenderbeck was the second husband of Caroline McKenzie (see above). He was born in Canada in 1865 and immigrated to the U.S. in 1894. He worked as a teamster for a storage company. The 1920 census indicates that he lived with May Irwin (a servant) and Frank and Lucinda Reid. Mr. Reid was also a teamster.<br />
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On October 23, 1920, Foster Lenderbeck died at 70 Baker Street from lobar pneumonia. He was 55 years old.<br />
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<h3>1921 -- Hercules (Ercole) and Harriet Barbara</h3>Hercules Barbara, a mechanic, was born in 1874 in Sfax, Tunisia. His parents were Maltese, but worked in Sfax as olive oil merchants. Hercules immigrated to the U.S. in 1915. In 1920 his wife, Harriet, and their two children (all also born in Malta) joined him in Detroit. [<i>Thanks to Teresa Taylor for the updated information!</i>]<br />
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<h3>1922 -- (Vacant)</h3><br />
<h3>1923-1928 -- James and Donnie Hogue</h3>Miss Donnie Stone married James Hogue, a street car conductor, in Detroit in 1920. Both were originally from Kentucky. Mr. Hogue passed away May 13, 1925 at the age of 41, and Mrs. Hogue stayed in the house for another four years.<br />
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<h3>1929-1951? -- Joseph and Mary Sultana</h3>Joseph and Mary Sultana were both born in Malta--Joseph in 1895, and Mary in 1899. Joseph came to the United States in 1921, followed by his wife four years later. By the 1940 census, they had had at least seven children.<br />
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The Sultanas are listed at this address in the city directories through 1941, but the availability of city directories after that year is sporadic. They may have lived there until the home was sold in 1951.<br />
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<center><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7373/9554107449_6efa305e7b_o.jpg"><br />
<i>1366 Bagley is on the far left in this 1954 photo, partly cropped out.</i></centeR><center><br />
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<h2>Owners 1952-Present</h2></center><br />
<h3>Nora Kelly</h3>This home and two adjacent houses were sold collectively to Mrs. Nora Kelly and other investors on May 6, 1952. After the contract was paid in full, the properties were divided and Mrs. Kelly became the sole owner of 1366 Bagley on September 19, 1961.<br />
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Nora Ellen (Daly) Kelly was born in Detroit to Jeremiah and Ellen Daly on February 16, 1896. Her father was an Irish immigrant, and her mother was born in England. On October 22, 1918, she married Michael J. Kelly, who had immigrated from Ireland a few years before. Michael Kelly passed away on April 5, 1945 at the age of 52.<br />
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<center><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5509/9554107311_afb3241725_o.jpg"><br />
<i>1366 Bagley in 1976. Image from Michigan State Historic Preservation Office.</i></center><br />
Nora Kelly lived at 1366 Bagley at least through 1973, when she is listed at that address in the city directory for that year. She owned the home until her death on May 24, 1981. If she lived in this home until her death, then she occupied it for 29 years, longer than any other resident.<br />
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<center><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7437/9660982221_0d0a92b629_o.jpg"><br />
<i>1366 Bagley in 1979 following a renovation funded<br />
by the Holy Trinity Nonprofit Housing Corp.<br />
Photo courtesy of Blake Almstead and Joshua Clark.</i></center><br />
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<h3>Daniel & Kathleen O'Neill</h3>On September 14, 1982, the estate of Nora Kelly sold the house to Daniel M. & Kathleen A. O'Neill for $4,500. They only appear to have lived in the house for a brief time.<br />
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<h3>Frances (Lubben) Elkins</h3>The O'Neills sold the house to Frances Lubben for $8,000 on October 25, 1985. She does not appear to have lived in the home.<br />
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<h3>James R. and Duane Shore</h3>Frances Lubben, who by this time was Mrs. Frances Elkins, sold the home to James R. and Duane Shore on June 17, 1998. James Shore presumably purchased the home on a land contract, as he was involved in renovating the home as early as 1988.<br />
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<center><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5547/9560776361_acd0ed36fb_o.jpg"><br />
<i>This photo of James Shore in front of 1366 Bagley appeared in an<br />
article about Corktown in the </i>Detroit Free Press<i> on May 5, 1988.</i></center><br />
<center><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2869/9664216364_2afffb148a_o.jpg"><br />
<i>1366 Bagley in 1990. Photo courtesy of Blake Almstead and Joshua Clark.</i></center><br />
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<h3>Carol Brown</h3>On June 17, 2000, Duane Shore quit-claimed his interest in the house to James Shore, who on June 30 of that year sold it to Carol Brown for $60,000.<br />
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<h3>Blake Almstead & Joshua Clark</h3>Josh and Blake moved into the Moore house in August of 2011 and are currently working to preserve it.<br />
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<center><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3710/9570285225_851e94b7e1_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Photo courtesy of Blake Almstead and Joshua Clark.</i></center><br />
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<center>* * * * *<br />
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<i>Miscellaneous notes about previous research on this house.</i></center><br />
A previous researcher named this home the Bushy House after James Bushy, who supposedly purchased the property in 1845. However, the land owned by Bushy was actually an adjacent lot on the Baker farm. Bushy never owned the land beneath this house. It has also been claimed that this house appears in an 1853 atlas, but as you have seen, this is not the case.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/corktownhistory/6345351514/in/set-72157628003613907">A photograph of 1366 Bagley that appears in the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office's files</a> refers to it as the "Kelley-Porritt" house. Kelley might refer to Nora Kelly, and Porritt to Elizabeth Porritt. However, Mrs. Porritt lived at 64 Baker Street, not 70 Baker. Interestingly, Elizabeth Porritt was attempting to divorce her husband Joseph at the time on the grounds that he was a habitual drunkard. The divorce was appealed all the way up to the Michigan Supreme court, which <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=bE8aAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA140&dq=%22elizabeth+porritt+v.+joseph+porritt%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=2CAWUpn2Cavy2gWU24GwBg&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22elizabeth%20porritt%20v.%20joseph%20porritt%22&f=false">denied her a divorce</a> on the grounds that she knew her husband was a drunkard when she married him. In any case, there is no evidence that Mrs. Porritt lived in this house.<br />
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Finally, if any researchers wish to help confirm that the Moore house was built prior to 1874, be advised that the address numbering system in Corktown was changed between 1868 and 1869. If the Moore house stood prior to 1869, it would have had a number <i>lower</i> than 70 Baker before that point. There was a "70 Baker prior" to 1869, but the address number was changed to 92 afterward.Paul Sewickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07669801736415800340noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2752902338377637545.post-88921517128523090402013-07-29T08:04:00.000-04:002013-07-29T08:48:55.920-04:00The Henry G. Blanchard HouseAs unlikely as it seems, I have until recently never seen a complete, pre-twentieth century photograph of an existing Corktown home. A portion of 1200 Porter Street is visible in a photo of Most Holy Trinity that appears on <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=1JVigb8HjIAC&pg=PA10#v=onepage&q&f=false">page 10 of Arcadia Publishing's book on Corktown</a>, and I came across a genealogy website that contained <a href="http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~syafam/Scottish/img7.gif">old images of 1394 Pine Street</a>, but those date to approximately 1907. All of the other pre-1900 photos I've found were of surviving <i>non</i>-residential buildings, or of homes that are no longer standing.<br />
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Several days ago, however, my neighbor Scott Robichaud (co-owner/renovator of the <a href="http://corktownhistory.blogspot.com/2011/04/kingston-house-part-ii-1861-1899-joseph.html">Joseph Kingston house</a> and author of the <a href="http://redemptionincorktown.blogspot.com/">Redemption in Corktown blog</a>) came across this impressive 1895 image of 1651 Leverette Street:<br />
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<center><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2864/9369203762_06215088df_z.jpg"></center><br />
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This house was the work of contractor Berthold L. Schwartz, who obtained the building permit from the city on May 17, 1895. The estimated cost to build the home was $2,100.00. We know this photograph was taken in 1895 because the brick terraces next door are obviously under construction, and the permit to build them was issued to real estate developer John J. Hart on April 25, 1895.<br />
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This is what the home looks like today:<br />
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<center><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3683/9393126660_a34e7afdbb_o.jpg"></centeR>The house has clearly experienced many changes since its construction. The wrought iron ridge cresting, weather vane, and yard fencing have all been removed. The front porch has been completely rebuilt, and the clapboard and shingle siding has been covered by Insul-brick, probably around the 1930s. The vacant lot next door was filled in by 1908, when a wood-frame duplex was constructed by builders Charles W. Burkhardt and William C. Wilkie. What's interesting about the vacant lot in the 1895 photograph is not only that the rears of 1656 and 1662 Bagley are visible, but that the lots next to the Blanchard house was apparently used as a corral for at least one horse:<br />
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<center><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3743/9369024621_df520eae3b_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Image Courtesy Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.</i></center><br />
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<center><h3>Captain Henry Gordon Blanchard</h3></center><br />
The house's first owner, Henry G. Blanchard, was born in New York City on January 9, 1837. He became an apprentice sailor at a young age and ultimately made his way to Detroit to learn steamship navigation on the Great Lakes. After three seasons on the lakes, he obtained his Master's Certificate, officially becoming a Captain.<br />
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<center><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5537/9371694600_4650f6a76e_o.jpg"><br />
<small>(<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=vzAGdWkRLAEC&pg=PA284&dq=%22harry+g+blanchard+operative+north-western+district+u.s.+secret+service+division%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=U4vyUaXwNMO6qQHdmYAI&ved=0CDwQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22harry%20g%20blanchard%20operative%20north-western%20district%20u.s.%20secret%20service%20division%22&f=false">Image Source</a>.)</small></center><br />
At the age of 28, Captain Blanchard received the position of Detective for the Detroit Custom House, working to protect what was even then a busy international border. In 1867, he became Chief Deputy of the U.S. Marshal's Office of the Eastern District of Michigan. In this position, he became a "terror to smugglers," in the words of a contemporary newspaper. <br />
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Captain Blanchard married a woman named Margaret in the 1860s, but her maiden name and the date of the marriage are unknown. According to census records, she was born in the West Indies around 1844. The couple had two children, both of whom died young. A daughter, Mina Celia, was born December 18, 1869, and died three years later on December 13, 1872. A son, Norman, was born October 26, 1873 and died the following December 9th. Margaret Blanchard evidently died before 1880, when the census indicated that Captain Blanchard was a widower. By that time, he had retired from civil service and purchased shipping vessels, eventually founding the Blanchard Navigation Company.<br />
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<center><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7382/9370955307_f8d08c8e9c_o.jpg"><br />
<i>The </i>Traveler<i>, c. 1890, formerly known as </i>Justice Field<i>. </i>(<a href="http://chicagology.com/harbor/ships/bismark/">Image Source</a>)<br />
<i>This vessel was owned by Captain H. G. Blanchard from 1884-1888.</i> </center><br />
On September 16, 1882, Captain Blanchard married Mary E. Winterhalter, a Detroit native who had a daughter, Rose, from a previous marriage. The couple never had any children of their own.<br />
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In 1892, Captain Blanchard was appointed a crier (essentially a bailiff) for the U. S. Courts in Detroit. He held this position when his residence on Leverette Street was constructed. The last home Henry and Mary Blanchard occupied before this was one of the two visible in the background of the 1895 photograph above--specifically, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/71288712@N00/398376121/">1662 Bagley</a> (formerly 174 Baker), which dates to the 1870s.<br />
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Captain Blanchard spent the rest of his life in his home on Leverette. It was where he passed away on April 4, 1900 at the age of 63. Funeral services were held at his church, St. Peter's Episcopal, and the Captain was laid to rest at Woodmere Cemetery. Mrs. Blanchard immediately left Corktown to live with her daughter and son-in-law, physician William Polglase, who was the live-in superintendent of the Michigan Home for the Feeble Minded and Epileptic in Lapeer.<br />
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<a href="http://quod.lib.umich.edu/d/dpa1ic/x-eb02e591/EB02E591.TIF?chaperone=S-DPA1IC-X-EB02E591+EB02E591.TIF;evl=full-image;from=index;lasttype=boolean;lastview=thumbnail;quality=1;resnum=3;start=1;subview=detail;view=entry;rgn1=ic_all;q1=blanchard">Click here to view a high-resolution version of the Blanchard House photograph.</a><br />
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<center><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3697/9375230489_d5a2710df0_o.jpg"></center><br />
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Paul Sewickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07669801736415800340noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2752902338377637545.post-75864557334153340512013-04-15T07:26:00.000-04:002016-03-22T08:42:37.429-04:00Corktown Pre-History: From Farmland to Development<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8521/8526063215_92e2fd1d08_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Detail from the U.S. Government's 1818 survey of the Michigan Territory.</i></center><br />
Farms were established by Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit very soon after its founding in order to ensure its prosperity. The long, narrow plots that were laid out according to French custom have come to be known as "ribbon farms". This method granted river access to each landowner and allowed the farmers' homes to be relatively close together. The houses sat along River Road, later known as Woodbridge Street and Jefferson Avenue. Behind the house, a typical ribbon farm would contain a garden, fruit orchards, fields of wheat or corn, pasture, and finally woodland.<br />
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Over the course of 300 years, what was once farm lots has ultimately transformed into the neighborhood we know today:<br />
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<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8377/8527122408_c5d28646e9_z.jpg" width="600" height="465"></center><br />
Corktown has been shaped by a combination of the ribbon farm boundaries and Augustus Woodward's plan for Detroit. To illustrate this, it's easier to use a map of the neighborhood from 100 years ago, before urban renewal erased huge swaths the original street grid:<br />
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<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8107/8543333222_1387988559_o.jpg"></center><br />
Below is a map showing the outlines of the ribbon farms of Corktown, using the names they would have been known by at the time they were subdivided:<br />
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<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8512/8542233351_39d89839ee_o.jpg"></center><br />
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<center><h2>French and British Rule</h2></center><br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8514/8581815656_2b25c99fc5_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Corktown's ribbon farms as they were in 1749, although there appears<br />
to be a missing farm between "M. Navarre" and "Champagne".<br />
<small>Hickman, C.E. Carte de La Riviere du detroit depuis le Lac Erie jus'ques au Lac Ste Claire [map]. In: Dunnigan, Brian L. Frontier Metropolis: Picturing Early Detroit, 1701-1838. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2001, p. 106.</small></i></center><br />
The government of New France granted farmland to settlers at Detroit, but first only east of Fort Pontchartrain. The Hurons--one of several tribes invited by Cadillac to settle at Detroit--had established a village just west of the fort, at the mouth of the Savoyard Creek. By the 1740s, the Hurons had abandoned their settlement and land concessions to French farmers were made west of the fort thereafter.<br />
