Detroit 1942

[Lorax]

We were all hopeful that the incoming Obama Administration would have taken a page from the WPA and initiated a "WPA21" version which would have put not only artists back to work, but devoted funding to building bullet trains, interurban streetcar systems, improved airports, seaports, levees, restoring the national parks system, upgrades to existing roads, water treatment facilities, etc.

This would have done more to put people back to work in the shortest length of time. Rethuglicans would have screamed bloody murder at the "socialist" agenda, but it would have set the nation on the right track.

We need to start caring for each others jobs, education, health, and indeed our collective futures.

Instead it looks like it's going to be business as usual.

[old guy]

I'm still hopeful they will do something along those lines. Kids entering or trying to enter the job market for the first time really have nowhere to go. Back during the depression that was what saved a lot of young people and helped their families. But the administration got slammed so hard for it back then under even tougher economic conditions that I wonder if they're worried about a larger backlash if they try it today. Even though it was temporary back then, it was considered a move toward socialism. Not that anyone would throw around accusations like that today.
Attachment 4229
WPA Scrappers Rally/ Detroit 1942

[Bodybagging]

I really enjoyed this thread, good job on locating the street corner and figuring out the mystery location!

[Danny]

I feel fairly confident this is it.
Attachment 3955

Halleck and Charest Streets where there was a full Polish community in Northeast [[Conant Gardens) Detroit now a full blown East Indian/ Sri Lankan/ and Bengladeshi community. Those folks well kept up those homes and the community is slowly expanding to other parts of Northeast side of Detroit. You can small the sweet and spicy curry from next door.

[Detroitnerd]

Halleck and Charest Streets where there was a full Polish community in Northeast [[Conant Gardens) Detroit now a full blown East Indian/ Sri Lankan/ and Bengladeshi community. Those folks well kept up those homes and the community is slowly expanding to other parts of Northeast side of Detroit. You can small the sweet and spicy curry from next door.

Speaking of which, 1942 was the site of many confrontations over the Sojourner Truth projects right around Conant Gardens. Funny how things come full-circle.

[RickBeall]

I remember going to the Trading Post in the early 1970's to look at the hippie craftsmen stuff. I might have bumped into Isle_of_Fun there. ;-) I remember walking through it and there was at least one place with a peak like a teepee inside, but it thought it was more toward the center of the building. I am thinking there might have been multiple peaks inside, but I sure don't see them in the picture. I also remember telling my parents about it and my Mom telling me it was a fancy restuarant when she was growing up, her boyfriends probably took her there for dates.

[RickBeall]

Someone posted a picture of the huge water pool on Dequindre and said they were the source of water for HighlPark for a long time. Wow! That's fascinating. I crane my neck every time I drive by area turning from Davidson N onto I-75. I always wondered what the heck it was. 5 years ago, or 10?, that pool was full of water, and it has always looked like it is still maintained. There may be water in it yet, but it's hard to tell, I think the walls are higher on I-75 now [[or my car is lower). Is the water in that pool still used for anything? You would think it would be an awful mess if it just sat unmaintained.

[old guy]

Speaking of which, 1942 was the site of many confrontations over the Sojourner Truth projects right around Conant Gardens. Funny how things come full-circle.

Detroitnerd, are any of those buildings still there? I see some of them were wooden structures and some were two story brick.

[EastsideAl]

Someone posted a picture of the huge water pool on Dequindre and said they were the source of water for HighlPark for a long time. Wow! That's fascinating. I crane my neck every time I drive by area turning from Davidson N onto I-75. I always wondered what the heck it was. 5 years ago, or 10?, that pool was full of water, and it has always looked like it is still maintained. There may be water in it yet, but it's hard to tell, I think the walls are higher on I-75 now [[or my car is lower). Is the water in that pool still used for anything? You would think it would be an awful mess if it just sat unmaintained.

I believe it is still being used as the reservoir for the Highland Park water system.

[fareastsider]

Real Estate offices around Detroit 1941/1942/FSA photos.
Attachment 4106
On the sign under Hess Co. it looks like it might say 9 mile & Ryan?
Attachment 4109
Attachment 4107

Attachment 4108
Photo title reads - Tank Plant refers to the Hudson Ordinance Plant.

I have always been fascinated by the development of the city as it grew physically. Photos of subdivisions under construction or swaths of open land in and around the city are my favorite. It would be interesting to know where the first one was taken with all of the housing under construction behind it. This is a great thread and reminds me of some of the classic searches.

[MikeM]

The real estate office of Robert J Hesse Co [[first photo) was at 4504 E Nine Mile Rd, Van Dyke, MI.

[fareastsider]

I am thinking that the neighborhood the sign refers to with the 10 Mile frontage and the 160' x 90' lots may be this one. Different name than Hesse but it is a real estate office and is likely not the developer. Wonder if that is it behind the building or if the building is on 9 Mile?
The lots are 190' x 60' here with some 60' x 170' approximately at the corners.
Supervisor Keifer Land Co Subdn #1 at 10 and Ryan platted in 1939
http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/platmaps...SUBINDEX=27256

There is also a Keifer Land Co Subdn #2 which seems to fill in some more adjacent land platted in 1941.
http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/platmaps...SUBINDEX=28289

[Detroitnerd]

Detroitnerd, are any of those buildings still there? I see some of them were wooden structures and some were two story brick.

That's a mighty good question. Sounds like today's websearch!

[Detroitnerd]

The "military barracks" thread has the address for Sojourner Truth Homes: 4801 E Nevada. That address brings up Detroit Housing Commission. Here's a link to an overhead view on Google.

http://bit.ly/5KdoFK

Here's the Bing link for it. Check the bird's-eye view for more detail.

http://bit.ly/8pHNBp

But was it really landscaped like this in the 1940s? Seems they must have laid lots of new concrete at least. The buildings, at least, look to be 1940s buildings.

[MikeM]

The Sojourner Truth Homes were a mix of one-story wood and two-story brick apartment buildings. The wooden ones deteriorated and were demolished. I think it was the early 1990s when the townhome style apartments were built their place.

[Detroitnerd]

The Sojourner Truth Homes were a mix of one-story wood and two-story brick apartment buildings. The wooden ones deteriorated and were demolished. I think it was the early 1990s when the townhome style apartments were built their place.

Thanks, Mike. Yeah, lots of those war-worker homes were temporary. In Harriet Arnow's book, The Dollmaker, the family lives in one of them and complains about how thin the walls were.

[old guy]

This was one of the brick buildings in Sojourner Truth. Looking at the Bing Birds Eye map it doesn't look like there's anything left. In the photo, it almost looks like the school or whatever it is in the bing map next to Krainz Park at the end of the street on the right.
Attachment 4399


Krainz Woods is considered from 7 mile & Ryan Rd. to E. Nevada & Mound Rd. Didn't see anything within that entire area.
I was kind of wondering what the little sidewalk area with something in the middle is, on the Bing Map. It's in the park on the Hildale St. side at Eureka St.

Attachment 4400

[MikeM]

The first photo is looking north, along the east edge of some of the brick buildings, toward Atkinson Elementary:

Attachment 4401

The second picture is from farther south, south of Nevada, still looking north.