Stoepel Park No. 2

[highjinx]

This is a 1949 aerial shot of Stoepel Park No. 2 located at the 16200 thru 16500 block of West Chicago St. on Detroit's far west side about 1/2 mile east of Southfield Freeway.
As you may see, there are angle lines, or partitions of some kind on the park's side that would eventually become Mansfield St.
They are rather large and long, and go in odd directions.
Anyone have a clue what they are?
Again, this photo is from May 3, 1949.

[MikeM]

Maybe the remains of temporary housing for war workers?

[highjinx]

Actually your answer stirred a thought, what if this was a obstacle course of some kind used during WWII for training GI's for the war effort?

[CASSTECH1981]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/71288712@N00/2334635526/

[hamtown mike]

At a glance it looks somewhat like an airfield.

[BVos]

I'll second MikeM's somewhat educated guess with my somewhat educated guess that it was former temporary war housing and/or former temporary war manufacturing space. It's mind boggling looking at aerial photos of the city just after the war how much temporary housing and manufacturing was crammed in on seemingly every last bit of unbuilt land. Mound and Van Dyke were loaded with it on the east side all the way past 8 Mile. The west side had its fair share along the Sfld Fwy as well. A lot of the linear developments became the boulevarded highways we have today. Many of the larger contiguous parcels became public housing.

[umich918]

Awesome photo! Where did you find it?
Does anyone have inforamtion on who Stoepel was?
From 1957 to 1967, I lived at two different locations visible in this photo. By the time I arrived, the strange markings were all gone, replaced by a huge lawn and half a dozen baseball and softball diamonds. The whitish field at the top of the photo became Our Lady Gate of Heaven Cahtholic Church and School, begun as a basement-only building. By 1957, the stores at the upper left had become a block of stores, including Niznik's Haredware, Shepard Drugs [[later Vermont Drugs--maybe named for the local telephore exchange?), Johnnies Shoe Repair, Milner Cleaners, a bakery with great custard doughnouts, Jo and Jo's Party Store, and Niznik Supermarket.
Stoepel #2 had a north-south sidewalk that divided the older, tree-filled west side of the park from the more open open east side. Kids had access to the recreation facility that offered check-out of kickballs, games, and badminton sets, administered during summer months by a city recreation enployee. The tennis courts are visible in the photo, and summer baseball/softball leagues were active every evening. The grills were in heavy use in good weather, and we could ride bikes traffic-free in the park, play baseball all day, and take a few hours to enjoy the pleasant park. Of course time seems to transform memories of places into something better than they really were, but Stoepel played a big part in my life and was a great place for families.

[DetroitPlanner]

It could simply be sewer and water pipes. This neighborhood was developed during this time period.

[umich918]

You might just be right there. The possiblity of storing water piping, sewer pipes, and other things needed for developing the area is probably right. At the bottom of the photo it is seen clearly that the sidewalks for the duplex development built there later are alreadyinstalled, and some roads are in [[e.g. Ruthherford) while others likk Mansfield are not yet paved. As all this was being done in the post-war boom, Stoepel would have been an ideal place to stockpile the required infrastructure items.

[Radiogoon]

After looking at other known sites [[mind you there are no air photos I can find pre 1949) it looks a lot like the remnant of an AAA Battery. The layout is very similar to the one at the end of Three Mile Drive in GPP.http://www.clas.wayne.edu/photos/par...56/ga-1-25.pdf

[umich918]

Yes, AA battery is very good possibility. I know for fact that Nike anti aircraft missles were deployed in Rouge Park as late as 1960, so to protect war plants like Detroit Diesel and Nash in the Stoepel area, AA would be appropriate.

[MikeM]

I don't think there were any AAA batteries around the city until 1951.

[EastsideAl]

Does anyone have information on who Stoepel was?

Frederick Stoepel started out in the dry goods business, after immigrating to Detroit from Germany. He eventually became very prominent in the local business community and involved in a range of businesses. The Stoepel family used some of their fortune to buy land in what was then Greenfield and Redford Townships, and Frederick Stoepel Jr. became a major real estate developer of what would grow into northwest Detroit.

[umich918]

thanks for this information! what is the source? i'd like to learn more about this sort of thing regarding Detroit's history. what is amazing is that the vacant lots shown in the 1949 photo were built on and then within only 30 years were already going into disrepair as people abandoned them in the 1970's and fled to the suburbs. only 30 years from vacant land to attractive home to vacant land in for many of them.

[DetroitPlanner]

This area was not abandoned in the 1970's! Try more like the late 1990's.

[highjinx2]

umich918
Thanks for your input.
Are you familiar with the Facebook page for your old area?
The Ol' Neighborhood 48227/48228
I grew up near MacKenzie, but had family friends that lived near Stoepel and played in the park when we would visit them.
I recall the "Sprayers" being the go to thing on those hot summer days.

[umich918]

I often wondered why the park was Stoepel #2--why not name it for something / somebody else. However, as pointed out above, Frederick Stoepel was a prominent developer in the area and perhaps he donated the land at both the Evergreen [[#1) location and the West Chicago [[#2) location.
I once saw at the Detroit Public Library Map Room a very interesting map from right after WWII which showed the network of parks and greenbelts envisioned for Detroit. Some of it was actually achieved.