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The British took over Detroit on November 29, 1760 during French and Indian War. In order to prevent conflicts with the American Indians, the British <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Proclamation_of_1763">expressly forbade settlement west of the Appalachians in 1763</a>. Although the land was officially an Indian reserve, the private ownership of the farms along the Detroit River did not appear to be disrupted.<br />
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_Act">The Quebec Act</a>, passed by the British government in 1774, expanded the southern border of the Province of Quebec to the Ohio River, reinstated French civil law among the inhabitants and granted religious liberties to Roman Catholics. This infuriated the overwhelmingly anti-Catholic American Colonies, who considered this law one of the "Intolerable Acts" that would spur the American Revolution. The colonists' war with Britain ended in 1783 with the Treaty of Paris, but no American Indian tribes were a party in that agreement. General "Mad Anthony" Wayne's victory over the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Confederacy">Western Confederacy</a> at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794 led to the Treaty of Greenville, signed August 3, 1795, in which all Indian claims within six miles of the Detroit River were given up. The Jay Treaty of 1794 established the boundary between the new United States and Canada, and Detroit was formally ceded to the United States on July 11, 1796.<br />
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<center><h2>A New Government</h2></center><br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8093/8564231755_3cb1e5bfe6_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Corktown's ribbon farms in August 1796.<br />
<small>McNiff, Patrick. A Plan of the Settlements at Detroit and Its Vicinity [map]. In: Dunnigan, Brian L. Frontier Metropolis: Picturing Early Detroit, 1701-1838. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2001, p. 106.</small></i></center><br />
In 1804, the U.S. government set up an office in Detroit to sell Federal land in the territory, as well as to allow those who already held property to obtain legal recognition of their ownership. Claimants had to show that they had occupied and improved the land prior to July 1, 1796. All claims filed received "private claim" numbers, which remain associated with the parcels today. If the land commissioners were satisfied with the claims, they forwarded the documents to Washington, D.C. for final approval. The owner later received a land patent signed on behalf of the President of the United States "granting" the property to the claimant.<br />
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A sketch of the ownership history of each farm follows.<br />
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<center><h2>Jones Farm</h2></center><b>Private Claim No.:</b> 247<br />
<b>Width:</b> 2 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arpent">French arpents</a> (approximately 384 ft)<br />
<b>Area:</b> 68.51 acres (according to first U.S. survey)<br />
<b>Earliest known owner:</b> Pierre Tetard Forville<br />
<ul><li><b>1 April 1750</b>--New France confirmed land grant to Pierre Forville.</li>
<li><b>3 July 1769</b>--The farm was transferred to Charles and Josephe Chene according to Forville's will.</li>
<li><b>1805</b>--Charles Chene died, leaving the farm to his three sons, Pierre, Toussaint, and Gabriel.</li>
<li><b>9 July 1806</b>--Sold to Antoine Lasselle Jr.</li>
<li><b>21 July 1808</b>--<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=i_I1AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA380">Detroit land office recorded private claim #247 by Lasselle.</a></li>
<li><b>24 July 1810</b>--Sold to James May.</li>
<li><b>30 May 1811</b>--<a href="http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx?accession=MI3140__.102&docClass=STA&sid=gxmo12n0.0qh#patentDetailsTabIndex=1">Private claim #247 confirmed.</a></li>
<li><b>19 May 1814</b>--Sold to Louis Loignon.</li>
<li><b>15 June 1821</b>--Loignon exchanged his land with that of DeGarmo Jones.</li>
<li><b>14 November 1846</b>--Jones died, leaving his widow Catherine as the sole owner.</li>
<li><b>1850s</b>--Catherine H. Jones subdivided the farm and sold it off in parcels.</li>
</ul><br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8239/8555294832_374f93f99d_o.jpg"><br />
(<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=_YLhAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA368&dq=%22river+front+of+jones+and+cass+farms+in+1819%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=5a9AUZ6POKasyAHSjoDYDQ&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22river%20front%20of%20jones%20and%20cass%20farms%20in%201819%22&f=false">Source</a>.)</center><br />
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<center><h2>Forsyth Farm</h2></center><b>Private Claim No.:</b> 23<br />
<b>Width:</b>2 arpents (384 ft)<br />
<b>Area:</b> 66.71 acres<br />
<b>Earliest known owner:</b> Vital Caron (1702-1747)<br />
<ul><li><b>1 April 1750</b>--Government of New France confirmed land claim to "the widow of Vital Caron" (i.e., Magdelene Pruneau Caron).</li>
<li><b>?</b>--The farm came to be owned by Laurent Gamelin.</li>
<li><b>1771</b>--Gamelin died, leaving the farm to his widow, Josette.</li>
<li><b>29 September 1784</b>--"Due to differences" with her eldest son Joseph, Josette Gamelin revoked his right to inheritance and appointed another son, Francois, administrator of the estate.</li>
<li><b>15 October 1784</b>--Josette Gamelin removed son Joseph from the premises "for conduct and mismanagement of the estate".</li>
<li><b>1803</b>--Josette Gamelin died, leaving the farm to Francois Gamelin.</li>
<li><b>16 July 1807</b>--<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=i_I1AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA309">Detroit land office recorded private claim #23 by Gamelin.</a></li>
<li><b>20 April 1811</b>--<a href="http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx?accession=MI3140__.024&docClass=STA&sid=prdllf5b.sig#patentDetailsTabIndex=1">Private claim #23 confirmed.</a></li>
<li><b>15 May 1818</b>--Sold to Philip Lecuyer.</li>
<li><b>19 September 1826</b>--Sold to Augustus S. Porter of New York, who moved to Detroit soon after.</li>
<li><b>15 June 1829</b>--Sold to Robert Allen Forsyth.</li>
<li><b>9 January 1836</b>--Portion of farm between Michigan Avenue and Grand River Avenue sold to a group of investors (Oliver Newberry, Shubael Conant, Elon Farnsworth, Henry Cole, Charles Trowbridge).</li>
<li><b>24 February 1836</b>--Plat of farm south of Michigan Avenue submitted to Wayne County.</li>
<li><b>1843</b>--The owners of the north portion of the farm lost the land to foreclosure, leaving mortgagor William Dwight as the new owner.</li>
<li><b>1 November 1849</b>--North portion sold to Francis Crawford, Albert Crane, and William Wesson.</li>
<li><b>28 December 1850</b>--Plat of north portion submitted to Wayne County.</li>
</ul><br />
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<center><h2>Labrosse Farm</h2></center><b>Private Claim No.:</b> 246<br />
<b>Width:</b> 3 arpents (575 ft)<br />
<b>Area:</b> 97.77 acres<br />
<b>Earliest known owner:</b> A member of the Chesne (Chene) family, according to a 1749 map.<br />
<ul><li><b>c. 1775</b>--Came to be owned by Dominique Jourdain dit Labrosse, according to land patent application.</li>
<li><b>21 July 1808</b>--<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=i_I1AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA379">Detroit land office recorded private claim #246 by Labrose.</a></li>
<li><b>24 July 1811</b>--<a href="http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx?accession=MI3140__.295&docClass=STA&sid=d33etfqn.lgb#patentDetailsTabIndex=1">Private claim #246 confirmed.</a></li>
<li><b>December 1808</b>--Dominique and Jeanette Labrosse, who had no children, sold the farm to Josette Berthelet on the condition that they would be cared for until their deaths.</li>
<li><b>17 November 1816</b>--Dominique Labrosse died, leaving Josette Berthelet as the owner. (Jeanette Labrosse had died in 1814.)</li>
<li><b>20 June 1833</b>--Sold to Lucius Abbott and Joshua Howard (hence Abbott and Howard Streets).</li>
<li><b>1835</b>--Abbott and Howard sold interest in the land to Charles Trowbridge and John Mullett. Mullett was the surveyor who drew a plat for the land and submitted it to the county the following year.</li>
</ul><br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8390/8579998791_b50d774455_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Surveyor John Mullett lived in this house on the River Road between<br />
7th and 8th Streets after purchasing part of the land in the 1830s.<br />
Courtesy Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.</i></center><br />
<br />
<br />
<center><h2>Baker Farm</h2></center><b>Private Claim No.:</b> 24<br />
<b>Width:</b>2 arpents (384 ft)<br />
<b>Area:</b> 67.37 acres<br />
<b>Earliest known owner:</b> Pierre Descomps Labadie (1702-1782)<br />
<ul><li><b>1 April 1750</b>--Government of New France confirmed land claim of Pierre Descomps Labadie.</li>
<li><b>1782</b>--Labadie died, leaving land to son Alexis Descomps Labadie.</li>
<li><b>16 July 1807</b>--<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=i_I1AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA309">Detroit land office recorded private claim #24 by Labadie.</a></li>
<li><b>20 April 1811</b>--<a href="http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx?accession=MI3140__.028&docClass=STA&sid=c0dnap1n.xed#patentDetailsTabIndex=1">Private claim #24 confirmed.</a></li>
<li><b>4 April 1816</b>--Sold to Labadie's son-in-law and daughter, Louis and Cecile LeDuc.</li>
<li><b>25 March 1822</b>--Sold to Robert A. Forsyth.</li>
<li><b>16 December 1823</b>--Sold to Colonel Daniel Baker of the U.S. Army.</li>
<li><b>October 1836</b>--Baker submitted a plat of his farm south of Michigan Avenue several days before his death.</li>
<li><b>1845</b>--Executors of Baker's estate prepared a plat for the north portion of the farm.</li>
</ul><br />
<br />
<br />
<center><h2>Woodbridge Farm</h2></center>This area was originally two separate farms.<br />
<br />
<center><i>East half:</i></center><b>Private Claim No.:</b> 248<br />
<b>Width:</b> 2 arpents (384 ft)<br />
<b>Area:</b> 135.19 acres<br />
<b>Earliest known owner:</b> Antoine Campault (Campau)<br />
<ul><li><b>1 April 1750</b>--New France confirmed land grant to Antoine Campault (Campau).</li>
<li><b>1796</b>--A map from this year indicates the farm was owned by Joseph Livernois.</li>
<li><b>27 March 1806</b>--Sold to Jacques and Francois Lasselle.</li>
<li><b>21 July 1808</b>--<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=i_I1AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA381">Detroit land office recorded private claim #248 by Jacques and Francois Lasselle.</a></li>
<li><b>30 May 1811</b>--<a href="http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx?accession=MI3140__.108&docClass=STA&sid=u2lppxjs.qot#patentDetailsTabIndex=1">Private claim #248 confirmed.</a></li>
<li><b>27 November 1816</b>--Francois Lasselle and heirs of Jacques Lasselle sold the farm to Daniel and Margaret Sutherland.</li>
<li><b>1 July 1819</b>--Sold to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Woodbridge">William Woodbridge</a>.</li>
</ul><br />
<br />
<center><i>West half:</i></center><b>Private Claim No.:</b> 22<br />
<b>Width:</b> 3 arpents (575 ft)<br />
<b>Area:</b> 102.53 acres<br />
<b>Earliest known owner:</b> Robert Navarre (1709-1791)<br />
<ul><li><b>1 May 1747</b>--New France confirmed land grant to Robert Navarre.</li>
<li><b>21 November 1791</b>--Robert Navarre died, leaving the farm to his son Francois.</li>
<li><b> 12 September 1797</b>--Francois Navarre sold the land to his cousin Joseph Beaubien.</li>
<li><b>16 July 1807</b>--<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=i_I1AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA309">Detroit land office recorded private claim #22 by Beaubien.</a></li>
<li><b>20 April 1811</b>--<a href="http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx?accession=MI3140__.021&docClass=STA&sid=zwkyxh01.ejd#patentDetailsTabIndex=1">Private claim #22 confirmed.</a></li>
<li><b>15 November 1810</b>--Sold to James May.</li>
<li><b>1 October 1819</b>--Sold to William Woodbridge. Platting began in 1858 and was continued by his heirs.</li>
</ul><br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8509/8572063582_8cdc9cff66_o.jpg"><br />
<i>The home of William Woodbridge, on what is now Jefferson Ave., west of Tenth Street.<br />
Courtesy Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.</i></center><br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8384/8606347822_d663b972f8_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Detail from an 1841 map of Springwells Township showing the location of the Woodbridge<br />
residence. Detroit's western border coincided with Seventh/Brooklyn Street at the time.<br />
Courtesy Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.</i></center><br />
<br />
<center><h2>Lognon Farm</h2></center><b>Private Claim No.:</b> 27<br />
<b>Width:</b> 3 arpents (575 ft)<br />
<b>Area:</b> 104.20 acres<br />
<b>Earliest known owner:</b> Antoine Robert, <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=eCPsiuITH7gC&pg=PA20&dq=%2227+3x40+antoine+robert+april+1+1750%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Rn1IUanaFLPD4AOV6ICgCQ&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%2227%203x40%20antoine%20robert%20april%201%201750%22&f=false">according to Silas Farmer</a>.<br />
<ul><li><b>1 April 1750</b>--New France confirmed grant to Antoine Robert.</li>
<li><b>?</b>--A map of Detroit in 1765 indicates that this farm was owned by Claude Campau.</li>
<li><b>1 February 1798</b>--Claude Campau's widow, Catherine, sold the farm to James May.</li>
<li><b>16 October 1800</b>--Sold the farm to Jacques Peltier.</li>
<li><b>18 July 1807</b>--<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=i_I1AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA310">Detroit land office recorded private claim #27 by Peltier.</a></li>
<li><b>6 December 1811</b>--Sold to James Henry.</li>
<li><b>3 July 1812</b>--<a href="http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx?accession=MI3170__.113&docClass=STA&sid=qme2bmp5.tbl#patentDetailsTabIndex=1">Private claim #27 confirmed</a>.</li>
<li><b>19 July 1819</b>--Thomas and David Gwynne purchased the farm from Solomon Sibley, the administrator of the estate of James Henry, who had recently passed away.</li>
<li><b>3 October 1820</b>--Sold to DeGarmo Jones.</li>
<li><b>15 June 1821</b>--DeGarmo Jones exchanged land with Louis Loignon, which was later spelled "Lognon".</li>
<li><b>1823</b>--Lognon died, leaving behind four minor children: Louis, Gilbert, Lucy and Moses. The property was divided and sold in large pieces before being subdivided into individual building lots.</li>
</ul><br />
<br />
<center><h2>Thompson Farm</h2></center><b>Private Claim No.:</b> 227<br />
<b>Width:</b> 2½ arpents (480 ft)<br />
<b>Area:</b> 156.54 acres<br />
<b>Earliest known owner:</b> Claude L'esprit dit Champagne*<br />
<small><i>*The Thompson and Lafferty farms were originally one farm under Champagne.</i></small><br />
<ul><li><b>1 April 1750</b>--New France confirmed land grant to Claude L'esprit dit Champagne, who died around the same time.</li>
<li><b>1752</b>--Champagne's widow, Angelique, married Joseph Cabacier. This half of his farm would ultimately become his property. The other half became the property of Angelique's daughter from her first marriage.</li>
<li><b>1796</b>--Joseph Cabacier died several years after Angelique. The farm ultimately became the property of one of their children, Charles Cabacier.</li>
<li><b>12 July 1808</b>--<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=i_I1AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA371">Detroit land office recorded private claim #227 by Charles Cabacier</a>.</li>
<li><b>1 June 1811</b>--<a href="http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx?accession=MI3140__.082&docClass=STA&sid=0baypi22.o0h#patentDetailsTabIndex=1">Private claim #227 confirmed</a>.</li>
<li><b>26 October 1832</b>--Charles Cabacier had died by this time, and his heirs sold the farm to David Thompson.</li>
<li><b>1850s</b>--Farm was platted.</li>
</ul><br />
<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=Gkt5AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA375&dq=%22the+widow+weaver+used+to+keep+a+hotel+about+where+twelfth+street+comes+down+to+the+river%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Oa9YUaaBGOb_ygGgnYCoBg&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22the%20widow%20weaver%20used%20to%20keep%20a%20hotel%20about%20where%20twelfth%20street%20comes%20down%20to%20the%20river%22&f=false">According to Friend Palmer's book <i>Early Days in Detroit</i></a>, David Thompson fell in love with the daughter of a widow who operated a hotel at the foot of his property on the River Road and married her. Years later a circa-1890s newspaper story about the abandoned houses along River Road reproduced this sketch of what appears to be that same hotel. By that time it was dilapidated and occupied by a woman and her teenage daughter who were squatting there.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8392/8607928186_1dfbf51796_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Courtesy Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.</i></center><br />
<br />
<center><h2>Lafferty Farm</h2></center><b>Private Claim No.:</b> 228<br />
<b>Width:</b> 2½ arpents (480 ft)<br />
<b>Area:</b> 184.14 acres<br />
<b>Earliest known owner:</b> Claude L'esprit dit Champagne*<br />
<small><i>*The Thompson and Lafferty farms were originally one farm under Champagne.</i></small><br />
<ul><li><b>1 April 1750</b>--New France confirmed land grant to Claude L'esprit dit Champagne.</li>
<li><b>c. 1750</b>--Champagne died, and this half of the farm would ultimately become the property of his daughter, Catherine.</li>
<li><b>1771</b>--Catherine L'esprit dit Champagne married Louis Vesiere dit Laferte (Lafferty).</li>
<li><b>5 November 1805</b>--Sold to son Joseph Lafferty.</li>
<li><b>12 July 1808</b>--<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=i_I1AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA371">Detroit land office recorded private claim #228 by Louis Lafferty</a>.</li>
<li><b>1 June 1811</b>--<a href="http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx?accession=MI3140__.092&docClass=STA&sid=0uwzkznk.ol2#patentDetailsTabIndex=1">Private claim #228 confirmed.</a></li>
