Dexter Park 1919

[wilderness]

Might anybody be aware of Dexter Park?

I'm working on some 1919 horsey stuff and the following reference [[of which the Detroit portion could be incorrect):

"then on the Michigan Short Ship Circuit at Dexter Park [[Detroit), Mt. Clemens and Bay City"
end of quote

"Short Ship Circuits" in horse racing were historically NOT in larger metropolitan cities, rather distanced cities. The horses were transported by train car and bulk accommodations were arranged in advance by the host tracks.

I'm aware of the former track at Mt. Clemens and even Bay City, the latter of which held fair racing into the late-1950's and early 1960's.

This Dexter Park reference has caught me off guard, as I thought I was aware of all the former and early Detroit tracks.

There was harness racing [[same type as the above reference) at the State Fair Grounds [[both old and present location) from the late-1800's until the 1940's), however I've never heard the Fairgrounds referred to as "Dexter Park".

[jcole]

I don't know if this will help, but I found this link on Detroityes that refers to Dexter Park:
http://atdetroit.net/forum/messages/76017/79260.html

[wilderness]

Many thanks.

I had forgotten about that location in the old Grosse Pointe thread.

I recall at the time it was a rather obscure addition to the GP thread.

This 1919 reference is the first reference that I've to any actual racing there.

Thanks again.

[Danny]

Dexter Park was a sub-division built in early 1920s. It's part of Grosse Pointe TWP until parts of it was annexed to Detroit in 1929 and more homes being built to what is now called the Mohican Regent. First the community was a German, Irish, Polish community. By the 1950s It was part of the expanding "Little Italy" by the early 1970s fewer Hmong families migrated to that area. By the early 1980s fewer black middle class families migrated to the area from the Old Italian community of "Calcalupa". By the mid to late 1980s An Infamous drug dealer named " White Boy Rick" came into the area and spread crack to its neighborhoods. After he was jailed, A black gang called "Best Friends" rule the Gratiot and E. 7 Mile Rd. area like a iron fist. As more Italians, Poles, Germans move away to Macomb County Suburbs. The homes in Dexter Park/ Mohican Regent was mostly sold to low-income blacks by the 1990s. Then a plague of street crime and forclosed homes and businesses almost destroyed the sub-divisions to this day.