  Kellyroad Member Username: Kellyroad Post Number: 29 Registered: 04-2007 |
Last Friday a friend and I made a tour of our old homestead in the Kelly/Moross area including Heilmann Park. As I was cruising north on Crusade I noticed that the recreation center/pool that I knew as a kid and young adult was torn down and replaced by a new rec center located about a block north (by Manning).We went inside and got the grand tour including the pool (L shaped only 3-4 lanes wide, shorter with no windows.) There is a gym, workout room with life-cylce equipment, treadmills, free weights, etc There were several activity rooms all in an ulramodern looking building. Everyone was real friendly and very proud of the new facility. We reminiced about the old Heilmann (I worked there as a life guard 73-74) and talked about Det. Parks and Rec.and people we both knew connected to Heilmann. Anyway for those of you who lived on the fareast side and spent a lot of your play time at Heilmann, you would not recognize the place. There are now two schools an elementary and a middle school on the south (Maddelein side) and north (State Fair side)with the new rec. center in the middle, no baseball fields, tennis courts (basketball court instead) or ice rink. As I left the building I thought to myself how surreal this was. They "paved paradise and put up a parking lot"....literally. I couldn't help but think back on the half mile of an oasis of open fields dotted with 8 baseball/softball diamonds, a great playground, outdoor pool, ice rink and the memories of hunreds of kids playing baseball or swimming. (the old swimmingpool/rec center was just torn down about 4 months ago) I wanted to ask all you far eastsider what were some of your favorite memories (bad or good) connected to Heilmann? I'll start -the addition of the "new playground equipment in the mid 60s including the climbing dome, the ship with the chain bridge, the rubber tires, the curved slide -the outdoor pool before it was enclosed around 1965 -waiting in line for over an hour to get in swimming during the summer (pool limit was 208) -the locker room with the baskets with the numbered tags worn aroun your ankle (sometimes you could dive for those tags on the bottom of the pool. -Doing cannonball jumps of the high board trying to splash the lifeguard -the pigeon races (elimination races) after the lifeguards explained the rules..No running, no pushing, no rough play or you could get sat out or kicked out -all baseball fields occupied with Heilmann-Wishegan little leaguers or softball leagues -ice skating with hot chocolate available -new tennis courts in the early 70s..remember the tennis craze during that era? -jogging around the park..almost exactly a mile -St. Jude class picnics there (only a block from the school) IF ANYONE HAS PICTURES OF THE HEILMANN DURING THE 50S OR 60S OR EVEN BEFORE WHEN IT WAS A NIKE MISSLE SITE...IT WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED. WHAT ARE YOUR MEMORIES? | |||
Chitaku Member Username: Chitaku Post Number: 1354 Registered: 03-2006 |
I rememebr the dome over the rink when I was a youngin' | |||
Imhere Member Username: Imhere Post Number: 28 Registered: 02-2007 |
I've mentioned some of this on other threads, but this is a good place as any. Getting permission to ride my bike to Heilmann was a privilege when I was young. I grew up in the '70s. I remember Skating on the out door ice rink in the winter. I took swimming lessons at the indoor pool. In the late '80s I taught my sister how to drive her stick shift in the small parking lot next to the rec center. I remember watching my friends that were a little older then I, playing ball in the Wishegan(sp?)-Heilmann league. | |||
Kellyroad Member Username: Kellyroad Post Number: 30 Registered: 04-2007 |
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Kathinozarks Member Username: Kathinozarks Post Number: 544 Registered: 11-2006 |
Kellyroad - Us three kids and grandma used to call Heilmann Park The Wobbly bridge Park. Still refer to it as Wobbly Bridge Park. Don't remember ever caring what the real name was! Mid 1960's - early 1970's a treat when grandma would take us there to play. The bridge was cool! | |||
Jokerman Member Username: Jokerman Post Number: 99 Registered: 07-2005 |
During the summer we would play baseball from dawn until dusk, unless we were swimming in the pool. As adults we played in softball leagues there. | |||
Gibran Member Username: Gibran Post Number: 386 Registered: 02-2007 |
Played on a tennis league there in the early seventies and traveled all over city to play in tournaments...lots of fun. They even provided a racquet. | |||
Bulletmagnet Member Username: Bulletmagnet Post Number: 500 Registered: 01-2007 |
Kellyroad, here are a few shots of what it looks like now: http://i148.photobucket.com/al bums/s22/bulletmagnet69/wednes daymay092007234.jpg?t=11799724 56 http://i148.photobucket.com/al bums/s22/bulletmagnet69/wednes daymay092007233.jpg?t=11799724 84 http://i148.photobucket.com/al bums/s22/bulletmagnet69/wednes daymay092007232.jpg?t=11799725 10 This hasn't changed much: http://i148.photobucket.com/al bums/s22/bulletmagnet69/wednes daymay092007230.jpg?t=11799725 36 http://i148.photobucket.com/al bums/s22/bulletmagnet69/wednes daymay092007228.jpg?t=11799725 87 What I would like to see is: what it looked like before all this new stuff. | |||
Kellyroad Member Username: Kellyroad Post Number: 32 Registered: 04-2007 |
Bulletmagnet, Thanks for the pix. The rainy day gives the modern school and rec buildings an even more somber atmosphere. Future shock came early. Does anyone remember the original name of the ice cream place on Brock and 7 mile? Wasn't there a party store there also? PS. I believe someone in my family has kodachrome slides of the old pool and playground. Hopefully, those pix can be found, scanned, and uploaded. | |||
Bulletmagnet Member Username: Bulletmagnet Post Number: 503 Registered: 01-2007 |
YW Kellyroad. I hope you find some old pics of that place, it would be nice to go back. | |||
Detroitej72 Member Username: Detroitej72 Post Number: 543 Registered: 05-2006 |
Does anyone remember the original name of the ice cream place on Brock and 7 mile? Wasn't there a party store there also? ------------------------------ ------------------- Frozen Custard was the name in the 70's & 80's when I went there as a youngster. Brock Party Store was next door. Remember the huge old house that was next door? I would like to know the history of it. | |||
