  Chitaku Member Username: Chitaku Post Number: 287 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 68.43.107.72 |
Does anyone know which areas of town were populated first and which were the first burbs or first areas people migrated to? | ||
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1 Post Number: 7354 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 198.208.159.19 |
I think that another thing to look at is how the ethnic areas started. From what I understand the first moves of wealthy sprawl was from downtown to Brush Park to Boston Edison. | ||
56packman Member Username: 56packman Post Number: 260 Registered: 12-2005 Posted From: 129.9.163.105 |
People tended to move outward according to which "spoke street" you lived near--Fort, Michigan, Grand River, Woodward, Gratiot, Mack, Jefferson. I'm sure there were exceptions, usually driven by employment oppertunities/changes. | ||
Hornwrecker Member Username: Hornwrecker Post Number: 1134 Registered: 04-2005 Posted From: 63.41.8.211 |
Follow the map...  (from the Mikem archives) | ||
Ray1936 Member Username: Ray1936 Post Number: 538 Registered: 01-2005 Posted From: 207.200.116.139 |
Here's perhaps the greater question. Why did Detroit end all annexation in 1926? Eight mile was a geopolitical barrier, of course, but westward and downriver begged annexation in those days. Thoughts??? | ||
Danny Member Username: Danny Post Number: 4099 Registered: 02-2004 Posted From: 141.217.173.157 |
If the Great Depression didn't happen. Then Detroit annex the last part of Gratiot TWP. Lochmoor, Grosse Pointes, River Rouge, Ecourse in 1930, All of Dearborn and And Dearborn TWP. in 1933, All of Hamtramck and Highland Park by 1937, Lincoln Park and Melvindale and last part of Redford TWP. by 1940. Allen Park, Livonia and Inkster by 1944. And finally Garden City and Westland by 1949. | ||
Danny Member Username: Danny Post Number: 4100 Registered: 02-2004 Posted From: 141.217.173.157 |
Ray1936, The GREAT DEPRESSION end Detroit's annexation growth completely. A lack of manufacturing job base means no city revenues. And lack of city, county and state tax programs. The whole U.S. was screwy during the Depression where 25% of the people were unemployed nationwide. And Detroit was about 45% to 55% unemployed. | ||
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw Post Number: 1483 Registered: 02-2005 Posted From: 69.221.33.13 |
The notion of suburbs for American cities, in which people lived but still commuted to the central city, started just prior to 1920; for Detroit, it was Grosse Pointe. (Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills also have old, but quite small historic districts much the same, but when they were built they were seen more as far off destinations for the rich to build a big house (like GP in the 1800s) rather than a commuter suburb). The GPs feature housing largely comparable to previously created neighborhoods within the city like Indian Village or Boston-Edison, which were effectively similar to Grosse Pointe since they were enclaves for people who largely worked downtown, and were serviced by streetcars and the "spoke" streets. Building the lower Grosse Pointes into what they are today, which occured from 1915-1940 and included the grid street system, integrated with Detroit, and a slow transformation from very large homes on huge acreage to modestly large homes on smaller plots, seemed natural since the Grosse Pointes were already incorporated cities, had transit, and were previously used as destinations for a nearby getaway from the city. Each major, old city has one or more examples of something like Grosse Pointe. Mimicing the commuter-suburb pattern of GP was a lot of the rest of the inner-ring, especially Dearborn and Ferndale. Sometime in the 1950s, patterns of sprawl quickened, became less dense, and by the 60s and beyond many sprawl areas did not need ties to the city like streetcar lines in order to blossom. Before the notion of suburbs (let's say, around 1900), the other areas of southeast Michigan that were settled and incorporated as cities, were Mt. Clemens, Pontiac, Ann Arbor, and outposts along the Detroit River. Between Detroit and these places were forest, farmland, vacation home-type areas like GP and Birmingham, and a few country crossroads, probably unincorporated or very small, like old-time Brighton, part of Dearborn, and a few hamlets in Macomb county. I also wonder why Detroit stopped annexing, and I wonder about some of the idiosyncracies of the far western/northwestern border around Redford. I do know that even without more modern annexing, Detroit is a very large city in terms of land area. | ||
Goat Member Username: Goat Post Number: 8426 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 70.53.96.156 |
Politics folks. Politics... We all want to be kings in our own living areas. The places that Detroit grew to did not want to be annexed and therefore put up a fight to keep their little fiefdoms from becoming absorbed. | ||
Jiminnm Member Username: Jiminnm Post Number: 544 Registered: 02-2005 Posted From: 68.35.85.184 |
Likely, many areas that were not annexed were cities (like Highland Park and Hamtramck). It has always been easier to annex townships, villages and unincorporated areas. It is and was very difficult for one city to annex another. | ||
Umstucoach Member Username: Umstucoach Post Number: 22 Registered: 04-2006 Posted From: 152.163.100.8 |
