Small Towns around Detroit

littlebuddy · May-07-10, 01:48 PM

How many are you are old enough to remember when the small towns, villages were distinct and seperate from other towns, villages but now are just a part of metro Detroit in that there seem to be no borders that divide them? Are am sure as you go out from Detroit the small towns are distinct, but how distinct are they anymore? I remember my uncle had a small farm up between Richmond and Armada back in the sixties and it seemed a million miles from Detroit. Also had a uncle that had a small farm on 25 mile and it seemed a long way from Detroit, but now is just subdivisions. It does make me sad to see this loss.

**Detroitnerd** · May-07-10, 01:52 PM

L. Brooks Patterson might call you an "enemy of growth."

**Stinger4me** · May-07-10, 02:14 PM

I recall going to Kensington Park just after they opened. We would drive west on 8 Mile Rd. to Northwestern or Grand River. It seemed very far away without the use of freeways. Going to Armada for some pheasant hunting was a long trip as well.

**DetroitPlanner** · May-07-10, 03:32 PM

"I remember when Old Redford was a town and we had to get to Detroit by using the Grand River Plank Road! But then talkies came out and they built the movie theatre and Old Redford went downhill fast."

You can find many towns still out there, places like New Boston or Waltz are not that far from the City limits but out in the country. Cross the border and you can find them even closer, places like Tilbury, Amherstburg, Harrow are distinct.

Places like Plymouth, Northville, were linked to Detroit long before the city caught up with them through parkways, railroads, and Ford Mills. Come to think of it the area around 25 mile Rd was linked too. Ford had factories out in Romeo years ago and Packard a proving ground.

**EastsideAl** · May-07-10, 03:50 PM

It's all a process. My great-grandfather's brother had a farm near Gratiot and Eight Mile not far from the village of "Halfway" [[which became East Detroit... er.. Eastpointe). When my grandmother was a teenager her family moved "way out" onto Eastlawn between Vernor and Charlevoix, where they could smell the livestock on nearby farms and see the interurban cars running on Jefferson from their porch.

When my father was young his uncle owned a farm "way out in Southfield Township" off of 12 Mile Rd. where he spent time working as a boy. My mother spent the early years of her childhood on her parents' farm on Belleville Rd. A trip to Royal Oak was a trip to the country.

When I was a teenager there were still cornfields in Troy not far from the brand new Somerset Mall [["who would go to shop way out there?" mused my mother), Rochester and Utica and Plymouth still looked a lot like the small country towns they had been, and the houses around Oakland County lakes were still mostly just summer cottages.

Now the frontier, and the small towns, are further out. And it is the City of Detroit that's looking a lot more like the countryside.

**EastsideAl** · May-07-10, 03:55 PM

Originally Posted by DetroitPlanner

Cross the border and you can find them even closer, places like Tilbury, Amherstburg, Harrow are distinct

Although even these places are becoming more and more like suburbs of Windsor. Ontario's land use laws have mostly prevented American style suburban sprawl, but the buildable roadsides have experienced a housing boom, and all of these towns have seen their local business centers hurt by most area people now commuting to work, shop, etc. in the Windsor area.

**Meddle** · May-07-10, 04:00 PM

I remember when a trip to Parmenter's in Northville was an excursion. We made sure we took empty jugs to fill at the well in town.

Seemed like it took forever to get to Tipsico lake.

Now people commute from Brighton daily.

ferntruth · May-07-10, 04:46 PM

My grandfather used to talk about when Davison was a "dirt road"; used to talk about going "to the country" at 8 Mile and Ryan

**Brock7** · May-07-10, 04:54 PM

Originally Posted by EastsideAl

It's all a process. My great-grandfather's brother had a farm near Gratiot and Eight Mile not far from the village of "Halfway" [[which became East Detroit... er.. Eastpointe).

Was it on Gratiot? There's still an old farmhouse a couple or few blocks south of 8 mile on the east side of Gratiot, next to a Taco Bell I think. At least it was still there some months ago.

**mikefmich** · May-07-10, 04:56 PM

When I was little....with the exception of SCS, and the small pockets in Warren Twp. and Centerline, R.O. Ferndale, when you got north of 8 Mi. Rd. you were in the country.
Going to Northville, Plymouth, Walled Lake, AA, Utica, New Baltimore, etc etc meant you were going on a country drive to get there.
My great uncle lived in my great grandmothers house on Anchor Bay in Anchorville. Driving out there as a kid from the eastside was a damn long excursion on two lane roads.
My uncle like his suds...if it was during business hours, we used to have to drag him out of Scotties Tavern first to take him back to the house and visit. lol

Bearinabox · May-07-10, 04:58 PM

Damn, you people are old.

