Dana Park Subdivision

**jackie5275** · June-23-14, 10:57 AM

This ad comes from a 1927 high school yearbook. Did this development ever materialize? If so, what is the geographic location? I'm thinking somewhere in or near current Warrendale based on the description. Where or what is Western Drive? Has it been renamed Outer Drive?

Name: Dana Park ad.jpg
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Name: Dana Park ad.jpg
Views: 913
Size: 50.1 KB

**dtowncitylover** · June-23-14, 11:35 AM

Also, trying to figure out where Bonarparte Blvd. is/was...it says it's now being paved so it has be something else now.

**mtburb** · June-23-14, 11:40 AM

Originally Posted by dtowncitylover

Also, trying to figure out where Bonarparte Blvd. is/was...it says it's now being paved so it has be something else now.

The present-day name for Bonaparte is Joy Road-it's a section line road, lying on the gridline that would've been 2 Mile Road.

**dtowncitylover** · June-23-14, 11:58 AM

Originally Posted by mtburb

The present-day name for Bonaparte is Joy Road-it's a section line road, lying on the gridline that would've been 2 Mile Road.

Oh ok cool, thanks!

**fareastsider** · June-23-14, 05:33 PM

It exists and was built. The sub is at the NW corner of Southfield and Joy. Here is the plat.
http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/platmaps...SUBINDEX=21590
Looks like some roads were vacated for the school there now. Cathedral Road is the "Western Drive" It must be one of the many planned but never fully developed super highways of the time given that it has a very wide Right of Way along the sub and for about another 1/2 mile to the west of the sub. I never hears of the Western Highway plan.

**313WX** · June-23-14, 06:38 PM

Since we're discussing the Joy Road and Southfield area, can anyone provide a brief history of the fenced off area on the SE corner of the interchange?

I know the surburban-esque housing projects have been built on a portion of the land recently, but what was on that land before?

**animatedmartian** · June-23-14, 07:09 PM

Originally Posted by 313WX

Since we're discussing the Joy Road and Southfield area, can anyone provide a brief history of the fenced off area on the SE corner of the interchange?

I know the surburban-esque housing projects have been built on a portion of the land recently, but what was on that land before?

Herman Gardens. Huge 1940s public housing project. Like most housing projects, they became overrun with poverty and crime.

http://quod.lib.umich.edu/d/dpa1ic?t...herman+gardens

http://dlxs.lib.wayne.edu/cgi/i/imag...view=thumbnail

**Dexlin** · June-23-14, 08:11 PM

Originally Posted by fareastsider

It exists and was built. The sub is at the NW corner of Southfield and Joy. Here is the plat.
http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/platmaps...SUBINDEX=21590
Looks like some roads were vacated for the school there now. Cathedral Road is the "Western Drive" It must be one of the many planned but never fully developed super highways of the time given that it has a very wide Right of Way along the sub and for about another 1/2 mile to the west of the sub. I never hears of the Western Highway plan.

I guess it could be Cathedral, but is it possible that Western Drive might have been Chicago? That would seem to make more sense, unless Chicago was already developed out by that point.

What I find particularly interesting is from that original add is that it appears that the Southfield Freeway was designed to have substantial rapid transit in what I would assumed would have been a substantial median. I'd never heard of that before. I'd heard it about other freeways in Detroit, but not the Southfield.

**animatedmartian** · June-23-14, 10:16 PM

All of the then called Super Highways were designed to accommodate two-interurban rail lines down the median. Of course, by the mid-century, rail lines became pretty nonexistent.

http://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=8737.0

Also, this map confirms that Dana Park sub is on the corner of Joy and Southfield. It's in the bottom right corner of the map.

http://www.historicmapworks.com/Map/...1936/Michigan/

You can also make out Western Drive around that same area in this map.

http://www.historicmapworks.com/Map/...s++Michigan///

**Dexlin** · June-23-14, 11:27 PM

Thanks for all of your work on Detroit's historic geography, animatedmartian. The last map even has James Couzen in it. Call back. lol

Fareastsider was right. Western Drive was just part of Cathedral. I guess the most obvious answers was the right answer, after all. It's weird to me, though, that they wanted to build another highway - instead of a local street - just two blocks north of Joy/Bonaparte. It was awfully redunant, which I guess is why it never happened. I wonder where it was supposed to start/connect to in the east?

**EastsideAl** · June-24-14, 12:15 AM

Originally Posted by Dexlin

What I find particularly interesting is from that original add is that it appears that the Southfield Freeway was designed to have substantial rapid transit in what I would assumed would have been a substantial median.

They were talking about Southfield Rd. in that ad, which was built as a "super highway" of the time, which meant a large boulevard divided by a wide median that was built originally to carry interurban tracks. Much like what happened to the very similar James Couzens, Southfield Rd. too had a freeway built down the middle of it in the early 1960s.

**animatedmartian** · June-24-14, 03:14 AM

Originally Posted by EastsideAl

They were talking about Southfield Rd. in that ad, which was built as a "super highway" of the time, which meant a large boulevard divided by a wide median that was built originally to carry interurban tracks. Much like what happened to the very similar James Couzens, Southfield Rd. too had a freeway built down the middle of it in the early 1960s.

But what gets me is that they had originally planned it to go all the way through to Birmingham. The ROW from 9 Mile to Lincoln Street in Bham does seem unusually wide as if they could still put a median in the road. I wonder why they never did though.

**Dexlin** · June-24-14, 06:01 AM

Just a guess, but maybe Lathrup Village had something to do with stopping it since it was always a quirky little community. Before 1967, local communities had to approve of freeways cutting through them, and Lathrup Village was pretty famous for rejecting 696 for years before the law changed. I imagine Lathrup Village earlier held off the Southfield and by the time the law changed, the freeway developers were already on to 696 through the area.

Again, just a guess, but I can't imagine the village was keen on a freeway cutting up Southfield Road.

**animatedmartian** · June-24-14, 07:23 AM

That'd be ironic because I had read that the reason 696 even curves in that area is because Southfield wanted to protect a farm/its civic center on Evergreen from being broken up.

**DetroitPlanner** · June-24-14, 11:35 AM

Cool this is where I grew up. That school is where I started my education process. It was Everett Elementary, which was closed a few years later and became a wing of Cody High.

I am fairly certain that the sub I grew up in was just W of this one in an area known as Fitzpatrick.