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.

**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.

**EastsideAl** · May-09-10, 10:10 AM

Originally Posted by Brock7

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.

I love that house and wish it could be saved. My great-grand-uncle's place was further north, on the other side of 8 Mile. An amusement park was built nearby in the 1920s - Eastwood Park [[which was opened by the folks who once ran the recently-evicted Electric Park near Belle Isle - just out of the reach of Detroit and Wayne County law enforcement) . My dad and his school friends used to take the streetcar out to the end of the line to go there.

My great-grandfather worked on the interurban cars, and used to stay out there when he needed to pick up his shift up in Macomb County. He was, ironically, killed by an interurban car when his automobile was smashed near 9 Mile Rd. by one he was trying to beat because he was running late for his shift.

**maryhelen** · May-10-10, 02:12 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). 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.

I grew up on Eastburn just 4 blocks south of 8 Mile and Gratiot and we moved there in 1940 and I have never heard of Halfway. It was East Detroit when we lived there. We went to the Eastwood Theatre & Eastwood Park, Sometimes, we went to the East Detroit Theater. There were still lots of fields. We watched the fire works from Eastwood Park every Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor Day from my second-floor bedroom window. At the time, I thought every kid in the world watched fire works from their bedroom window. When we were a little older, we rode bicycles to a bicycle store between 8 & 9 Mile and Gratiot and rented a two-seater bike which we enjoyed riding around the neighborhood.

**jcole** · May-10-10, 02:36 PM

Originally Posted by maryhelen

I grew up on Eastburn just 4 blocks south of 8 Mile and Gratiot and we moved there in 1940 and I have never heard of Halfway. It was East Detroit when we lived there. We went to the Eastwood Theatre & Eastwood Park, Sometimes, we went to the East Detroit Theater. There were still lots of fields. We watched the fire works from Eastwood Park every Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor Day from my second-floor bedroom window. At the time, I thought every kid in the world watched fire works from their bedroom window. When we were a little older, we rode bicycles to a bicycle store between 8 & 9 Mile and Gratiot and rented a two-seater bike which we enjoyed riding around the neighborhood.

From Michigan Place Names by Romig:
Attachment 6024

**maryhelen** · May-11-10, 12:15 PM

The little history of East Detroit with the post office "Halfway" is very interesting. Thank you.

**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

**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?

**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.

**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

**Detroitnerd** · May-10-10, 02:40 PM

Originally Posted by hudkina

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.

http://ecoscraps.com/2009/01/07/a-sh...-robert-crumb/

**MikeM** · May-11-10, 08:28 AM

What's the deal with Base Line?

Attachment 6038

**Eastburn** · May-11-10, 08:36 AM

Originally Posted by MikeM

What's the deal with Base Line?

Attachment 6038

It's the continuation of 8 Mile on the east side. Becomes Vernier from there. To me, it's all just 8 Mile.

Maybe someone here has the history behind the name switches. Good project for you, JC.

**MikeM** · May-11-10, 08:38 AM

Originally Posted by Eastburn

It's the continuation of 8 Mile on the east side. Becomes Vernier from there. To me, it's all just 8 Mile.

I mean the village or community of Base Line.

**jcole** · May-11-10, 08:45 AM

Originally Posted by MikeM

What's the deal with Base Line

From Michigan Place Names by Rumig

**Hermod** · May-11-10, 08:50 AM

Originally Posted by MikeM

What's the deal with Base Line?

"Baseline" as a designation for Eight Mile Road comes from the land survey done as a part of the Northwest Ordinance. Eight Mile Road runs along the east-west "baseline" established to run the survey. All east-west section lines in Michigan are measured from the "baseline". I forget which north-south road established the "prime meridian" for measuring sections east and west.

OK, here is from Wiki:

The Michigan Meridian is the meridian, or the north-south line used as a reference in the Michigan Survey, the survey of the U.S. state of Michigan in the early 19th century. It is located at 84 degrees, 22 minutes and 24 seconds west longitude at its northern terminus at Sault Ste. Marie, and varies very little from that line down the length of the state.
The meridian was surveyed in April 1815 by Benjamin Hough. The meridian was selected because it formed one of the principal boundary lines defined in the Treaty of Detroit in 1807, which was the first large cession of land by Native American nations to the United States in Michigan. In that treaty, the boundary line was described as running due north from the mouth of the Auglaize River on the Maumee River, which was the site of Fort Defiance, now Defiance, Ohio.
Michigan's baseline, which today forms the northern border of Wayne, Washtenaw and other counties, was surveyed at the same time by Alexander Holmes. Although regulations governing the U.S. Public Land Survey System would later specify that the baseline should be a true parallel of latitude, this was not the case in earlier surveys, including the Michigan survey.
The Michigan Meridian forms the boundary between several counties in Michigan: Lenawee and Hillsdale; Shiawassee and Clinton; Saginaw and Gratiot; Ogemaw and Roscommon; Oscoda and Crawford; Montmorency and Otsego; and a portion of the boundary between Chippewa and Mackinac. U.S. Highway 127 approximately follows the meridian from the Ohio border into Jackson. In Okemos, there is a historical village of Meridian, located on the line.