Detroit's Social Register, yesterday and today

[dtowncitylover]

As someone who thinks of himself as an ameteur sociologist, I have always been interested the high society of American cities. I think that we all wish we were born with a silver spoon in our mouth and I am no exception. I was wondering if anyone has any insight on Detroit Society and the history of it. Growing up in the 90s/00s was probably different that the 50s/60s so I wonder if there has been a shift of Detroit's social register. For me, Grosse Pointers had the money for generations, but those from West Bloomfield were new money. Also, it seems that there aren't the families like in some cities, like the Kennedys and Cabots of Boston ad Rockfellers of NYC. As for Detroit, IMO, we had the Ford family. This can go back as far as 1701, because I know that Brush Park was, I think, the original elite neighborhood. Within the city, I believe that Indian Village and Boston Edison were the old money, while Palmer Woods and Sherwood Forest were new money. When did white flight start to affect these neighborhoods? Any information is helpful!

[dtowncitylover]

Bump. Bump. [[because it was too short)

[English]

Good thread. Another, related question is this: what makes Detroit's elite families different from those in other cities? I think I heard that Henry Ford didn't much care for the city proper and preferred to live in the country... is that right, or am I not remembering correctly?

[dtowncitylover]

Well Henry Ford was from Dearborn, not from Detroit, and grew up on a farm. I think some of early Detroit's elite made their business from timber, is this right? Many were not from Detroit either, but from the East Coast.

[English]

Interesting. I'm dating a Chicagoan now, and I think the differences in leading families is interesting. He thinks Detroit has a crazy amount of potential, but doesn't get our local history and politics. Detroit never had a family like the Pritzkers, and our pre-CAY politicians weren't nearly as savvy as "Old Man Daley".

But what about the original French elite leading families? We see their names on street signs... where are they today?

[dtowncitylover]

There are still many Chapotons around Detroit, who were an early French family, but that's the only French name that I know of that has survived of the original settlers. I know there are old French families across the river in Windsor.

The Groesbeck family is also still in the area, a Groesbeck goes to the medical centre my sister works at.

[Pam]

but those from West Bloomfield were new money

No, that was Bloomfield Hills.

[Neilr]

Josephine Love, Detroit's last true aristocrat, died ± 5 years ago. She was the co-founder and director of Your Heritage House on Ferry Street and John R.

http://www.med.umich.edu/haahc/oralbios/love.htm

[Mikeg]

THE BOOK OF DETROITERS - A Biographical Dictionary of Leading Living Men of the City of Detroit, Edited by Albert Nelson Marquis, Chicago, A. N. Marquis & Company,1908

Interestingly it took a Chicago editor and publisher to put that book into print.

This book has been transcribed and it can be searched or browsed from this web page. Scanning through its pages, you can get a feel for the names of the "old moneyed" families, leading industrialists, plus the upwardly mobile at the very dawn of Detroit's auto manufacturing era. It's interesting to read their educational backgrounds plus their fraternal organization and social club memberships, as well as their political affiliations.

But what about the original French elite leading families? We see their names on street signs... where are they today?

I have a relative whose son is mentioned on Page 199 but I know nothing of that gentleman's family history once he came from Germany to Detroit other than what I've read here. Also, anyone of the 60+ individuals in that book with the surnames RIVARD or PITRE [[or who is descended from one) is probably a relative of mine from my paternal grandmother's line.

[gazhekwe]

The News, Free Press and Times used to run society news stories through the 60s. You can research those archives and find names and events. Used to be, the people who attended the charity events were mostly from Detroit or the Pointes, and on up Woodward, Pleasant Ridge, Birmingham and Bloomfield.

[Mikeg]

Back issues of the Grosse Pointe News from 1940 to present have been digitized and are available in searchable PDF format from this Grosse Pointe Public Library web page.

[detourdetroit]

very interesting potential for a thread...especially along the lines english is alluding to. i have a lot of ideas about this...many to do with how detroit's leading families let us down in a big way...

