Chene Ferry market destruction

[DetroitZack]

I can't believe how bad she is looking now....


Detroit, MI by Zack Blackerby, on Flickr


Detroit, MI by Zack Blackerby, on Flickr


Detroit, MI by Zack Blackerby, on Flickr

[canuck]

Yes, it is sad to think of the people who planned for these buildings with dreams and the wish to perhaps make them last over generations. I guess Chene street is one of the more blighted ones in the city for a good length. It is ironic that Chene means "Oak" in french.

There are some very good sets in your flickr account Zack, please keep posting.

[EZZ]

It was pretty secure in 2002...

[stromberg2]

Was that a grocer or an Eastern Market-like building?

Stromberg2

[Detroitej72]

In a nutshell, Chene-Ferry Market was Polinia's version of Eastern Market, a Polish Oasis in Detroit.

Unfortunately, it's fate was sealed once the Power's of Industry decided to force local government to demolish the north end of Poltown and, conversely, ignore the southern end "in the interest of public good".

This was, of coarse, before said industry was destroyed by unfair trade policies, which is helping to kill off what is left of the industry.

[Django]

We used to take or recycling there until about 5 years ago when they stopped accepting.

I was in the West branch of the building yesterday, as its wide open and it was snowing I decided to take shelter inside and have a smoke. Police stopped in to see what I was up to, asked me a few questions then went on their way. Even though I was looking pretty homeless they were very cool and personable.

Too bad the market couldn't be used for something but with the incinerator and its smell, there doesn't seem to be much hope for any kind of business in that area unless you have something addictive to sell. .

[j to the jeremy]

Another reason to close the incinerator. How can any sort of fresh food be sold nearby? Even if there was still a thriving neighborhood in Poletown, there would be no reason to have a produce market downwind of the fine particulate pollution

[laphoque]

Across the street from there is an old burnt out candy store with paintings for the kids and kitty-corner is the NSO. Both the NSO & the market smell as they're used as an outdoor bathroom. Maybe we should implement those automatic pay bathrooms like they have in Europe. It would give whomever incentive to go clean and fix them when they collect the money.

[kryptonite]

My first experiences at the Chene Ferry market were at the end of it's days as a market and I was actually there to drop off recycling. I used to stop at the bakery in that area and there was also a hardware store left and a men's store and maybe a bar, but you could see that the destiny of the area was that it would close up a bit at a time.

Nowadays things are different, not only are more people coming downtown and even moving downtown but Eastern Market is booming. It's possible that the shed at Chene-Ferry might actually serve as a farmers market again someday if the facility does not collapse. Local farm produce is the trend and many local cities have farmers markets at least one day a week in warm weather. I no longer live on the East Side and am almost never in the Chene-Ferry area, but my last trip down Chene about five years ago was sad. It reminded me of Delray, abandoned and bleak.

[Dexlin]

Anyone knows who owns this property?

[Ststannies]

Hey Kryptonite.......Things sure are "a whole lot different now". The ehene & Ferry markey won't ever come back because there's nothing there to come back to. Beyond that, there's no-one in the neighborhood anymore; come to think of it, there really isn't even a neighborhood anymore. Aside from the Moza family still living down there, no-one else can be seen there. It's a no-mans land!

[rex]

well. Nobody wanted to live in the shadow of a facility that burned 2,800 - 4,000 tons of solid waste a day. Can hardly blame the once residents from scrambling. The particulate that fell to the ground on the neighborhood and surrounding areas is nothing nice i'm sure. dioxin and all that

[Ststannies]

You ask......"How can any sort of fresh food be sold nearby?" What about the poor folks who are still living down there? They have to breathe that foul air every day.

[casscorridor]

You ask......"How can any sort of fresh food be sold nearby?" What about the poor folks who are still living down there? They have to breathe that foul air every day.

Yes, people still live there. This neighborhood is Detroit in a nutshell... environmental destruction, economic collapse, a city government that cares more about corporations than people [[Poletown plant), abandonment, blight, urban prairies, lack of access to food and so on and idealistic, yet misguided, young white artists/urban farmers coming in [[Yes Farm) to save things but will have virtually zero impact. If you want to help this neighborhood, do yourself a favor and join a revolutionary organization because only a revolution can turn the tide here.