Jaj Member Username: Jaj Post Number: 2 Registered: 05-2007 |
I lived on Maddelein from 1959-1977... and remember Heilmann well.. best place around to exercise my buddy Rex .. my boxer dog .. Remember hearing it was once a Nike base (along with another one on Belle Isle)... my Mom worked at Chatham Village super mkt just down the road on Hayes.... great memories.. | |||
Kellyroad Member Username: Kellyroad Post Number: 34 Registered: 04-2007 |
Does anyone know of the whereabouts of Frank Toomey (supervisor of Heilmann for years 60s-80s) or Peggy the lifeqaurd? They were both mainstays there for years. | |||
Bulletmagnet Member Username: Bulletmagnet Post Number: 508 Registered: 01-2007 |
Jaj, welcome. | |||
Kellyroad Member Username: Kellyroad Post Number: 36 Registered: 04-2007 |
Detroitj72, Are you referring to the huge house on the northeast corner of brock and 7 mile that use to be located right on St. Jude's playfield? I was always intrigued by that house being older and the only one one the block. Probably one of the original farm houses whose land was sold to the Archdiocese with provisions to remain on a small section of land. | |||
Debw858 Member Username: Debw858 Post Number: 6 Registered: 05-2007 |
Wow, what wonderful memories. As kids we would walk up to Heilmann (and I lived at 7 Mile and Chalmers) to go swimming. We would always get there early and have to stand in line to go in. I also remember a blind man who used to file his fingernails on the pavement while he was waiting in line (and he was always first in line). After swimming we would always stop either at the ice cream store on 7 and Brock or at the party store and get ourselves a candy bar or a pepsi and Suzie_Q's. When I was in high school (Denby - Class of 1976) we would always go ice skating at Heilmann. | |||
Waxx Member Username: Waxx Post Number: 174 Registered: 09-2006 |
I recently put in for a transfer there @ Heilmann so I could be closer to home. But due 2 the 'restructuring' of DPS buildings being closed, merged and renovated, I've been put on hold. But the building is nice as I don't know what. The kids are still nasty as hell, but the building (I only checked out the Middle School) was off the chain. I go to Kaminski Chiropractic Life Center about two miles down from there. I remember Calcaterra Funeral Home was on Kelly and Moross, it's now a Wendy's/Auto Zone now. Sea World Gardening center was across the street where Fordham and Moross made a point. Nice area 2 this day. | |||
Kellyroad Member Username: Kellyroad Post Number: 37 Registered: 04-2007 |
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Kellyroad Member Username: Kellyroad Post Number: 39 Registered: 04-2007 |
Debw858, I recall a legally blind man who would go to Heilmann pool ONLY to use the high board NOT swim or use the low board..ONLY THE HIGH BOARD. He would do the same thing over and over...climb the ladder, jump off the board, clap three times, get out of the pool by the life guard stand, and repeat. He would do this hundreds of times a day. The only thing that would slow him down was if there were other divers in line for the high board. Anyway, he was in GREAT shape and I thought to myself what a great example of obsessvie-compulsive behavior.... great memories. | |||
Jokerman Member Username: Jokerman Post Number: 101 Registered: 07-2005 |
Kellyroad: Now that you mention it, I too remember the blind guy off the diving board! | |||
Kellyroad Member Username: Kellyroad Post Number: 45 Registered: 04-2007 |
Speaking of high boards... How many public pools do you see now with diving boards? Due to liability issues most pools have no boards or maybe have a slide. With that in mind, it's amazing to recall that there were no injuries off the high board at Heilmann. Even considering kids with their dripping wet swim suits climbing up a 10 ft ladder and clowning around once on the high board. I recall when Heilmann was converted into an indoor pool some older kids would adust the board to its springiest setting, jump several times until they got enough height where they could touch the redwood beam spanning the ceiling and flip themselves over before diving into the pool. As I mentioned before, I worked as a life guard there(for 2 years) swam there from the early 60s till 80s and never seen or heard of any significant injuries. On a related note, I also remember people sneaking into Brenan pool in Rouge Park after hours and diving/jumping off the 10 meter tower and doing some crazy stuff.....everyone seemed to survive. Are there any of you who use to frequent Heilmann recall any happenings of injury while swimming or diving? | |||
Detroitej72 Member Username: Detroitej72 Post Number: 545 Registered: 05-2006 |
Detroitj72, Are you referring to the huge house on the northeast corner of brock and 7 mile that use to be located right on St. Jude's playfield? I was always intrigued by that house being older and the only one one the block. Probably one of the original farm houses whose land was sold to the Archdiocese with provisions to remain on a small section of land. ------------------------------ ------------------- No, this house was between Brock Party Store and Vetarie Hardware. It was abandoned in the mid to late 70's, then someone put a new skyline in the roof early 80's. It burned around say 84 or 85 and was soon torn down. I never remember anyone living there, however when I went to Burbank, it was rumored two of the eighth-graders were squatting inside. | |||
Kellyroad Member Username: Kellyroad Post Number: 48 Registered: 04-2007 |
Detroitj72, Thanks for jogging my memory. Wasn't there also a Oaza Bakery/Kowalski meats and a barber shop on that block? I'm talking 60s early 70s era. | |||
Detroitej72 Member Username: Detroitej72 Post Number: 546 Registered: 05-2006 |
Yes Kelly, Oaza Bakery had a fire and closed I'd say early 80's. Then it became some type of stove place. I remember the barber shop closed around the same time. When I played baseball for Weishegan-Heilmann, the coach would take us to Frozen Custard and buy us ice cream after every win. Ahh, wonderful trip down memory lane... | |||
Kellyroad Member Username: Kellyroad Post Number: 69 Registered: 04-2007 |