[Danny]

I used to live in the area back in 1993 to 2003 Grandmont St. and Chicago Rd. is the corner of the park resides all the way down to St Mary's Street. Frederick Stoepel II help out with some very good real estate ventures in the Northwest Detroit area including the development of Grandale Sub-division, Minock Park. Next to Stoepel park no.2 were rows of brick duplex homes for near middle class families with a value of 10,000 to 12,000 dollars in the late 1940s to 1960s. I called them 'Stoepel Homes' at the time. From Asbury Park to Forrer St. just north of Ellis St. 4 city blocks of them area well kept up. But 2 other city of blocks north of Ellis St; Prevost St. and Rutherford St. show signs of instant blight since the late 1980s due to exchange from middle income whites to middle blacks to low-income blacks, real estate disinvestments, slumlords and drug dealers doing daily street corner pushings.

[umich918]

When you lived there, were Niznik's Hardware and Niznik's Market still there? I would like to know when that block of stores [['strip mall' of the 1950's) declined and then vanished. We had no car back in the 1960's and Mr. Niznik would sometimes give us a ride home with our groceries.
As a child I lived in one of the 'Stoepel Homes' duplexes you mention--it is now a sand pile. It's amazing how badly those duplexes deteriorated as you indicate--yet not far away the single family home are still not too bad. Those postwar duplexes were well-constructed--all brick, oak floors throughout, trash incinerators in basement, gas heat. Some people put in garages and most had very well-kept lawns back then. Quick walk to the bus stops on West Chicago or Joy, got along fine with no car [[until it became time to go on dates! My first date was: walk to Greenfield, take Greenfield bus to the girl's house, take girl on Grand River bus to theater, and reverse!) Not too impressive!

[Danny]

umich918
Thanks for your input.
Are you familiar with the Facebook page for your old area?
The Ol' Neighborhood 48227/48228
I grew up near MacKenzie, but had family friends that lived near Stoepel and played in the park when we would visit them.
I recall the "Sprayers" being the go to thing on those hot summer days.

I definately remember the Atlas Theater on Plymouth Rd. and Rutherford St. There were 4 full line of window showcase strip stores next to the theater to give a 'Avenue of Fashion' look. Those building town down in 1992. Some of my friends and family went there back in the 1960s to 1970s. By the mid 70s The Atlas Theater was closed and some storefront church called 'Temple of Deliverance' took over. Then the church moved away in early 1990s as the hood was turned into low-income black ghetto. The building was partially torn down leaving the brick wall and future strip mall. Then an Arab male bought the property and turn it into a dollar store and ran to this day. The other part of the lot where the glamour fashion stores used to be bacame a black owned Dry cleaners and laundrymat. It was closed by the year 2000 and was looted. Now its a future chop shop.

[umich918]

Detroit was surprisingly ephemeral. Example of Atlas Theatre: built in 1940’s, good movies shown until 1970s, degraded to xxx-rated showings, then to a church and gone. Such rapid deterioration--only 30 years and trashed. Plymouth's Penn Theatre opened in 1941 and is still showing decent movies to this day. Downtown Plymouth is vibrant and totally safe.
The same thing happened with so many parts of Detroit.

[umich918]

So now I read that Stoepel is "a well-known drug market." Why do not the cops simply stop it? Two cops assigned to drive around the park each shift would totally close it down.
Why do Mayor Bing and the City Council not take a tough stand on crime and drugs? To let it go on means no honest people can ever return to live in that area.

[reddog289]

While playing Mel Ott little league baseall in the late 70's/ early 80's I was supposed to play gmes at Stoepel #2. If the grass was the same length as it was at Stoepel #1 and O'Shea, I would be used to it.
It's sad that it had became a "drug maket" and another example of when good things go bad.

[umich918]

The West Chicago bus line ran out as far as St. Mary's/Abington until it was extended later on. I thought that perhaps Stoepel No. 2 was site of a bus termainal for a period of time, but a member of the DSR forum group showed that is not the answser to this mystery of the strange markings in Stoepel#2: "In regards to your bus terminal/parking question, there was never a bus terminal near or at that location. The W. Chicago line was initially assigned to the old American Garage [[Gd River & American) but was later transferred to the Coolidge Garage [[Schaefer & Schoolcraft) when it opened in 1928, and remained there until 1974. So a bus terminal there wasn't really needed.

According to DSR historian/author Jack Schramm's research, the W. Chicago line was extended from Coolidge [[Schaefer) to St. Marys from Jan. 1928 to Oct 1936 when it was extended to Abington. What was at this location at that time I wish I had an answer, but since my street maps up to 1929 only shows an empty area where the current Stopel Park #2 resides with no identifying listing makes it difficult. However, my 1937 map does list the area as Stopel Park #2. Now why the DSR chose St. Marys [[and later Abington) as a turn-around as opposed to Greenfield or Southfield Road I could only guess. But I do know that the DSR often turned their buses around by U-turning in the middle of the road in more light populated areas where auto traffic was light, or by backing into an available alley or vacant lot. Of course by the 1940s this practice was abandoned as auto traffic and rural area population increased.

So whatever was the attraction at Mansfield or St. Marys may remain a mystery, but whatever the terrain was at the time provided a small area for DSR buses to turn around. With the Chicago line [[later the combined Broadstreet-Chicago line) being a light service route the service wouldn't require a large special designated parking area for an occasional bus when a simple U-turn could serve the purpose."
So Stoepel wasn't a bus terminal. What was it? I wish somebody had a 1945 aerial photo of the park.

[Danny]

Brooks Middle School was built in late 1960s in Stoepel Park just years after Our Lady Gate of Heaven Catholic Church and school was open in 1957 just across the street.