Detroit neighborhood and naming conventions

[JollyGreenSlugg]

Hi folks,

I've been researching Detroit, and I wonder if someone could help with a few questions, please?

I've found that it's hard to find whether specific areas have names. Running a search on neighborhoods seems spotty, and I haven't been able to find many clear and large maps showing the names of all of the neighborhoods. Obviously non-incorporated areas like Hamtramck and Highland Park have very clear borders, but when I look for names for other areas, I can only find them referred to by zip code as being part of 'Detroit'.

As an example, I'm looking at the area of land bounded by Coleman Young Airport on the east and south, Earle Memorial Highway/Van Dyke on the west and 6 Mile Rd on the north. Does this area have a name of its own?

Another question related to this area; the large church and school on Doyle St is shown on Street View as being 'Shield of Faith Ministries'. What was this church and school previously?

Please excuse my ignorance. I do appreciate any answers here. Being an Australian with extended family connections to Detroit, I'd like to learn the human and social history, and I figure that the best way to do this is ask people in the know.

Cheers,
Matt

[EastsideAl]

Welcome! The situation with Detroit neighborhood names is complicated. But the simple version is that some Detroit neighborhoods have names and some don't.

Many, if not most, people in the city just refer to where they live by the most prominent local cross streets. Also, some old neighborhood names have faded out of use [[or the neighborhoods themselves have been demolished), while other new names have been coined, often by local neighborhood organizations in search of an identity.

However, none of these neighborhood names have any official status. Officially the City of Detroit is just one big thing. Only a few historically distinct neighborhoods, like Palmer Woods or Indian Village, have any sort of official existence at all. Many names are used inconsistently to refer to ill-defined areas.

Historically, the city grew from a smallish core around the turn of the twentieth century [[roughly the area inside Grand Boulevard) to its present size in under 30 years. Large tracts of houses were built quickly across miles of what had been mostly farmland. A few smaller towns were annexed and absorbed along the way, and most of these faded into historical obscurity. But Detroit is essentially a very big boomtown that was mostly built from 1900 to 1950.

I think the area you're talking about would be referred to by most people as "just west of City Airport" [[which is the old name for what's now officially Coleman A. Young Airport). Oh, and no one refers to Van Dyke as anything other than Van Dyke, despite the Earle Highway designation being on local maps for decades.

[EastsideAl]

Oh, and that church used to be Holy Name Catholic

[shasha]

The east side was heavily Catholic so many residents identified their locale/neighborhood as "Holy Name parish" or "St X parish", if not by the major cross streets as described above.
The neighborhood immediately north & east of the airport is referenced as LaSalle College Park, likely referring to De LaSalle Collegiate a catholic boys high school which moved out of that neighborhood in the early 1980's.

[professorscott]

There are a lot of neighborhoods that have names that have persisted over the years despite having no official status: Palmer Park, University District, Old Redford and so on. But there never was any official dividing of the City into districts such that each address was in exactly one district. It was a very informal kind of thing.

[sumas]

Some names were intentionally picked by area residents as a way of branding their community. DEAR [[detroit east area residents) became East English Village, we voted on that as a community, one suggestion was Grosse Pointe View. NEAR [[northeast area residents selected Morningside, an allusion to an important racetrack that helped foster the auto industry, ONE became Four Corners because it touches four other communities.

I reside now in Islandview Village, again a branding name. We seem to be disputing on our borders but I am a bit of a purist and think it pertains to the Moses Field Farm parameters.

Have fun with your research.



Creekside because it was built up around real and man made creeks in the 1913 to 1940 time frame roughly.

[sumas]

Lastly, Detroit which was tiny went on an annexation frenzy from 1907 to 1926 so some areas retain their township names.

[sumas]

VanDyke as a road has great history too but that is my husbands research so I'll tell him to share his knowledge.

Detroit is so rich in history. We have one book in print and a second one coming. Could probably write 10 more with our existing research but doubt we will live that long

[JollyGreenSlugg]

G'day EastsideAl, shasha, professorscott and sumas,

Thank you very much for your detailed and helpful replies. It's all making more sense now. Seeing how the city expanded rapidly, it makes sense that there'd be a great deal of informal use of place names. I grew up in Melbourne, Australia, in a suburban context, rather than a neighborhood manner.

I do appreciate your help, as I'm trying to learn as much as I can of the real story, rather than the typecast media beatup. It all seems to have happened in a way that wasn't replicated elsewhere to the same degree, although there seems to be a bit in common with other industrial centres.

I'm certainly open to suggestions as to how I can learn about the 'real Detroit', from the beginning of the 20th century till today. My initial enquiries related to the streetcar system, but the family connection [[distant Hungarian relatives in Delray, so I believe) has broadened that into a desire to learn what I can about the social, cultural, economic and industrial history of Detroit. Thanks folks!