Far eastsiders: a few pictures as promised (thanks to everlasting kodachrome and scanners) please continue to post your memories of Heilmann and the nearby neighborhood. Heilmann Pool 1966 (just prior to being enclosed) -Pigeon Races (remember that jokerman?) -family fun   diving boards  remember the "wobbly bridge" boat and the climbing sand castle   | |||
Kellyroad Member Username: Kellyroad Post Number: 70 Registered: 04-2007 |
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Goblue Member Username: Goblue Post Number: 39 Registered: 03-2007 |
I played on a city championship hockey team from Heilmann (1959)...the East Town Disks...we beat an outdoor league team from the West Side for the title on a Sunday morning...the game was refereed by a couple of retired Red Wings...Marty Pavelich and ??...I took a 7 stich cut below my eye during the game...my mother told me that if I had been in church it wouldn't have happened...and then we got beat for the overall city title by an indoor league team sponsored by Thompson-Cain at a rink somewhere on the NW side. There was no pool at Heilmann in those days...no dome on the rink...it was all outdoors...I got my skates sharpened at a hardware store on 7 Mile a few blocks west of the park...it was a cheap date to take a girlfriend skating at Heilmann at night and then go somewhere afterward (usually Balduck Park) to try to get some feeling back into our frozen hands. We lived on Fordham a couple of blocks east of Chalmers...I went to Columbus Elementary (K-8) and then Denby. Its shocking to view Google Earthwatch and see that the old neighborhood is devastated. | |||
Kellyroad Member Username: Kellyroad Post Number: 71 Registered: 04-2007 |
Goblue, So you're saying Balduck park was a lot hotter than Heilmann?..LOL I went to Columbus school for K, St. Jude's elem. My Detroit News paper station was on Mapleridge and Celestine. My brother and I cruised the old neighborhood last year. What was real noticeable was the number of vacant lots in that area west of hayes, south of 7 and east of Chalmers. Iv'e asked this previously, and since you played hockey at Heilmann previous to the outdoor pool being there....Do you remember the south side of Heilmann being a Nike Missile site? I've seen old aerial photos (circa 1956) that give a hint of a military base but without detail. (Message edited by kellyroad on June 09, 2007) | |||
Bulletmagnet Member Username: Bulletmagnet Post Number: 597 Registered: 01-2007 |
Nice snaps Kellyroad. (Ya gotta LOVE Kodachrome) | |||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 3360 Registered: 10-2003 |
KellyRoad, Heilmann was used as an antiaircraft artillery site (~1953-1956) until the Nike missile system was deployed around the city. The layout would have included four 90mm artillery pieces, several radars, and a collection of temporary buildings or even tents for personnel quarters, maintenance, command & control, etc. | |||
Goblue Member Username: Goblue Post Number: 40 Registered: 03-2007 |
Kellyroad: Yup, my memory is the same as Mikem...there was a military site on the south side of Heilmann...I don't recall tents...just a collection of buildings which I assume were barracks, etc. Re: Balduck versus Heilmann...I don't recall a parking lot at Heilmann...it seems that we parked on the street...Balduck had a large, dark and hot parking lot...lolol...we could always see who was parked there and who already had steamed up the windows...plus my girlfriend lived just a few blocks away. Balduck also had a skating area although it wasn't a rink...just a flooded area...and a shack were you could thaw out. We also used to go down to skate on the canals on Belle Isle. Sometimes we skated on the lake ice just off of Seven Mile Rd...I remember one time chasing a puck as it slid toward open water and hearing the ice start to crack under me...it scared the hell out of me...I threw on the brakes and skated back fast. The crazy things we did!! | |||
Eastside61 Member Username: Eastside61 Post Number: 38 Registered: 07-2006 |
Go Blue / KellyRoad: There certainly was a base at Heilmann...I remember a neighbor girl who went to Columbus with us was messing around with one who was stationed at Heilmann....The neighborhood was shocked at her pregnancy.....The good old days (cough) Remember the social scene at Heilmann in the winter with skating or hockey games - ???? | |||
Kellyroad Member Username: Kellyroad Post Number: 72 Registered: 04-2007 |
I must have just missed the base at Heilmann. I do remember going there around 57-58 when there was just monkey bars, a slide, swings, and chin-up bars not even a picnic table. There was a gravel parking lot on the eastside (brock side) of the park by Liberal and Manning..the outdoor pool must have been built in the late 50s because I took beginner swimming lesson in the summer of 60....There were a ton of kids. the swim instructor had a sun helmet (remember when life guards wore those) and kept on making me hold my breath underwater and do a dead-man float( I was never in a pool with more than 6 inches of water previous to that) So after that trauma that was it for swimming until Denby and more organized lessons). It was such a big deal when you could swim one length of the pool and be allowed in the deep end and go off the diving boards. I believe on the flag pole, the plaque gives a date of 1952 when the park was dedicated to Harry Heilmann. The military base must have been separate (south) at that time and just simply the city expanded the park when the base closed. Does anyone who lived in that area remember the "heilmann area" prior to, during, or just after the military base? What was the surrounding area like? i.e. 40s and early 50s Any photos of that era would be tremendous! | |||
Goblue Member Username: Goblue Post Number: 44 Registered: 03-2007 |
Eastside61: Ohmigawd!!...a Columbus girl got pregnant by one of those low dog soldiers at Heilmann!!! Well...at least it wasn't one of the H. girls who lived one block over from you! Yeah...going skating at Heilmann was a cheap date in the winter...the team would gather and skate fast rounds...maybe a few games of "crack the whip"...and then slower holding hands with girlfriends...and then head over to the Balduck parking lot. | |||
Eastside61 Member Username: Eastside61 Post Number: 42 Registered: 07-2006 |
GB - As you know the H girl's father was a Detroit Cop......What has happened to Dennis E who lived at Mapleridge and Salter????? | |||