<li><b>1826</b>--Joseph Lafferty died, leaving the land to his widow, Marie Louise.</li>
<li><b>30 November 1846</b>--Marie Louise Lafferty divided the farm among her three children: Clement, Alexander, and Petronel.</li>
<li><b>1854-1872</b>--Farm was subdivided by the heirs of Joseph and Marie Lafferty.</li>
</ul><br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8251/8577443795_3309fd347b_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Peter Lafferty House on the river between 12th and 13th Streets in 1860.<br />
The Laffertys' elm tree was a distinguishing characteristic of the shoreline.<br />
Courtesy Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.</i></center><br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8539/8605244479_fc8897a052_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Detail from an 1841 map of Springwells Township. Note the Laffertys' elm tree.<br />
Courtesy Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.</i></center><br />
<br />
<center><h2>Godfroy Farm</h2></center><b>Private Claim No.:</b> 726<br />
<b>Width:</b> 3 arpents (575 ft)<br />
<b>Area:</b> 96.68 acres<br />
<b>Earliest known owner:</b> Zacharie Cicotte (1709-1775)<br />
<ul><li><b>1 April 1750</b>--New France confirmed land grant to Zacharie Cicotte.</li>
<li><b>1775</b>--Zacharie Cicotte died, leaving the farm to his widow, Angelique.</li>
<li><b>1791</b>--Angelique Cicotte died, leaving the farm to her son, Jean Baptiste Cicotte. Jean Baptiste then died at an unknown date, leaving the farm to his widow, also named Angelique.</li>
<li><b>24 December 1810</b>--<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=i_I1AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA553">Detroit land office recorded private claim #726 by Angelique Cicotte and her children</a>.</li>
<li><b>10 July 1811</b>--<a href="http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx?accession=MI3140__.260&docClass=STA&sid=ig1i0oyv.wrh#patentDetailsTabIndex=1">Private claim #726 confirmed.</a></li>
<li><b>c. 1820s</b>--The farm was divided among the children of Angelique Cicotte, which were all purchased over time by Peter Godfroy.</li>
<li><b>1848</b>--Peter Godfroy died, leaving the farm to his widow, Marianne.</li>
<li><b>1864-1875</b>--The farm was platted and sold off.</li>
</ul><br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8118/8604546834_1e068e3056_o.jpg"><br />
<i>The "Godfroy Mansion" was built in the 1820s where the foot of 14th Street<br />
would be. It had deteriorated badly by the time this sketch appeared in an<br />
1890s newspaper article. It was finally destroyed by fire in 1894.<br />
Courtesy Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.</i></center><br />
Friend Palmer's book <i>Early Days in Detroit</i> <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=yhoVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA373&dq=%22godfroy+farm+fronting+on+river+road%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=x_pRUY7qCofD4AOZjICIDQ&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22godfroy%20farm%20fronting%20on%20river%20road%22&f=false">describes what one would have seen</a> walking along the River Road from the Godfroy farm toward the city in the 1830s.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<h2><center>Annexation</center></h2><br />
All of Corktown used to lie in Springwells Township, which was annexed by the City of Detroit in stages. The Jones farm became part of the city in 1824. In 1849, the city limits were extended to the border between the Baker and Woodbridge farms. The rest of the neighborhood was annexed eight years later.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8230/8542234079_3c9dba02f7_o.png"></center><br />
<br />
<center><h2>Streets and Subdivisions</h2></center><br />
Corktown was not evenly developed from east to west. Portions of the Forsyth and Labrosse farms south of Michigan Avenue were the first to be subdivided in 1835. At the time, they were still part of Springwells Township. This map was published soon after the platting:<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8369/8538686388_142daaae83_o.jpg"> <i>Detail from an 1835 map of Detroit and the surrounding area.</i> (<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/37603091@N02/3526929812/">Source</a>.)</center><br />
At first, streets were laid out in a neat grid in line with Fort Street and Woodward Avenue without any regard to the borders of the ribbon farms. Since not all farms were platted at once, this resulted in many small, oddly-shaped lots along the old farm borders.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8523/8619080961_e926c68515_o.jpg"><br />
<i>The border between the Woodbridge and Baker farms near Abbott<br />
and Howard Streets. Baker's farm was platted in 1836, but this<br />
part of the Woodbridge farm was an orchard through the 1850s.</i></center><br />
This disruptive pattern was finally abandoned after the platting of the Woodbridge farm. This change is evident in the sudden bend in some streets on the border between the Woodbridge and Lognon farms.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8109/8543411376_8241084fe2_o.jpg"><br />
<i>The sidewalk on Bagley Street just west of Tenth Street.</i></center><br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8519/8542233719_4077de5c49_o.jpg"></center><br />
<br />
<center><h2>Subdivision Plats</h2></center><br />
When a land owner wanted to divide their property into lots, they had to work through the City of Detroit, which was responsible for building and planning new roads; and Wayne County, whose approval was required before property can be divided. Normally the land owner(s) would draw up a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plat">plat</a> with the assistance of the city surveyor and then submit it to the county. Below is a map of Corktown indicating when each subdivision was platted. Click on a subdivision to see a copy of the original plat on the State of Michigan's website. (A Java update may be required.) Note that many subdivisions have been altered since their original inception. This map is color-coded so that the oldest plats are in red, and subsequent divisions are represented by colors further along the color spectrum.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8514/8542227055_c5c4aa3f45_o.jpg" usemap="#platting"><br />
<b>CLICK ON SUBDIVISION TO SEE ORIGINAL PLAT IMAGE</B></center><map name="platting"><area shape="rect" coords="1,1,66,61" href="http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/platmaps/dt_image.asp?BCC_SUBINDEX=10563" alt="Godfroy 1871"><area shape="rect" coords="1,71,67,387" href="http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/platmaps/dt_image.asp?BCC_SUBINDEX=11403" alt="Godfroy 1864"><area shape="rect" coords="1,390,67,472" href="http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/platmaps/dt_image.asp?BCC_SUBINDEX=95" alt="Godfroy 1875"><area shape="rect" coords="70,1,129,83" href="http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/platmaps/dt_image.asp?BCC_SUBINDEX=10694" alt="Lafferty 1854"><area shape="rect" coords="71,95,127,283" href="http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/platmaps/dt_image.asp?BCC_SUBINDEX=10176" alt="Lafferty 1867"><area shape="rect" coords="70,288,128,393" href="http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/platmaps/dt_image.asp?BCC_SUBINDEX=10043" alt="Lafferty 1872"><area shape="rect" coords="70,426,128,470" href="http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/platmaps/dt_image.asp?BCC_SUBINDEX=11435" alt="Lafferty 1864"><area shape="rect" coords="133,1,187,103" href="http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/platmaps/dt_image.asp?BCC_SUBINDEX=10702" alt="Thompson 1852"><area shape="rect" coords="131,113,160,470" href="http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/platmaps/dt_image.asp?BCC_SUBINDEX=8039" alt="Thompson 1851 (west)"><area shape="rect" coords="161,130,187,470" href="http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/platmaps/dt_image.asp?BCC_SUBINDEX=10068" alt="Thompson 1851 (east)"><area shape="rect" coords="192,1,256,125" href="http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/platmaps/dt_image.asp?BCC_SUBINDEX=11524" alt="Lognon 1864"><area shape="rect" coords="191,126,206,170" href="http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/platmaps/dt_image.asp?BCC_SUBINDEX=1139" alt="Lognon 1896"> <area shape="rect" coords="208,145,258,169" href="http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/platmaps/dt_image.asp?BCC_SUBINDEX=1209" alt="Lognon 1900"><area shape="rect" coords="191,172,258,303" href="http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/platmaps/dt_image.asp?BCC_SUBINDEX=11370" alt="Lognon 1873"><area shape="rect" coords="191,306,256,472" href="http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/platmaps/dt_image.asp?BCC_SUBINDEX=8067" alt="Lognon 1855"><area shape="rect" coords="260,1,319,148" href="http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/platmaps/dt_image.asp?BCC_SUBINDEX=203" alt="Woodbridge 1880"><area shape="rect" coords="320,79,377,148" href="http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/platmaps/dt_image.asp?BCC_SUBINDEX=203" alt="Woodbridge 1880"><area shape="rect" coords="320,1,377,41" href="http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/platmaps/dt_image.asp?BCC_SUBINDEX=10137" alt="Woodbridge 1867"><area shape="rect" coords="320,42,378,77" href="http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/platmaps/dt_image.asp?BCC_SUBINDEX=10648" alt="Woodbridge 1866"><area shape="rect" coords="320,151,365,174" href="http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/platmaps/dt_image.asp?BCC_SUBINDEX=42481" alt="Woodbridge 1864"><area shape="rect" coords="367,151,379,192" href="http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/platmaps/dt_image.asp?BCC_SUBINDEX=170" alt="Woodbridge 1877"><area shape="rect" coords="262,193,378,308" href="http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/platmaps/dt_image.asp?BCC_SUBINDEX=11247" alt="Woodbridge 1858"><area shape="rect" coords="262,321,378,436" href="http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/platmaps/dt_image.asp?BCC_SUBINDEX=42481" alt="Woodbridge 1864"><area shape="rect" coords="262,445,380,472" href="http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/platmaps/dt_image.asp?BCC_SUBINDEX=11247" alt="Woodbridge 1858"><area shape="rect" coords="381,1,431,198" href="http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/platmaps/dt_image.asp?BCC_SUBINDEX=10169" alt="Baker 1845"><area shape="rect" coords="381,208,431,472" href="http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/platmaps/dt_image.asp?BCC_SUBINDEX=11254" alt="Baker 1836"><area shape="rect" coords="434,1,496,180" href="http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/platmaps/dt_image.asp?BCC_SUBINDEX=10992" alt="Labrosse 1836"><area shape="rect" coords="434,183,495,221" href="http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/platmaps/dt_image.asp?BCC_SUBINDEX=11288" alt="Labrosse 1847"><area shape="rect" coords="434,241,546,472" href="http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/platmaps/dt_image.asp?BCC_SUBINDEX=43265" alt="Labrosse & Forsyth 1835"><area shape="rect" coords="499,1,546,234" href="http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/platmaps/dt_image.asp?BCC_SUBINDEX=11292" alt="Forsyth 1850"><area shape="rect" coords="549,1,599,261" href="http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/platmaps/dt_image.asp?BCC_SUBINDEX=10070" alt="Jones 1853"><area shape="rect" coords="549,270,600,473" href="http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/platmaps/dt_image.asp?BCC_SUBINDEX=11272" alt="Jones 1851"></map><br />
Although the dates of the subdivisions give a rough idea of the progress of development, the construction of public roads does not necessarily coincide exactly with the subdivision of the land. A long time may pass between platting and road construction--conversely, some of the farms had a few of these streets running through them before the property was divided.<br />
<br />
<br />
<center><h2>When was Corktown "Founded"?</h2></center><br />
It is often said that Corktown was "founded" in 1834, presumably because of the signs that were posted throughout the neighborhood in 1988.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8097/8599270236_3b9cbd60ac_o.jpg"></center><br />
However, it is not known why this year is indicated. The earliest platting was submitted in 1835. No Detroiters listed in the <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=MlniAAAAMAAJ">1837 city directory</a> has a Corktown address. Detroit's population was booming in the 1830s, and immigrants certainly populated Corktown very soon after that directory was published.<br />
<br />
The parish of Most Holy Trinity was organized in 1834, but it was originally located downtown and not moved to the corner of Sixth and Porter until 1849--the same year that the core of the neighborhood became part of the city of Detroit.<br />
<br />
Whether the designer of these signs had the platting or the founding of Holy Trinity in mind, they were only off by one year.Paul Sewickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07669801736415800340noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2752902338377637545.post-85655219876271443362013-04-01T07:31:00.000-04:002013-04-01T07:31:11.612-04:00Ancient Streams<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8536/8607884076_18fee7c084_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Detail from a map of Detroit in 1765 showing the near west side's long-departed streams.<br />
Courtesy Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.</i></center><br />
Once upon a time, a winding creek flowed through the area that would later become Corktown. By the time it was drained and filled over a century ago, it had gone by many names--Campau's Mill Creek, Cabacier's Creek, Peltier's Creek, and May's Creek. It originated in the marshes that used to lie in the vicinity of Grand Circus Park, and from there, flowed southwestward toward the intersection of Howard and Wabash Streets, then turning southeastward through a ravine where it flowed into the Detroit River.<br />
<br />
The map below is based on <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=RH9FDeAyUJ4C&pg=PA9&dq=%22map+showing+route+of+former+streams+and+old+river+line%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=T5BQUaO7Ara84APrzYCIAQ&ved=0CEQQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=%22map%20showing%20route%20of%20former%20streams%20and%20old%20river%20line%22&f=false">an illustration that appears in</a> Silas Farmer's <i>History of Detroit</i>.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8243/8577290411_e230368e38_o.jpg"><br />
</center><br />
Note that the shoreline of the Detroit River now extends further than it once did. Detroit's once-high riverbanks were graded before the Woodward street plan was implemented, and the excess earth was pushed into the river to create additional land.<br />
<br />
Below is a topographic map from 1905, indicating the natural changes in elevation that created the creek.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8521/8590299196_8ca896cf10_o.jpg"><br />
(<a href="http://ims.er.usgs.gov/gda_services/download?item_id=5442540&quad=Detroit&state=MI&grid=15X15&series=Map%20GeoPDF">Source</a>.)</center><br />
One of the creek's earliest names was <i>La Riviere du Moulin a Campau</i>, or Campau's Mill Creek. In the early 1730s, settler Charles Campau obtained permission from Detroit's sixth commandant, Louis Henry Deschamps Sieur de Boishebert, to build a grist mill. Campau built a dam and watermill at the north end of the ravine, which would have lied just north of Fort Street. <br />
<br />
The damming of the creek would sometimes flood the land to the west of the mill, which in 1753 was the property of Joseph Cabacier. In 1753, Cabacier complained about the flooding and wanted the mill destroyed. Several landowners petitioned the commandant to let the mill stand, stating that it was the only one convenient to the fort and indispensable to the local inhabitants. The petition was forwarded to Michel-Ange Duquesne de Menneville, the Governor of New France, who ordered that the mill be left alone.<br />
<br />
The creek was later named Cabacier's Creek, after the adjacent land owner, and eventually May's Creek and Peltier's Creek after subsequent owners of the farm on which the mill was situated.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8520/8604500142_1f206ee766_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Detail from an 1841 map of Springwells Township by J. N. Macomb and W. H. Warner.<br />
Courtesy Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library</i></center><br />
In 1848, the Michigan Central Rail Road built a depot at the foot of Third Street and laid down tracks on the riverfront leading up to it. The path taken by the railroad took advantage of the existing ravine created by May's Creek where it crossed under Fort Street. These tracks are no longer used, but the outline of the ravine can still be seen south of the Fort Street bridge.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8510/8598830234_b3f5d4eeef_o.jpg"><br />
<i></i></center><br />
The drainage function of May's Creek was gradually taken over by sewers constructed in the mid-nineteenth century. As the city developed westward, the creek was and filled in and built over. However, the topography that created it can still be observed in Corktown. Looking down Sixth, Brooklyn, Eighth, or Trumbull, one can still observe the ground sloping in toward Labrosse Street, which roughly coincided with the old creek.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8531/8598149041_49b87e5467_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Looking north on Eighth Street from Porter, toward the now-departed creek.</i></center><br />
Another stream that once flowed near Corktown was the Savoyard River, sometimes also called the Huron Creek. It originated in a swamp that used to be where Lafayette Central Park is today. It ran southwesterly just below Congress Street and flowed into the Detroit River at the foot of Fourth Street. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Savoyard was used as a sewage drain by the growing city, and in 1836 the channel was converted into a brick-lined sewer and buried. The Savoyard River is still believed to flow through its underground tomb to this day.Paul Sewickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07669801736415800340noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2752902338377637545.post-16354580032772799262013-02-25T07:16:00.000-05:002014-10-03T14:36:48.030-04:00Ethel Claes and the West Side Industrial Project<i>Two important sources deserve special acknowledgement: my neighbor Ann Aldridge, who loaned me her collection newspaper and magazine clippings about Ethel Claes; and the 1962 book <u>Profile of a Metropolis: A Case Book</u> by Robert J. Mowitz and Deil S. Wright, which dedicates a whole chapter to Corktown's urban renewal in the 1950s.</i><hr><br />
