Obscure neighorboods of the City

[MikeM]

Somewhere I have a brief history of Leesville from a pamphlet published by of the Church of Our Savior, corner of Harper & Cadillac, across from the northeastern YMCA. I scanned a bit of it before a computer malfunction caused me to set it aside. That was years ago, and I can't find it now, but here's what I saved:

At the time of the founding, the area along Gratiot Avenue from Belvidere to Connor's Creek was known as Leesville. Charles Lee, the founder of the village, resided at Belvidere and Gratiot, but the center of the area of the community was at Harper and Gratiot. Here was located the general store, the hay scales, post office, blacksmith shop and the James Cooper lumber yard.

The village was never incorporated, nor did it ever gain status as an unincorporated town or village. It had no governing body nor officers and was part of a township unit of government. The school was called Leesville School, and it did have an official Post Office. Norman D. Cooper served as Postmaster for almost half a century. The last Postmaster was Walter G. Leacock, who also operated two drug stores. The Post Office was abolished when the Maxwell Station was opened in the late 1920's.

Shortly after the turn of the century the horse cars were supplanted by electric street cars. The old horse car terminal had been just past Cucumber Lane in front of the Ruehle and Vokes homesteads, but the electric line terminated at Harper. The Detroit United Railways built a car barn on the site of the James Cooper sawmill, and a large loop was built so that the street cars could be turned around without being placed on a turntable. Provisions also had to made to store compressed air, and also a hose connection so that air could be transferred to the cars to operate their brakes. The word Leesville was lettered out with white-washed stones in the center of the street car turn-around. Shortly after the advent of the city electric street car, the first interurban lines were built, and cars could carry passengers as far as Port Huron. Service was also provided for all of the small towns that dotted the banks of Lake St. Clair and the St. Clair River. The interurban was a single track, with switches at Connor, Taylor Road, Seven Mile Road, Hunds, Halfway, Eleven Mile, Power House, Utica Junction, Shook Road, Detroit Creamery Farm and Clinton River. All cars had to wait at Leesville while the motorman confirmed his orders with the dispatcher. The conductor serviced the cars with air for their brakes during this interval.

This waiting period produced an opportunity for a number of young salesmen to vend their wares to the waiting passengers. Popcorn, peanuts, pop, ginger ale, candy bars and newspapers were hawked by boys who paraded around the outside of the cars, and the passengers had to lean out the windows to make their purchases.




This was a quiet little community in 1874. There was little of the hustle and bustle of the present day. Belle Isle was a private picnic grounds, and it was not until five years later that the City of Detroit was to purchase the island as a park.

It was five years prior to the establishment of an official commission to plan the Grand Boulevard. There was no regular means of transportation to the city. Gratiot was a plank road, but all of the other roads were mud. The plank road was not all its name implies. All that it provided was a narrow bed of planks on which one wagon could travel. When wagons traveling in opposite directions met, one had to give way. The rule of the road was that the wagon traveling to town had the right of way because it was presumed to be loaded. The wagon or buggy driving out Gratiot would be obliged to turn off in the mud to let the town bound wagon pass. During about nine months of the year, this meant that the outbound vehicle would be stuck and the wagon headed downtown would then he obliged to stop and unhitch his team and come back and help draw the outbound rig out of the mire.

August Kalthoff operated the general store at the corner of Gratiot and Butler [[now Harper) Avenues, and next door to him was the butcher shop of Christopher Cooke. Across the street, near where the Department of Street Railways’ car house now stands, was the Jim Cooper Sawmill with its large pile of logs strewn over the adjoining field. Nick Newman’ s blacksmith shop was next to the sawmill. The hay scales stood on the site of the present safety triangle on the South side of Gratiot and East side of Harper. Christy’s general store was located where Cadillac cuts through to Gratiot. William Christy’s home stood on the site of the present Detroit Edison office to the east of his store. Next to him was the William Sterritt home.