Goblue Member Username: Goblue Post Number: 47 Registered: 03-2007 |
ES61: The last time I saw Dennis was at a reunion for our Columbus class...that was in 1984. To tell the truth I really don't recall where he lived or what he did for a living...I think I was the only one there who lived more than 10 miles from the old neighborhood...I was living in Ann Arbor at the time. Oh yeah, I recall well that the H girls had a cop for a dad...me too! | |||
Eastside61 Member Username: Eastside61 Post Number: 45 Registered: 07-2006 |
GB - Dennis E lived right across the street from Diane K and about three houses down from me.....corner of salter and Mapleridge. As far ast the Eastwood experience - we were located over by St. Judes - between Rex and Redmond......Eddie Rutherford also lived on Mapleridge about four houses from D E...... | |||
Kellyroad Member Username: Kellyroad Post Number: 74 Registered: 04-2007 |
Eastside61, What years did you live on Eastwood between Rex and Redmond? We may have been neighbors. | |||
Eastside61 Member Username: Eastside61 Post Number: 47 Registered: 07-2006 |
KR - Let's see...the pilgrims had landed....I used to take a bus to Columbus for kindergarten and that lasted only one year and then had to walk.......actually until 1956 and we moved over to Mapleridge off Morang....and You lived where????? | |||
Kellyroad Member Username: Kellyroad Post Number: 75 Registered: 04-2007 |
ES61 Lived on Morang between Eastwood and Saratoga (53-59) then Eastwood between Rex and Redmond 59 till 70s. Many of the neighbors on Eastwood were there since the neighborhood was established in the early 40s. I walked to Columbus (from Morang) for K....then the big move to Eastwood to be closer to grade school (SJ) ..Wow a two block move...but a 4 bedroom brick bungalow sure beat a two bedroom duplex for a growing family. Anyway, lots of great memories along that area of Morang/Eastwood and of course Heilmann. FIrst time voting was in a church on Mapleridge and Morang which was probably right down the block where you lived. Do you remember any of the Eastwood neighbors? (Message edited by Kellyroad on June 12, 2007) (Message edited by Kellyroad on June 12, 2007) | |||
Goblue Member Username: Goblue Post Number: 50 Registered: 03-2007 |
ES61: Didn't know that Ed Rutherford lived in that block...did know that Diane K lived there...the last I knew she was an art professor at N. Mich. U. I didn't know there were busses to Columbus...we walked all of those years...uphill both ways and through 8 ft. of snow. Kellyroad: You may have lived near a Columbus/Denby & Boy Scout friend of mine...Noel Godfrey...they lived on the east side of Morang...I can't recall exactly which block but right near Saratoga...he was a Det. cop...and committed suicide with his service revolver...nice guy...sad story...you probably voted at the Presbyterian church on Morang...we held our Boy Scout meetings there. | |||
Eastside61 Member Username: Eastside61 Post Number: 50 Registered: 07-2006 |
GB & KR - I remember Noel Godfrey...wow...and the Eastwood families were: Bielawski's, Whitakers, Whitworths, Readers, Wubbe. We only got the bus passes for one year because they were building Carleton School or remodeling it....but from first to end of 7th when we moved - I walked, rode my bike and parked it in a backyard at Mike Miles house....we were to cool to park our bikes at school....We had great times throwing snowballs at busses on Morang as we walked home from school and would listen the Mrs. Sturm (Principal) the next morning tell the world that she would kill any student she found out about who was throwing at the DSR on Morang...ha ha......we continued to pelt them... | |||
Goblue Member Username: Goblue Post Number: 53 Registered: 03-2007 |
ES61: Yup, we were also too cool to park our bikes at school...or it was against the rules...don't know which...in any case we parked them at Dennis E's backyard. I recall Mrs. Sturm...but...being a model citizen I never had a reason to suffer her threats...clearly your gang was a group of juvenile delinquents in the making!! A short step from pelting busses to mugging ol' ladies on the street...or in the case of the H. sisters...sweet young girls in the backseat!! My sister was a teacher at Marquette...she had Noel's kids as students...my recollection is that he was a single parent...had been in a gunfight in which his partner was killed...apparently he felt responsible...his kids were teenagers when he killed himself. It was probably in the mid '80's. | |||
Goblue Member Username: Goblue Post Number: 57 Registered: 03-2007 |
ES61: All right!! After an evening martini I'm ready to confess...we didn't throw snowballs...we threw eggs...agreed with a buddy that we would egg the next car that came by...it was a DPD patrol car...I threw before I realized what it was...I'm certain that I still hold the eastside speed record for the quarter mile backyard fence jumping and running...eastside version of quarter mile hurdles...didn't even worry about which yard might have a dog...I was smokin' fast...that was around Six mile-Hayes. I'm assuming that the statue of limitations has run out. | |||
Eastside61 Member Username: Eastside61 Post Number: 53 Registered: 07-2006 |
GB - We were always told to to hang with those gangsters who lived west of Hayes...ha ha.....since it is confessional time....although I went to Mt Hope over by Heilmann because Gordana P. went there too.....I played on the Columbus ROCKETS basketball team in a league a Cannon on Sat mornings....against Wayne, Cannon and Wilkens...do you remember the FOX Renee M who lived across the street from DE about half way to Columbus....Oh! I remember Robert Sontag Lived on Fordham too...and the best tricker treat street here is actually named Fordham.....I took my girls there for years on Halloween....later... | |||
Kellyroad Member Username: Kellyroad Post Number: 76 Registered: 04-2007 |
