Pitcher St->became StimsonSt. -> then became MLD Drive

[Jheywood]

in 1890's "Pitcher Street" was located between Cass and 2nd Street to the east/west, and Peterboro and Brainard to the south/north. A number of Detroit's Blue Book residents lived here. Some time after 1905 name was changed to Stimson, then in late 60's turned into MLK Drive. Trying to find the house number on this last standing house next to Kings Arms Apartments. Could it be 44 Pitcher St? Anyone have any turn of century pic of this street?

[p69rrh51]

The 1920 R. L. Polk City Directory lists 132/470 Stimson next to the Glencourt Apartments at 460/128. Currently the King's Arms' Hotel is listed as 470 Myrtle/MLK.

[EastsideAl]

That house seems to have had a lot of addresses, and it seems to be quite old, as it appears on the 1889 Sanborn map. First, it was 40 Pitcher. When the street was renamed to Stimson it was renumbered as 140 Stimson. In the 1921 general renumbering of Detroit streets it was changed to 480 Stimson [[and around 1926 the Stimson Hotel, now the King's Arms, was built next door).

In the 1960s Stimson west of Cass was reconfigured as a crosstown through street to connect to Mack on the east and Myrtle on the west, and was renamed as part of Myrtle [[though signed as "Myrtle [[Stimson)" for several years). So, the house then became 480 Myrtle. I believe Myrtle was renamed as Martin Luther King Blvd. sometime in the 1980s, and the present address is 480 MLK Blvd.

I couldn't find any really old pictures of the house, but here it is from the PlacePromo site as 480 Myrtle, and still looking pretty good, in 1976.

[old guy]

Nice work Eastside.

[Jheywood]

Wow! Nice history detective work. The particular house I'm after was at 44 Pitcher, which is where a Carl [[Chas) Schulenburg lived up thru at least 1903. He was founder of Detroit's Schulenburg Billiards Mfr [[in bus. 1857 thru 1911 or so). I am research this long forgotten company and its history. Where can I see the Sanborn map? From some Google searches , I have it that 44 Pitcher was renamed 44 Stimson, then in 1921 become 90 Stimson. How did you find that photo?

[Jheywood]

OntThe PlacePromo, I see a photo of 676 Myrtle is the Kings Court Hotel, 480 as you suggested?

[Brock7]

I don't think 44 Pitcher could've been renamed 44 Stimson as there was already a 44 Stimson between Woodward and Cass. The street was still named Pitcher on a 1915 map. On the 1930 map Pitcher is named Stimson. There's no Pitcher St. Listed in the 1921 "Old and New House Numbers" publication of the Dept. Of Public Works.

[EastsideAl]

Wow! Nice history detective work. The particular house I'm after was at 44 Pitcher, which is where a Carl [[Chas) Schulenburg lived up thru at least 1903. He was founder of Detroit's Schulenburg Billiards Mfr [[in bus. 1857 thru 1911 or so). I am research this long forgotten company and its history. Where can I see the Sanborn map? From some Google searches , I have it that 44 Pitcher was renamed 44 Stimson, then in 1921 become 90 Stimson. How did you find that photo?

44 Pitcher would have been the house directly to the west of 40 Pitcher. Stimson Place was originally a one block street between Woodward and Cass [[and, interestingly, that block is now all that remains of the street). So, when Pitcher was renamed as an extension of Stimson, it seems that an extra numeral was just placed in front of the old Pitcher St. numbers in order to avoid any duplication of addresses that already existed. Thus 40 Pitcher became 140 Stimson, 44 Pitcher became 144 Stimson, etc.

144 Stimson was renumbered as 488 Stimson in 1921. Unfortunately, there is no 1970s PlacePromo picture of that structure, as it seems to have disappeared before 1950.

I think you're confusing this house with what was 44 Stimson, which was on the original piece of Stimson between Woodward and Cass, and was indeed renumbered as 90 Stimson in 1921. But publications that I can find quickly show that Mr. and Mrs. Schulenburg did in fact live at 44 Pitcher [[later 144 and 488 Stimson), and not 44/90 Stimson.

[EastsideAl]

OntThe PlacePromo, I see a photo of 676 Myrtle is the Kings Court Hotel, 480 as you suggested?

The address of the King's Arms Hotel is 470 MLK Blvd. There is a 1976 photo of it in PlacePromo, when it was a Salvation Army Harbor Light Residence [[at 470 Myrtle), that is filed under that name without an address. That photo you reference is mislabeled for some reason, but it does provide an interesting view of that side of the street circa 1976, including the now gone Glencourt Apartments, the house I posted above, the small vacant lot next to it where the house you're looking for once stood, and the back of the storefront building on Second.

[Jheywood]

Awesome info you have on Detroit street history! I agree/understand your explanation. I'll keep looking for: 44 Pitcher -> 144 Pitcher -> 488 Stimson. Do you know any other way to look up info on the address I'm after? Jon