Mack Avenue History

**xequar** · August-09-12, 01:37 PM

Hello all!

First, thanks for having me. I've discovered that this forum is a giant time-suck as I get drawn in to all of the brilliant information and stories you all have. I've managed to blow through an entire morning of "research" as a result! I grew up in the Thumb with parents that were very hesitant to go to "the city" [[Bay City and Saginaw) let alone Detroit. I moved to the area after I finished my undergrad, and eight years on I'm still here. Since then, I've fallen in love with the city, and when I look around I see so much potential that I'd love to help unlock. Right now my partner and I have a house in Lathrup Village, but I might have finally gotten him on board with moving into the city [[provided of course it's to Indian Village or Arlen Park or somewhere similar).

Anyways, I'm presently doing some work with a non-profit doing some research into the history of Mack Avenue on the Lower East Side [[specifically between Conner and Alter, but anything on the general area will help). Any insights into what was once there generally and specifically would be of immense help. The person I'm working with mentioned that she believes this stretch once was home to several department stores, but that's about all we know for sure. Any stories, photos, documents, any anything would be awesome.

Thanks in advance!

**stasu1213** · August-09-12, 05:10 PM

I wish that I could find photos of Mack Avenue during the period of the 40's through the 60's. I had heard that it was bustling with shops and other reatil during that era

**p69rrh51** · August-09-12, 06:08 PM

One of the stores was S. S. Kresge. You should check the sanborn maps from the period, they should fill in the blanks.

Shollin · August-09-12, 06:16 PM

My aunt lives by Warren and Chalmers and has since the late 50's and she recalls Mack and Chalmers area being a bustling shopping area. She has lots of old pics of the neighborhood. She may have something of Mack.

**Mikeg** · August-09-12, 06:53 PM

**mikefmich** · August-09-12, 08:25 PM

Nice job MikeG.

**MidTownMs** · August-09-12, 10:42 PM

Originally Posted by Shollin

My aunt lives by Warren and Chalmers and has since the late 50's and she recalls Mack and Chalmers area being a bustling shopping area. She has lots of old pics of the neighborhood. She may have something of Mack.

I remember shopping at the Mack and Chalmers Shopping Center in the 50's. The only reminder remaining is the sign on the corner that says Mack and Chalmers Shopping Center. It stood in front of Cunningham Drugs.

**Rock & Rye** · August-09-12, 10:44 PM

Thanks for the post, nice pics you dug up!

**MidTownMs** · August-09-12, 10:54 PM

My father worked for DDOT back when it was the DSR. He drove the Mack bus for over 30 years. When I was a student at Southeastern High School I used to ride his bus to my after school job downtown. The Mack route had to be one of the longest routes in the city. Just before I left Detroit I drove up Mack from Woodward to Alter Rd. Although most of the things I remember about Mack are gone there are still remnants of those things like the cow on the ice cream place on Lenox and Mack, the Mack and Chalmers Shopping Center sign, the banks that are now churches. But there are a lot of new things there too. Everything must change nothing stays the same....

**mikefmich** · August-09-12, 11:20 PM

Thread from the old forum.
http://atdetroit.net/forum/messages/...tml?1201903565

**Kathleen** · August-10-12, 05:17 AM

Manz Field at Mack and Conner.

From the DYes Archives:
http://atdetroit.net/forum/messages/91697/115018.html?1191271106

**Maof** · August-10-12, 04:31 PM

white bear ice cream, carmens pizza, a&p, kresges and i think the drug store was cunninghams. they also had a "convenience" store where you would pull into a covered area...i believe that building is still there. the original maloofs was on mack too. he sold everything from jewerly to small appliances.

**Kathleen** · August-10-12, 05:32 PM

No idea what it was called...but the most notable store for me in this area along Mack was between Dickerson and Conner. And they sold school uniforms! We attended St. Clare of Montefalco, located at Mack and Outer Drive, so we had to wear uniforms. A navy blue jumper with a white short-sleeve blouse with a Mary Jane collar. With an SCS emblem that was hand-sewn to the left front panel of the jumper. Oh, yes, don't forget the beanie!!! When I reached 7th grade, we wore a green and blue plaid skirt with matching vest and a white blouse. Every August, we would drive to the uniform store to place an order for the next new uniform. [[As the oldest, I got the new uniform, while my sister got the hand-me-downs.)

**Neilr** · August-10-12, 05:35 PM

Verheyden Funeral Home was located on Mack a few blocks east of Grand Blvd. until they moved to Grosse Pointe in the 1940s.