ES61, You must remember the names Rittenhouse, Sind, Ziegenfelder (German row). Our family moved into the Wubbe house. One of the few houses on the block with a two car garage (wow we). The Wubbes were into sailing...they left many of their regatta plaques on the rec. room wall...maybe even still there (lol) I do remember the Whitakers and Readers (another boater). You probably remember EVERY house had a towering elm tree on the front between the sidewalk and street. You couldn't see the sky between Kelly and Morang along Eastwood (as well as many of those streets in that area). I remember seeing pictures of the neighborhood in the early 40s when the elms were first planted...within 15-20 years the trees towered. How sad that they only lasted a short time. You must have lived on Eastwood when the neighborhood was just established. From what I recall most of the homes were built in 41. I know this thread is about Heilmann (and it is easy to get sidetracked) but the history of the nearby neighborhood is interesting to say the least,especially considering the number of kids that lived in that far eastside at that time I've commented on this previously, it is amazing to explain to someone just one generation removed what that neighborhood was like considering the number kids everywhere.....whether it was at Heilmann, Balduck, Denby, Columbus, St. Jude, ND, Regina, Dominican etc. etc. etc. everything was filled to the max. Waiting in line at Heilmann for swimming, all baseball diamonds occupied at Heilmann, wiffle ball, touch football, curb ball on Redmond kids everywhere at all times. The ice rink at Heilmann being too crowded... good times ES61, I know you remember Heilmann during the military base era.....Was the park in existence along with the military base. Was there anything in the park besides an ice rink? The homes in that area north of 7 mile must have just been built at that time. Your recollection please. GB, Yes the church wasa Presbyterian church (St. James I think. Don't recall N. Godfrey (Message edited by kellyroad on June 12, 2007) | |||
Goblue Member Username: Goblue Post Number: 59 Registered: 03-2007 |
ES61: Interesting...we were told to avoid the Mapleridge Marauders!! I do recall a fox name Renee...but she was a mere child...not remotely in the league with the H. sisters! KLR: Heilmann Park was there during the military base era...but the only facilities there were the outdoor ice rink and the baseball diamonds. I had a weekly paper route (the N.E. Detroiter) during the early-mid '50's...used to pick the papers up at a lady's house near the park...several blocks north of 7 Mile...so the homes must have been built at least in the late '40's-early '50's...my recollection is that they were cookie-cutter frame houses. Yup...that's it...St. James Presbyterian. | |||
Eastside61 Member Username: Eastside61 Post Number: 55 Registered: 07-2006 |
KLR - GB the Eastside historian and Fordham Rogue is totally right. The base was in the front with the Rink and baseball diamonds in the area between the base and Burbank School. The base eventually became the SJ playfields, etc. I do remember Jack Wubbe - who was a little older than my older brother. They were into sailing and I think I remember running into Jack in Oscoda.....too long ago for a clear memory! As for St. James - I went to Cub Pack 706 meetings in the basement of the church....even though there was pack 309 out of Columbus too..... I lived at 15847 on the same side of the street.....there was a vacant lot next to us for a long time and we used to build forts and dirt bike tracks on Fordham between Redmond and 7 before all those lots were sold....... Are we getting old yet????? | |||
Eastside61 Member Username: Eastside61 Post Number: 56 Registered: 07-2006 |
KLR - What year did your family move on to Eastwood? | |||
Goblue Member Username: Goblue Post Number: 60 Registered: 03-2007 |
ES61: Yeah, I think we're sneaking up on old. Hey now...with that "Rogue" stuff...all of the girls' mothers liked me! I was very polite. I was in BSA Troop & Explorer Unit 706...did you continue on after the Cubs? A suggestion to leave the group was made to several of us after we were the color guard for a week at Mackinaw...(during which I convinced a sweet young thing from Chicago that I was really in the Coast Guard...she wasn't she sharpest tack...but a fun date)...seems that the powers that were took exception to a few of us acquiring a few bottles of cheap wine one night while we were on the island. We had a few empty lots around Fordham & Celestine also...I remember that they were building a new house nearby...they'd poured the concrete walls for the basement...I was playing along the edge by myself and fell in...I was like a rat trying to climb/jump out of a box...kept falling back in until a couple of teenage girls happened to walk by and heard me...I must have been in there for at least an hour...had to make up a story about where I'd been when I got home. Sometimes I wonder how I survived childhood. | |||
Gibran Member Username: Gibran Post Number: 565 Registered: 02-2007 |
Did posters on this site read the book written by the young man ( I say young...relatively speaking) on the neighborhood south of eight mile, near St. Judes? I am blanking at the name of the book, but it was written about a year ago. It described the area in the eighties...any thoughts... | |||
Eastside61 Member Username: Eastside61 Post Number: 57 Registered: 07-2006 |
Gibran - "Made in Detroit" is the book about growing up the the Heilmann neighborhood. Go Blue - KellyRoad and Eastside61 are going to co-author a book simply titled "Eastside - The life and times of the 50' and 60's" | |||
Gibran Member Username: Gibran Post Number: 568 Registered: 02-2007 |
Thanks...nice..I would love to read one ..actually if one would take from our trips down memory lane on these great threads we would have a great book...the eastside memories are very interesting and from a sociological perspective many of us have a tendency for similar views on the area....I grad. from Denby at the tail end of the 70's...and had some of your teachers that were getting ready to retire...but their influences stayed on...Lux, Mathis, Duff, Lewis, Demmerick, McGuire.etc...thanks | |||
Goblue Member Username: Goblue Post Number: 61 Registered: 03-2007 |
Gibran: GB-ES61-KLR will write a book of the life and times...with names deleted to protect us from law suits!! I graduated Denby in '59...ES61 a few years behind me...not sure about KLR. I remember many of the same teachers you do...Lux, Duff, Lewis, Demmerick...and you're right...the influences carried on through a career in education. I've often said that big cities are no more than interconnected villages...I think that its possible to read that in this thread...memories tend to be specific to relatively small neighborhoods which expanded as we grew older...finally to include virtually the entire Eastside...interesting though that the expansion tended to be somewhat arrested at Woodward...at least until post high school years. And of course, the racial divide was great...I didn't meet and become friends with an African-American until my first semester at WSU. | |||
