Airport Drive 1935

[nat]

I was looking at the newspaper article from 1935 describing the auto accident in which my grandfather was killed. It says that the accident took place "at Airport drive and Schaefer road" and that the vehicle "skidded on wet pavement and plunged down a 15-foot embankment" into a ditch.

I have looked up and down Schaefer from where they call it "road" to where they call it "highway" and I cannot find a place that fits this description. Further, there is no Airport Drive that I can find anywhere except at Metro Airport and Schaefer is nowhere near there. I have driven the length of Schaefer and have found nothing.

Does anyone have an idea about where this might be?

[Jman]

I wonder if it was near the old Ford airport by Greenfield Village.

[nat]

Great point. I forgot about the Ford Airport. What street do you think it was? The one that would be most obvious is Rotunda which runs right by the Grounds to Schaefer. When did it become "Rotunda"? Was there another road that is no longer there do you think?

[Don K]

Just a guess, but Airport Drive might be an old name for what's now Rotunda Drive. The airport was where Ford's test track now is, at Rotunda and Oakwood. The Rotunda was opened on May 14, 1935, so presumably before that date [[and probably for sometime thereafter) the road now known as Rotunda had a different name.

To me, this makes the most sense by identifying a road that goes by the site of the old airport and also intersects Schaefer, but it's just speculation on my part. Anyone know the facts?

[jcole]

Or could it have been near the Aviation Subdivision between Warren and Joy?

[gazhekwe]

The Rotunda was built in 1933 for the Chicago World's Fair. After the end of the Fair, it was taken apart and reassembled in Dearborn and reopened in May, 1936. Here is a site about it, nothing about the name of the road. Ford HQ was on the same road at the time.

http://automotivemileposts.com/autob...rdrotunda.html

[jcole]

I'm looking at a 1930 Map of Detroit that Hornwrecker posted a year or two ago, and sure enough, you are correct. Rotunda was called Airport. It runs from Village Rd to east of Shaefer.

[nat]

How about that. The road running behind the Rotunda in the old photos is Schaefer and the road to the west would be what is Rotunda today. If that was Airport Drive, then the accident - which happened in June, 1935 - would have taken place right where the Rotunda would be rebuilt/relocated several months later and reopened within a year of that date. I'm digging around to see if I can find anything about the genesis of the name of Rotunda Drive. I think you are right Don K. It was probably Airport Drive.

[jcole]

The map breaks right in the middle of the area in question, but here are two pieces of the puzzle
Attachment 7084Attachment 7085

[nat]

Wow. Is there a link to it or has it expired? I have some Sanborn Maps for Detroit but not Dearborn from that time. Volume 13 of the Sanborn Maps would encompass that part of Dearborn.

[jcole]

Wow. Is there a link to it or has it expired? I have some Sanborn Maps for Detroit but not Dearborn from that time. Volume 13 of the Sanborn Maps would encompass that part of Dearborn.

I don't know if it would have expired or not. The link was on the old Dyes site.
Here's the roughly corresponding area from today
Attachment 7086

[nat]

Man, you guys are amazing.

[Stosh]

Try this picture:
The whole story of Ford Airport is here

http://www.airfields-freeman.com/MI/...t_NW.html#ford

[Hornwrecker]

Here's a link to the album where I keep that map:

http://picasaweb.google.com/Hornwrec...30sDetroitMap#

[nat]

The article describing the accident quotes a witness as saying that the driver of the vehicle failed to successfully negotiate the "curve in the road", causing the vehicle to skid and then go down the embankment. Based upon the maps it would then appear they were traveling on Airport Road at the time, not on Schaefer which seems to have always traveled in a straight line back then as today at or around that intersection. I will go out there and see if I can figure that out. This is great information. I thank you all for your help.

[gnome]

You might want to visit the

http://www.cityofdearborn.org/play/l...orical-museums-

as well as the Dearborn library on Michigan Ave across from the Glass House. The Library has microfilm on the old newspapers in Dearborn.

Good luck, and make sure you report back with the results of your research.

[Don K]

Glad I could help out with a piece of the puzzle. I think I learn something new about Detroit every day on this site.

[Ray1936]

God, I love threads like this!

[jackie5275]

Nat, sorry it was your grandfather's death that prompted this thread. But Gazhewke, Hornwreck, & Stosh, thanks for the info in your posts. It's giving me a little history lesson of my neighborhood.

[MikeM]

1935 Detroit map:

Attachment 7104

[Leo B]

Nat,

If driving east [[and bearing left) along Airport [[Rotunda) Rd. you travel first under rail lines, then over roadway. If a driver wished to continue heading east towards Miller Rd. on Airport Drive, he would pass over the Schaefer Rd. bridge which certainly has a high embankment.
The rail lne pre-dates the Rotunda by some time and I assume these bridges do too.
Here are some more period Aerial photos of the Routnda.
http://automotivemileposts.com/autob...rdrotunda.html

Leo B

[Leo B]

Photos from Wayne State's Virtual Motor City on the Rotunda and road embankments in question attached.

[gnome]

This is a great thread. Nat, after looking at LeoB's pix and thinking about the Rotunda being moved there from Chicago's World's Fair; I wonder if there was a construction related reason behind the crash.

No doubt there would have been road graders, pavers, bull dozers and a host of smaller vehicles around during construction. Might serve to explain the crash, instead of just poor driving skills. The Rotunda openned to the public in dearborn on May 14 1936

[nat]

I am amazed. Where do you guys find this stuff?! Mike how did you find a map from the exact year of 1935? Leo, the pictures show precisely the spot we are talking about. I went out and drove it today and, of course, it is exactly as you describe. I am trying to scan the article but am having some trouble because it has browned so much the scanner is having trouble picking it up. I wanted to show the article to you guys because one eyewitness said it looked like the driver failed to handle the curve, skidded across the the road and then down the embankment. There are two curves in the road. I think that it must have been the easternmost, right curve that caused him the trouble and he drove down the embankment somewhere close to the northwest corner of the bridge. When I post the article it will become clearer I think.

gnome, I was thinking the exact thing you were, in that the Rotunda itself or the hub hub surrounding it might have distracted the driver causing him to lose control.

I cannot thank you guys enough for this help. I never thought this would become an interesting thread such as it is but I am pleased I asked.

[nat]

Here is the article. I hope it comes over clearly enough to read.