[renf]

If I remember correctly, about eight years ago officials from Michigan State University announced that they were going to participate in a program to revitalize Chene-Ferry market and promote the sale of locally grown foods.
Are those plans still developing or has MSU given up on that project in favor of other urban farming endeavors?

[JVB]

If I remember correctly, about eight years ago officials from Michigan State University announced that they were going to participate in a program to revitalize Chene-Ferry market and promote the sale of locally grown foods.
Are those plans still developing or has MSU given up on that project in favor of other urban farming endeavors?

Just this year MSU proposed a $10 million dollar urban farming program for that area and City Council shot it down if I recall correctly.

[Drexciya68]

Some of my oldest childhood memories are of that market. My dad's brothers owned a bar on the corner where I'd go visit in the early 1970s. My family also owned and ran hardware stores, restaurants, and the like in the area back in the day. Things got bad really fast over there? I wish it had gone down differently.

[detroitbob]

There were 4 city owned market shed operations, Eastern, Chene/Ferry, Michigan Ave/Bagley/corktown and W Warren and Livernois...

[neavling]

The Chene Ferry Market is quite the hangout spot. A lot of people who are in the Peacemakers' drug rehab program across the street spend the afternoon in that shed.

[MSUguy]

Just this year MSU proposed a $10 million dollar urban farming program for that area and City Council shot it down if I recall correctly.

The most recent article I could find from June said it was moving forward. Unless I missed something..


The City of Detroit and Michigan State University have agreed in principle to pursue a major urban agriculture research program within the city to explore innovative research and techniques, such as transforming empty buildings into multi-tiered farms.

http://www.freep.com/article/2012062...-research-plan

[Ststannies]

While Chene street was once a viable retail district, the surrounding neighborhoods were all timber framed workers houses. At some point it's just too expensive to maintain them, but with the city destroying the adjacent neighborhood to give the land to General Motors, the downward slide of everything was simply accelerated. But then this is also part of the sad American psyche; anything 30 years old is no good anymore and should be replaced.

[Ststannies]

Wisniewski, Nowakowski, Niedbala, Czerwenka, Witkowski, Jendrzejewski, Brzuchowski, Mowinski, Ignaczak, Tabaczynski, Glowacki, Puczynski, Goralski, Felczak, Zuba, Dzikowski, Nykiel, Zelek, Modzelewski, Sczeprak, Zarembski, Dlugoszelski, Sulak, Lisiecki......these were the names in the stores, churches and schools of the area back in its heyday.

[Ststannies]

A tidbit in the newspaper recently is that St Stanislaus Church, once the bedrock of the area, is now for sale for about $48,000. Stripped of its stained glass windows, chandeliers and anything else of value, the jerk who bought it for $3500 at auction and is now trying to flip it for $48K must really be some kind of idiot to think that anyone dumber than himself is out there to buy it from him.

[rex]

That area is pretty close to the incinerator. Beyond smelling awful the soot from burned trash is full of dioxin. Decades of the stuff which is a bioaccumulative persistent toxin

[Django]

Across the street from there is an old burnt out candy store with paintings for the kids and kitty-corner is the NSO. Both the NSO & the market smell as they're used as an outdoor bathroom. Maybe we should implement those automatic pay bathrooms like they have in Europe. It would give whomever incentive to go clean and fix them when they collect the money.

An artist named Ben Bunk did the paintings with the kids on Chene. I was there that day and helped out when he brought about 12 kids from the area to make a small mural. He would ask the kids what they wanted to see, they would tell him and he would draw it and the kids would paint it in with color. Ben also did the sign across the street for the small bar that opened up about the same time. Ben Bunk has a kickass book called Drawing Detroit. A very quiet kind soul he is. The red Buddha is mine.

On the North side of that market was a grocery store, anyone know the name of it back then?

Im also curious if the church Saint Stannis is the one on Medbury just West of Chene. Ive met with the head of that church when I lived on that corner, he said they sold the bells from the tower to another church in Ohio.

If I was around in the day no doubt my church would have been Saint Stannies, the bar.