 
Detroitrise
Member
Username: Detroitrise
Post Number: 1459
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 29, 2008 - 7:54 pm: |    |
Ok, which of these names do you prefer for your "historic" (I use the term lightly as it does have some history) east side drag for recreation, airport access, retail, work, etc.
I know there's an awful lot of history behind the name of it, including the Pumping Station. Would some of you mind sharing that history on this thread?
For example, at the Mack Service Drive and Conner intersection, the sign reads Connors, and at the pumping station, it's spelled Connor. However, along the street, it's spelled out as Conner. |
Mortgageking
Member
Username: Mortgageking
Post Number: 29
Registered: 12-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 29, 2008 - 7:57 pm: | |
I prefer the original French connertation:
Conaire |
Detroitrise
Member
Username: Detroitrise
Post Number: 1460
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 29, 2008 - 7:58 pm: | |
Wow, more history than I thought. |
Mortgageking
Member
Username: Mortgageking
Post Number: 30
Registered: 12-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 29, 2008 - 8:02 pm: | |
Oh yeah. There is a TON of history behind it.
It has also been connerjugated to mean:
Connaitre- meaning "To pump water" in French. |
Detroitstar
Member
Username: Detroitstar
Post Number: 908
Registered: 01-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 29, 2008 - 8:02 pm: | |
Mortgageking, that is also a great movie!
sorry, I just couldnt resist! lol |
Lowell
Board Administrator
Username: Lowell
Post Number: 4500
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 29, 2008 - 8:37 pm: | |
Mortgageking hits it out of the park. Kudos. |
Goblue
Member
Username: Goblue
Post Number: 1033
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 29, 2008 - 8:54 pm: | |
Wasn't there also a Connor Creek that is now in a pipe underground? |
Eastsiderules
Member
Username: Eastsiderules
Post Number: 10
Registered: 01-2008
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 30, 2008 - 3:35 am: | |
In a pipe underground? Connors creek has been filled in and paved over. On what planet do some of you live? |
East_detroit
Member
Username: East_detroit
Post Number: 1444
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 30, 2008 - 7:57 am: | |
The planet where Connors Creek is in a pipe underground, as evidenced by the "hump" on the streets in Grosse Pointe and I-94 coming out of the "ditch." |
Michigansheik
Member
Username: Michigansheik
Post Number: 266
Registered: 09-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 30, 2008 - 8:05 am: | |
connor |
Goblue
Member
Username: Goblue
Post Number: 1036
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 30, 2008 - 11:43 am: | |
Thanks East_detroit...streams and creeks have to go somewhere, there's no such thing as "filled in and paved over". Gotta wonder what Eastsiderules studied in the fourth grade.
Do you have any idea where Connors Creek empties into the river...or lake? |
Mikem
Member
Username: Mikem
Post Number: 3572
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, January 31, 2008 - 6:03 pm: | |
Conner Creek was "put in pipe" around 1927. The pipe runs from near Eight Mile down to the pumping station and varies in diameter between 8 and 24 feet. It empties into its old channel at the new CSO facility at Freud and Clairpointe. |
Frankg
Member
Username: Frankg
Post Number: 174
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, January 31, 2008 - 8:33 pm: | |
I believe Conner is named after one of the early settlers in Detroit. I don't think it has anything to do with French words (unless Conner is a French name?). Especially because it is possessive (Conner's Creek, not Conner Creek). There is a post about Conner's Creek in the HOF side of this forum. |
Gistok
Member
Username: Gistok
Post Number: 6242
Registered: 08-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, January 31, 2008 - 9:14 pm: | |
Eastsiderules, for a newbie, your gaffe is understandable... albeit somewhat cocky...
But maybe you better do some homework and go thru some of the DetroitYES archival threads that discuss the many rivers and creeks around Detroit that discuss the conversion from open air brooks and drains such as the Milk River, the Chapoton drain, and Connors Creek.
For many years many of us eastsiders were under the impression that where I-94 raises to street level at the Chandler Park Golf Course that Connors Creek runs underneath it... only to be corrected that that creek is located farther west of Conner, and has pumping stations on either side of I-94 to raise and lower the water within the creeks pipeworks. This is repeated over and over again throughout the city and inner ring suburbs with sunken freeways, another example being the Chapoton drain just north of Vernier & I-94.
There are also many old maps posted on this forum that show the locations of such drains before the covering of these watering holes via pipelines and water pumping stations.
(Message edited by Gistok on January 31, 2008) |
Meaghansdad
Member
Username: Meaghansdad
Post Number: 217
Registered: 07-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, January 31, 2008 - 9:56 pm: | |
Conner |
Umtim
Member
Username: Umtim
Post Number: 15
Registered: 12-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, January 31, 2008 - 9:59 pm: | |
Nicely done Gistok. |
Goblue
Member
Username: Goblue
Post Number: 1047
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, January 31, 2008 - 10:06 pm: | |
Well stated Gistok...thanks for the additional information. |
Aaron
Member
Username: Aaron
Post Number: 138
Registered: 12-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, January 31, 2008 - 10:11 pm: | |
Remembering from my school days, the verb "connatire" means to know someone. Where'd "pumping water" come from? |
Silas
Member
Username: Silas
Post Number: 169
Registered: 12-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, January 31, 2008 - 10:31 pm: | |
Mikem posted this 1910 map on 09/16/2006 that shows where conner creek was at that time.
Found this Sanborn map from 1910 showing the defunct Grosse Pointe Race Track, labeled as the Detroit Racing Association. I think the size and loction of the track are approximate. I 've heard someone say the entrance was at Lenox Street and another at Algonquin, which I think is more accurate. Also, the initial stretch of Algonquin off of Jefferson has a small median - maybe what's left of the double arches?
(Message edited by silas on January 31, 2008)
(Message edited by silas on January 31, 2008) |
Bulletmagnet
Member
Username: Bulletmagnet
Post Number: 975
Registered: 01-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, February 02, 2008 - 4:30 pm: | |
We always called it "Conners Crick" (rhymes with brick), as in: "Mikem got drunk and fell into Conners Crick". |