<center><h3>"The Queen of Corktown"</h3></center><br />
On October 9, 1982, a <i>Detroit Free Press</i> obituary declared, "The Queen of Corktown is dead." Ethel Claes, a Corktown resident for over fifty years and longtime president of its homeowners' organization, had passed away at the age of sixty-nine. The neighborhood--or at least what was left of it--partly owed its existence to the co-owner of a Corktown book shop run out of a Victorian house on the corner of Leverette and 11th Street.<br />
<br />
Miss Claes (<a href="http://www.pronouncenames.com/pronounce/claes">pronounced "<i>klahs</i>"</a>) was born in Duluth, Minnesota on July 24, 1913. Her father Bernard had immigrated from the Netherlands, and her mother Hilja from Finland. After moving to Detroit around 1916, Bernard Cornelius Claes eventually got a job with the Detroit Book Exchange. Having to sell books from his personal collection during hard financial times led ultimately to the opening of his own business, The B.C. Claes Book Shop, by 1930. After four years at 1665 Leverette Street, the family and their book shop moved across the street to their final location, 1670 Leverette. After Bernard's death in 1946, Hilja and Ethel Claes continued to run the book shop, which became well known among rare book collectors throughout the Midwest.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8234/8421277106_42fed5361f_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Ethel Claes (right) with her mother Hilja.</i><br />
(The Detroit News,<i> 22 November 1957</i>)</center><br />
<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8491/8420180243_928acf92b0_o.jpg"><br />
<i>The Claes Book Shop at 1670 Leverette in 1954.<br />
Note the "BOOK SHOP" sign in the parlor window.</i></center><br />
<br />
<br />
<center><h3>Corktown's Decline</h3></center><br />
Corktown has historically been an enclave of laborers and immigrants, resulting in a high demand for affordable housing. By the early 1900s, most of the dwellings in the neighborhood were either flats and rented houses. Because there were no zoning laws at the time, commercial buildings cropped up within the residential areas of Corktown. As early as 1917, <a href="http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015018622418;view=1up;seq=142;q1=%22the%20entire%20district%20from%20Sixth%20Street%20to%20Fourteenth%22;start=1;size=10;page=search;num=136">a publication by the Detroit Police Department</a> described Corktown as consisting primarily of businesses and rental homes:<br />
<blockquote><i>...the entire district from Sixth Street to Fourteenth Avenue and from Fort Street to Michigan Avenue [is] now occupied by factories and rooming houses ... it is almost impossible to find a private residence, as almost each one is either a boarding house or lodging house, and the transient population here requires close and constant supervision.</i></blockquote>By 1937, the <i>Detroit News</i> stated, "Corktown may have crumbled into its own dust as a neighborhood." In 1940, the Detroit City Plan Commission included the area bound by Trumbull, Bagley, Sixth and Howard Streets in a study on urban blight. According to its 1940 Annual Report, it found "ample justification for (its) designation as blighted." Initially, the Commission considered clearing the area for public housing, but the site of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffries_Projects">Jeffries Projects</a> was chosen instead. However, the city planners did not forget about Corktown. To paraphrase H.G. Wells, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic regarded this neighborhood with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against it. <br />
<br />
<br />
<center><h3>The Age of Urban Renewal</h3></center><br />
With the passage of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing_Act_of_1949">Housing Act of 1949</a>, Federal subsidies for slum removal became available to local municipalities. This and similar laws were intended to replace overcrowded, squalid housing with safe and affordable homes, but it carried with it the unintended consequences of the destruction of urban fabric, the clearance of irreplaceable historic structures, and the displacement of poor and minority populations.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8504/8434812801_886037dd72_o.jpg"><br />
<i>July 15, 1949--Pres. Harry S. Truman signs the Housing Act of 1949 into law.</i></center><br />
Although the law supposedly addressed a housing shortage, new dwellings did not have to replace leveled slums. New construction only had to comply with the city's master plan. Detroit city planners believed that Corktown, one of the city's "oldest and most blighted residential districts ... cannot be transformed into a good residential area because of its proximity to existing large industry, rail lines, transit terminals (and) other traffic generating activities" (<a href="http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015037314161;seq=1;view=1up">source</a>). Ironically, what is today one of the city's most desirable residential areas was once derided as <b>"unfit for homes"</b> by the City Plan Commission. <br />
<br />
<br />
<center><h3>A Brave New Neighborhood</h3></center><br />
<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8368/8421523820_fc147fc437_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Planners' View of Proposed Corktown Industrial Area (1957).<br />
Note Most Holy Trinity Church on the right.<br />
Courtesy Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.</i></center><br />
At the beginning of the 1950s, when Cobo Hall was still in its planning stages, the site was occupied by a busy warehouse and light industrial district. City leaders did not want to lose the displaced businesses to the suburbs, but population and industrialization were at their peak in Detroit and there was little vacant land available within the city limits for their relocation. Corktown, with its convenient access to downtown, the Detroit River, rail terminals, and expressways, was seen as the ideal replacement. The neighborhood was to be rezoned, cleared, and renamed the West Side Industrial District.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8522/8455236121_18998c2549_o.jpg"><br />
<i>A sketch of the gleaming light industrial district adorns the back and<br />
front covers of a 1958 pamphlet promoting the project.</i> (<a href="http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015037314161;view=1up;seq=21;q1=exhibits;start=1;size=10;page=search;num=19">Source.</a>)</center><br />
The city wanted to obtain the land in the most efficient way possible--through wholesale condemnation. The area would be cleared and lots would be combined and sold in parcels suitable for commercial use. Utilities would be upgraded and off-street parking requirements would be imposed. All alleys and several streets would be closed. Labrosse and Abbott Streets would be widened to 44 feet in order to serve as trucking thoroughfares, by which the businesses' loading docks would be accessed, while Bagley and Porter Streets would remain 30 feet wide and accommodate regular automobile traffic.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8251/8475617911_d9f7480de1_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Illustrations from </i>Urban Renewal Notes<i>, March-April 1966.</i> (<a href="http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112101032370;view=1up;num=84;seq=198">Source.</a>)</center><br />
The plan called for multistory office buildings to be constructed along the Lodge Expressway; warehouses and wholesalers to be established between Sixth Street and Trumbull; light industry and trucking terminals between Trumbull and Twelfth Street; and in the middle of it all, "a commercial center to include a hotel for out of town buyers and truck drivers, a cafeteria, small shops and employee meeting rooms" (<i>The Municipal Employee</i>, April 1961). A two-acre site was reserved next to the "commercial center" for a public park to include "landscaped recreation areas with shuffleboard courts, horseshoe pits and benches"--evidently the preferred recreational accommodations of truckers and wholesale buyers.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<center><h3>Quantifying "Blight"</h3></center><br />
In order to qualify for slum clearance subsidies, Detroit had to prove that Corktown was in fact blighted. City planners chose a 75-acre site which they believed would most likely be approved--between Porter and Lafayette east of Trumbull, and between Bagley and Lafayette west of Trumbull. <br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8326/8437903345_638666b1b0_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Proposed re-zoning for the 75-acre site within Corktown from 1958.</i> (<a href="http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015037314161;view=1up;seq=21;q1=exhibits;start=1;size=10;page=search;num=19">Source.</a>)<br />
</center><br />
How does one define "blight"? Common sense factors such as housing defects and crime rate were considered, but the urban planners of the 1950s used more creativity in interpreting the word. They also included indications such as:<br />
<ul><li>The age of buildings</li>
<li>The occupants' income</li>
<li>"Overcrowding" of buildings</li>
<li>Lack of yard space</li>
<li>Intrusion of non-residential uses</li>
<li>Narrow streets</li>
<li>High traffic volume</li>
<li>Lack of off-street parking</li>
<li>"Mixed character" of buildings</li>
</ul><center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8045/8446898946_b7d2c0918f_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Actual photo from a 1962 urban renewal report by the Detroit City Planning Commission.<br />
The differences in housing styles is supposed to be an example of "blight". </i>(<a href="http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015059113152">Source.</a>)</center><br />
<br />
<center><h3>The Neighborhood Fights Back</h3></center><br />
The city's plan to destroy a large swath of Corktown was obviously controversial among its residents. Although not all homes would be demolished, those left would lose much of their value when suddenly adjacent to an industrial area. Long-time homeowners--especially the elderly whose homes were paid off--were unlikely to find similar housing for the cost of the condemnation awards that they could expect. Many residents resented the city's view of the area as "blighted". They acknowledged that their homes were old in need of repair, but they maintained that upgrades and renovations were superior alternatives to annihilating entire blocks of houses. It was also discovered that some of the littered and overgrown vacant lots were in fact city-owned.<br />
<br />
Miss Ethel Claes prepared a petition in protest of the urban renewal project. It was signed by 1,200 Corktowners and delivered to Detroit City Council on January 15, 1951. The City Plan Commission disingenuously replied that the Federal funds that they had received up until that point were not for condemnation, but merely to study "which section should be so redeveloped". City Plan Director George Emery assured Miss Claes that the section where her bookstore was located was "unlikely to be included in the early stages of any redevelopment," and that her property would not be in danger "for some time to come". Miss Claes somehow did not find these words to be very comforting.<br />
<br />
When Miss Claes attempted to petition the Federal agency that would ultimately fund the demolition (the Housing and Home Finance Agency, a precursor to the Department of Housing and Urban Development), the petition was returned and she was told that her concerns were a local matter. The Detroit City Council was the only publicly accountable entity that she could appeal to.<br />
<br />
In 1951, the Corktown Homeowners' Organization was founded to encourage renovations and neighborhood cleanups so that the neighborhood could not be considered a slum. When the group contacted various public agencies (Board of Health, police, etc.) to inquire about the data that indicated blight (crime, child delinquency, etc.), they could not find any such specific information about the actual project area. By 1953, Miss Claes was president of the Corktown Homeowners' Organization and leading its 1,000 members in the fight for their survival. At first the plan was opposed by various ethnic clubs and other neighborhood groups, but they ultimately united under Miss Claes' leadership.<br />
<br />
<br />
<center><h3>"The wrath of God will fall on our city."</h3></center><br />
Also involved in the controversy were the heads of Corktown's two largest religious organizations--Father Clement Kern of Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church, and Reverend John F. Mangrum of St. Peter's Episcopal Church.<br />
<br />
Rev. Mangrum, originally from Grand Rapids, received his Masters of Divinity in 1949 and served as rector of a church in Albion before coming to Corktown in 1951. He was outraged by the project's displacement of families and called the plan "un-American". In a letter to the editor of the <i>Detroit Free Press</i>, published February 11, 1954, he wrote, "Destroy families, tear up homes and supplant them with questionable business development and the wrath of God will fall on our city."<br />
<br />
Rev. Mangrum was equally blunt in communicating with city officials directly. When he was invited to meet with the Plan Commission about the project, he replied:<br />
<blockquote><i>It is very good of you to invite me to attend the meeting of the Plan Commission relative to the disposal of the people in Corktown--or should I say the buildings? The city government seems so much more interested in buildings than people!<br />
<br />
There are a few reservations that I would like to make. First, that attendance at your little </i>tête-à-tête<i> will in no wise constitute endorsement of your shop-worn city plan to me. I intend to fight it every inch of the way....<br />
<br />
Just know that I am certain the plan for Corktown is evil and bad, and must be beaten completely. The proposed "redevelopment" is not progress, is not just, and is at base a cruel, cruel proposal. I am certain of that.</i></blockquote><center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8508/8459531796_7f47053193_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Reverend John F. Mangrum circa 1964.<br />
Courtesy Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.</i></center><br />
When Rev. Mangrum met with members of the Plan Commission on May 10, 1954, head city planner Francis P. Bennett claimed he was ultimately concerned with the welfare of the citizens of Corktown who live in slum conditions. Rev. Mangrum replied, "You come out here the day they tear down the people's houses and watch their faces and tell me that.... You don't have to live with them. You don't have to go down there. You don't have to watch, to talk, to explain. Statistics to you--that's all."<br />
<br />
Rev. Mangrum joined forces with Miss Claes, but Father Kern was <i>not</i> convinced that the project was a bad idea. Having been pastor of Most Holy Trinity since 1943, his parish was the largest in Corktown, consisting primarily Catholic Maltese and Mexican families. Father Kern worked closely with the poor and believed that the project would benefit them, as the government pledged to relocate the 140 displaced families to safe and adequate housing. <br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8226/8459277326_14728c5985_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Father Clement H. Kern, circa 1950s.<br />
Courtesy Walter Reuther Library, Wayne State University.</i></center><br />
In Father Kern's mind, urban renewal was delivering the city's poor to better homes. He cooperated with the government on the West Side Industrial project, even serving on the Plan Commission's Relocation Advisory Committee.<br />
<br />
<br />
<center><h3>Meetings, Petitions, and a Clean-Up Campaign</h3></center><br />
The fight for Corktown dragged on for years. Neighbors signed petitions testifying that the crime rate was lower than stated by city council. Several doctors signed affidavits affirming that tuberculosis and other diseases indicative of blight were not present in Corktown. The Corktown Homeowners' Organization coordinated the community's preservation and encouraged property rehabilitation. In order to highlight recent home improvements, posters were made with photographs of houses in the area. Some of these posters have survived, and the images have been <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/corktownhistory/sets/72157628093919480/">scanned and uploaded to Flickr</a>. <br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8507/8457644134_90eae52470_o.jpg"><br />
<i>1601 Porter.<br />
Stickers that indicate specific upgrades are affixed to some photos.<br />
<br />
<img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8248/8457644010_e81b911fc7_o.jpg"><br />
<br />
<img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8514/8457643646_816b708078_o.jpg"><br />
1419-1425 Abbott.<br />
<br />
<img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8231/8456544005_230d824a6c_o.jpg"><br />
An updated, modern kitchen at 1377 Abbott.<br />
<br />
<img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8248/8456543845_b17537ba29_o.jpg"><br />
The garden behind 1730 Labrosse.</i></center><br />
Father Clement Kern of Most Holy Trinity advised the Plan Commission that they would have to convince Miss Claes of the necessity of urban renewal in order for the plan to progress without trouble. The Commission met with Miss Claes on May 3, 1954, but it did not go as they had hoped. She criticized them for not holding public hearings regarding their selection of the project site, and drilled them on their justifications for declaring Corktown a slum. They replied that their studies indicated that the area is blighted, but when Miss Claes demanded to know what statistics led them to that conclusion, <i>they replied that the data wasn't available because the studies had not been completed</i>. When she asked why they did not instead help rehabilitate the area if blight was really the problem, planner George Villican replied, "It's not our problem. We merely study problems."<br />
