What happened to this Riverview neighborhood?

[mtburb]

There was this one part of Riverview that has interested me, to be specific, the area between Pennsylvania Road and Colvin Street and between Clark and Electric Streets.

That area is currently mostly fenced-off forest, except for several grassy plains and a DTE substation at Pennsylvania and Electric. If you look carefully, you'll notice the remnants of a street grid. This 1949 aerial photo better shows this [[the area discussed is highlighted in red).



So the question is, what happened to this part of Riverview? Was it a proposed postwar neighborhood that was supposed to be developed, but pretty much died off by 1967? Did any fears of the '67 riots extending Downriver kill this? Plus, what were the names that were supposed to be given to any streets that would be built here?

[EastsideAl]

That is interesting. That piece of land seems to be both fenced and patrolled [[Google Streetview catches a pickup truck at one of the entrances). It also seems to be privately owned.

It was once subdivided for development, and you can clearly see blocks, streets and alleys laid out in the late '40s and early '50s. Late 1930s maps of the area show these streets, although they seem to have never been actually built. Here is a link to the subdivision plat that was filed for the area.

http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/platmaps...SUBINDEX=19345

I doubt if the '67 riot had anything to do with it not being developed though. A lot of people were moving towards suburbs like Riverview in those days, not away from them. Particularly after I-75 was built through and Southland opened in nearby Southgate in 1970. There was little or no fear of civil disturbances coming out to those areas.

I thought at first that it may have been a missile base, because I remembered one being out in that area [[one of my uncles used to take us to the drag races out near there - at the corner that all Detroiters over 40 should be able to name). But, upon further research, it seems the Nike base was a little ways away, just west of Fort between Pennsylvania and Sibley.

[mtburb]

That link helped me out with the street names. I counted a total of 721 lots in that plat. If there were homes built on every one of them during the 1950's and assuming that all 721 homes had been occupied by exactly two people ever since they were built, then Riverview's population could've been 8,679 in 1960; 12,784 in 1970 and 16,011 in 1980. Afterwards, it would've fallen to 15,336 in 1990; 14,714 in 2000; 13,928 on April 1, 2010 and 13,752 on December 31, 2012. [[note: actual population numbers from SEMCOG were combined with my total).

And it appears that before they abandoned it, the developers must've went as far as putting in sidewalks and fire hydrants [[yes, you can still see a few hydrants that would've serviced the never-built homes from Pennsylvania Road).

And speaking of the street names in that begun-then-abandoned neighborhood:
-"Parkview Street" would've been present-day Vreeland Street.
-"Rugby Street" would've been present-day Parkway Street.
-"Market Avenue" would've been present-day Colvin Street.
-"Harrison Boulevard" would've been present-day McKinley Street.
-There was already another Grant Street a block south of the development, so there would've been some renaming involved there.

[Novine]

That area is zoned for light and heavy industrial uses. Riverview has a surprising amount of open/vacant land for that area of town.

[old guy]

That is interesting. That piece of land seems to be both fenced and patrolled [[Google Streetview catches a pickup truck at one of the entrances). It also seems to be privately owned.

It was once subdivided for development, and you can clearly see blocks, streets and alleys laid out in the late '40s and early '50s. Late 1930s maps of the area show these streets, although they seem to have never been actually built.

That is curious. Where is that in relation to the city?

[Novine]

Northeast corner of Riverview. Pennsylvania is the border between Wyandotte and Riverview. I'm sure once you find out who owns the land, all will become clear.

[guito13]

All i know is that I see some nice buck's grazing in that area almost every time I am at the park off of Pennsylvania playing me some disc golf. Too bad you can hunt them :-).

I am not sure who owns it but some of my guesses would be: DTE, CN, Monsanto [[Solutia) OR there used to be some company right on the south west corner of Pennsylvania and Jefferson that shut down after a couple of "accidents", i forget their name but they may also own it.

[catch22]

My niece used to live on Grant, just south of Colvin. First time we visited her house, I came in via Pennsylvania to Electric to Grant. Driving down Electric here is like being in the middle of nowhere.

A remnant of the long-gone railroad spur is still embedded in Electric Street. Are those model houses along Electric just north of the creek in the 1949 photo?

[mtburb]

Are those model houses along Electric just north of the creek in the 1949 photo?

I highly doubt that, because if they were indeed homes, then whoever lived in there had to be forced to move after living there for at least a decade!

Off-topic: I've also just noticed that west of Quarry [[and the unbuilt neighborhood) was that a plat for that area showed some attempt to continue Wyandotte's street numbering grid, for example, 25th Street is now Matthews Street, 26th Street is now Brinson Street and 27th Street is now Valade Street. Did any old maps show these numbered streets prior to renaming?

Still off-topic, but related: Did anyone else notice the sky in the Google Street View images in the area of the unbuilt neighborhood?

[Novine]

It's hard to read but the plat documents say it was vacated in the 1940s.

[Honky Tonk]

war

It's hard to read but the plat documents say it was vacated in the 1940s.

