A Question About Gratiot

[nain rouge]

When I lived in Eastpointe, I noticed as I drove up Gratiot through Roseville that the west side of Gratiot had tons old-fashioned retail [[right up to the sidewalk), while the east side had almost all of the more modern suburban-style retail. Obviously, there are exceptions. "Downtown" Roseville's main strip is on the east side of the road, and by about 13 Mile everything is modern suburbia. So we're really talking about maybe a 5 mile stretch north of 8 Mile.

Still, I found myself wondering how that setup emerged. Either the zoning was intentional from that start [[big parking lots on one side, street parking and alleys on the other), or a change was made during a road widening [[demolishing one side and preserving the other). I know Warren pulled a trick similar to the latter scenario on Mound, demolishing around half of Downtown Warren's main retail strip during a road widening. Of course, now Warren is trying to fabricate a fake downtown out of thin air and grass plots on Van Dyke, but that's another story.

Anyhoo... does anyone have any details or recollections on this? Also, it'd be interesting to find what that whole weird splitting of Gratiot in Mt. Clemens involved. Did they have to demolish much in the two areas where northbound and southbound Gratiot combine again?

[nain rouge]

I know 9 & Gratiot was once like a "mini-Ferndale", but they demolished a bunch of buildings there until it looked like any other suburban strip. Of course, there, the urban devastation hit both sides of the road.

Same thing happened at 9 & John R, too, and even at 9 & Van Dyke to an extent. 9 Mile was probably a really cool road in its heyday.

[mtburb]

I still remember when parts of downtown Lincoln Park were torn down for a Walgreens.

And wasn't there a downtown Taylor somewhere along Telegraph before it was completely torn down for typical one-story suburban commercial buildings?

[nain rouge]

I tried looking up "Downtown Taylor" but couldn't find any information. It was an old rural community, so it's likely there may have been a couple street corners with a bar or corner store, and maybe another shop or two. Probably all long gone now.

EDIT: A 1915 map of Wayne County shows that Taylor didn't really have anything amounting to a town in it. So probably whatever was knocked down is exceedingly obscure.

http://www.historicmapworks.com/Map/...1915/Michigan/

[nain rouge]

Well, I did a little bit more research. Looks like the area in Taylor you're referring to was once a village known as Hand Station/Hand Corners. It was a located around a stop on the Wabash Railroad. There's a replica of the Hand Station in Taylor: http://www.cityoftaylor.com/node/612 .

I found an old map of Hand Station: http://www.historicmapworks.com/Map/...1915/Michigan/ . There was even on a topic on here about it: http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthr...-Hand-Michigan .

Some other remnants of old Hand, MI might be in Heritage Park in Taylor. I don't know, I've never been. I believe there is a Taylor Historical Society [[!), and they may have a picture of the old town. Who knows? A quick search on Google Books reveals that probably 100-200 people lived in Hand at its peak.

[preserve]

Back in the 50's, friends moved to Taylor. When we visited, we would go shopping in Wyandotte. They called that their downtown, and you could angle park back then.

[nain rouge]

Yeah, ol' Hand Station wasn't much, but my obsessive nature DEMANDS a pic. This is the best I found: https://www.flickr.com/photos/upnort...679508/sizes/l

Can't really see the town, though.

[mtburb]

Yeah, ol' Hand Station wasn't much, but my obsessive nature DEMANDS a pic. This is the best I found: https://www.flickr.com/photos/upnort...679508/sizes/l

Can't really see the town, though.

Found one of the town.


https://www.flickr.com/photos/927603...57632866700072

[Junjie]

Still, I found myself wondering how that setup emerged. Either the zoning was intentional from that start [[big parking lots on one side, street parking and alleys on the other), or a change was made during a road widening [[demolishing one side and preserving the other). I know Warren pulled a trick similar to the latter scenario on Mound, demolishing around half of Downtown Warren's main retail strip during a road widening. Of course, now Warren is trying to fabricate a fake downtown out of thin air and grass plots on Van Dyke, but that's another story.

Not sure about Gratiot, but your post reminded me of this great piece about the widening of Michigan Ave. and why you see the same pattern in Corktown. Mostly depressing but some incredible photos. Also quad-track subways.

http://corktownhistory.blogspot.com/...an-avenue.html

[EastsideAl]

That stretch of Gratiot was widened in the 1930s. Buildings and houses on the east side of the street were either demolished or moved back.