Street Name Origins

[faygoredpop]

Thank you, Mikeg for getting the map larger. I tried to do it so many ways and it wasn't working for me.

[Mikeg]

From the Discuss Detroit archives:

Newbie With a Question about Detroit Intl. Expo. Grounds

Inquiry About Zug Island [[Before It Was An Island)

Street names in Detroit and how they came to be

[Prodigal_Son]

Thanks Mikeg!

Those are excellent.

[Mikeg]

While we're on the subject of old Detroit street maps, here's one from the 1930's that fellow DY forumer Hornwrecker has uploaded to Picasa.

[karl jr.]

Thanks Mikeg, you do good work!

[jtf1972]

Winter St. [[1857) has possibly the coolest name source, according to that site: "Now is the winter of our discontent" [[from Richard III by William Shakespeare.)

Looking on a map it is now an alley that only connects to Willis St. & runs less than a block. What a disappointment.

[Angry Dad]

Strange that Hamtramck which has the reputation of being the Polish part of town is named after a Canadian.

[Mikeg]

I recently received an e-mail from someone at the Macomb County Road Commission asking if I knew how Ryan Road received its name.

My first course of action was to re-read this and a previous DY thread on the subject of Detroit street names. In the previous thread, poster Spacemonkey had asked "Who is Ryan Road named after?" but he never received a reply.

My next step was to consult the Silas Farmer book [[pp. 937-948), but as I expected, it did not mention Ryan Road in the section about how Detroit's streets got their names.

I then examined this 1876 Hamtramck Twp. plat map and found an unnamed road located where Ryan Rd. is today between McNichols and Seven Mile Rd. On the east side of that road in Section 8 was the 20 acre farm and home of "J. Ryan".

Further research in in the 1880 US Census showed this to be the residence of John Ryan, a farmer who was born in Ireland in about 1807.

Based on the evidence, I would say it is highly likely that the 1876 unnamed stretch of road separating Sections 7 and 8 of Hamtramck Twp. got its name from John Ryan, who would have been one of the earliest settlers living on that road. When the road was extended farther north and into Macomb County, it would have carried the same name.

Here is a portion of the 1876 rotated map showing Conant Road running vertically and the Dist. No. 10 school located on the south side of Seven Mile Rd, just west of what became known as Ryan Road.

Attachment 7914

Here is a portion of the 1880 US Census page showing John Ryan and his family, along with John Winke who lived across the street from them.

Attachment 7915

[Detroitnerd]

How did Groesbeck get its name?

[Corn.Bot]

How did Groesbeck get its name?

http://www.macombcountymi.gov/histor...orytales.htm#6

[Detroitnerd]

Thanks, Corn.Bot. I didn't know he was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery. Found another Groesbeck family marker up at Clinton Grove in Mount Clemens recently and wondered if they were related. I might have thought the Groesbecks owned a lot of land adjoining the road if not for your helpful link!

[slick]

Angry Dad,

Strange that Hamtramck which has the reputation of being the Polish part of town is named after a Canadian.

In its earliest days, the area now known as Hamtramck was settled by the French who came largely from Quebec. In 1798, Wayne County was divided into four townships, Detroit, Mackinaw, Sergeant, and Hamtramck. Hamtramck, was named after a French Revolutionary War hero, Colonel Jean Francois Hamtramck [[1756-1803).
Early History
Hamtramck’s old world hospitality has its roots in the early 1900’s when it was a peaceful German-American farming community with a population of 500. The establishment of the Dodge Brothers automobile plant in 1914 attracted Polish laborers in large numbers and the village quickly flourished.

Stosh, a great example of that is Sobieski St in Hamtramck which runs NS and Sobieski St in Detroit, which is literally 500 feet away and runs EW

When I lived on Sobieski in Detroit [[residency requirement) in the days of Domino’s 30 minute delivery garuantee they never would listen to our direction but drive North and south on Sobieski with 5 number addresses, looking for a 4 number address in Detroit. Thank you for the free pizza.

[jgavrile]

When I click on the geocities site it tells me it is closed. I can't open the link?? What am I doing wrong?

[Hornwrecker]

When I click on the geocities site it tells me it is closed. I can't open the link?? What am I doing wrong?

Geocities free site hosting was eliminated about a year ago. Unless they migrated them to another host you're SOL, or you'd have to see if archive.org/web or google cache has them.

[Brock7]

A little tricky to find at the web archive. Here's the correct link:
http://web.archive.org/web/200508291...treetname.html

Here's a link to another list that was given in the thread at the old forum:
http://www.historydetroit.com/streets.asp

[faygoa1history]

Gratiot Avenue by Faygo had it's origin as a Native American hunting trail..
https://www.facebook.com/pages/faygo...30783477033083