<br />
On July 22, 1954, between 400-500 Corktowners packed a public hearing about the project before City Council. Members of the City Plan Commission started the meeting with a presentation of statistics indicating Corktown's blighted condition. They were followed by a dozen Corktowners defending their neighborhood. Miss Claes was the final speaker, and came prepared with statistics countering what had been presented earlier. She pointed out that the information used by the Plan Commission was based on geographic boundaries (e.g., census tracts) that did not coincide with the proposed project area, and that many homes in the area were currently being improved. The Council decided to allow the Plan Commission to issue a detailed report on blight in the neighborhood and to hold an additional hearing in the future.<br />
<br />
Nonetheless, Council was satisfied enough with the data that they authorized the renewal plan to be sent to the Housing and Home Finance Agency (HHFA) in March 1955. The following month Miss Claes and Congressman <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Diggs">Charles C. Diggs</a> met with the Plan Commission to again refute the allegation that Corktown was a slum. Congressman Diggs was convinced enough to contact the HHFA and relay Miss Claes' concerns. The HHFA in turn contacted the City of Detroit to request better data on the neighborhood's condition, and a parcel-by-parcel survey of the properties in the project area was initiated.<br />
<br />
In the meantime, the City Council formally declared the project area to be blighted on June 16, 1955, without a public hearing and while Miss Claes was away from the city. Father Kern and Reverend Mangrum met with Mayor Albert Cobo several days later to plead that the cleared area at least be replaced with new housing instead of industry, in order to preserve the community. The city had always insisted that it was clearing the site to get rid of a slum, not for economic reasons. Mayor Cobo, however, now argued to Rev. Mangrum and Father Kern that the development <i>must</i> be industrial <i>specifically for economic reasons</i>.<br />
<br />
Later that year, Rev. Mangrum was reassigned to a church in Palm Beach, Florida, and Miss Claes lost an important ally.<br />
<br />
<br />
<center><h3>The Final Years</h3></center><br />
The HHFA approved the city's Corktown renewal plan on January 10, 1956, but Miss Claes and her neighbors fought on. Corktown continued to improve under the guidance of the Corktown Homeowners' Organization, even participating in a neighborhood conservation program organized by the very Plan Commission that wanted to see the neighborhood leveled.<br />
<br />
Another public hearing--only the second in three years--was held before City Council on June 28, 1957. Miss Claes spoke, again asserting that Corktown was not a slum by any meaningful criteria. Homes were being fixed up and modernized. Vacant lots were being cleaned up. Properties that remained in bad condition, she pointed out, tended to be owned by slumlords who resided outside of the neighborhood. In her speech, Miss Claes stated:<br />
<blockquote><i>The public must be disabused that Corktown and skid row are one. In Corktown everybody works hard; there is no panhandling, and no street loafers, and there is no drink problem.... Corktown and the project area is NO SLUM....<br />
<br />
It is well known that in the last three years a great improvement has been made in the condition of houses in Corktown. We have held competitions for the best improvements, and a great amount of work has been done on the properties....<br />
<br />
[Bringing] property up to code within a stipulated period ... can save the area, can save the city a lot of money, and its inhabitants a lot of grief....</i></blockquote>Despite the citizens' efforts, the Detroit City Council voted <i><b>unanimously</b></i> in favor of the project site's condemnation on July 10, 1957. In an editorial printed the following day, the <i>Detroit Free Press</i> defended the decision with words that sound ironic today: "...it is of paramount importance that Detroit, its vacant land gone, fully utilize existing space to strengthen its industrial structure." <br />
<br />
The formal agreement between the HHFA and City of Detroit was signed in November of 1957. By October 1958, a condemnation jury awarded $1,859,284 to the owners of the 13 commercial properties, 19 multi-housing units, 60 single- and double-family homes, and 18 vacant lots seized by the city. Relocation began immediately and took about a year. By the time the land was cleared, work had already begun on Cobo Hall and the displaced businesses had already relocated elsewhere. Still, the city hoped to attract industry to the area.<br />
<br />
<br />
<center><h3>"Progress"</h3></center><br />
<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8082/8426773429_f246f81414_o.jpg"><br />
<i><b>Above:</b> Corktown in 1956. <b>Below:</b> The same area in 1961. Images courtesy DTE.</i><br />
<img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8224/8427862112_3d681237dc_o.jpg"></center><br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8531/8456570235_1e3e9aec29_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Aerial view of the West Side Industrial District, circa 1966.<br />
Courtesy Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.</i></center><br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8532/8457669608_45800d9762_o.jpg"><br />
<i>The <a href="http://www.ftd.com/">FTD</a> headquarters at 900 W. Lafayette was one of the first new buildings to occupy<br />
the urban renewal area. (Note Most Holy Trinity Church in the background.)<br />
This building has since been replaced by a Greyhound bus station.</i> (<a href="http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015059113152;seq=58;view=1up;num=44">Photo source.</a>)</center><br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8328/8446924857_b9afe9280b_o.jpg"><i><br />
The hotel and park at the center of the West Side Industrial District circa 1966.<br />
Courtesy Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.</i></center><br />
The city-planned district called for a hotel to serve truckers and out-of-state wholesale buyers. Across the street was a park named Dean Savage Memorial Park in honor of Dean James Savage (1846-1927), who served all but ten years of his priesthood at Most Holy Trinity. The park was equipped with shuffleboard courts. The hotel, located at 1331 Trumbull, originally operated as the Holiday Inn Downtown.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8242/8467918575_19680f7370_o.jpg"><br />
<i>This mid-1960s postcard from the Holiday Inn Downtown invites us to dine<br />
at The Steak Room, decorated with artificial wood paneling and blood-red<br />
leather-upholstered furniture, "for a memorable dining experience." And why<br />
not unwind after dinner with a relaxing game of shuffleboard?</i> (<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/edge_and_corner_wear/4935067923/">Image source.</a>)</center><br />
<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8235/8469043075_8e4ce5fd85_o.jpg"><i><br />
Today the hotel is operated as <a href="http://corktowninn.com/">The Corktown Inn</a>. No trucks were spotted in the<br />
parking lot when I visited the premises, and I declined to inquire of the gentlemen<br />
staying there what wholesale commodities they were purchasing.</i></center><br />
<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8247/8469110668_6b9de5b6e3_o.jpg"><br />
<i>For the convenience of The Corktown Inn's guests, a vending machine dispenses toiletries, prophylactics, ladies' undergarments, and--in the spirit of Corktown--Irish Spring® soap.<br />
Image courtesy <a href="http://murdermotels.com/corktown-inn-detroit-mich/">MurderMotels.com</a>.</i></center><br />
<br />
<center><h3>Architectural Casualties</h3></center><br />
The buildings previously occupying the project site were photographed before their untimely demise, both by the residents who fought to protect them and by the Plan Commission who declared them to be blighted. The images below credited to the Burton Historical Collection were originally from the Plan Commission's files.<br />
<br />
<center><i><br />
<img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8236/8441690121_b73bae5d5a_o.jpg"><br />
1211 Trumbull.<br />
1950s image courtesy Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.<br />
<br />
<img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8183/8441690141_72a46852a1_o.jpg"><br />
1205 Trumbull.<br />
1950s image courtesy Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.<br />
<br />
<img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8370/8441689665_f591bd67d9_o.jpg"><br />
Convent of the Immaculate Heart, 1051 Porter.<br />
1950s image courtesy Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.<br />
<br />
<img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8084/8450944790_8049a622f4_o.jpg"><br />
1216 Howard.<br />
<br />
<img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8049/8442779416_b1ea24db73_o.jpg"><br />
1600 Howard.<br />
1950s image courtesy Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.<br />
<br />
<img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8188/8449857941_16d74b5cb7_o.jpg"><br />
1556 Howard.<br />
<br />
<img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8494/8441688793_381a6b8925_o.jpg"><br />
1639 Abbott.<br />
<br />
<img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3936/15243823790_11951122da_b.jpg"><br />
1551 Abbott.<br />
<br />
<img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8517/8468145030_eeb5b65780_o.jpg" width="600" height="800" alt="labrosse1743"><br />
1743 Labrosse.<br />
The older building was <a href="http://corktownhistory.blogspot.com/2011/07/carhartt.html">Carhartt's</a> headquarters for three years<br />
during the Great Depression after its Michigan Ave. factory closed.<br />
1950s image courtesy Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.<br />
<br />
<img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8376/8449857709_1199f32b80_o.jpg"><br />
1525-1531 Bagley.</i></center><br />
The building in the modern image above is part of the Clement Kern Gardens subsidized housing project. Despite being cleared for "urgently needed" industrial space, this entire block sat vacant for twenty-five years. This development, designed by Detroit architect <a href="http://rogermargerumarchitects.webs.com/">Roger Margerum</a>, was constructed in 1985.<br />
<br />
Clement Kern Gardens is adorned with a statue of its namesake, Father Clement H. Kern of Most Holy Trinity Church, who died in 1983. The statue was installed by sculptor <a href="http://edwardchesneysculpture.com/">Edward Chesney</a> in 1986, and it is completely enclosed by a locked, eight-foot-high, wrought iron fence to protect it from the community Father Kern once served.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8087/8491319807_152e9f70dc_o.jpg"></center><br />
<br />
<br />
<center><h3>The Legacy of Ethel Claes</h3></center><br />
<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8370/8470036858_5a5bea1abc_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Miss Ethel Claes in 1975.</i></center><br />
In the end, Miss Claes failed to stop the bulldozers. Seventy-five acres of the neighborhood were cleared, disbursing hundreds of residents. Property values fell and the blight that everyone had been battling only increased. This had in fact been the planners' intention all along. In <i>Profile of a Metropolis</i>, Mowitz and Wright wrote:<br />
<blockquote><i>Members of the Plan Commission staff and the Housing Commission staff admitted privately that some of the blocks near the project site were in good condition. A Housing Commission staff member said that he expected the surrounding area to deteriorate once the redevelopment project was completed, and then all of Corktown could be condemned and put to industrial use.</i></blockquote>The history of Corktown in the twentieth century is a history of its destruction. Homes and businesses were cleared to construct Michigan Central Station and Roosevelt Park, to widen Michigan Avenue, to build the Lodge and Fisher Freeways, to create the West Side Industrial District, and even for the unforgivably frivolous use of parking the cars of Tiger Stadium patrons. What we call Corktown today is just a small remnant of what there once was. But these few surviving blocks might have withered and died if not for Miss Claes' charismatic leadership, her book shop as a rallying point for the neighborhood, and the Corktown Homeowners' Organization's emphasis on home maintenance.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8246/8469769089_4e364d4765_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Hilja and Ethel Claes in 1974.</i></center><br />
For the rest of their lives, Ethel Claes and her mother tended their book shop and remained active in neighborhood conservation. As consuming as these tasks were, Miss Claes did find the time for marriage, however briefly. On July 23, 1964, she married Roy Etherton, a Russian-born man 23 years her senior. He passed away just over a year later, on November 16, 1965, at the age of 73. Despite legally becoming Mrs. Etherton, everyone still knew her as "Miss Claes".<br />
<br />
<center>* * * * *</center><br />
By the 1970s, American society began to realize that we no longer created beautiful buildings, and that people needed tangible connections to their cultural past. As a result, the need for historic preservation became evident and Corktown received well-deserved recognition for its collection of 18th century working-class homes. An article on the neighborhood from <i>The Detroit News</i> of January 14, 1979 gushed, "Architecturally, Corktown is a gold mine, a giant toy store for preservationists."<br />
<br />
Miss Claes lived to see her neighborhood added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 31, 1978. After her death, the City of Detroit granted Corktown historic protection on December 24, 1984, and added a western annex that included Wabash and Vermont Streets on September 25, 1998.<br />
<br />
When Miss Claes passed away in October of 1982, the <i>Detroit Free Press</i>' Louis Cook wrote, "Of all the classic writers of letters to the editor the Free Press has experienced, Miss Claes was one of the most vinegary and brilliant." She was, he added, "imperious, poetic and a lot of fun to be around if your hide was thick enough."<br />
<br />
In accordance with Miss Claes' wishes, there was no funeral service. She was survived by her mother, who passed away just five months later. Both were laid to rest in Fernwood Cemetery in Gladstone, a town in Michigan's upper peninsula where Bernard C. Claes was interred in 1946.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8531/8468199171_4cea3a5596_o.jpg"><br />
<i>The headstone of Ethel Claes Etherton.<br />
Photo courtesy Elaine Ackerman. </i>(<a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=75789968&PIpi=48780167">Source.</a>)<br />
<br />
<br />
<img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8108/8474030336_d5afa08d86_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Miss Claes' former home and book shop at 1670 Leverette.<br />
Photo by Joseph C. Krause.</i></center>Paul Sewickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07669801736415800340noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2752902338377637545.post-28386751704205703552012-11-26T07:27:00.000-05:002012-11-30T11:01:47.896-05:00Detroit Athletic Company<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8478/8210556861_4ed1b9d983_o.jpg"></center><br />
The <a href="http://www.detroitathletic.com/">Detroit Athletic Company</a> has sold Detroit sports memorabilia one block from the former Tiger Stadium site since 1985. Behind the facade's white stucco lie two Victorian-era buildings constructed twelve years apart. Together they originally consisted of three ground-floor commercial spaces with two apartments above. The histories of each of the commercial spaces are detailed separately below.<br />
<br />
<center><h3>526 (1740) Michigan Avenue</h3></center><br />
The east (right) half of the building, originally addressed as 526 Michigan Avenue, was the first to be built.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8201/8193807751_5191b8fe8b_o.jpg"><table><tr><td width="599"><i><b>Above:</b> Michigan Avenue west of Harrison, some time between 1881 and 1884. (Courtesy Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library)<br />
<b>Below:</b> The same block as it appears today. The west (left) half of the store<br />
had not yet been built when the 1880s photos was taken.</i></table><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8058/8193807709_f68f82cd25_o.jpg"></center><br />
The permit to construct this building was issued May 24, 1878. The following day the <i>Detroit Free Press</i> noted, "A brick building for a store is to be built at the corner of Harrison and Michigan avenues, the excavation for the cellar having been already made." The owner was Horace M. Dean of the interior decorating firm Deans Brow & Godfrey.<br />
<br />
The building almost didn't survive one year. On the night of February 14th, 1879, Frederick Steben of 112 Harrison Avenue saw a fire inside of the store and ran to the <a href="http://quod.lib.umich.edu/d/dpa1ic/x-dpa5067/DPA5067.TIF?from=index;lasttype=boolean;lastview=thumbnail;resnum=3;size=20;start=1;subview=detail;view=entry;rgn1=ic_all;q1=trumbull+police">Trumbull Avenue police station</a> to sound the fire alarm. <a href="http://quod.lib.umich.edu/d/dpa1ic/x-dpa2395/DPA2395.TIF?from=index;lasttype=boolean;lastview=thumbnail;resnum=2;size=20;start=1;subview=detail;view=entry;rgn1=ic_all;q1=engine+baker">Fire Engine Company No. 8</a> arrived within minutes and extinguished the flames. Police Officer John Martin, who accompanied Steben back to the store, discovered several partially burned piles of wood shavings saturated with kerosene inside, suggesting arson.<br />
<br />
Suspicion fell upon the building's tenant, picture framer Alexander M. Kolakosky, whose merchandise on the premises was insured. He was arrested and subsequently examined in Police Court on February 25th and March 7th. Testimony was delivered by Officer Martin, Fire Department Foreman Richard Filban, Fire Marshal George Dunlap, and the building's owner Horace Dean. There was deemed enough evidence to go to trial, and Kolakosky was bound over to Recorder's Court. He was arraigned on April 8th and charged with arson, to which he pleaded not guilty. The trial occurred on May 1st and he was acquitted by the jury. On May 18th, the <i>Free Press</i> noted: "After paying $125 attorneys' fees, and passing three months in jail, A. M. Kalokoski [sic] has settled with the insurance companies for $75."<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8346/8196662832_8f9edc51b1_o.jpg"><br />