Gibran Member Username: Gibran Post Number: 574 Registered: 02-2007 |
Those values whether real or perceived carries us today...I then have to relate positive educational experiences to the dedicated teachers that influenced us...both + & -... I only wish I was wise enough to have thanked those along the way that helped us explore the world outside of our neighborhoods... I would have loved to return to Denby and teach but when I graduated from NMU the jobs took me out of state...funny now I teach at a University that prides itself on Diversity...something (respect for diversity) I learned from my days in Detroit serves me well now.. | |||
Eastside61 Member Username: Eastside61 Post Number: 60 Registered: 07-2006 |
GIbran - We learned diversity early on as Eastsiders....and know diversity now means for me an understanding how individuals learn best...which is part of many educational programs now...but was missing back in the day......BUT we didn't do to badly, either.... | |||
Goblue Member Username: Goblue Post Number: 62 Registered: 03-2007 |
ES61 & Gibran: We did indeed learn to respect diversity, but I'll be damned if I know how that happened...Denby was an all White school...my world...church, Scouts, athletics...was all White...diversity was Italian, Polish...Catholic...but, somehow...it penetrated the adolescent psyche...like you Gibran...I wish that I had been wise enough to have thanked those who so importantly influenced my development and encouraged me to look beyond the horizon. At the same time there was an assistant principal at Denby who shook his finger in my face in front of my father because I had committed the sin of parking in the teachers' parking lot (following the lead of the Mapleridge Maurauders)...and told me that I would "never be anything but a bum!"...I wish I had gone back when I completed my degree and told him that it was now Dr. Bum!! What is your field Gibran? Mine was organizational leadership...I bounced back and forth between academe and the K-12 superintendency. Interesting that all three of us...ended up in education. | |||
Kellyroad Member Username: Kellyroad Post Number: 77 Registered: 04-2007 |
Graduated ND '71 Friends and neighbors went to Denby in the late 60s early 70s. Drivers training, typing, swimming, tennis courts, basketball behind the school, running around track..all at Denby. Worked Denby pool as a life guard (as well as Heilmann)...a lot of fun opening or closing the dividing wall in Denby pool. I did read "Made in Detroit" by Paul Clemens. All the stories from 6 Mile and Gratiot to St. Jude's Church, to Heilmann to Notre Dame High School I could relate to vividly. Clemens graduated from ND in 91 (almost a generation later). Although I moved away in the 70s my folks still lived on Eastwood well into the 90s so I could relate to what perspective he was writing from. The book intermixed his catholic upbringing with the sociolgoical/demographic changes going on in Detroit's far eastside....Politics, philosophy mixed with a lot of east side nostalgia....a good read. Coincidently, my brother and I went back to the old Eastwood/Heilmann area today. It was cool to see a a neighbor (haven't seen in over 12 years) outside. Got to talking, gave us the low down on what was happening. Eastwood looks nice. On the other side of Hayes though it is quite different. No more Fantasy Bowling, Revco Drugs..one big empty lot.. a lot of vacant lots everywhere between Hayes and Chalmers south of 7 mile. ES61. Our family moved to Eastwood in 59 from Morang. I was on a bike, my sister on a tricycle, and my brother was in a stroller pushed by my mom....what a parade. My dad drove the 58 Chev a whole 2 blocks. It was Nov. leaves were being raked into the street and burned. That was my very first recollection of Eastwood, trees/leaves everywhere and the smell of burning leaves in the street. | |||
Eastside61 Member Username: Eastside61 Post Number: 62 Registered: 07-2006 |
G and GB - Interesting story about the DHS parking lot. I remember asking my counselor (H. Hammond) to sign the recommendation section to the MSU application...He looked at me and refused.....Hummmmmm....I have been Dr. E since 1980....thanks for the support H. Hammond... KR - do you remember Mrs Iola who lived across the street from you on the corner of Redmond and Eastwood....we used to torment her relentlessly by ringing her door bell....I was under the influence of a Columbus group who lived over on Fordham and Hayes....ha ha | |||
Gspark Member Username: Gspark Post Number: 6 Registered: 03-2007 |
wow what memories, i remember the carnival they use to have there along with the haunted house on halloween and of course playing at the park every day, lived on state fair across from Burbank elementary, will always miss those days growing up in that area, the 70's were great (Message edited by gspark on June 14, 2007) | |||
Kellyroad Member Username: Kellyroad Post Number: 78 Registered: 04-2007 |
ES61, ARE YOU KIDDING? Tormenting Mrs. Iola was a time honored tradition passed on from decade to decade. She called the cops all the time if someone was playing touch football, curb ball, etc. near her lawn. In the 60s the corner of Redmond and Eastwood was a beehive of activity for kids on Eastwood, Saratoga, and even Faircrest. The the 5th precinct (Conner) police station must have been fed up with her calls for stupid stuff like kids playing near her house. As I got older my sense of annoyance and mischief was replaced with intrigue and compassion. She was all alone and often wondered what her personal family history was. Funny thing, my brother and I were just reminiscing about Mrs. Iola (yesterday, June 13) with a current Eastwood neighbor. (Message edited by kellyroad on June 14, 2007) | |||
Kellyroad Member Username: Kellyroad Post Number: 79 Registered: 04-2007 |
Heilmann revisited New Rec. Center  Tennis anyone?  from farmer's field, to military base, to playfield, to school  flagpole plaque  | |||