The five Cooper brothers, the first of whom had come to Detroit from Lancashire England in 18479 had located along the Gratiot Turnpike. William Cooper [[father of Tom Cooper, the famous bicycle racer) later migrated to Birmingham, but in 1874, all were living on Gratiot. Thomas Cooper’s farm was at Sterritt; John Cooper’s at Rohns; Henry Cooper’s at Cooper; Jim Cooper’ s near Georgia. William lived with Henry.

The Brickyards along the turnpike in 1874 starting at Parker, were Wallop Vokes, Robert Watson at Fischer; William Colquitt at Crane; James Giff’s next to Colquitt’s; John Cooper at Rohns; Charles Lee, Sr. near Belvidere; Robert Walker near McClellan; Henry Cooper at Cooper; William Christy near Harper; Thomas Cooper at Sterritt; Charles Lee, Jr. near the car barns; James Vokes at Devine; Richard Lamb at French Road; January Trombly east of the railroad crossing, close to old Conner’s Creek. Peter Hunt’s brickyard was on the North side of Gratiot near Marcus. Dave Trombly’s farm was at the Creek Road [[now Conner) and Gratiot.

Richard Lamb while he had a small brickyard, was also famed for his wonderful garden. He became one of the first market gardeners in the vicinity. Peter Hunt also maintained a typical English garden with vegetables, beautiful flowers and health giving herbs. He also proudly displayed his peacocks and guinea hens. Frank Beste lived near Pennsylvania. Jim Quirk’ s home was next to the Methodist Church.

There was a toll gate at Mack and Gratiot to collect a charge for using the road, and Charles Lee maintained the Leesville toll gate near Woodlawn and Gratiot.

Tom Trinity, who took care of the plank road, lived at Van Dyke and Gratiot. F. Fournier operated a hotel and saloon on the north side of Gratiot between Van Dyke and Burns. To the east of the hotel were the Flight and Ackley farms. Plas, Turner, Corby, Shoemaker, Youngblood were other names well known in the village.

The only church in the village was the Methodist Chapel at the corner of what is now Gratiot and Georgia. Lee’ s Chapel had been opened in 1851 and was used on its first occasion for the funeral of Jane Sterritt Lee, wife of Charles Lee. Nellie Lee, the daughter of Charles and Jane, married Waldo Avery of Saginaw. Nellie had three children – Sewell, Arla and Waldo. Arla is dead; Waldo is a Detroit business man and Sewell Lee Avery is Chairman of the Board of Montgomery Ward Company.

The settlement had been named for Charles Lee, the elder, who had married Betty Vokes and had established his residence at Belvidere and Gratiot in the early part of the century.

It was a rough and ready community. It had been hewn out of the wilderness by many of its then inhabitants [[1874). The brickyards were staffed by large numbers of hired men who lived a rough and ready life. There were no modern conveniences. The men washed outside in cold water in a bucket on even the coldest days of the winter. There was no central heating and wood was used as fuel for both heating and cooking. There were no bake shops and all the bread pie and cake for the men were baked by the lady of the house with the assistance of her daughters and the hired girls. While Butcher Cooke’s shop had meats available, every householder did consider able butchering on his own. In a similar manner each home owner raised most of his own vegetables.

These early settlers were a thrifty lot and a piece of candy and an orange were considered ample Christmas gifts for a child. Most of the clothing was home made. Some even spun their own cloth.�

[MikeM]

continued:

"
The village school was located on the northwest corner of Harper and Gratiot. It was a small red building and was only open a few months of the year. Instruction was rather sparse and limited to the three “R s”

The majority of the children of the neighborhood, as soon as they were about ten years of age, went. downtown to school. They attended either the Washington or Bishop schools to complete their grammar school work then many went on to Capitol High School which was located on the site of Present Capitol Park. The building had formerly served as the State Capitol. They rode to town in either a buggy or wagon, depending on how many were attending school at that particular time and their horses were left at Cole’s Livery Stable near the corner of Beaubien and Gratiot. The Washington School was located on Beaubien; the Bishop, at Hastings and Winder.