Something to do with the war, maybe?

[Guideboat]

It is across the railroad tracks from the former Pennsalt/Pennwalt plant. I wonder if if maybe there were years of dumping or burying of chemicals prior to platting of roads. I know the riverfront near there is contaminated by Michigan Alkalai/Wyandotte Chemicals dumping.

[DetroitPlanner]

A lot of development stopped due to the war. It could be that the original developer went out of business while the war effort was going on.

I doubt it has anything to do with riots tearing apart the neighborhood. It probably has a lot to do with economics and business cycles. Without delving deep into the weeds this stuff happened everywhere in the 1920's to 1950's. Streets were started, maybe some utilities were put in, and the whole thing abandoned.

[Richard]

war

Something to do with the war, maybe?

Maybe an underground factory plotted out to look like that from the air to protect it.

[Honky Tonk]

Maybe an underground factory plotted out to look like that from the air to protect it.

I was thinking more along the lines of temporary troop or willow run factory worker facilities. I thought I recalled, when I lived Downriver for a while, that there were plans in the works to put a world-class golf course near the River. I thought it was going to be in Riverview. But that was a while back and things are getting foggy.

[guito13]

I was thinking more along the lines of temporary troop or willow run factory worker facilities. I thought I recalled, when I lived Downriver for a while, that there were plans in the works to put a world-class golf course near the River. I thought it was going to be in Riverview. But that was a while back and things are getting foggy.

There is a nice [[wouldnt say world class) course on the water, wyandotte shores [[or something like that) and it was built in wyandotte on land donated by BASF.

[EastsideAl]

Didn't Riverview turn the [[in)famous "Mt. Trashmore" Riverview Highlands ski "resort" into a golf course a few years back?

[JBMcB]

Looking at the modern Google Earth views, something was definitely there at some point in time. You can see around the edges along Colvin and Pennsylvania, there are areas with no trees growing in roughly rectangular areas. Trees have a tough time taking root in soil that's been compacted by cement or construction.

Maybe some light industrial was put in a long time ago and it's now a brownfield?

[dtowncitylover]

Didn't Riverview turn the [[in)famous "Mt. Trashmore" Riverview Highlands ski "resort" into a golf course a few years back?

I couldn't believe there was a ski resort in the flatlands of Downriver, but then I found this gem...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc0B0BggIQI

Yikes.

[Honky Tonk]

I couldn't believe there was a ski resort in the flatlands of Downriver, but then I found this gem...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc0B0BggIQI

Yikes.

One time, after racing in Aspen, on the way home from Metro, I thought "what the hell", and stopped @ Riverview Highlands and went skiing. Aspen WAS better......

[guito13]

Didn't Riverview turn the [[in)famous "Mt. Trashmore" Riverview Highlands ski "resort" into a golf course a few years back?

Correct. I used to ski on "Mt. Trashmore". It had to 2 chair lifts [[blue & black) and a tow rope. It was converted to a sledding hill about 10 years ago [[maybe more) then moved to a golf course. I was just at the driving range there a couple of weeks ago.

[Honky Tonk]

Correct. I used to ski on "Mt. Trashmore". It had to 2 chair lifts [[blue & black) and a tow rope. It was converted to a sledding hill about 10 years ago [[maybe more) then moved to a golf course. I was just at the driving range there a couple of weeks ago.

Does the golf course still do the Sunday Brunch?

[ndavies]

The golf course and sledding hill predated the Ski hill. I personally sledded and golfed there in the 70's. The land fill and sledding hill were there first, the golf course came next. A club house was built next. The club house was a steal sided maintenance building when the golf course first opened. The club house was expanded when they added the ski lifts. After they shut the ski hill, the golf course was expanded to cover a large portion of the beginner ski area. They added 9 more holes and the large driving range/par 3 practice area. The sled hill was closed about that time.

[Honky Tonk]

The golf course and sledding hill predated the Ski hill. I personally sledded and golfed there in the 70's. The land fill and sledding hill were there first, the golf course came next. A club house was built next. The club house was a steal sided maintenance building when the golf course first opened. The club house was expanded when they added the ski lifts. After they shut the ski hill, the golf course was expanded to cover a large portion of the beginner ski area. They added 9 more holes and the large driving range/par 3 practice area. The sled hill was closed about that time.

BUT!!!! After they closed the ski hill, they again offered sledding, and tubing down the hill. You paid some small amount, were given a HUGE inner tube, hung on to the tow rope to get to the top, and prayed for dear life on the way down.

[Beech Cricker]

Interesting topic, at least the original subject. I'm a Riverview native and, in the 1970s, played Little League Baseball at the fields directly across Colvin Street from this large fenced in area. We always referred to the latter as simply the "brine field" as I understand brining operations, conducted by one of the area chemical companies, took place there. I really don't know what brining would entail. I also don't know what company operated there but would guess Penn Salt [[Pennwalt) as the land for the adjacent ballfields was donated by that company, I believe [[hence the park's original name). I had no idea that a housing development was once planned for what became the brine field.