Small Towns around Detroit

[MikeM]

Van Dyke circa 1923:

Attachment 6039

[Eastburn]

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]

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.

[MikeM]

Oak, Beech, Elm, Stark, Newburgh, Pikes Peak, Perrinsville:

Attachment 6041

[jcole]

What's the deal with Base Line

From Michigan Place Names by Rumig

[MikeM]

Thank you!

Council Corners, 15 & Livernois?


Attachment 6043

[Hermod]

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.

[Detroitnerd]

"Baseline" as a designation for Eight Mile Road comes from the land survey done as a part of the Northwest Ordinance.

If I remember right, it's also the line for the border between Wisconsin and Illinois. All you have to do is keep driving out Base Line Road, drive in a straight line under Lake Michigan, and you'll come out right on the state border.

[jcole]

This is all they have for Council Corners:
Attachment 6044

[Hermod]

This is all they have for Council Corners:
Attachment 6044

If you look at old maps, any intersection with a store [[and possibly a post office) acquired a name. Back in the day, folks didn't say "intersection of Van Dyke and 16 Mile" they would give the location a name like "Brown's Store" or "Brown's Corners". If the location had a large enough population, a post office would be established [[usually with the storekeeper or his wife as postmaster/mistress).

You can still see one of these little "towns" up at Meade [[26 Mile and North Ave).

If you drive up into the northern part of the state, they are more common. usally a wooden grocery store and a small gas station. Some of the ones up north are abandoned [[ghost towns).

[GMan]

Cool map! What year is it from? Do you have the map key? I am curious what the red star denotes?

Oak, Beech, Elm, Stark, Newburgh, Pikes Peak, Perrinsville:

Attachment 6041

[MikeM]

Cool map! What year is it from? Do you have the map key? I am curious what the red star denotes?

1935. The red stars mark mileage points, e.g., the red stars along Grand River mark the 2.6 miles between Telegraph and Eight Mile Roads.

[maryhelen]

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

[jcole]

[QUOTE=MikeM;144770]Oak, Beech, Elm, Stark, Newburgh, Pikes Peak, Perrinsville:

Attachment 6046

[Hermod]

[quote=MikeM;144770]Oak, Beech, Elm, Stark, Newburgh, Pikes Peak, Perrinsville:

Station stops on the Pere Marquette [[C&O) rail line from Detroit to Plymouth.

Detroit [[Fort St Sta) MP 0
Delray MP 4
Beech MP16
Elm MP 18
Stark MP 20
Plymouth MP 25 [[junction)

[RO_Resident]

If I remember right, it's also the line for the border between Wisconsin and Illinois. All you have to do is keep driving out Base Line Road, drive in a straight line under Lake Michigan, and you'll come out right on the state border.

The Wisconsin/Illinois border is 42* 30', which would be ~11 1/2 mile road in the metro area.

[jcole]

Newburg is part of Livonia and Oak was also a train stop.

[Novine]

For map geeks, check out "How the states got their shapes"

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0061431389

More background on Illinois here:

http://books.google.com/books?id=aju...20pope&f=false

[lalynch]

I grew up in the 8 Mile / Haggerty area in Farmington Hills. I remember that some of the street signs on 8 Mile said "8 Mile" while others said "Baseline." As you got into Northville they said Baseline.

[Hermod]

I grew up in the 8 Mile / Haggerty area in Farmington Hills. I remember that some of the street signs on 8 Mile said "8 Mile" while others said "Baseline." As you got into Northville they said Baseline.

The "mile roads" were a Detroit reference. As you move out of the Detroit area [[going west or north), they lose their significance.

[jcole]

The "mile roads" were a Detroit reference. As you move out of the Detroit area [[going west or north), they lose their significance.

Not really, at least heading north. I live out at the end of the world, north of 37 Mile Rd. That's the last noted mile road going out Van Dyke. The main east/west cross street in Romeo is 32 Mile Rd and Van Dyke is pretty much measured that way all the way up. So is Gratiot.

[Hermod]

Not really, at least heading north. I live out at the end of the world, north of 37 Mile Rd. That's the last noted mile road going out Van Dyke. The main east/west cross street in Romeo is 32 Mile Rd and Van Dyke is pretty much measured that way all the way up. So is Gratiot.

What I said, at a certain distance from Detroit, the "mile road" loses its significance. I could probably calculate the "mile road" of some east-west section line road up by Bay City if I put my mind to it. Show me a map, and I could probably tell you where "fifty mile road" is located. There is a little stretch of 37 mile in Macomb County. 15 mile is about as far as it goes in Oakland. North of that, it is all names.

[lalynch]

The "mile roads" were a Detroit reference. As you move out of the Detroit area [[going west or north), they lose their significance.

I live Downriver now. It took me a long time to figure out how to get places because the roads are not laid out like a grid down here! I miss those mile roads!

[jcole]

What I said, at a certain distance from Detroit, the "mile road" loses its significance. I could probably calculate the "mile road" of some east-west section line road up by Bay City if I put my mind to it. Show me a map, and I could probably tell you where "fifty mile road" is located. There is a little stretch of 37 mile in Macomb County. 15 mile is about as far as it goes in Oakland. North of that, it is all names.

And so can I. What you said was

The "mile roads" were a Detroit reference. As you move out of the Detroit area [[going west or north), they lose their significance.

What I said was they don't lose their significance going north as far at Romeo.
We can argue pointlessly about it or agree that we both have a point.
Up to you.

[wilderness]

Miles roads are "basically" section roads.

Downriver section roads and heading south are: Outer Dr., Southfield, Moran/Goddard, Northline, Eureka, Pennsylvania, Sibley, etc., East-West are Biddle, Fort, Dix, Allen, Pardee, Telegraph, Beech Daly, Inkster and Middlebelt.

Leslie, Downriver [[at least along the river) is tougher because of the original strip-farms designated by the French.

"Other than the long, narrow strip farms that dotted the Detroit River shoreline, the first formal settlement in the area sprang up in what later would be the southern section of Lincoln Park, along Goddard Road." end of quote

Seem to recall more reading on this subject at the Historical Society.