  Fareastsider Member Username: Fareastsider Post Number: 83 Registered: 08-2006 |
Why did Detroit stop annexing Redford Twp as it did? Why did they never or did they try to incorporate the rest? Why has Redford never incorporated? What about any other annexation or incorporation attempts. I remember reading Dearborn was considering annexing Melvindale and Allen Park. ALso a city called Clinton Valley that was gonna be parts of Harrison, Clinton, and Sterling Twps. Anybody know any details of Redford or other places locally | ||
Thames Member Username: Thames Post Number: 2 Registered: 02-2007 |
Detroit was annexing Redford. There is an area in Detroit known as "Old Redford". Redford became a charter township to stop Detroit from annexing. I don't know what year that happened. | ||
Johnlodge Member Username: Johnlodge Post Number: 66 Registered: 10-2003 |
https://www.atdetroit.net/forum/mes sages/62684/72200.html I believe this will clear things up. | ||
Cambrian Member Username: Cambrian Post Number: 596 Registered: 08-2006 |
The old thread didn't mention why Detroit did not want all of Redford. Redford Twp spans east of 24 south of Plymouth rd. and Detroit City goes west of 24 north of Puritan. Possibly the Lola Valley / Bell Creek was some sort of arbitrary boundary they stopped at? Possibly some landowners did not want to get annexed while others did? Or maybe eating up most of Redford gave the city indigestion and they had to stop? | ||
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan Post Number: 5112 Registered: 10-2003 |
Thames got it. The township went charter to stop the city from annexing all of it, so there was obviously some resistence to annexation before it went charter. | ||
Ghetto_butterfly Member Username: Ghetto_butterfly Post Number: 675 Registered: 09-2004 |
Yeah, and as a result I park my car in Detroit and then walk to my desk at work in Redford. Depending in what part of the building people work, they do have to pay Detroit city taxes or they don't. Stupid. | ||
Cambrian Member Username: Cambrian Post Number: 598 Registered: 08-2006 |
In the old days annexation was seen as a plus, you were able to take advantage of the City services, which would have been more than what the Twp could have offered. My first house was in Redford, it was built in 1945 and we bought it from the original family. They told us our neighborhood was paved in the 60s under great protest by everybody as they felt that would encourage the "bad" elements to come in. So perhaps Redford was viewed as a quiet country retreat to the burgening Detroit, and the 1926 residents wanted to preserve that. | ||
Johnlodge Member Username: Johnlodge Post Number: 71 Registered: 10-2003 |
I tried to look into this a little bit. Seems like the part that got annexed WANTED to be annexed because Redford, which was made up of 9 little village districts, was not taking care of their streets or services, so they wanted to become part of Detroit. I guess they also got a streetcar down Grand River out of the deal or something. This is the best I could come up with. Apparently the districts that remain Redford resisted. | ||
Fareastsider Member Username: Fareastsider Post Number: 84 Registered: 08-2006 |
There are a number of homes on W. Parkway that have the city limit cut right through their yard. There are homes along the Wayne/Macomb border where there is no 8 mile who have the city/county line go through their homes. I always wondered how that worked for taxes and schools. | ||
Charlottepaul Member Username: Charlottepaul Post Number: 436 Registered: 10-2006 |
"In the old days annexation was seen as a plus" Cambrian, to many urban planners it is still seen as a huge plus. Makes it much easier as you eluded to, to share resources without what today seems to be sort of an unnecessary border and therefore a restriction. David Rusk, the former mayor of Albuquerque, basically discusses this view in his urban planning book, "Cities without suburbs". | ||
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan Post Number: 5113 Registered: 10-2003 |
It was seen as a plus to some. If it was seen as a plus to all, the entire metro area would be just a few cities. The western part of Redford Township obviously didn't see annexation as a plus. | ||
Rooms222 Member Username: Rooms222 Post Number: 5 Registered: 04-2005 |
There is a book at the Redford Twp. library called A History of Redford Twp, I believe. It is from the mid-1960's. I recall it said that paved roads and sewers were why Brightmoor and Old Redford voted in the 1920's to be the last areas annexed to Detroit. This book described Brightmoor as a recently built community by a land developer with planned amenities such as a social hall, even if not of the highest socioeconomic status. Perhaps the great depression put a chill on annexation votes. | ||
Nativegirl Member Username: Nativegirl Post Number: 67 Registered: 01-2004 |
Fareastsider, I live on West Parkway on the Dearborn Heights border (my yard abutts DH) and believe me, Detroit got dibbs on my property as far as taxes and services are concerned. My neighborhood association, Far West Detroit Community Association, has been trying for the past four years that I have been here to get the last two streets annexed to DH. It hasn't been easy. | ||
Waxx Member Username: Waxx Post Number: 30 Registered: 09-2006 |
I hope that this isn't off-topic but a little (historic) info about Redford Twp.. In recent months I've posted a blog on Yahoo! 360 (and later moved it 2 myspace) about this historic suburb-it was quite lengthy so I'll be brief. Redford Twp. (originally named Peking Twp.-named after a chinese city) was established @ the fords of the Rouge River. Next 2 its current location, Redford bordered from Greenfield to 5points between 8 Mile and Schoolcraft (4Mile to some folks). A war was fought between the the Brits and the French @ the fords of the Rouge River-whether or not it was part of the Civil War I'm not sure-and the French poached furs for a living. Peking Twp. was then dubbed 'Rouge'ford. 'Rouge' [I'm assuming] being french for 'red', and eventually was renamed 'Redford' in 1832, or 1833 [the Redford Twp. sign(s) read 1833, and the Old Redford sign(s) read 1832]. Some historical markers [in the city] gave it away that those 15 plus square miles of land resembled Redford. Case in point: St. Marys [Of Redford] Catholic Church, Redford High School, The [Kunsky] Redford Theater, Lasher Road between McNichols and 7 Mile [from my observance] looks like it was the original Downtown Redford. Not 2 mention some of the neighborhoods (in certain spots-those who reside in those spots know what I talking about). Once again I apologize if this was off-topic, I just wanted 2 share a piece of history about Redford that some may not have known. |
