Obscure neighorboods of the City

**dtowncitylover** · April-05-10, 10:24 AM

Google maps labels city's neigborhoods. We all know the cliche ones, Indian Village, EEV, Palmer Park, Delray, Brightmoor, etc. What about the less known and obscure ones?

Here's a partial list: (with their possible major street intersection, just guessing)
The Eye (McNichols and Telegraph)
Five Points (Five Points, Telegraph, 7 Mile)
Barton-McFarland (Chicago and Meyers)
Fishkorn (Joy and Greenfield)
Greensbriar (Goulburn and 8 Mile)
Grixdale (NW of Jos Campau and Nevada)
Blackstone Park (SE of 8 Mile and Schaefer)
Belmont (Puritan and Greenfield)
Franklin Park (Chicago and Evergreen)
Krainz Woods (7 Mile and Mound)

I would love to know how they were named, their histories, if they have community associations, if anyone lives here, memories, etc. Do residents know about the name?

Was their ever a "naming convention" where city leaders assigned names for different neighborhoods?

I didn't grow up in the city, but I know the basic neighborhoods and know my way around the city well, but have always been interested in the city's diverse neighborhoods. Is their a definitive source for the city's hoods?

**casscorridor** · April-05-10, 11:03 AM

Unfortunately, there aren't official neighborhood boundaries in the city. The most official neighborhoods are probably the ones the city gives special attention to, such as renaissance/empowerment zones (example being Petosky-Otsego). Often neighborhoods are defined by community organizations or development organizations, such as Midtown (UCCA) or Eastern Market (Eastern Market Corp.). There are others that have been known by their neighborhood association, such as the Villages. Others are historically known, such as Corktown. There are also neighborhoods that have yet to be named, or that have names but no one uses them. It is common in Detroit to refer to ones neighborhood as cross streets, so instead of saying "I live in Woodbridge" i might say "I live near Trumbull and Warren."

**eno** · April-05-10, 11:04 AM

I lived in the area of Detroit that is listed as The Eye from '83-'06. Physically, the area is bound by Telegraph-Five Points-Grand River-McNichols. The name The Eye was given to the community organized watch group that formed in the 1980s to patrol the area day and night to deter home break-ins. Signs were put up in this area at points of entry to let would-be thieves know that the community was looking out for itself. The campaign was successful for a few years. I don't know how active the watch group is anymore. The signs for The Eye still exist and I believe that is why the area is still referred to as The Eye. Historically, it should have a reference and a name related to Redford Township.

**EastsideAl** · April-05-10, 12:17 PM

With the exception of well-defined neighborhoods that are physically different from, or separated from, nearby neighborhoods (Indian Village, Palmer Woods), those that were once separate cities (Delray, "old" Redford), and perhaps some older ethnic/racial enclaves (Corktown, Paradise Valley), neighborhood names have rarely been used for much of the City of Detroit. As casscorridor describes, most Detroiters just identified where they lived (or "stayed") by nearby major cross-streets.

Part of the reason for this is that the city grew in the 20th century in 2 huge booms that covered over what had been for the most part rather thinly settled rural land. The first came in the original auto boom of the 1910s and 20s when most of the central city was built out from the historical core (roughly the area inside Grand Blvd.) very quickly, and the second came during and just after WWII when the city was swiftly built out to its current borders, and began to spread out into the suburbs.

A lot of the names you see for city neighborhoods today really came into use relatively recently, with the increased neighborhood organization of the 1960s and/or the city planning and "urban renewal" work of the 1950s and 60s. For instance, "Cass Corridor" itself is a name that came from the city planning for the eventual make-over of that area (which never came). Back when my parents lived there in the '50s where one lived was just named by whatever was nearby ("near Cass Park" or "near Convention Hall" or "near the Library"). "Midtown" is an even newer name for that area that just came into use in the last few years.

**5speedz34** · April-05-10, 12:49 PM

^ I have to agree with this for the most part. I find it a shame too that the City doesn't have a formal list of neighborhoods or boundaries.

What I find most interesting is where Google found many of these names (this goes for Bing, Yahoo!, etc). Often searching for neighborhood names comes up with basically nothing. Google "NW Goldberg" for example.