Elizabeth Lee, one of the daughters of Charles Lee, the elder, had married Robert Walker and their home was near the present site of the Roosevelt Theater, about where May Avenue now enters into Gratiot. Their son, Henry O. Walker, became a doctor. He was one of the first in Detroit to specialize in surgery. His office was located over Inglis’ Drug Store at State and Griswold.


There was no doctor in the village, the nearest being Dr. Kaiser, who had a drug store on Gratiot between Russell and Riopelle. The favorite doctor, however, of the 1871 residents of Leesville was Doctor lnglis, whose son Frank afterwards opened the Inglis Drug Store. Other downtown doctors who served the little community were Doctor Brady and Dr Ernest Shurly.


The Protestants in Leesville all attended Lee’s Chapel, while the Catholics traveled out Gratiot to the Grotto. Many of those who attended the Methodist Chapel were Anglicans and they were anxious to have a church of their own. On one occasion, one of the Lees had arranged for an Episcopal minister to visit his home for the purpose of baptizing children and instructing the older ones so that they might be confirmed. There was much discussion about the advisability of establishing an Episcopal Church, and finally on the night of September 8, 1871, the men and women of the community gathered together in the little red school house and banded together to form the Church of Our Saviour. They were counseled and guided by the Reverend George Worthington, Reverend Paul Ziegler and Mr. and Mrs. John Price, lay members, all of whom were associated with St John’s Church.


What discussions, what anxiety, what prayer. must have attended this venture because it is no easy undertaking for twelve or fifteen families to organize and carry on a church successfully. It is true that expenses were not so great in those days. It is true that the actual cost of the church building itself represented only an outlay of some $2000, all but $600 of which was raised immediately after the organization meeting in the school house. But, it is also true that these people were just getting started in this new land. Misfortune had come along with good fortune. There were many obstacles which would have made the fainthearted or the insincere say “Let’ s put this matter off until we are better situated, or at least until we get a few more families here to share the burden."

[MikeM]

A collection of photos from the pamphlet, in no particular order:

Attachment 5793


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Charles Lee

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Walter Cooper home


Attachment 5800

[MikeM]

Attachment 5801
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Attachment 5807
Our Savior circa 2003

[MikeM]

Attachment 5809
Pippers Wagon


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Attachment 5813
William Christy

[Eastside]

Hey MikeM, your input in these discussions always blows me away. This is amazing stuff, Thank You for sharing!

I believe the King Candy building is still there with some 1st floor retailers. Possibly a pharmacy. I'll check it out next time I'm in the area.

I love this this little snippet...

"This was a quiet little community in 1874. There was little of the hustle and bustle of the present day. Belle Isle was a private picnic grounds, and it was not until five years later that the City of Detroit was to purchase the island as a park."

[MikeM]

Thank you Eastside. Do you think this was King Candy?

Attachment 5814

[Eastside]

Thank you Eastside. Do you think this was King Candy?

Attachment 5814

MikeM-

Yes that is the place I had in mind. It sure looks like the King Candy building doesn't it?

[FerndaleDamon]

I've seen this building many times in person, in my travels. It looks identical to the King store in shape but with a masonry veneer/covering over the exterior. Maybe they turned it into a bank later on. What a great post this is. Kinda' fun to do some detective work with like minded people. Awesome pics, by the way!

[donpablo]

I knew which neighborhoods he meant, but I don't know that people actually call them that.

There were new "Chadsey-Condon" banner signs installed in a few spot along Mcgraw near Central. But yeah, we dont call it that.

[donpablo]

MikeM, I love that stuff! Where can I view maps of the Detroit area like those? I could look at those for hours...

[Corn.Bot]

I've seen this building many times in person, in my travels. It looks identical to the King store in shape but with a masonry veneer/covering over the exterior. Maybe they turned it into a bank later on. What a great post this is. Kinda' fun to do some detective work with like minded people. Awesome pics, by the way!