<i>The block that includes 526 Michigan Avenue on the 1884 Sanborn map.</i></center><br />
<br />
Other known occupants of this address:<br />
<br />
<table><tr><td width="100" align="center"><b>1879-1880</b></td><td> Geloramo Cannata, jeweler</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center"><b>1881-1882</b></td><td> William C. Wright, grocer</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center"><b>1883</b></td><td> Job Thomas & Co., grocers (Job Thomas & Alexander W. Slocum)</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center"><b>1884</b></td><td> Alfred G. Stanlake, grocer</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center"><b>1885</b></td><td> Holden & Westaway, grocers (Newton B. Holden & James Westaway)</td></tr>
</table><br />
Newton B. Holden went missing on the night of April 24, 1885, having last been seen crossing the Detroit River in a rowboat. His parents lived in Sandwich (now Windsor), and crossing the river by this means was not uncommon. The boat was recovered from Grassy Island on May 1st, but Holden's body was not discovered until a month later, near Wyandotte. He had evidently drowned, but foul play was ruled out as his coat pockets still contained a large sum of money.<br />
<br />
<table><tr><td align="center"><b>1885-1887</b></td><td> Garrett Cotter, grocer</td></tr>
<tr><td> </td><td align="center"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8337/8205207133_416912095e_o.jpg"></td></tr>
<tr><td align="center"><b>1888</b></td><td> (Vacant)</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center"><b>1889-1890</b></td><td> Deubel & Voorhees, feed (William H. Deubel & George W. Voorhees)</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center"><b>1891</b></td><td> William S. Gill, harness maker</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center"><b>1892</b></td><td> James F. Walsh, upholsterer</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center"><b>1893</b></td><td> Singer Manufacturing Co., sewing machines</td></tr>
</table><br />
For the next 36 years the space was used as a laundry establishment. In 1894 it was the Star Laundry, operated by Edgar C. Wheeler and Orra D. Pursell. The latter partner left the following year and the business was then run by Edgar C. Wheeler & Son from 1895 to 1905. By 1906 Star Laundry was acquired by Banner Laundry, a large, successful operation that had recently moved to the northwest corner of Brooklyn and Plum Streets, where it would thrive for decades. Their three-story headquarters still stands at 2233 Brooklyn and is now used as <a href="http://www.loftplace.com/2010/?id=brooklyn">inexpensive lofts</a>.<br />
<br />
526 Michigan Avenue remained a laundry business until 1930, sometimes being listed as a branch location of Banner Laundry, sometimes as Star Laundry. In 1931 the space was used as storage for the National Upholstery and Furniture House, but after that it was vacant for much of the Great Depression.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8064/8196662406_bc7df6994c_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Michigan Avenue between Harrison and Cochrane, probably in the 1950s.<br />
Courtesy Walter Reuther Library, Wayne State University.</i></center><br />
Other known tenants of this store (gaps do not necessarily indicate vacancy):<table><tr><td
width="150" align="center"><b>1938</b></td><td> Wayne Home Improvement Co. (Samuel Pearlman)</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center"><b>1939</b></td><td> Harry Slotter Billiards</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center"><b>1941</b></td><td> Fit-Rite Glove Co. (Dermond St. Aubin & Gerald Doherty)</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center"><b>1950-1955</b></td><td> Michigan Glove Manufacturing Co.</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center"><b>1961-1964</b></td><td> Maltese-American Benevolent Society, Inc.</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center"><b>1965-1975?</b></td><td> Central Billiards (Casimiro Nogueira)</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center"><b>1975-1985</b></td><td> The Hot Dog Place (Coney Island restaurant)</td></tr>
</table><br />
<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8064/8201802342_7a2354c4f1_o.jpg"><br />
<i>1740-1744 Michigan Avenue in 1976.<br />
Courtesy State Historic Preservation Office</i></center><br />
In 1985, the family that owned The Hot Dog Place converted the restaurant into a sports memorabilia shop called The Designated Hatter. In 2000, it changed its name to The Detroit Athletic Company. It is now operated by brothers Steve and Dave Khalil, who started out selling peanuts and souvenirs to Tigers fans on the corner of Cochrane and Kaline Drive in 1982, when 1740 Michigan Avenue was still their father's restaurant. They acquired and expanded into the adjacent space in 1990.<br />
<br />
<br />
<center><h3>528 (1744) Michigan Avenue</h3></center><br />
The other half of the Detroit Athletic Company's premises originally contained two commercial spaces--one that faced Michigan Avenue and one that faced Harrison.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8341/8195568611_0bd877d9f7_o.jpg"><br />
<i>The Detroit Athletic Company block in the 1897 Sanborn map.</i></center><br />
On August 26, 1890, building permit number 1305 was issued to the architecture firm <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogers_and_MacFarlane">Rogers and MacFarlane</a> to construct a two-story brick store with an upstairs apartment at an estimated cost of $5,000. The firm was founded in 1885 by architects James S. Rogers and Walter MacFarlane. Their work includes the <a href="http://detroit1701.org/King-Annis%20Building.html">L. B. King & Co. Building</a> on Library Street downtown.<br />
<br />
A pharmacy run by William H. McFarland of the McFarland Brothers was the first commercial occupant of this space. The first store to bear the McFarland name was established by Andrew McFarland in 1880 just a few doors down at what is now 1700 Michigan Avenue. In a photograph very similar to the early 1880s near the top of this post, a painted sign for McFarland Brothers is partially visible on their first building:<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8066/8196683760_0a5264d2ca_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Courtesy Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library</i></center><br />
An <a href="http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001874791">1893 publication</a> introducing the city to visitors describes the new McFarland Brothers location at 528 Michigan Avenue, which had opened two years before:<br />
<blockquote>"Among the many pharmacies in Detroit, none is better managed than that of Mr. William McFarland, at the corner of Michigan and Harrison avenues... The store is elaborately finished in oak of modern design. The stock embraces everything in the way of drugs, fresh and pure chemicals, tinctures, elixirs, extracts, pharmaceutical, preparations of Mr. McFarland's own superior production, proprietary remedies, physicians' and surgeons' requisites, perfumery and a splendid array of toilet and fancy articles; also supplies for the sick rooms, and everything belonging to the business. The store is open at all hours of the day and night. The prescription department ... is supplied with every necessary appliance and is under the immediate supervision of Mr. McFarland."</blockquote>The photograph below is <b>not</b> of this store, but that of William's brother James McFarland on the corner of Fort Street and Campbell in 1894. Perhaps the Michigan Avenue location had a similar look and design to this one.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8481/8205133594_c186d4db84_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Courtesy Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library</i></center><br />
William McFarland operated the store at 528 Michigan Avenue until 1896. Another of his brothers, Lewis, took charge of this location until 1913.<br />
<br />
Subsequent occupants included:<br />
<br />
<table><tr><td width="100" align="center"><b>1914-1915</b></td><td> John Paddock, drugs</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center"><b>1916-1924</b></td><td> James E. McEntee, drugs</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center"><b>1925-1929</b></td><td> Lynch Pharmacy (Charles V. Lynch)</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center"><b>1930-1932</b></td><td> Meriam Drug Co. (A. A. Meriam)</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center"><b>1933</b></td><td> Harrison Pharmacy (Charles A. Reed)</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center"><b>1935-?</b></td><td> Mohmout Bros., groceries (Keder & Mehmet Mohmout)</td></tr>
</table><br />
The Mohmout Brothers, from Turkey, operated a grocery store here until at least 1941, but the availability of city directories after the beginning of World War II is very inconsistent, and I can't say how long for sure they were at this location.<br />
<br />
At least as early as 1956, Garcia's Groceries had set up shop at this address. The store, owned by John Solomon of Dearborn, specialized in imported Latin American foods. It operated at least through the 1970s.<br />
<br />
<br />
<center><h3>2 (2226) Harrison Avenue</h3></center><br />
<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8346/8209117824_65573d2553_o.jpg"></center><br />
Two doors face Harrison Avenue--one to an upstairs apartment and the other to a small, triangle-shaped commercial space once addressed as 2 Harrison Avenue. From 1891 until 1915, it was a plumbing shop operated by John Kenealy Jr., who lived in the apartment above. His business was evidently very successful, as he had a two-story brick house built for himself and his wife behind the shop in 1903. Like the store, it was designed by architects Rogers & MacFarlane. Kenealy lived there until at least 1940, and possibly until his death in 1949. The home was demolished around 1990.<br />
<br />
From 1916 to 1920, the Harrison store was rented by plumbers Keiran George Costello and Frederick William Abernethy. Costello had been an employee of Kenealy's for seventeen years prior to this business venture. In 1921 just Costello was listed at this address, which by then changed to 2226 Harrison. He was followed by electricians Frank Schroeder and Edward Charles Dygert in 1922.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8058/8202160434_294fdb8d20_o.jpg"><br />
<i>The Detroit Athletic Company block in the 1921 Sanborn map.</i></center><br />
Beginning in 1923, this space became a cleaners operated by Albert and Louise Batty--in direct competition with the Star Laundry just two doors down. In fact, Mrs. Batty was the manager of the Star Laundry from 1920 to 1922. The Battys outlasted their competitor and were in operation until after Mr. Batty's death 1937. <br />
<br />
<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulszewczyk/8205920188/" title="albert_a_batty by vegan27, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8485/8205920188_9b296676c2_o.jpg" width="300" height="470" alt="albert_a_batty"></a><br />
<i>Albert A. Batty, circa 1917.<br />
Courtesy Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library</i></center><br />
In 1939 the Jewel Cleaners, operated by Lawrence Schwab, was at the address. It was followed by the Charles Cleaners, operated by Charles Youmans, beginning in 1940.<br />
<br />
From 1979 to 1999, 2226 Harrison was the Corktown Social Club, founded by Ronald, Edward, and Douglas Herrick. The purpose of the organization, according to incorporation documents, was: "General pastime & drop in center for members consisting primarily of retirees, unemployed, & neighborhood residents to play games such as checkers, chess, dominos, pinochle, rummy, etc. or just plain fireside chats."<br />
<br />
<center>* * * * *</center><br />
Today, 2226 Harrison and 1740 Michigan Avenue are used as storage and production space for the Detroit Athletic Company, whose showroom is located at 1744 Michigan Avenue. They are open to the public 10am to 5pm Monday through Saturday, and on Sundays during Tigers home games from 10am to game time.<br />
<br />
<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulszewczyk/8207941860/" title="DAC_Interior by vegan27, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8205/8207941860_a4523dd15a_o.jpg" width="480" height="360" alt="DAC_Interior"></a><br />
<i>Image Courtesy Detroit Athletic Company.</i></center>Paul Sewickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07669801736415800340noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2752902338377637545.post-91523526717320707892012-11-12T07:44:00.000-05:002016-09-08T14:24:18.121-04:00The Widening of Michigan Avenue<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8045/8108674179_dc712545fc_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Buildings were demolished between 1938-1939 to allow Michigan Avenue's expansion.<br />
Courtesy Walter Reuther Library, Wayne State University.</i></center><br />
If you drive down Michigan Avenue often, you have probably noticed that every surviving 19th century building on it lies on the north side of the street. This is the result of a massive road-widening project that occurred in the late 1930s that entailed the condemnation of property on the avenue's south side. Half of the Victorian-era buildings on Corktown's main commercial thoroughfare were lost in this one event.<br />
<br />
<br />
<center><h3>Old Chicago Road</h3></center><br />
Michigan Avenue was once so narrow that it would probably be unrecognizable to a visitor from the present day. At only 66 feet wide, it was only a little more than half of its current width of 120 feet. (That is, the full right-of-way, including sidewalks.) The sidewalk on the south side of old Michigan Avenue would have roughly coincided with today's left-hand turn lane in the middle of the road. The pre-1930s dimensions would have approximated those of 9 Mile Road in cozy downtown Ferndale. <br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8052/8107463235_a68a6fa228_o.jpg"><br />
<i>A horse-drawn streetcar heads east on Michigan Avenue in the 1880s.<br />
The building in the photo's center is the east half of the <a href="http://www.detroitathletic.com/">Detroit Athletic Co.</a>,<br />
which may be hard to recognize since the brick has been covered in stucco.<br />
Courtesy Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.</i></center><br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8466/8116921402_a0f90b05ec_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Looking northeast to Trumbull and Michigan Avenue in the 1880s.<br />
The three-story building near the center still stands at 1416-32 Michigan Ave.<br />
Courtesy Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.</i></center><br />
As appealing as this intimate, human-scaled urban setting would have been, Michigan Avenue was not actually intended to be this narrow.<br />
<br />
<br />
<center><h3>Woodward's Plan</h3></center><br />
Detroit's main thoroughfares--Woodward, Jefferson, Gratiot, etc.--are exceptionally wide for an urban environment. This was not the result of a 20th century urban renewal project. Judge Woodward's <a href="https://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/9848">well-known plan for Detroit</a> (also known as the Governor and Judges' Plan) called for especially wide streets in part because the crowded conditions of the old city facilitated the rapid spread of the fire that destroyed it in 1805. Woodward wrote that "the idea of streets a hundred feet wide was a novelty which excited not only surprise but bitter indignation" among city residents. Some thoroughfares were even broader than one hundred feet: Woodward and Jefferson Avenues were 120 feet wide, and Washington and Madison Avenues spanned 200 feet. In his <i>History of Detroit</i>, Silas Farmer wrote, "No other city in the Union, save Washington, has so many avenues of such unusual width."<br />
<br />
The original breadth of Michigan Avenue was supposed to be 100 feet. Beyond the city limits the avenue was called Chicago Road, built by the Federal Government to link Detroit to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Dearborn">Fort Dearborn</a> in Chicago. As the city expanded, the road within the annexed portions took the name of Michigan Avenue.<br />
<br />
The road would maintain its 100-foot breadth across the first ribbon farms to be absorbed by the city's west side: the Cass, Jones, and Forsyth farms. But when it reached the border of the former Labrosse farm (between Fifth and Sixth Streets), it tapered until it reached a width of 66 feet at the border of the Baker farm (just before Brooklyn Street).<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8328/8115016275_61f80eb761_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Sanborn map from 1884, showing the narrowing of Michigan<br />
Avenue between Fifth Street and Seventh (Brooklyn) Street.</i></center><br />
The Labrosse farm was subdivided in 1836, but at the time it was part of Springwells Township, outside the city limits. The minimum width for territorial roads was (<a href="http://www.michigan.gov/mdot/0,4616,7-151-9620_11154-129683--,00.html">and still is</a>) one "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_%28unit%29#North_American_agriculture">chain</a>" across, or 66 feet. This tapering of the Chicago Road appears to have been an attempt to seamlessly link broad Michigan Avenue with the narrower turnpike. The former Labrosse farm did not become part of the city until 1849, thirteen years after the original platting. By then the city presumably preferred to maintain Michigan Avenue at its reduced size rather than condemn a portion of each lot adjacent to the road. When the Woodbridge farm was subdivided in 1858, the plat map explicitly noted that Michigan Avenue would continue at 66 feet wide.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8047/8116220351_6cb0206a04_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Detail from plat of Woodbridge Farm, 1858.</i></center><br />