**Lt. Dan Bassett** · April-05-10, 01:26 PM

I was surprised recently to discover from looking at a detnews map published a little while ago that my neighborhood was considered part of Brightmoor. That was not my life experience, however. The Telegraph/7Mile/FivePoints/Pembroke tract was more dominated by it's relationship to Redford Twp. / Old Redford and Bonnie Brook golf course. While we learned golf in the early '60s at FreePress golf school at Redford Golf Course and saw "The Mask" in Old Redford at the Redford Theater we spent our summers pulling leaches off our nuts after shaggin balls out of the Rouge River and slidin on those hills at Bonnie Brook in the winter. Remember the Dad that pushed the kid down a hill there and then realized he was headed straight for the river? The drop to the ice was at least 10 feet. He hit hard and within seconds had a bloody goose egg at the bridge of his nose the size of a grapefruit. And Dad raced down the hill in vain only to flip in the air and land on his back on the ice. Man, those were the days!
Bottom line: Telegraph Rd. and Bonnie Brook were big manmade boundaries that separated our neighborhood from Brightmoor.

**Eastside** · April-05-10, 01:50 PM

Originally Posted by 5speedz34

^ I have to agree with this for the most part. I find it a shame too that the City doesn't have a formal list of neighborhoods or boundaries.

What I find most interesting is where Google found many of these names (this goes for Bing, Yahoo!, etc). Often searching for neighborhood names comes up with basically nothing. Google "NW Goldberg" for example.

Take a look at the neighborhood map link found in this blog - http://bbandm.wordpress.com/

The link is at the end of the second paragraph.

**DetroitPlanner** · April-05-10, 02:10 PM

Some of those are subdivision names not neighborhoods. Fiskorns had dozens of subs throughout Warrendale and Franklin Park Area. In some places the subs were as small as a couple of blocks! For example I live in a Fiskorn sub, but am in Warrendale, though some folks might say I don't live in Warrendale but maybe in Brooks or Herman Gardens.

Neighborhoods don't have tight boundaries. Subdivisions are the result of political and economic factors and do have tight boundaries.

**Zimm** · April-05-10, 02:13 PM

Originally Posted by eno

I lived in the area of Detroit that is listed as The Eye from '83-'06. Physically, the area is bound by Telegraph-Five Points-Grand River-McNichols. The name The Eye was given to the community organized watch group that formed in the 1980s to patrol the area day and night to deter home break-ins. Signs were put up in this area at points of entry to let would-be thieves know that the community was looking out for itself. The campaign was successful for a few years. I don't know how active the watch group is anymore. The signs for The Eye still exist and I believe that is why the area is still referred to as The Eye. Historically, it should have a reference and a name related to Redford Township.

eno-glad to hear that you've gotten out of The Eye. my girlfriend lives in the first couple of blocks of Redford adjacent to that area. her neighborhood is being overrun by crime spilling out of The Eye, which is now filled with addicts, thieves and gangs.

**kryptonite** · April-05-10, 02:40 PM

That's sad to hear, I lived there on Salem in 2000/01 and it was a fairly nice neighborhood then. At least that was my impression.

**English** · April-05-10, 03:17 PM

Originally Posted by casscorridor

Unfortunately, there aren't official neighborhood boundaries in the city. The most official neighborhoods are probably the ones the city gives special attention to, such as renaissance/empowerment zones (example being Petosky-Otsego). Often neighborhoods are defined by community organizations or development organizations, such as Midtown (UCCA) or Eastern Market (Eastern Market Corp.). There are others that have been known by their neighborhood association, such as the Villages. Others are historically known, such as Corktown. There are also neighborhoods that have yet to be named, or that have names but no one uses them. It is common in Detroit to refer to ones neighborhood as cross streets, so instead of saying "I live in Woodbridge" i might say "I live near Trumbull and Warren."

This is very interesting, casscorridor. I always wondered why Detroit didn't have many named neighborhoods. During most of my growing-up years, living in a neighborhood with a name indicated affluence (Sherwood Forest, Indian Village) or trouble (Cass Corridor, Brightmoor). The rest of us just indicated the nearest cross streets.

**Hermod** · April-05-10, 04:23 PM

In some cases, the developer's name for an area or subdivision caught on and remained in use. In other areas, the developer's name didn't catch on and remains only in the legal property description. Where we llived on the northeast side, the subdivision name was "Nottingham Highlands". but i never heard any name for the neighborhood. We always said we lived on Nottingham between Yorkshire and Grayton or if someone wasn't familiar with the area we would say we lived near Harper and Whittier (or Six Mile). Whittier wasn't exactly Six Mile Road, but the Six Mile bus ran down Whittier.

**econ expat** · April-05-10, 06:13 PM

Originally Posted by eno

I lived in the area of Detroit that is listed as The Eye from '83-'06. Physically, the area is bound by Telegraph-Five Points-Grand River-McNichols. The name The Eye was given to the community organized watch group that formed in the 1980s to patrol the area day and night to deter home break-ins. Signs were put up in this area at points of entry to let would-be thieves know that the community was looking out for itself. The campaign was successful for a few years. I don't know how active the watch group is anymore. The signs for The Eye still exist and I believe that is why the area is still referred to as The Eye. Historically, it should have a reference and a name related to Redford Township.

