1888 Detroit Map - with Hastings

[Scottathew]

I'm going to have to check that out. Interesting info. Thanx.

Here it is! - https://maps.google.com/maps?q=jeffe...59.83,,0,10.11

[Honky Tonk]

Here it is! - https://maps.google.com/maps?q=jeffe...59.83,,0,10.11

That little strip of lawn is the original entrance to the Driving Club's track? That is SO neat. Next time I stop @ that party store to pick up a pack of Kool milds, a pint of Canadian Club, 4 cups, a 7-Up, and a small bag of ice, I'm going to check it out..... Oh, and gimme a book of matches.

[Honky Tonk]

The time to hesitate is through....

It's time to wallow in the mire......

[jcole]

It's time to wallow in the mire......

From Marsha's post above mine [[so my comment doesn't look so random)

Anyway, maybe someone who is really knowlegeable on all of this will chime in, and we'llall learn something, while we wallow in the mire.....

[Honky Tonk]

From Marsha's post above mine [[so my comment doesn't look so random)

No, I got it as soon as I read it, I just thought I'd post my own $.02

[marshamusic]

No, I got it as soon as I read it, I just thought I'd post my own $.02

No, I just beat you to it.....

[southofbloor]

Found a piece on the neighbourhood predecessor of Black Bottom referenced in a Free Press article on the 1863 race riot of about 40 white/german southern sympathizers against the African American neighbourhood at Lafayette and Baubien. Along with the documenting violence being committed against the inhabitants & houses, it lists "base viols, violins, banjos, guitars, accordians and almost every musical instrument in existence" having been found in these houses. Roots of Paradise Valley might be Bricktown.

[marshamusic]

Found a piece on the neighbourhood predecessor of Black Bottom referenced in a Free Press article on the 1863 race riot of about 40 white/german southern sympathizers against the African American neighbourhood at Lafayette and Baubien. Along with the documenting violence being committed against the inhabitants & houses, it lists "base viols, violins, banjos, guitars, accordians and almost every musical instrument in existence" having been found in these houses. Roots of Paradise Valley might be Bricktown.

Wow.

In the midst of the Civil War.

Maybe that was a German enclave, since it was perhaps west of Black Bottom and South of Paradise Valley, which began at Gratiot, just a few blocks away.

All of the instruments - Wow!

Thanks!

[southofbloor]

The article indicates that this was an African American enclave, apparently very musically focused. Detroit got hit pretty hard by social / racial unrest during the Civil war. Lots of pretty brutal attacks on the black community at the time. I think the roots of 1967 can be traced to that event. Horrible story, even within the context of subsequent events in Detroit.

But maybe more importantly it also describes the roots of the music and entertainment district that became Hastings street a few blocks over. The African American neighbourhood sacked in this riot is said to be on Lafayette St between Beaubien and St. Antoine, along with something called "the notorious Paton Alley". One shop is described as a copper smith.

[marshamusic]

The article indicates that this was an African American enclave, apparently very musically focused. Detroit got hit pretty hard by social / racial unrest during the Civil war. Lots of pretty brutal attacks on the black community at the time. I think the roots of 1967 can be traced to that event. Horrible story, even within the context of subsequent events in Detroit.

But maybe more importantly it also describes the roots of the music and entertainment district that became Hastings street a few blocks over. The African American neighbourhood sacked in this riot is said to be on Lafayette St between Beaubien and St. Antoine, along with something called "the notorious Paton Alley". One shop is described as a copper smith.

Yes, I agree. This is fascinating.

There had been much violence in the city that precipated the events of '67.

I was not clear in my earlier post. I meant that perhaps they [[the Blacks), in those days before Black Bottom, per se, were living in what was a more German enclave at that time. Just speculating.

I never heard of Paton Alley; have to keep my eye open for that.

[jcole]

there was a lot of white on black violence during the Civil War in large cities, the New York City Draft Riots of 1863 being the most well known. A lot of white immigrants, primarily the Irish in NYC, thought that freeing the slaves was going to cause them problems getting jobs and "equal" treatment, so they attacked the free blacks of the city.
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/317749.html

In the month preceding the July 1863 lottery, in a pattern similar to the 1834 anti-abolition riots, antiwar newspaper editors published inflammatory attacks on the draft law aimed at inciting the white working class. They criticized the federal government's intrusion into local affairs on behalf of the "nigger war." Democratic Party leaders raised the specter of a New York deluged with southern blacks in the aftermath of the Emancipation Proclamation. White workers compared their value unfavorably to that of southern slaves, stating that "[we] are sold for $300 [the price of exemption from war service] whilst they pay $1000 for negroes." In the midst of war-time economic distress, they believed that their political leverage and economic status was rapidly declining as blacks appeared to be gaining power. On Saturday, July 11, 1863, the first lottery of the conscription law was held. For twenty-four hours the city remained quiet. On Monday, July 13, 1863, between 6 and 7 A.M., the five days of mayhem and bloodshed that would be known as the Civil War Draft Riots began.

I'm sure this was also the impetus for the riots in Detroit; I don't think it was necessarily a precursor to the '67 riots.

[southofbloor]

Right - there is a weird history of using fire in this city that is not common to every city. It repeats throughout its history.

Tried to get Hastings Maps from Baist's 1896 Atlas to upload to this site but couldn't - have loaded them onto another web page here.