[Detroit_uke]

There is a book published by The Detroit Free Press - The Detroit Almanac 300 Years of Life in the Motor City. Chapter 7 is entitled "Wealth". It has a list of the wealthiest Detroiters in 1863, 1902, 2000. It also lists the Best paid executives in Michigan 1999. Let me give you a sampling. 1863: Jospeh Campau, Lewis Cass, E.B. Ward, William Woodbridge. 1902: R.A. Alger, Luther Beecher, E. Alfred Brush, Clothilde Book. 2000: Terrance Adderly, Max Fisher, Thomas Monahan, Peter Karmanos.
I have a copy. I am using it as reference ... if you would like to borrow it, let me know.

[dtowncitylover]

Thank you for all your answers. Mikeg, I plan to go through those GP News and that book much thoroughly when I have more time. And Pam, yes Bloomfield Hills I should have known better.

Does anyone have any information on the different affluent neighborhoods in the city and their residents?

[Kathleen]

Prior to the Indian Village and Boston Edison neighborhoods being established and settled just over 100 years ago, many of the city's wealthier residents lived along Fort Street, west of Woodward, and Jefferson, east of Woodward. No remnants that I can think of along Fort St. but E. Jefferson has some original homes along it. And throughout Grosse Pointe Farms and Shores, you can see similar remnants in the way of houses or street names after those residents who owned land and built their summer residences along Lake Ste. Claire. Check out W. Hawkins Ferry's Buildings of Detroit to see the names of those who owned the fancier homes around the area.

The Grosse Pointe Historical Society's website also has some useful info in their History of the Pointes and Slideshows & Exhibits pages. http://www.gphistorical.org/

[Johnlodge]

I came across this recently when looking up information about Alden Park Towers:

Edsel and Eleanor Ford lived in a massive and attractive home with property adjoining the Alden Park Towers. Needless to say, they were upset at having this huge apartment complex in their back yard with its hundreds of residents. Rather than remaining at their riverfront location in Detroit, they asked Albert Kahn to design the magnificent Ford estate located at 1100 Lake Shore Road in Grosse Pointe Shores, a home that is as famous for the landscape achievements of Jens Jensen as it is for the Kahn structure. The Edsel and Eleanor Ford home on East Jefferson was razed.

http://www.detroit1701.org/Alden%20Park%20Towers.html

[Neilr]

"...and our pre-CAY politicians weren't nearly as savvy as "Old Man Daley".

English, if by "savvy" you mean highly educated, cultured, powerful, and honest, I'd have to disagree with you. Detroit and Wayne County had three generations of the Pelham family, Robert, Benjamin, and Alfred.

[Patrick]

Grosse Pointe was considered "new" money by many. You see, the new money auto barons built massive mansions on the lake that dwarfed the summer cottages of the old elite. If you were protestant then you were considered to be part of that group. If you were Catholic....not so much.

Algers, Joys and Buhls were one generation older than the Dodges and Fords. They were more established. Areas such as Palmer Woods and Boston-Edison were considered "new" money enclaves when they were built. A lot of the clubs exlcuded mthe auto barons as did the east coast clubs did the Rockefellers. So, they basically built their own clubs. When the DAC was built, it was considered a new money club as was the Detroit club.

Edsel and Eleanor Ford lived in a massive and attractive home with property adjoining the Alden Park Towers. Needless to say, they were upset at having this huge apartment complex in their back yard with its hundreds of residents. Rather than remaining at their riverfront location in Detroit, they asked Albert Kahn to design the magnificent Ford estate located at 1100 Lake Shore Road in Grosse Pointe Shores, a home that is as famous for the landscape achievements of Jens Jensen as it is for the Kahn structure. The Edsel and Eleanor Ford home on East Jefferson was razed.

I have gone into detail about this gome on here numerous times. Wonder where it is in the archives.

[Retroit]

In the early days, the wealthy lived along the main roads [[Fort, Woodward, Jefferson) as Kathleen mentioned. There was not an attempt to live in isolated areas, as there really weren't any since Detroit was just a small town. From the 1870s to the 1890s, the wealthy began congregating in Brush Park and a few other small areas. During the 1900s and 1910s, Boston-Edison and Indian Village became wealthy areas. The Roaring 1920s saw the growth of Palmer Woods and Grosse Pointe.