I grew up in that neighborhood 60's-70's, still have family there.
There was no official name for the area, but our neighborhood baseball league was called the 'Redford Park Athletic Association', we always presumed the neighborhood name was Redford Park.

The Eye is a silly name for the neighborhood, but as you said, the neighborhood watch association is called 'The Eye' . That name referred to 'watching', nothing to do with the neighborhood name (My Dad was one of the 'charter' members and remembers the naming choice at the 1st meeting.

Maybe some genius saw 'The Eye' signs and thought that was the neighborhood name, it has 'stuck' since.

**econ expat** · April-05-10, 06:25 PM

That is the area North of 7 Mile and West of Telegraph.
The name for that neighborhood does make sense, historically.
Downtown 5 Points was the corner of 7 Mile and Grand River.
Most of 'downtown' was demolished when Stark Hickey Ford was built.
5 Points was a stop on the D.U.R. line.
There was also a big former 'casino' building on the Southwest corner of Grand River and 5 Points.It was a furniture store when I was a kid, but a fascinating old building. There was a 'balcony' all the way aruond above the main floor. Little 'storage rooms' upstairs all around. Looked like an old western movie casino/ cathouse layout.
And it was torn down in recent years for another strip mall.

**Kathleen** · April-05-10, 06:36 PM

Originally Posted by EastsideAl

A lot of the names you see for city neighborhoods today really came into use relatively recently, with the increased neighborhood organization of the 1960s and/or the city planning and "urban renewal" work of the 1950s and 60s.

Or more recently. A case in point is the proliferation of neighborhood names on the far east side...names like East English Village and Morningside. I grew up in the Warren Ave.-Outer Drive area and that's how we referenced our neighborhood. In the mid-70's and into the 80's, we saw the growth of neighborhood associations and we aligned ourselves with the group names: DARE (Detroit Area Residents East), DEAR (Detroit East Area Residents), NEAR, ONE, etc. But no specific neighborhood names until after us kids had married and moved out of the area, and my parents moved to Arizona.

According to their website, the East English Village was named in 1990 by the local homeowners association that evolved from one of the above named neighborhood associations. http://www.eastenglishvillage.org/welcome.html

**Eastside** · April-05-10, 07:00 PM

Originally Posted by Kathleen

Or more recently. A case in point is the proliferation of neighborhood names on the far east side...names like East English Village and Morningside. I grew up in the Warren Ave.-Outer Drive area and that's how we referenced our neighborhood. In the mid-70's and into the 80's, we saw the growth of neighborhood associations and we aligned ourselves with the group names: DARE (Detroit Area Residents East), DEAR (Detroit East Area Residents), NEAR, ONE, etc. But no specific neighborhood names until after us kids had married and moved out of the area, and my parents moved to Arizona.

According to their website, the East English Village was named in 1990 by the local homeowners association that evolved from one of the above named neighborhood associations. http://www.eastenglishvillage.org/welcome.html

The East English was formally DEAR. The EEV name was one of three final names submitted for consideration and voted upon by the residents. The EEV name won by a majority vote.

At that time, the DEAR organization leadership met and held brainstorming sessions with area real estate companies on ways to stabilize real estate values and create demand for the great homes found within the EEV boundaries. So it was decided to brand the neighborhood as an upscale, stable neighborhood. Shortly after the name was adopted, the boundary signs were built and installed, brochures were created touting the benefits of living in EEV and media coverage followed. It worked. Demand for the homes went up along with prices. But, unfortunately like most neighborhoods in Detroit and surrounding communities , this latest recession has taken it's toll on home values.

**Kathleen** · April-05-10, 08:09 PM

Thanks, Eastside, for the additional details. My point was just that the newer neighborhood names are fairly recent.

I was pretty involved with DEAR as a block representative for several years until I got married and moved. While there, I co-authored a history of churches in the area covered roughly by the East Warren Businessmen's Association. And as part of a class at Wayne State, I did an overview and analysis of the EWBA from a wide variety of demographic factors. It was interesting to look at the neighborhood I grew up in from so many different angles!!

**EMG** · April-05-10, 08:24 PM

Originally Posted by Hermod

In some cases, the developer's name for an area or subdivision caught on and remained in use. In other areas, the developer's name didn't catch on and remains only in the legal property description. Where we llived on the northeast side, the subdivision name was "Nottingham Highlands". but i never heard any name for the neighborhood. We always said we lived on Nottingham between Yorkshire and Grayton or if someone wasn't familiar with the area we would say we lived near Harper and Whittier (or Six Mile). Whittier wasn't exactly Six Mile Road, but the Six Mile bus ran down Whittier.