Kellyroad Member Username: Kellyroad Post Number: 80 Registered: 04-2007 |
Eastwood neighborhood revisited:    Was St. Jude Convent  I believe this house may have been on my paper route near Mapleridge and Celestine.  | |||
Gibran Member Username: Gibran Post Number: 577 Registered: 02-2007 |
GB: interesting...I was part of the "Sasser Stoners" (not a bad name for a softball team) ...I had a counselor in JR high tell my friend I would never make it out of High School...after being voted "most likely to succeed" from my peers at Denby I guess I did. My Phd. is in Rehab. Counseling and Education.. was a special education teacher... "0. I enjoy the perspective that you statesmen bring to the thread and your memories of the eastside. Yours was a decade prior to my experiences... | |||
Eastside61 Member Username: Eastside61 Post Number: 63 Registered: 07-2006 |
KR - Eastwood is looking pretty good compared to the growing urban prairie that detroit is becoming. We lived across from the colonial shown in the pictures.....I remember playing army in the late 40's early 50's and there was a German family across from us that would fly their German Flag in front of their house on various occasions. The girl who got pregnant because of messing around with a Heilmann soldier lived about four houses from you.... That whole neighborhood was Halloween Heaven......zillions of kids and every porch light was on....Fordham, Eastwood, Saratoga and Faircrest and you had enough candy for months.... | |||
Goblue Member Username: Goblue Post Number: 64 Registered: 03-2007 |
I'm really impressed with the photos of Eastwood...it looks like what I remember from the '50's...from what I can see from Google Earthwatch the west side of Hayes looks like Berlin after WWII...what a mess!! A piece of me finds it comical that a former nunnery is now a problem pregnancy center. The few "over the wall" nuns that I knew would find it comical also. ES61: I think you're right...I sense a book between Gibran, Kellyroad, you...and me...perspectives of the Eastside 1950-1980...the glory years...we need to figure out a way to think about the concept. | |||
Eastside61 Member Username: Eastside61 Post Number: 65 Registered: 07-2006 |
Gibran -KR - GB: I am in!!! At least it would sell 4 copies.... Sociologically I think it would rank up there with the Surgue book about the making of the ghetto.....Intertwined ethnic neighborhood that became frightened and left....3 BDR homes in the bay area sell for close to a million and homes west of Hayes all the way to above Jefferson can be had for a dollar....For $500 bucks you could own several streets - Perspectives from the Eastside would be a great title....and with a sequel from those who bought the homes after the 80's and what happened to them would be cool too I think that our first meeting should be next summer - which would include a round of golf at CPGC - a visit to the foot of Lakewood and Belle Isle - Metro beach - Movie at the Civic if it were still open and photo opps in front of Denby and Regina ( right Kellyroad it was Regina?).....run to the attic and start digging out the old pictures. If you are into the perspective of being black and moving into a white neighborhood read "Black Pickett Fences" It is about growing up in a changing neighborhood (Lawndale area) of Chicago.... | |||
Lowell Board Administrator Username: Lowell Post Number: 3886 Registered: 10-2003 |
I have a curiosity about the name of the park that came to mind while at yesterday's Tiger baseball game. Does anyone know if it was named after Tiger's Hall of Famer Harry Heilman? | |||
Goblue Member Username: Goblue Post Number: 66 Registered: 03-2007 |
Lowell: That's correct...it was named after Harry Heilmann. ES61: I'm in on the book deal...and meeting for a round at CPGC next summer along with the other suggested sites...that will give me time to get my concealed weapon permit renewed and to sharpen my fast draw skills. Maybe we can get a platoon of Marines to join us. I wonder how Hayes became the dividing line?? I'll look for the book you suggested...somehow I doubt that I'll find it in the local library but one never knows. | |||
Eastside61 Member Username: Eastside61 Post Number: 67 Registered: 07-2006 |
GB - Which street are you going to buy?......I think I will get back on google Earth ( Dresden or Detroit--- Oh!!! that's right they rebuilt Dresden) to take one more look.......Something below CP Drive....not sure...later!!! | |||
Gibran Member Username: Gibran Post Number: 598 Registered: 02-2007 |
Hey next summer...that would actually be fun...I would have to brush up on my golf...I actually would love to hear your stories..."from eastside to higher ed..." | |||
Kellyroad Member Username: Kellyroad Post Number: 81 Registered: 04-2007 |
I'm in on the book deal. I'm just wondering how we can split up our book signing engagements or appearances on radio/TV interviews. When Oprah calls be ready. Lowell Yes indeed Harry Heilmann was an outstanding tiger (probably over shadowed at least in his early playing days by player/manager Ty Cobb) The picture of the plaque on the flagpole is not very clear but states: "This recreational facility is dedicated as a memorial to Harry Edwin Heilmann outstanding baseball player and radio broadcaster died July 9, 1951 City of Detroit Department of Parks and Recreation This Plaque presented by Walter Briggs Jr. 1952 GB, Hayes alway did seem to be a dividing line at least south of 7 Mi..... 2 bedroom clapboard homes on the west side, 3 bedroom brick bungalows or colonials on the east side. If google earth were around 10 years ago you would have observed the same phenomenon (blight) as today. It is interesting that other threads (7 Mi/Gratiot, 7/ VanDyke Neighborhood, Balduck Hill, Where are the Denby Tars? Far East Side, etc.) convey the same theme of change as the Heilmann thread. All of these neighborhoods are a microcosm of how fast things change. Nostalgia and personal stories are treasured but the sociologic/demographic underpinnings make for an interesting twist. ES61, NDHS, my alma mater closed in 2005. Regina closed just this week (moving to Warren)....(more fodder for east side nostalgia). So anyway, we need to act fast with the photo opps before the buildings are gone. (LOL) | |||
Karen8824 Member Username: Karen8824 Post Number: 10 Registered: 08-2006 |