Calls to widen Michigan Avenue in Corktown began a least as early as 1913, when the esplanade before Michigan Central Station was still in the conceptual stage. Expanding the road between the train station and Sixth Street was estimated by the city engineer to cost $1,000,000, and the project would receive no further consideration for years.<br />
<br />
<br />
<center><h3>The Super-Highway System</h3></center><br />
By the early 1920s, city streets were becoming strangled with traffic as automobiles became prevalent and large numbers of workers became concentrated in skyscrapers and factories of unprecedented size. Although streetcars were in use, the necessity of <i>rapid transit</i> was becoming self-evident.<br />
<br />
The Detroit Rapid Transit Commission was formed in 1922 to study this problem. After more than a year research, it unveiled its solution: the "Super-Highway System"--a comprehensive plan integrating both automobiles and light rail in the same rights-of-way. In a report dated April 10, 1924, the Commission called the System a "joint transit facility serving both rapid transit on rails and express motor traffic on rubber tires. ... Both services are essential to the welfare of the present communities and the future city. ... both (are) essential to make the land accessible, useful and valuable."<br />
<br />
The plan included subways beneath the city's arterial roads. On the surface, these roads would accommodate eight lanes of automobile traffic--four inner "express" lanes and four outer "local" lanes. The inner lanes resembled modern expressways in that opposing traffic was separated by safety barriers, the lanes crossed over intersecting roads at half-mile intervals, and traffic signals were eliminated. This concept was practically a new invention. The first controlled-access dual highway ever built (Italy's <i>Autostrada</i>) had not yet opened. In the undeveloped suburbs, where land was cheaper, the subway trains would run at grade between opposing lanes of traffic, as pictured below.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8048/8123939316_7bfc84b8ce_o.jpg"><br />
<i>An illustration of the subway's transition to surface trains in suburban areas.</i><br />
<font size="1">Detroit Rapid Transit Commission, <i>The Relation of Individual to Collective Transportation</i> (Detroit: Heitman-Garand Co., 1928)</font></center><br />
The plan called for Michigan Avenue and Detroit's other radial streets to be widened to a uniform 120 feet for two reasons: First, it was the minimum practical space to accommodate the automobile lanes, 15-foot sidewalks and various safety separations; and second, it was the width required to build local and express subway lines between building foundations while leaving enough room for sewers and other utilities.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8325/8125370664_4610a7a0b4_o.jpg"><br />
<font size="1">Detroit Rapid Transit Commission, <i>Report of the Street Railway Commission and the Rapid Transit Commission to Hon. John C. Lodge, Mayor, and the Honorable the Common Houncil on a Rapid Transit System for the City of Detroit</i> (Detroit, 1929)</font></center><br />
The Commission did not believe that a width of 120 feet was a radical concept. In a report to City Council, they only claimed to be "readopting the 120 feet of the 118 year old Governor and Judges Plan". They praised the "vision" and "courage" of the 1805 plan and derided the "encroachment" they felt was responsible for narrowing certain roads.<br />
<br />
The Super-Highway System was intended to be built in stages as the city grew. The long-term plan included a subway beneath Michigan Avenue that would run from Campus Martius to Michigan Central Station with stops at Second Street, Trumbull, and Vermont in between. From Michigan Central, it would continue underground along Vernor toward Ford's River Rouge plant.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8473/8123333652_369beb1efd_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Detail from a map of the proposed Rapid Transit System drawn in 1929.<br />
Courtesy Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library</i></center><br />
The city wasn't exactly on the verge of building this system. Obtaining the appropriate rights-of-way was merely the first step of a long process, and road-widening projects were seen as an economic way to postpone subway construction that was estimated to cost over $5 million per mile.<br />
<br />
The Rapid Transit and City Plan Commissions created a Master Plan for the city which City Council approved on April 14, 1925. On September 1st, the Council ordered a referendum on the widening Michigan Avenue to 120 feet between Fifth Street and Livernois to appear on the primary election ballot that fall. (By that point, Michigan Avenue was already being widened west of Livernois.) On October 6, 1925, the proposal passed by a wide margin, with 74,397 votes in favor and 32,767 against. One week later the City Council ordered the City Plan Commission to produce a detailed plan for the project.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8466/8126360888_31ae30623b_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Looking northeast toward Michigan Avenue and Trumbull in 1917, before widening.<br />
Courtesy Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.</i></center><br />
<br />
<center><h3>Debates and Delays</h3></center><br />
Despite the mandate from the voters, little action was taken over the next several years. The City Plan Commission eventually submitted their plan in 1927, only to have the City Council change its mind and decide to widen Michigan Avenue to only 100 feet between Fifth and Livernois. Indecision over the details of the plan postponed any action for years.<br />
<br />
Finally, in July of 1930, the State of Michigan offered to cover half the costs of the project as long as Michigan Avenue was widened to the full 120 feet as outlined in the Master Plan. After still further debates (including which side of the road should be condemned), the City Council voted on October 14, 1930 to adopt the 120-foot plan and to condemn the south side of the avenue in Corktown.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8096/29466399671_b9c66d70a8_b.jpg"><br />
<i>Looking west on Michigan Avenue toward Sixth Street before widening, c. 1930s.<br />
The building marked by the red arrow now houses <a href="http://www.pjslagerhouse.com/">PJ's Lager House</a>.<br />
Courtesy Walter Reuther Library, Wayne State University.</i></center><br />
It took years to resolve the condemnation suits brought by the city. The project was implemented in segments, with Corktown being last. The condemnation suit affecting the area between Fifth and Fourteenth Streets began January 1, 1937 in Recorder's Court with Judge Edward J. Jeffries Sr. presiding. On June 23, 1937, a jury awarded $601,243.95 to the owners of the 68 condemned parcels of land.<br />
<br />
<br />
<center><h3>Demolition</h3></center><br />
The wrecking of buildings began in 1938. The City Plan Commission's annual report for 1939 noted that the demolition was "practically completed". The repaving of the road occurred in 1940.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8327/8143203048_6c54fd1e68_o.jpg"><br />
</center><i><b>Above:</b> This handsome row of commercial buildings once lined the south side of Michigan Avenue west of Sixth Street. (Courtesy Walter Reuther Library, Wayne State University.)<br />
<b>Below:</b> Barren pavement has replaced dense urban fabric. The block never recovered.</i><br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8328/8143202918_18610d2ae6_o.jpg"><br />
<br />
<br />
<img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8475/8140616158_cccbb20a26_o.jpg"><br />
<br />
<br />
<img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8067/8151617921_73546247e2_o.gif"><br />
<i>Looking east down Michigan Avenue near Eighth Street.</i><br />
<br />
<br />
<img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8056/8133336018_79d543d444_o.jpg"></center><table><td><br />
<tr width="550"><i><b>Above:</b> The Detroit Police's second precinct station house was built on a triangle of land bounded by Michigan, Trumbull, and Church Street between 1899 and 1900. Designed by architects William S. Joy and Frederick T. Barcroft, it replaced an earlier precinct house built on this spot in 1873. (Courtesy Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.)<br />
<b>Below:</b> Workers demolish the building in preparation of the road widening. A portion of the triangle of land remains in the middle of Trumbull today. (Courtesy Walter Reuther Library, Wayne State University.)</i></table><center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8473/8133309567_89ea2919ce_o.jpg"><br />
<br />
<br />
<img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8472/8141467397_694a80bd82_o.jpg"></center><br />
<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8053/8110921911_e6eec4bfa3_o.jpg"></center><i><b>Above:</b> Looking east down Michigan Avenue from the top of the CPA Building, c. 1930s.<br />
(Courtesy Walter Reuther Library, Wayne State University.)<br />
<b>Below:</b> The building on the lower-left is reportedly a barbecue theme restaurant.<br />
(Photo by Flickr user nitram242. Click on the image to see the original.)</i><br />
<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/25165196@N08/7590678492" title="Corktown Views by nitram242, on Flickr"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8330/8149588310_cbc7ab6bd3_o.jpg" width="600" height="600" alt="slows-from-cpa"></a></center><br />
<br />
<br />
<center><h3>Survivors</h3></center><br />
Just a handful of large industrial buildings escaped complete destruction, but none date to the 19th century.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8051/8132204574_2621b3564a_o.jpg"><br />
<i>1907 and 1927 Michigan Avenue.</i></center><br />
Both buildings pictured above were constructed in 1907, both were designed by architect Richard E. Raseman, and both were originally hosiery factories. The building on the left was the headquarters of Chicago Hosiery, which moved to Detroit from its namesake city in 1898. Three months after construction started on this factory, work began on its companion, the Detroit-Alaska Knitting Mills. When the second structure was being built, the <i>Free Press</i> reported on July 14, 1907: "The factory is located in this district because of the fact that it has become known as a good location in which to secure labor of the class needed in light factory work."<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8184/8140616392_1a7923f3a4_o.jpg"><br />
<i>The former Chicago Hosiery and Detroit-Alaska Knitting Mills in 1921 and<br />
in 1950, after the front fifty-four feet of each building had been removed.</i></center><br />
Another survivor is the building that has housed Eaton Spring Manufacturing since 1939. It was originally built around 1927 as a garage for the cartage company Charles J. Burnham & Son.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8476/8144505352_ba2febd941_o.jpg"><br />
<i>1555 Michigan Avenue, at the corner of Tenth Street.</i></center><br />
The only other building on the south side of the street that predates 1940 is a nondescript, single-story brick building at 1375 Michigan Avenue, at the corner of Eighth Street. It was another garage, built around 1920 for the Baker-Fisk-Hugill Company, distributors of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dort_(automobile)">Dort Motor Car</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />
<center>* * * * *</center><br />
<blockquote><i>"American downtowns are not declining mysteriously, because they are anachronisms, nor because their users have been drained away by automobiles. They are (being) witlessly murdered..."<br />
--Jane Jacobs, </i>The Death and Life of Great American Cities<i>, 1961</i></blockquote><br />
The extensive widening of surface streets was already considered obsolete by the time the Michigan Avenue project was completed. The City Plan Commission reported in 1946, "it was observed that the increased number of traffic lanes made possible by street-widenings intensified congestion at intersections." Further condemnations for road widening projects had already been banned by 1938, and limited-access expressways were considered the way of the future. Large swaths of Corktown would later be destroyed to make way for the Lodge and Fisher Freeways.<br />
<br />
The south side of Michigan Avenue never fully recovered from the destruction of seventy years ago, while most of the new and interesting commercial activity occurring here today is staged in the surviving Victorian buildings on the north side of the street. Although streetcars ran down the avenue until the mid-1950s, the long hoped-for rapid transit system never materialized. Now that expressways carry most traffic, Michigan Avenue's nine lanes are highly underutilized. The 1950 Sanborn map shows very little new construction on the south side of the road even a full decade after the widening. Most of the buildings on that map are single-story, cinder-block structures, including gas stations, auto repair shops, parking lots, a tire store, a car wash, and a few restaurants. Although the uses of some of these buildings have shuffled, these exact services still account for most of what one finds on the south side of Michigan Avenue decades later.<br />
<br />
I would like to leave you today with the following video clip:<br />
<br />
<center><iframe width="600" height="450" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/z75lu0wKbX8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center>Paul Sewickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07669801736415800340noreply@blogger.com36tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2752902338377637545.post-61846917134012053942012-10-12T10:06:00.000-04:002016-04-08T19:40:14.096-04:00Nicholas & Elizabeth Till House<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8326/8076873148_c75c8a61c7_o.jpg"><br />
<i>1769 Vermont, newly renovated by David & Kelly Larson.</i></center><br />
The land on which this house was built--previously the Lafferty Farm--was subdivided into lots in 1867. In 1868 this home's first resident, Nicholas Till, was listed in the city directory as living on this street, then called 13th Street. On January 11, 1872, Till purchased this parcel of land from Clement Lafferty for $425. (The south side of this lot is where <a href="http://corktownhistory.blogspot.com/2011/10/243-13th-1763-vermont-part-i-1884-1943.html">1763 Vermont Street</a> would be built years later.) Thus it would appear that this house--first addressed as 245 13th Street--was built in 1867 or 1868, and then Till either rented it or purchased it on a land contract from Lafferty. The house was originally only one story tall, with the upper half-story being added in the 1890s.<br />
<br />
Nicholas Till was born in the German state of Baden around 1826. The 1864 Detroit city directory indicates that he was a blacksmith employed by Arthur C. Porter, a hardware dealer who made tin, copper and sheet metal products in a shop on Woodward Avenue. Subsequent directory listings for Till give his occupation as "coppersmith".<br />
<br />
In 1865, Nicholas Till married Elizabeth Dellfield, also a German immigrant. They had six children together, three of whom reached adulthood: Christopher, Peter and Mathias. The Tills moved into 245 13th Street not long after their first son was born.<br />
<br />
This newspaper notice, published in the <i>Detroit Free Press</i> on July 26, 1878, is a reminder of how different a place Corktown was 134 years ago:<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8305/7900882062_c6d47fbee2_o.jpg"><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8475/8077000459_d16d5ac7d7_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Detail from the 1880 census listing the occupants of the Till household.</i></center><br />
Nicholas Till passed away on September 15, 1883. The Till family remained in the house for nine years until moving next door to a rental house that Elizabeth owned. From 1892 to 1895, 245 13th Street was rented by Scottish immigrant Alexander Mearns. He was a sailmaker employed by Nelson Bloom & Company, located at the foot of Woodward Avenue and visible in <a href="http://quod.lib.umich.edu/d/dpa1ic/x-eb02e537/EB02E537.TIF?chaperone=S-DPA1IC-X-EB02E537+EB02E537.TIF;evl=full-image;from=index;lasttype=boolean;lastview=thumbnail;quality=1;resnum=1;start=1;subview=detail;view=entry;rgn1=ic_all;q1=bloom">this vintage photograph</a>. Alexander's wife, Kate (Balfour) Mearns, was born in the West Indies to Scottish parents. Alexander and Kate Mearns had had five children, three of whom reached adulthood: Jessie, Robert, and Eva.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8177/7900933804_f45f4cb872_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Sanborn images of the Till home indicate changes made over<br />
time, including the addition of a half story in the 1890s.</i></center><br />
Around 1896, Elizabeth Till and her now-adult children moved back into 245 13th Street where they remained until Elizabeth's death on January 11, 1904. The house was left to one of her sons, Peter Joseph Till. That same year, 13th Street was renamed Vermont Street.<br />
<br />
In November of 1904, Peter Till married Adeline Netty of River Rouge at St. Boniface Catholic Church, which once stood on Vermont Street several blocks to the north. The couple never had children. They lived at 245 Vermont until 1913, after which they rented the home to Canadian immigrants Henry J. and Annie (Deneau) Dubey, who previously rented the Till's next door rental home in 1908.<br />
<br />
On May 27th, 1914, Peter Till sold the house to William Starrs, a successful contractor who immigrated from County Tyrone, Northern Ireland in the 1860s. The home was used by Starrs, and later his heirs, as an income property. A series of laborers rented the home over the next several years. In 1921 the address changed to 1769 Vermont.<br />
<br />
In the 1930s, the home was purchased by Spiro Syracuse, an auto worker who had immigrated from Malta in 1920 with his wife, Mary. He owned the home until at least 1941, but since I have not obtained copies of the past deeds on the property and the library's collection of city directories is incomplete after that date, I do not know exactly when he sold it.<br />
<br />
As early as 1956, the home was owned by Charles Cutajar, another Maltese expatriate. He was employed as a caretaker of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, which <a href="http://quod.lib.umich.edu/d/dpa1ic/x-dpa2148/DPA2148.TIF?from=index;lasttype=boolean;lastview=thumbnail;resnum=2;size=20;start=1;subview=detail;view=entry;rgn1=ic_all;q1=vincent+paul">once stood on 14th Street</a>.<br />