**FerndaleDamon** · May-07-10, 05:10 PM

Brock7, I know about that old house your'e talking about on Gratiot & I've always wondered about it, too. I'll bet there's history behind it. Anyone have any info?

**hudkina** · May-07-10, 11:57 PM

It is amazing that the house still stands! I would love to see a time lapse video of it from the time it was constructed to today.

**Novine** · May-08-10, 09:24 AM

Since transit is a favorite topic here, let's not forget that you used to be able to take the interurban from Detroit out to most of those small towns, especially in Oakland County.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:De...y_map-1904.PNG

**Eastburn** · May-08-10, 10:53 AM

Armada, Richmond and Memphis still have that small town look and feel. They haven't [[yet) been "yuppiefied" like Milford, Northville and Plymouth.

**Brock7** · May-08-10, 11:26 AM

Originally Posted by FerndaleDamon

Brock7, I know about that old house your'e talking about on Gratiot & I've always wondered about it, too. I'll bet there's history behind it. Anyone have any info?

I met the guy who was living in that house in the early 1980's. I can't remember his name now. He was in his early fifties and retired from the Army. He was living there with his father and grandfather, who I think he said were both born in Ireland. He mentioned that the house had been the farmhouse for the land in the area. He didn't say how long his family had resided there.

**lalynch** · May-08-10, 11:29 AM

My family moved to Farmington Hills, then Farmington Township, in 1971. We lived in Meadow Brook Hill Subdivision at 8 Mile and Haggerty Road. 8 Mile Road was the only paved road by us. I-275 was not yet built. We had Northville mailing address and the neighborhood still has a Northville mailing address despite Farmington Hills have a post office. 9 Mile Road, Halstead and Gill Road probably weren't paved until 1977. Haggerty Road was moved to accomodate 275 and paved at that point.

Northville was a sleepy little town then with a 5 & 10, furniture store, wallpaper paint store, Dell's Shoes, Northville Drugs, Cloverdale ice cream, newspaper, liquor store, a men's clothing store [[my dad would buy his suits there) and a woman's clothing store. Downtown Farmington didn't have much in shopping except for Federal's, Farmington Hardware, Bon Ton Shop, Farmer Jack's amongst other businesses but nothing in comparison to Northville.

My parents had never seen so many dirt roads when we moved here from Buffalo, NY area. They are both from Philly. Surrounding our neighborhood was all sorts of farms. You could drive up Grand River from 10 Mile / Grand River to Novi Road / Grand River and it was nothing but open fields and a few old houses and a business or two. We lived in the Holiday Inn in Farmington for about 5 weeks until my parents found a house to rent. Lived in the rental home until our home was done getting built.

**econ expat** · May-08-10, 01:12 PM

Originally Posted by Eastburn

Armada, Richmond and Memphis still have that small town look and feel. They haven't [[yet) been "yuppiefied" like Milford, Northville and Plymouth.

...and Romeo

**Eastburn** · May-08-10, 02:30 PM

Originally Posted by econ expat

...and Romeo

Romeo seems to be moving toward yuppiefication [[IMO). Perhaps the proximity to Washington Twp.

**jgavrile** · May-08-10, 02:56 PM

Stinger4me
What is a pheasant??

Bearinabox · May-08-10, 03:09 PM

Originally Posted by jgavrile

Stinger4me
What is a pheasant??

**wash_man** · May-08-10, 03:54 PM

"Ford had factories out in Romeo years ago and Packard a proving ground."

Ford Romeo Engine and Proving Grounds both still in use.

**shovelhead** · May-08-10, 05:49 PM

In the late 1960's taking Grand River from Farmington Township to Brighton entailed going through three traffic lights. From Halsted which was a stop street at Grand River the first light was at Novi Road. Then the crossroads at New Hudson, then Old US 23, about 20 miles. Today, three lights not counting Halsted and you are at Haggerty.

In the fall of '69 I went to a party with the girl I was dating. She went to Cooley, I went to Farmington. One of her friends came up to me and said "So you live WAY out in Farmngton?"

**jgavrile** · May-08-10, 10:35 PM

bearinabox
Beautiful aren't they?? They use to be everywhere around Michigan. I use to see all kinds of them in Northwest Detroit as a kid. all the undeveloped fields were full of pheasants.
Last time I saw one, last year, it was in my hometown of Highland Park near Oakland. Go figure that one out?

Bearinabox · May-09-10, 04:24 AM

Originally Posted by jgavrile

bearinabox
Beautiful aren't they?? They use to be everywhere around Michigan. I use to see all kinds of them in Northwest Detroit as a kid. all the undeveloped fields were full of pheasants.
Last time I saw one, last year, it was in my hometown of Highland Park near Oakland. Go figure that one out?

I'm confused. If you knew what they were, why did you ask? Did a joke just fly straight over my head?