These time frames aren't absolute. Some homes were built earlier or later.

[Omaha]

When looked at historically there was "old money, " money that came from owning land, and "new money," money that was created by starting and owning a business. Then there was old money that came from starting and owning a business and new money that came from being a high priced employee or a self-employed professional. The elite are always making distinctions so that they can differentiate among themselves. Kind of like what others do with the "deserving" and the "undeserving" poor.

The elite had two models of creating a place to life: there often were large homes or estates removed from the city that were large enough so that the servants could live there, and before modern urban public transportation, others had set their mansions in the city itself relatively close to "not so well off" areas so that their servants could live close to them. The truly elite had one of each. So in Chicago, for instance, there were mansions in the city and summer houses in suburbs north of the city like Lake Forest.

Many large homes in the Indian Village had sleeping quarters for live in "housekeepers." You could call them servants, but that is not a term that most of the the well-bred Villagers would choose.

Linda Ann Ewen [[Wayne State Univ. prof) did a study decades ago about the interlocking boards of directors of large Detroit businesses and, I believe, charities. Her research led me to believe that, while not exclusively true, the best way of guaranteeing that doors to opportunity are opened to you is to pick your parents well.

The elite of most major metropolitan cities have had their “400s� or “Blue Books� listing biographical information [[work, club memberships, education, etc.) for the elite and their children. I am sure that something like that still exists for Detroit and its suburbs. Are there any posters who have access to those?

[Neilr]

"The elite of most major metropolitan cities have had their “400s� or “Blue Books� listing biographical information [[work, club memberships, education, etc.) for the elite and their children."

Elite white people in Detroit had the Detroit Blue Book and later, Dau's Detroit Blue Book to list their addresses and clubs, etc. Elite black Detroiters belonged to the Cultured Colored Forty.

[crawford]

Well there was definitely a geographical shift over time. Elites are very mobile in the U.S.

Pre WWII- Boston Edison, Indian Village, Palmer Woods. The best address really depended on the exact timeframe. Boston Edison and Indian Village in the first few decades, and Palmer Woods later.

Postwar Era- The Pointes [[excluding GP Woods). GP Shores was the best address, by a longshot.

1970's-Present- Bloomfield/Bham area. Bloomfield Hills proper is the best address, by a longshot.

Nowadays there is 10 times as much wealth in Bham/Bloomfield than in the Pointes.

The Pointes aren't even #2 anymore. That would probably be Oakland Twp/Rochester Hills or maybe Plymouth/Northville/Novi. If you want an older neighborhood, places like the Woodward-area parts of Pleasant Ridge, Huntington Woods and Royal Oak are pricier [[on a per square foot basis) and probably have more social exclusivity than the Pointes.

Still a number of families with big money along the lake [[especially GP Shores, which is still really nice), but mostly just regular middle and upper middle now.

[Omaha]

Neilr -- You are right of course. Thanks for that bit of information

[Patrick]

Nowadays there is 10 times as much wealth in Bham/Bloomfield than in the Pointes.

The Pointes aren't even #2 anymore. That would probably be Oakland Twp/Rochester Hills or maybe Plymouth/Northville/Novi. If you want an older neighborhood, places like the Woodward-area parts of Pleasant Ridge, Huntington Woods and Royal Oak are pricier [[on a per square foot basis) and probably have more social exclusivity than the Pointes

I disagree. There are higher annual income levels in the wealthier Oakland County suburbs but not a ton of liquid wealth. Just because one doctor makes 250 K a year doesnt mean he banks any of it. You'd be surprised at how much liquid and trust wealth remains in GP. More than Bloomfield and B-ham combined.

[56packman]

I disagree. There are higher annual income levels in the wealthier Oakland County suburbs but not a ton of liquid wealth. Just because one doctor makes 250 K a year doesnt mean he banks any of it. You'd be surprised at how much liquid and trust wealth remains in GP. More than Bloomfield and B-ham combined.

Patrick, I think you are right on with that acessment. The GPers are a product of the "never touch the principal" generation, and are steadfastly cheap.