<br />
The photo below was taken in 1954. Because I do not yet know the owner of the home at the time, I can't say whether the family pictured are the Syracuses or the Cutajars. By then, the house's original wood siding had been covered by asphalt shingles.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8169/7900882874_4923fc70bd_o.jpg"></center><br />
Charles and Maria Cutajar sold 1769 Vermont in 1973. The photograph below was taken three years later.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8177/7900882472_2253061943_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Courtesy of the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office.</i></center><br />
When David and Kelly Larson obtained the home in 2011, it was in serious disrepair. Rather than quickly flip the house, they gutted it completely, reinforced the structure, and replaced the plumbing and electrical systems. The asphalt siding has been removed and the original wood siding has been carefully scraped and repainted. The long, hard months spent skillfully refinishing the house should ensure that it lasts for another 144 years.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8470/8079789988_733dd515c2_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Among the historic details preserved are the hardwood floors and the<br />
narrow staircase built when the second story was added in the 1890s.<br />
Photos courtesy of David and Kelly Larson.</i></center><br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8329/8077209537_bae3db713c_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Left: David Larson inspects the dilapidated rear addition.<br />
Right: The rebuilt addition as it appears after renovation.<br />
Photos courtesy of David and Kelly Larson.</i></center><br />
<center><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8467/8079663660_f2cc48d939_o.jpg"></center>Paul Sewickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07669801736415800340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2752902338377637545.post-29696975360330140052012-09-06T22:44:00.005-04:002015-01-27T16:05:39.190-05:00Universal Bottle Washer Co.<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8316/7946893144_4f72e1f44d_o.jpg"><br />
<a href="http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?num=129;u=1;seq=437;view=image;size=175;id=nyp.33433007947371">Source.</a></center><br />
When the Universal Machine Manufacturing Company of Philadelphia sought a more suitable location for its growing business, it relocated to a brand new building at the southwest corner of Twelfth Street (now Rosa Parks Boulevard) and Marantette. The choice of the location wasn't merely due to Detroit's preeminence among manufacturing centers--one of the company's owners, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Breitmeyer">Philip Breitmeyer</a>, was a former mayor of Detroit. His primary occupation was that of a florist, and he was one of the founding members of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florists%27_Transworld_Delivery">Florists' Transworld Delivery</a>.<br />
<br />
The permit to build this factory was issued on June 11, 1913, and the company reincorporated in Michigan as the Universal Bottle Washer Company the following September. As the name implied, they manufactured bottle washing machines primarily used by breweries. Company officers, office management, and the most skilled machinists were relocated from Philadelphia to Detroit.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8034/7947065502_e5db5f227e_o.jpg"></center><br />
The following illustration was either an attempt to exaggerate the factory's size (it was only half this big) or indicate what a future expansion might look like. The background, of course, is not an accurate representation of Corktown. The building in the distance that could conceivably be Michigan Central Depot would place the building several blocks south of its actual location.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8041/7947065452_5307cd01c8_o.jpg"></center><br />
The Universal Bottle Washers Company met with much success, shipping their machines to customers across the country. As the company grew, it did not add onto its Corktown factory, but instead relocated to a building on the southwest corner of Grand River Avenue and Loraine Street by 1918. The next occupant of the building was Republic Knitting Mills, manufacturers of socks and underwear.<br />
<br />
From early 1930s through the 1980s, this building was the main office and warehouse for Cunningham Drugs, a once-thriving chain of pharmaceutical stores that ceased to exist in 1991.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2934/14795866922_4c61a6693f_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Marantette and 12th St. in 1976. Photo courtesy State Historic Preservation Office.</i></center>Paul Sewickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07669801736415800340noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2752902338377637545.post-33710859887526681622012-07-30T07:30:00.000-04:002012-07-30T07:30:31.217-04:00The Future Home of the Detroit Institute of Bagels<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8003/7641347414_e7dfd0f6ee_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Left: 1230-1242 Michigan Ave., early 1970s. Courtesy Bruce Beresh.<br />
Right: The future look of 1236 Michigan Ave. Courtesy Detroit Institute of Bagels.</i></center><br />
<br />
The first landmark one encounters when entering Corktown from the east is an unassuming shoe box of a building on the north side of Michigan Avenue. Although it could be mistaken for a mid-century utilitarian structure, it is in fact the last remnant of a massive commercial building erected in the 1890s.<br />
<br />
On April 6, 1893, the city of Detroit issued a permit to the architecture firm of A. C. Varney & Co. to construct a three-story brick building measuring 120 feet wide by 86 feet deep, containing six stores and twelve apartments. The estimated cost of construction was $30,000. The chief architect of the firm, Almon Clother Varney, was one of the most productive architects in Detroit at the time. Some of the homes he designed for wealthy Cass Corridor residents stand today, including the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W._Loomer_House">George W. Loomer House</a> at 71 W Hancock, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_C._Boydell_House">William C. Boydell House</a> at 4614 Cass, and <a href="http://greengaragedetroit.com/index.php?title=El_Moore">El Moore Apartments</a> at 624 W Alexandrine. Varney also authored <i><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=sZLmAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=varney+our+homes+and+their+adornments&source=bl&ots=N3I6AfHap1&sig=u9bjoC5eaNl4tSf9qyj_qXlKoIE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ko8QUL3DI6qYiQKv-YCIDw&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false">Our Homes and Their Adornments</a></i>, a guide on home construction and decoration published in 1883.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8012/7641346328_78028bc894_o.jpg"><br />
(<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=Y-YBAAAAMAAJ">Source</a>)</center><br />
<br />
Newspaper notices advertising the availability of space in the new building on Michigan Avenue began to be printed in early 1894:<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8425/7655747528_88abe47baa_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Source: Detroit Free Press, January 24, 1894.</i></center><br />
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The sole surviving portion of this building, 1236 Michigan Avenue, was originally addressed as 350 Michigan Avenue. The first listed occupant was a furniture dealer, George W. Winterhalter, in 1885. Winterhalter was co-owner of Liphardt & Winterhalter, a contracting firm specializing in sewer construction. It's not known why a sewer contractor would decide to get into the furniture business, but perhaps he wanted to cash in on the family name. His father, George H. Winterhalter, had been very successful in the furniture trade but had retired by that point. The business was evidently successful, as the store expanded to include the adjacent store to the west (352 Michigan Avenue) in 1896 as well as the unit to the east (348 Michigan Avenue) in 1897. Winterhalter's luck ultimately soured a few year later when his business partner and father died, he declared bankruptcy, and his wife filed for divorce all in the same year.<br />
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<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8142/7641347226_9a92861661_o.jpg"><br />
<i>342-352 Michigan Avenue, containing six stores and twelve apartments, in 1897.</i></center><br />
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From 1898 to 1903, the three units formerly occupied by Winterhalter were rented by The Sumner Company, another furniture business. The proprietors were Charles Augustus Sumner of Detroit and his son, Carl Sumner of Akron, Ohio. The elder Sumner moved to Detroit in 1888 after failing in business in Akron. His company outgrew 348-352 Michigan Avenue and he moved to a new location closer to downtown in April of 1903. He died from pneumonia just seven months later at the age of 72.<br />
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<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8292/7647673438_a02e6baec6_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Charles A. Sumner.<br />
Source: Detroit Free Press, November 4, 1903.</i></center><br />
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After Sumner moved, the three spaces that included 350 Michigan Avenue were occupied by George C. Becker & Company, yet another furniture company. The proprietors were George C. Becker and, once again, George W. Winterhalter. The partnership, however, was dissolved in February of 1905. Becker immediately reincorporated simply as the George C. Becker Company and continued to run his business from the same location.<br />
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<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8284/7657499576_e76544020a_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Source: Detroit Free Press, March 6, 1904</i></center><br />
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In April of 1907, Becker's company consolidated with J. Brushaber & Sons, a furniture store on Gratiot Avenue. The store on Michigan Avenue was then referred to as Brushaber's west side location, which Becker continued to manage. Becker ultimately went on to become vice president of the Brushaber company.<br />
<br />
<center><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7123/7653246020_e0ab167e50_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Source: Detroit Free Press, January 16, 1921.</i></center><br />
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In 1910, Brushaber moved its west side location to a larger building on the corner of Michigan and First. By 1911, the company still rented 350 Michigan Avenue (presumably for storage), but 348 and 352 Michigan Avenue were leased to other businesses.<br />
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The following year, the store was occupied by McClintric & Yancey, a pool hall run by Samuel C. McClintric and Walter Yancey. The business didn't last more than a year, and no business at all was listed at the address from 1913 to 1915.<br />
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From 1916 to 1925, 350 Michigan Avenue was used for storage for Glunz's Store Fixture House. This business, owned by Fred C. Glunz, was located one block to the east at 302 Michigan Avenue and dealt in accessories for retail establishments, such as shelving, display cases, and cash registers.<br />
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<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8425/7653159840_6da02abc7f_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Fred C. Glunz.<br />
Photo courtesy of the Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library</i></center><br />
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<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8149/7641346950_fe1f75bf5b_o.jpg"><br />
<i>342-352 (1218-1242) Michigan Avenue in 1921.</i></center><br />
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The 1926 directory lists a restaurant run by James Eglinton at this address, which by then had changed to 1236 Michigan Avenue. In 1927 and 1928, the address was listed as vacant.<br />
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From 1929 to 1933, the Cut Rate Upholstering and Manufacturing Company, owned by Morris Becker of 3670 Rochester, operated out of this space. In 1934, the Clay Pipe Cafe, managed by a man named Philip Slaght, set up shop at 1236 Michigan Avenue, but like the restaurant and pool hall before it, did not last for more than a year.<br />
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<br />
<center><h3>The Cause of--And Solution to!--All of Life's Problems</h3></center><br />
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After this point, 1236 Michigan Avenue was to become a drinking establishment for the rest of its operational life. Beginning in 1935, two years after the end of Prohibition, Preston E. Wood opened a beer garden at this location. He ran the business at least through 1941, but the library's collection of city directories is incomplete after that. The directories for 1956 and 1958 list the Ferris Bar, operated by Albert Ferris, at this address.<br />
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The last business to run out of 1236 Michigan Avenue was Musial's Bar, an enterprise of Ferdinand J. "Fred" Musial and his wife, Frances. The earliest available directory that lists Musial's Bar at this address was published in 1964.<br />
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The construction of the Lodge Expressway in the 1950s necessitated the demolition of the east half of the building that contained 1236 Michigan Avenue. The three remaining units can be seen in the aerial photograph below, taken not long after the freeway's completion.<br />
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<center><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7249/7651622908_a24344da21_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Michigan Avenue and the Lodge Expressway looking south, circa 1960s.</I> (<a href="http://dlxs.lib.wayne.edu/cgi/i/image/image-idx?q1=lodge;rgn1=vmc_all;op2=And;rgn2=vmc_all;med=1;c=vmc;back=back1343326646;chaperone=S-VMC-X-201-UND-1%20201_1;evl=full-image;chaperone=S-VMC-X-201-UND-1%20201_1;quality=1;view=entry;subview=detail;cc=vmc;entryid=x-201-und-1;viewid=201_1;start=;resnum=77">Source</a>)</CENTER><br />
<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8282/7651797296_fbc1508940_o.jpg"><br />
<i>1236 Michigan Avenue is the center unit pictured here. The<br />
ground floor facade had suffered many "improvements" since 1893.<br />
Photo courtesy of Bruce Beresh.</i></center><br />
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The 1973 directory still listed 1230 and 1242 Michigan Avenue--the spaces on either side of Musial's Bar--but indicated that they were vacant. The portions of the building surrounding the bar were torn down not long after that.<br />
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<center><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7278/7651716810_04a1962b19_o.jpg"><br />
<i>North side of Michigan Avenue, west of Lodge Expressway, early 1970s.<br />
Note the Lager House on the left. Photo courtesy of Bruce Beresh.</i></center><br />
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When the following photograph was taken in 1976, Musial's Bar was all that remained of A. C. Varney's six-store, twelve-apartment building. Fred Musial passed away on October 26 of that year, at the age of 58.<br />
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<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8284/7649507298_49b3a951da_o.jpg"><br />
<i>1236 Michigan Avenue in 1976. Courtesy State Historic Preservation Office.</i></center><br />
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<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8024/7653103476_82e1c58f98_o.jpg"><br />
<i>1236 Michigan Avenue in 2012.</i></center><br />
<br />
<br />
<center><h3>The Detroit Institute of Bagels</h3></center><br />
<br />
The DIB originated in March of 2011, when brothers Ben and Dan Newman began making bagels out of their Corktown flat. What started out as a few batches for a synagogue fundraiser turned into a brisk business at Eastern Market. Recognizing the demand for quality bagels in the city, the Newmans sought a suitable brick-and-mortar location where a new bakery could be established. In December of 2011, they announced plans to set up shop at 1236 Michigan Avenue. Since then, they have been occupied with the endless planning and fundraising--not to mention building renovation--necessary to make this happen.<br />
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<center><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8291/7653757848_d4df454d99_o.jpg"><br />
<i>Brick arches denote long-unused entryways to adjacent spaces.<br />
A stairway still leads to a second story that's been missing for thirty years.<br />
Photo courtesy of the Detroit Institute of Bagels.</i></center><br />
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Ben and Dan Newman ask for the community's patience as their work slowly progresses:<br />
<blockquote>We know you want bagels (like now!), but we plan to be around here for a long time and we're building a space to reflect our long-term plans. This means not cutting corners or merely investing the minimum required to renovate the space into a bagel shop. We're confident that once we're done renovating, you'll be impressed. We'd go as far as saying that this will be the best designed bagel shop in the world! No joke. (<a href="http://www.detroitinstituteofbagels.com/">Source</a>)</blockquote><center><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7252/7653756270_d28ba573bd_o.jpg"><br />
<i>The future look of the Detroit Institute of Bagels. One of the old<br />
inter-store passages will be used as the building's main entrance.<br />
Photo courtesy of the Detroit Institute of Bagels.</i></center><br />
<br />
To keep updated on the DIB's progress, visit <a href="http://www.detroitinstituteofbagels.com/">www.detroitinstituteofbagels.com</a>.Paul Sewickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07669801736415800340noreply@blogger.com6