I think what we have to remember is that the State of Michigan created the "charter township" in I think right after WWII (I'm not completely sure about the date). This was a reaction to annexation, giving a township more control in "home rule" acting almost like a de facto city, requiring a vote by residents to determine if they want to annex, or the townships decided to form as a city itself to in an effort not to be annexed by another city (among other reasons). Basically, once Detroit's economy started to recover after WWII, it became much, much harder to annex land and soon found itself boxed in from all sides | ||
Eastsidedog Member Username: Eastsidedog Post Number: 329 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 69.220.142.7 |
Detroit stopped annexing in 1926 when the state laws changed preventing municipalities from annexing other municipalities (only township land can now be annexed). This was done by the state to prevent booming Detroit from becoming too "powerful" politically. That's why you still hear about Oak Park annexing parts of RO Township today but little other annexing. It is why we have a metro of fiefdoms. I am certain this was discussed in depth on a previous thread. | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 593 Registered: 07-2004 Posted From: 209.69.221.253 |
If you examine old maps from the early 1920s, you find a few that project the size of Detroit in 1930, and it show the city spilling north of 8 Mile. American cities went through a period around 1900 where they tended to expand and reincorporate as larger entities, particularly New York and Boston, IIRC. | ||
Fury13 Member Username: Fury13 Post Number: 1052 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 69.222.11.226 |
NYC consolidated many municipalities into the five boroughs of "Greater New York" in 1898; Chicago had done its own huge annexation in 1889 (an expansion of 125 square miles). | ||
Johnlodge Member Username: Johnlodge Post Number: 16 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 69.246.96.250 |
A stupid question for you folks who I can see are real history experts. Were Highland Park and Hamtramck already cities and therefore "immune" to annexation? I always found these little island cities curious. I'm sure at this point Detroit doesn't particularly WANT Highland Park. | ||
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard Post Number: 631 Registered: 10-2004 Posted From: 69.242.223.42 |
Highland Park Hamtramck (Message edited by livernoisyard on May 08, 2006) | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 2065 Registered: 08-2004 Posted From: 4.229.24.194 |
Isn't there a part of that law that states that if one city is completely surrounded by another city, then it can be incorporated (i.e. Center Line and Warren)? If for some reason Highland Park were incorporated (voluntarily or by way of receivership) into Detroit, won't that make it easier for Detroit to absorb Hamtramck as well? (Thinking up ways to stay above the 900,000 mark!) | ||
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard Post Number: 633 Registered: 10-2004 Posted From: 69.242.223.42 |
It might happen if both Detroit and Highland Park are in receivership concurrently. But OTOH, Hamtramck emerged from receivership recently. | ||
Jenniferl Member Username: Jenniferl Post Number: 272 Registered: 03-2004 Posted From: 4.229.42.138 |
Re: Working in the city, living in the suburbs. My great-grandfather must have been one of the first commuters. He started out at a Ford plant in Detroit (I think it was the one on Piquette) and later moved to the Highland Park Model T factory. In the beginning, his family lived in a house on Joseph Campeau. Then they moved to Highland Park. But by 1920, my great-grandfather had bought a house in Royal Oak. The property was fairly large and they kept chickens, but I don't think that's enough to qualify as a farm. At any rate, my great-grandfather continued to work in Highland Park, driving his car back and forth every day. | ||
Treelock Member Username: Treelock Post Number: 112 Registered: 03-2005 Posted From: 68.77.166.98 |
hey Jt1, From what I understand, downtown never really was a residential neighborhood, even during Detroit's beginnings. The residential element taking shape with lofts and the like are really the first ever to take shape in the CBD. | ||
Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 59 Registered: 12-2005 Posted From: 69.136.155.244 |
If you want to go back to the Detroit of 1800 or so, the majority of its resident lived in what is now considered as the CBD (the area bounded by the river and the Chrysler, Fisher and Lodge Freeways). However, even 100 years later, more than half of the area within today's CBD was still residential. The Central Business District of 1900 was strung out along the riverfront between roughly 2nd Ave. on the west and Rivard on the east. From the river on the west, the CBD perimeter roughly followed 2nd, Congress, Washington Blvd., Grand Circus Park, Woodward, Monroe, St. Antoine, Woodbridge and Rivard back down to the riverfront. Even as late as 1930, there were still substantial residential areas near 4th Street and W. Elizabeth St. and also in the area now occupied by Ford Field. (source: "Emergence and Growth of an Urban Region - the Developing Urban Detroit Area", a study by Detroit Edison, Wayne State University and the Doxiadis Associates, 1970) | ||
Danny Member Username: Danny Post Number: 4102 Registered: 02-2004 Posted From: 141.217.174.236 |
The City of Pontiac, MI. can have the power to annex all of Waterford TWP. and Bloomfield TWP. any time. Pontiac tried desperate measures to annex all of Bloomfield TWP. since in 1920s but didn't work. |