First three are the east side of the street from river on up to Alexandrine:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/southo...7627117178965/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/southo...7627117178965/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/southo...7627117178965/

Second set of four are west side of the street from river up to Canfield:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/southo...7627117178965/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/southo...7627117178965/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/southo...7627117178965/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/southo...7627117178965/

[Mikeg]

Here are links to high-resolution images of the Detroit street map that appeared in the 1889 Polk Detroit City Directory:

Map - west of Woodward [[2.7 MB)
Map - east of Woodward [[2.7 MB)
Street Guide Index: A to J [[0.6 MB)
Street Guide Index: K to Z [[0.6 MB)

[Honky Tonk]

Here are links to high-resolution images of the Detroit street map that appeared in the 1889 Polk Detroit City Directory:

Map - west of Woodward [[2.7 MB)
Map - east of Woodward [[2.7 MB)
Street Guide Index: A to J [[0.6 MB)
Street Guide Index: K to Z [[0.6 MB)

The German's have NOTHING on this bunch!

[jcole]

Thanks, MikeG. Between you and Hornwrecker, I've amassed quite the collection of old maps and street info. Comes in very handy sometimes

[downtownguy]

I was not clear in my earlier post. I meant that perhaps they [[the Blacks), in those days before Black Bottom, per se, were living in what was a more German enclave at that time. Just speculating.

Go back to EastsideAl's post #9 in this thread for some info on the German influence on the east side of downtown. Schweizers Place east of the Ren Cen, the old Stroh Brewery, Harmonie Park, Historic Trinity Lutheran Church are some of the remants of the large German population. detroit1701.org has a nice history on the Harmonie Club here.

[southofbloor]

I think that in the mid 19th century it was pretty multi cultural with a french base - lots of people flooded through Detroit heading west because it was a railway hub. There had been a recent wave of German immigration generally so that was reflected in the population of the city.

I have gotten the sense that while many of these affected were tenants, a number of the buildings were African American owner occupied.

[old guy]

Great thread.

[southofbloor]

Which is slightly different from some old African american families in the Windsor Amherstburg area - one of my mom's friends is from a black loyalist family who were on the British side during the American Revolution and were given land in Canada afterwards via Nova Scotia, eventually migrating west to Ontario rather than up through the Underground Railroad.

[marshamusic]

Right - there is a weird history of using fire in this city that is not common to every city. It repeats throughout its history.

Tried to get Hastings Maps from Baist's 1896 Atlas to upload to this site but couldn't - have loaded them onto another web page here.

First three are the east side of the street from river on up to Alexandrine:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/southo...7627117178965/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/southo...7627117178965/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/southo...7627117178965/

Second set of four are west side of the street from river up to Canfield:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/southo...7627117178965/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/southo...7627117178965/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/southo...7627117178965/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/southo...7627117178965/

That's a very deep statement you make about fire, worthy of further discussion. Do you think the role of fire is more significant than say, San Francisco or Chicago, cities that were destroyed by fire all at once?

These maps you linked to are beautiful. I zoomed in as far as possible so as to see the streets and markers. So much the same, so much different. So many streets gone, altogether. Hastings was a major street.

This Detroit is probaby the Detroit that my grandparents arrived at from the South, maybe around 1920.

I note that Antietam, near my home in Lafayette Park, looks much the same, with that sharp turn at Rivard. I always wondered about the name, was it named after the battlefield?

Thank you so much for posting these.

[Danny]

Surrounding Detroit in the mid 1800s were Hamtramck Township, Springwells Township and Greenfield Township.

[marshamusic]

Which is slightly different from some old African american families in the Windsor Amherstburg area - one of my mom's friends is from a black loyalist family who were on the British side during the American Revolution and were given land in Canada afterwards via Nova Scotia, eventually migrating west to Ontario rather than up through the Underground Railroad.

What is slightly different [[not sure what you are referring to here)?

[Neilr]

The attached map of the area of the lower east side [[Black Bottom) that we’re discussing shows the boundaries of Wards 3, 4, and 7 in 1860.

The 1870 census shows the Black population of Ward 3 to be 326 out of a total of 3,703. For Ward 4: 373 out of 5,063 and for Ward 7: 267 out of 6,512.

David Katzman, Before the Ghetto, [[1973)

[jcole]

That's a very deep statement you make about fire, worthy of further discussion. Do you think the role of fire is more significant than say, San Francisco or Chicago, cities that were destroyed by fire all at once?

Detroit burnt down almost completely in 1805, too. Detroit's city motto reflects this: Speramus Meliora; Resurget Cineribus
[[Latin: We Hope For Better Things; It Shall Rise From the Ashes)

[marshamusic]

Go back to EastsideAl's post #9 in this thread for some info on the German influence on the east side of downtown. Schweizers Place east of the Ren Cen, the old Stroh Brewery, Harmonie Park, Historic Trinity Lutheran Church are some of the remants of the large German population. detroit1701.org has a nice history on the Harmonie Club here.

Eastside Al:
"It's ironic in a way that the posting of this 1888 map searching for a part of Detroit's black history would come from Germany, since the east side of Detroit - including Black Bottom and Hastings St. - was heavily populated by German immigrants in the late 1800s. The still standing and operating St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, a parish started by German immigrants in 1855 [[the current building dates to 1870), is testimony to that fact, as is Sacred Heart Church on Eliot just off the Chrysler Fwy. [[Hastings), which was built as a German parish in 1875 and became an African-American parish in 1938."

Yes, thanks Downtownguy for reminding me about Al's post. I had decided that I'm going to tell this to the German poster on the record collector site, I'm sure he'll be interested. Yes, I sense the German influence even today, with the churches and the old names.

An amazing process in this city, in which ethnic minorities - Germans, Poles, Italians, Irish, etc., often hated and discriminated against, became "white"; especially in relationship to blacks, and as regards the concerns about and competition over the price of labor, post-slavery.

I am always amazed at how these maps show how the past bleeds through to the present, how the present is influenced by the old city, now invisible, and how change in the city is constant.