**Wheels** · August-10-12, 06:27 PM

Originally Posted by Kathleen

No idea what it was called...but the most notable store for me in this area along Mack was between Dickerson and Conner. And they sold school uniforms! We attended St. Clare of Montefalco, located at Mack and Outer Drive, so we had to wear uniforms. A navy blue jumper with a white short-sleeve blouse with a Mary Jane collar. With an SCS emblem that was hand-sewn to the left front panel of the jumper. Oh, yes, don't forget the beanie!!! When I reached 7th grade, we wore a green and blue plaid skirt with matching vest and a white blouse. Every August, we would drive to the uniform store to place an order for the next new uniform. [[As the oldest, I got the new uniform, while my sister got the hand-me-downs.)

I remember those uniforms. The patent leather shoes were the best part!

**Maof** · August-10-12, 06:51 PM

Kathleen, it was Riley's. Got my uniforms there too for St. John Berchmans...red and black.

**Kathleen** · August-10-12, 06:57 PM

Originally Posted by Maof

Kathleen, it was Riley's. Got my uniforms there too for St. John Berchmans...red and black.

Thanks, Maof!!! I knew someone would come up with the name!! We've got a family event coming up later this month, the first time that all 5 of us siblings will be together. This will be a topic of discussion...I'd like to know what my younger sibs recall of our Riley excursions every year!

**stasu1213** · August-11-12, 06:48 AM

Why is it that Mack avenue had deterioated over the past 50 years while streets such as West Vernon had kept most of it's storefronts and is still an avenue with high walkability. Was this the result of the 1967 riot that had happened in Detroit? If so, wasn't west vernon affected by the riot or no?

**MidTownMs** · August-11-12, 07:09 AM

Originally Posted by stasu1213

Why is it that Mack avenue had deterioated over the past 50 years while streets such as West Vernon had kept most of it's storefronts and is still an avenue with high walkability. Was this the result of the 1967 riot that had happened in Detroit? If so, wasn't west vernon affected by the riot or no?

Do you mean W.Vernor?

**stasu1213** · August-11-12, 07:17 AM

Originally Posted by MidTownMs

Do you mean W.Vernor?

Yes. West Vernon Highway

**MidTownMs** · August-11-12, 07:29 AM

Originally Posted by stasu1213

Yes. West Vernon Highway

Again, do you mean W. Vernor?

**stasu1213** · August-11-12, 07:42 AM

Originally Posted by MidTownMs

Again, do you mean W. Vernor?

Sorry for the spelling. Yes. W Vernor. lol

**Stinger4me** · August-11-12, 07:56 AM

Originally Posted by Neilr

Verheyden Funeral Home was located on Mack a few blocks east of Grand Blvd. until they moved to Grosse Pointe in the 1940s.

If my memory serves me correctly, Verheyden Funeral Home was on E. Grand Boulevard and not on Mack Avenue. I don't recall any funeral homes on Mack Avenue between Mt. Elliott and Van Dyke.

**Neilr** · August-11-12, 09:10 AM

Originally Posted by Stinger4me

If my memory serves me correctly, Verheyden Funeral Home was on E. Grand Boulevard and not on Mack Avenue. I don't recall any funeral homes on Mack Avenue between Mt. Elliott and Van Dyke.

I remember when the old, long vacant, Mack Avenue Verheyden's [[It was just a storefront, not a stand-alone structure.) still stood on Mack. It's no longer there, now there's just a vacant lot at 7330 Mack.
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From the Verheyden Funeral Home web site:

When Charles Verheyden was only 10 years old, he went to New York to serve an apprenticeship under Frank E. Campbell, who at that time had probably the largest funeral home in the country. Returning to Detroit, he operated his first funeral business out of his home on Field Avenue, being only 20 years old. In 1910, he built a storefront funeral home on Mack Avenue near the old Eastern High School. The original building on Mack Avenue still shows the Verheyden name cut in stone on the façade. The business was moved to Grosse Ponte Park in 1942, where the Verheyden Funeral Home was opened at its present location. In 1951, the building was expanded and more than doubled in size.
http://www.verheyden.org/Eulogy_of_O...er_425316.html

Could you be thinking of the old House of Diggs Funeral Home? That was in a formerly grand old house EGB not far from Mack.

This house on EGB between Vernor and Charlevoix was also a funeral home [[something like Povlitz Funeral Home) as late as, perhaps, 1980.
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**Packman41** · August-11-12, 11:03 AM

MikeG provided this link and the photo is attached below:
http://dlxs.lib.wayne.edu/cgi/i/imag...-28903%5D28903

The Cunninghams Drug store was on the northwest corner of Mack and Chalmers - looking west down Mack Ave. I should know I walked past that corner for 3 years while attending Jackson Junior High 1959 - 1962.

It used to be a very vibrant area and now the area is descibed as an "urban prairie." That corner is now a vacant lot.

And it did not have to be this way.

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