#1, I sincerely agree re the post & photos. #2 - I think you are right about the bank; I have memories of a Manufacturers National Bank around Harper and Gratiot and I think it was in that building. It had a gray masonry facade that was impressively fortress-like to my young eyes. I'm thinking that would've been during the mid-to-late 1960s. I can still hear the radio jingle for this bank in my head: "...the bank that serves so many people in so many ways / Manufacturers, that's MY bank! Manufacturers National Bank..."

Wish I could remember important things as well as I can remember this kind of meaningless trivia.

[kathy2trips]

......Wish I could remember important things as well as I can remember this kind of meaningless trivia.

An address...a business name...what's meaningful is all about perception. Some memory jogs are priceless. I couldn't remember where my great-aunt's party store was, and one day I found it. Like I said, It's all about what it means to you. If it makes you happy, so be it. Certainly, more fun than a "to do list".

[RickBeall]

Another interesting old neighborhood is Norris Town founded by Philetus W. Norris. It is at
Mt Eliot & E Nevada [[4 blocks east of Mound between 6 & 7 mile road).

Philetus Norris was the 2nd superintendent of Yellowstone National Park. Here is the Wikipedia entry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philetus_Norris

Here is a short exerpt:

"After the Civil War, Norris moved to Michigan, where he managed land which belonged to officers and soldiers of both the Union and Confederate armies as part of a federal contract. In 1873, he founded the town of Norris, now within the boundaries of Detroit but then in Wayne County and built the Two Way Inn, which was originally the village's jail and general store. He lived there for a few years until he built a nearby house, which is now on the National Register of Historic Places. "

Philletus's house still stands, but just barely. The Two Way Inn, is still open for business and is still called the Two Way Inn. It is at the intersection of Nevada and Mt Eliot. It still has the jail cells in the basement when it was the town jail. The top floor was a ballroom, but it was divided into small rooms a long time ago. The bar or Inn was called the Two Way in because if the wife came in the front, her husband could run out the back [[that's what I was told). It is said Norris can sometimes be seen gazing out of the upper windows.

The Metro Times did a cover piece on it a about a year ago:

http://www.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=12870

The interior is just like an old bar in the upper peninsula of Michigan.

This is where the names like Nortown on businesses on Van Dyke in the area come from. Here is a DetroitBlogger's link about the Nortown Bakery: http://www.detroitblog.org/?p=497 . The Nortown Theatre on Van Dyke http://www.waterwinterwonderland.com...?type=5&id=703 .

The bar is still open, the people are very friendly, so drop by.

17897 Mount Elliott Street
Detroit, MI 48212
[[313) 891-4925

It looks like they have a minimal website up

http://www.2waybar.com/nortown/

[FerndaleDamon]

Norris is very cool. I was there for a few hours taking pics one day last summer. You can still visualize the town center @ Nevada/ Mt.Eliot. A few large old homes with some large, really old trees are still standing. The old Baker streetcar cracks are visible where the streetcar turned east onto Nevada from Mt.Eliot. Looking forward to visiting the Two Way for a ginger ale, or two, real soon. Looks like an interesting place.

[dtowncitylover]

THANK YOU ALL!

Sorry for "yelling", but this has become a very interesting thread. Reading about Leesville, Norris, etc. is too amazing. The vast knowledge of people is also cool.

[Hornwrecker]

Attachment 5838

The red pin indicates where the Michigan Central RR depot was.

[Danny]

This picture shows the area from Davison/ 6 Mile south to Luce and Fenelon west to Moenart. As you can see, it was part of the Highland Gardens sub-division and is just northwest of Hamtramck. The map shows that Jerome Ave. was changed to 6 Mile Road which was then changed to McNichols. We lived in lot #235 on Moenart, colored red. During the 1960’s there was a pizzeria called Home of the Pizza right on the corner of Moenart and 6 Mile and I was the delivery boy around 1965-66.