Cheers,
Matt

[JollyGreenSlugg]

I hope I won't be testing people's patience if I ask some more questions? Schools and churches fascinate me as they're a real manifestation of the community and the human story of an area.

I'm wondering what this now-demolished school building was once? West of Van Dyke, not far from the old St Cyril's parish, and just west of Crockett Technical High School.




Cheers,
Matt

[jolla]

You might find this helpful: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neighborhoods_in_Detroit

[EastsideAl]

I believe that school is the old Cooper Elementary, which was on Georgia between Concord and Helen. My best friend's kids went to school there in the '80s and it was still a pretty decent school, although the neighborhood immediately around it had already largely disappeared by then. It was finally torn down a couple of years ago.

[DetroitPlanner]

NAIAS North American Interational Auto Show
SAE Society of Manufacturing Engineers

Both take place in the Downtown Neighborhood. What? that is not what you mean?

[poobert]

This has been around as long as I can remember, but is easily the most accurate and comprehensive map of Detroit neighborhoods I have seen:
http://www.cityscapedetroit.org/Detr...borhoods.html#

To attest to its age, you can use Internet Explorer [[which is a scary piece of junk) to mouse over the neighborhoods and see their names.

[DetroitPlanner]

Poobert, I agree that the map is comprehensive, but the issue I have with it is that in some cases it only contains some of the neighborhoods in question. Most folks in Warrendale acknowledge that the neighborhood is roughly everything in the City SW of Greenfield and Joy. It encompasses two CDCs but only the one named Warrendale is shown [[the other being WACO). Old Redford area is more vast than what is shown, but its boundaries are definitely grey. You could almost color everything N of Joy Rd and W of Greenfield as being Old Redford that is not identified as another neighborhood. An example of this Being St. May's of Redford Church is located in Grandmont.

[poobert]

Poobert, I agree that the map is comprehensive, but the issue I have with it is that in some cases it only contains some of the neighborhoods in question. Most folks in Warrendale acknowledge that the neighborhood is roughly everything in the City SW of Greenfield and Joy. It encompasses two CDCs but only the one named Warrendale is shown [[the other being WACO). Old Redford area is more vast than what is shown, but its boundaries are definitely grey. You could almost color everything N of Joy Rd and W of Greenfield as being Old Redford that is not identified as another neighborhood. An example of this Being St. May's of Redford Church is located in Grandmont.

Notice how all the issues are on the westside. Who really needs it, anyway? Just sayin'

[cman710]

For more information about Cooper Elementary, along with some pictures and some very basic information about the surrounding area, see this link. The area around the school had been declining for some time, but the city accelerated the exodus from the area by trying to put together the land for an industrial park. Suffice it to say, nothing has ever been built there.

[jcole]

Here's the best map I've found for this purpose:

[Historyguy]

A good source for the history of Detroit's neighborhoods and former villages that were annexed by the city is Gene Scott's "Detroit Beginnings: Early Villages and Old Neighborhoods." It has lots of interesting stories on how various areas got their names. I think it's currently out of print on Amazon.com, but the Main Library may have copies.

[jcole]

Here's a new neighborhood map I saw today:
http://www.freep.com/article/2013081...ighborhood-map

[Newdetroit]

I like the idea of focussing attention on the Detroit Riverfront. In my humble opinion, I would consolidate Park-Grabriel Richard, Gold Coast, and Joseph Berry subdivision into one area known as Gold Coast. And then consolidate Marina District and Jefferson Chalmers into one area know as Marina Park. East of Downtown, there would be 3 areas: Rivertown, Gold Coast, and Marina Park. Also, I believe some people are now using the term Corktown Shores for Hubbard Richard in District 5. I would also get rid of the name Westside Industrial and just refer to it as Corktown. Just my opinion.

[sumas]

I like the idea of focussing attention on the Detroit Riverfront. In my humble opinion, I would consolidate Park-Grabriel Richard, Gold Coast, and Joseph Berry subdivision into one area known as Gold Coast. And then consolidate Marina District and Jefferson Chalmers into one area know as Marina Park. East of Downtown, there would be 3 areas: Rivertown, Gold Coast, and Marina Park. Also, I believe some people are now using the term Corktown Shores for Hubbard Richard in District 5. I would also get rid of the name Westside Industrial and just refer to it as Corktown. Just my opinion.

Nice thoughts and good ideas but I guarantee Creekside would not want to lose their branding.Actually with good cause. Its borders are the river to Jefferson, Fox Creek to Conner creek. Conner Creek was originally Tromblay Creek due to a grist mill on the river. Tromblay gets spelled different in lots of narratives of Detroit histories. Connor married into the family. Amusing is drive Conner and it gets spelled different at different points.

[Pam]

. Also, I believe some people are now using the term Corktown Shores for Hubbard Richard in District 5. .

It's a joke started by the Green Dot Stables people.