Eastsider: I lived on eastwood 16046 - from the pictures you were across the street from the gillis's I beleive. I remember a teen having a baby down the street, her name was Jan, I used to visit her when she had the baby, I was around 12 I think. | |||
Goblue Member Username: Goblue Post Number: 67 Registered: 03-2007 |
ES61: I'm thinking about making a bid for Six Mile-Seven Mile on the south & north...and Gratiot to Hayes on the west & east...should be able to get it for $1K-2K...bulldoz it and turn it into a golf course...who knows...might even find Jimmy H. in there somewhere. KLR: One of things that I find interesting is the levels of success and achievement that came out of what was basically a lower-middle class labor environment. Witness this thread and the four of us maintaining this dialog. (Of course, we don't know what ES61's DPD rap sheet really looks like...I heard there was one cop who kept a buckshot loaded shotgun handy in case he ever came near his daughter again!) My 8th grade class at Columbus had basically been intact since about the 1st-2nd grade...about 50% out of about 25 kids graduated from college...three of us earned docs. In the '50's a kid could drop out of school and get a good job at one of the auto plants...in fact the high school graduation rate in that era was only around 50%. My parents had 8th and 10th grade educations respectively...but...the emphasis on education and living a better life than they did was relentless. That story is repeated over and over across the Far East Side. Somehow the focus on education as the route to an improved life was lost. That seems to be part of a larger issue in the sociologic change phenomena...maybe its just in the basic belief that it is possible to improve your station in life through commitment...I dunno...probably more a line of thought for an anthropologist than one who has studied how to get organizations focused on objectives and off of their dead asses. I started at WSU as a less than committed freshman...at the end of my first less than stellar semester my dad gave me some options...1) start carrying books...in which case he would pay my keep 2) join the army and carry a rifle and let the government provide for me 3) "continue to carry that damn pool cue and live on your own"...fortunately my folks had raised a crazy but not a stupid kid...I transferred to WMU and started carrying books. I'm sorry to hear that NDHS had closed...that was a damn good school...my next door neighbor on Fordham and later professional colleague in the Warren Wds. schools graduated from ND...Fred Cardinali...a few years ahead of you...about 1960-61...he retired from education and runs a marble business. | |||
Goblue Member Username: Goblue Post Number: 68 Registered: 03-2007 |
ES61: Just saw your post from the SE thread in early May...Norville Schock was a couple of years ahead of me at Denby...he was a senior on the golf team when I was a sophomore. Any idea where he ended up? | |||
Eastside61 Member Username: Eastside61 Post Number: 68 Registered: 07-2006 |
GB - NS and I were both in the science dept at SE.....there were actually three science areas on the first floor of SE....he was down on the Foch side that had the conservatory and nice labs....I was in the front facing Fairview and had a bio lab and lecture room to myself....but investigating what happened to NS would be interesting as SE had a 30+ staff turnover and the 5 years I was there it had 6 principals... Let's flip a coin to see who goes to Google first....at least another DHS grad was successful... I like your GC idea for the 7 and Hayes areas.....Hippadrome CC....Flamingo CC...Celestine CC.....maybe YOU could host a DPS golf tourney and invite Grosse Pointe South...they can play for free!!!! Was NS any good at Golf?....I would imagine the Wm Reaume loved him.... | |||
Kellyroad Member Username: Kellyroad Post Number: 82 Registered: 04-2007 |
GB, I concur with your observations on the issues of education and sociologic/demographic change. All urban landscape changes whether its due to expanding population, demographic shifts, freeway expansion, economic expansion/recession or political unrest. What is interesting about our little slice of life on the northeast side (near Heilmann) is not just the change but the RAPIDITY of change (future shock). From my perspective 20 years is a very short time for a dramatic demographic change. We're not talking about a Wal-Mart being built down the street but seemingly a whole population shift. It would be interesting to investigate how the transformation compares with other large urban areas such as Detroit and more poignantly the far eastside. Is is sad to see NDHS and Regina gone....schools that flourished in the 60s and 70s are now a footnote in sociological commentary. Heilmann Park, however, underwent a metamorphosis (to the casual observer) to a seemingly ultramodern recreation center surrounded by 2 state-of-the-art schools. | |||
Eastside61 Member Username: Eastside61 Post Number: 70 Registered: 07-2006 |
KR - GB - Gibran - Maybe we need a new thread about "The Eastside and Rapid Change" All major American cities have experienced change....but not like Motown. With 1500 leaving each month maybe the last recording studio will be know as "Ghost Town" not Motown....if we don't author this study who will ????? | |||
Kellyroad Member Username: Kellyroad Post Number: 83 Registered: 04-2007 |
Karen 8824, From your address you lived between Redmond and Kelly on the south side of Eastwood. I recall neighbors: Karl, Garavaglia, Bass, Bohr down that end of the block. Were you there during that time? Actually, I think the Bohr family on the northeast corner of Redmond and Eastwood owned and eventually sold most of the farm property in the triangle (7 Mi-Morang-Kelly) You probably remember Mrs. Iola on the corner of Redmond and Eastwood. The Gallas family did live in the red colonial house on the south side of eastwood in the middle of the block between Rex and Redmond. Karen, can you mention what school(s) you went to? Are there any Heilmann Park stories to Share? I believe the girl Jan you mentioned was not the same girl ES61 mentioned. It could be a mere coicidence but ES61's mentioning happened in the 50s. Let me know....I need material for my next chapter of "Eastwood Place" LOL (Message edited by kellyroad on June 15, 2007) |
Heilmannpix