Highland Gardens today is a mostly black Detroit Ghettohood for the past 30 years. However during the past 20 years, fewer Yemeni Arab Muslim families are making a slow growth in that area. Due to crowded housing problems in Hamtramck. During the past ten years fewer Bengali Hindus and Muslim families are settling over there.

[Cass1966]

Highland Gardens today is a mostly black Detroit Ghettohood for the past 30 years. However during the past 20 years, fewer Yemeni Arab Muslim families are making a slow growth in that area. Due to crowded housing problems in Hamtramck. During the past ten years fewer Bengali Hindus and Muslim families are settling over there.

We just called our neighborhood “6 Mile and Davison�, if anyone asked where we were from. It was a safe, friendly, working class blue-collar area, just like a 1000 other neighborhoods in Detroit during the 1950’s & 1960’s. It contained everything a community needed and it’s sad to see it today in such bad shape. Transfiguration Parish is still open and so is Buddy’s pizzeria and White Elementary School, but about everything else from the time I lived there is gone: Turtle Soup Inn, Lasky Recreation center, Norm’s comics, Venice pool hall, etc. Stinger4me says he lived two streets over from me and I remember Sonny Boys and Bazaar, and the little store on Luce & Caldwell. The local garage was the 6 Mile & Buffalo Shell station and I found an old bill for some service work on my 1966 Chevy, the date on the receipt is 1-23-1967.

[FerndaleDamon]

When I was a kid, my parents used to go shopping @ 7 mi./Gratiot. Very busy, vibrant shopping district back then. Monkey Wards, Federal's, Cunningham's, Kresge's, Woolworth's, Sander,s etc. All that is gone now. It's almost unrecognizable. Oh, I almost forgot Stereo City on Lappin/Gratiot. Used to buy my vinyl there.

[Eastside]

When I was a kid, my parents used to go shopping @ 7 mi./Gratiot. Very busy, vibrant shopping district back then. Monkey Wards, Federal's, Cunningham's, Kresge's, Woolworth's, Sander,s etc. All that is gone now. It's almost unrecognizable. Oh, I almost forgot Stereo City on Lappin/Gratiot. Used to buy my vinyl there.

Someone once told me this shopping district had the highest gross sales in the country. If I remember the conversation correctly, I believe it was in the mid 60's.

[Stinger4me]

Cass1966; Here are more things to jog your memory. The "Home of the Pizza", A&P Supermarket, Northeastern Bakery, Carl's Meat Market. You may have had your shoes repaired at Gandolfi's Shoe Repair on Bloom. The shoe repair shop was next door to Johnny's Barber Shop. My last visit to the neighborhood was a drive through back about 2000 and it made me sick. Your opinions about the area were right on the money. I went to elementary school with a Mark Barodicz who lived on the east side of Moenart south of your house. Do you remember the Rainbow Bar-be-Que on Caldwell and McNichols?

Stinger

[FerndaleDamon]

Another interesting area is Old Redford @ Lahser/Grand River. You can kinda' visualize the original layout of the settlement by the old houses and the street patterns. I think it was also called "Sand Hill" for a while, if I'm not mistaken? I've been in the old Mt Hazel cemetery on Lahser to have a look see. Settlements usually had a cemetery just down the road from town- another clue. I've always thought it was interesting how Detroit seems to be composed from so many different neighborhoods, each with its own "buisness district". Pretty cool.

[MikeM]

See my posts in this thread about the Fitzgerald neighborhood, west of U of D:

http://atdetroit.net/forum/messages/76017/75622.html

[LodgeDodger]

When I was a kid, my parents used to go shopping @ 7 mi./Gratiot. Very busy, vibrant shopping district back then. Monkey Wards, Federal's, Cunningham's, Kresge's, Woolworth's, Sander,s etc. All that is gone now. It's almost unrecognizable. Oh, I almost forgot Stereo City on Lappin/Gratiot. Used to buy my vinyl there.

Yep, I remember shopping on Gratiot. I can't drive Gratiot in that area. It makes me sad.