Six Mile Road / McNichols became Seymour (and then took a slight curve) and if Seymour hadn't ended at Kelly but continued straight on through the Denby High campus it would have been just south of Britain. So I always thought of Britain as being the equivalent of "Six Mile Road."

I grew up in that neighborhood (Nottingham between Britain and Morang, as I've previously posted) and lived there in the 60's through 80's but never until this thread have I ever heard of the term "Nottingham Highlands."

In the days of the ONE, DEAR, NEAR, etc. mentioned earlier, our neighborhood association was known as Neighbors United, or NU - I think that was established in about the early 80s or so. This was bounded by Morang, Kelly, Whittier, and Harper. According to the following link (which also names several other local neighborhoods and will be of interest to the original poster), it's now known as Yorkshire Woods.

http://www.usnapbac.org/about_us

**eno** · April-05-10, 10:25 PM

Originally Posted by econ expat

I grew up in that neighborhood 60's-70's, still have family there.
There was no official name for the area, but our neighborhood baseball league was called the 'Redford Park Athletic Association', we always presumed the neighborhood name was Redford Park.

The Eye is a silly name for the neighborhood, but as you said, the neighborhood watch association is called 'The Eye' . That name referred to 'watching', nothing to do with the neighborhood name (My Dad was one of the 'charter' members and remembers the naming choice at the 1st meeting.

Maybe some genius saw 'The Eye' signs and thought that was the neighborhood name, it has 'stuck' since.

Like you surmise, that's how The Eye neighborhood got it's name. That's why I suggest a name that is more suited to the area's history. You mention Redford Park being used as a community-based athletic association. Considering you have "Olde Redford" east of Telegraph along Grand River, it's only fitting that a name with Redford in it should be used to describe the area accidentally named The Eye.

**5speedz34** · April-05-10, 10:30 PM

Now the neighborhood that I lived in until my parents moved us to Shelby Twp. was Lannoo St. between Chandler Park, Mack and Moross, Warren. I've heard of this area being called Cornerstone Village now but I've only heard it by word of mouth and nothing concrete. Can anyone back this up?

**kathy2trips** · April-05-10, 11:38 PM

Well, they seem to have a Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Corner...e/100445169255

BTW: I'm from around there, too. In fact, the house my dad built is for sale. Dad was a bricklayer and stone mason and did all the work except the electrical. It's easily the best house on the block: http://www.trulia.com/property/30036...ointe-MI-48236. I think my formerly tiny hand prints are still in the sidewalk in front of the house. You could do stuff like that in those days. Wish I could get that house for myself.

**5speedz34** · April-06-10, 12:04 AM

Well that's the first I've heard of Cornerstone Village leave it to Facebook to elude me. Still doesn't explain what the boundaries of the neighborhood are, unless it's everything from Mack-I94 and EEV border-Kingsville.

**Hermod** · April-06-10, 04:34 AM

Originally Posted by EMG

I grew up in that neighborhood (Nottingham between Britain and Morang, as I've previously posted) and lived there in the 60's through 80's but never until this thread have I ever heard of the term "Nottingham Highlands."

*******

This was bounded by Morang, Kelly, Whittier, and Harper. According to the following link (which also names several other local neighborhoods and will be of interest to the original poster), it's now known as Yorkshire Woods.

http://www.usnapbac.org/about_us

"Nottingham Highlands" was the name on the survey plat which I saw when my parents were selling their house in 1954. I am not sure exactly what the boundaries of the "Nottingham Highlands" subdivision was. It may only have covered a couple of blocks.

Yorkshire was the last street paved in that area. Right up to 1954 when we left, Yorkshire was a gravel road which the city dutifully oiled once a year and which we kids would dutifully track the fresh oil on our shoes into the house. I can remember when they paved Grayton, somewhere around 1951. Prior to that, Grayton was a gravel road though it didn't seem to get oiled as often as Yorkshire and you could kick up a cloud of dust along Grayton.

**EMG** · April-06-10, 07:31 AM

...and amazingly, in the time I was there, Grayton was the only of the three east-west sidestreets in that area that was actually had good quality pavement clear from Kelly to I-94. Britain and to a lesser extent Yorkshire - especially between McKinney and Lansdowne or so - were the streets I remember as having tar-covered, bumpy sections. They must have fixed Grayton and left the other two alone!

**Frumoasa** · April-06-10, 10:41 AM

What is the area just north of Hamtramck city limits to the Davison called? I have heard it referred to as "Hamtramck Heights" but I always heard that that name referred to houses north of Caniff within Hamtramck. It isn't historically tied to Nortown and seems to have always been just Hamtramck overflow. I would be curious to find out if it ever had its own name or if it was always just an extension.