  Urbanize Member Username: Urbanize Post Number: 857 Registered: 02-2007 |
That's the other question that should be asked. | ||
Eastsidedame Member Username: Eastsidedame Post Number: 104 Registered: 12-2006 |
No jobs here. Jobs somewhere else. Lower cost of living. No snow; lots of sun. | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 3254 Registered: 10-2003 |
Couldn't find a house to buy - tight housing market (1947). (Message edited by MikeM on April 14, 2007) | ||
Kurwo Member Username: Kurwo Post Number: 871 Registered: 11-2003 |
They haven't. | ||
Ray1936 Member Username: Ray1936 Post Number: 1333 Registered: 01-2005 |
They died and are now residing in a Livonia cemetery. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi- bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Downin g&GSfn=Rudolph&GSbyrel=all&GSd yrel=all&GSob=n&GRid=6198868& | ||
Jerrytimes Member Username: Jerrytimes Post Number: 43 Registered: 04-2007 |
Are we talking presently or in the past or just whenever? If we are talking about the past, my family left in the early 70's due to how bad the crime got and because there house wasn't worth anything after the riots. | ||
Urbanize Member Username: Urbanize Post Number: 874 Registered: 02-2007 |
Anytime since 1701 Jerry. | ||
Jenniferl Member Username: Jenniferl Post Number: 360 Registered: 03-2004 |
On my mom's side, they're from Ohio and none of them ever lived in Detroit. When they moved to Michigan, they bought houses in Madison Heights and Royal Oak. This was in the early 1960s. On my dad's side, his father's family were in the 'burbs as early as the 1900s. On my dad's mother's side, they came to Detroit from Owosso. When my grandma was born in 1910, my great-grandparents were living on Joseph Campeau. Soon afterward, they moved to Highland Park because my great-grandfather had a job at the Model T plant on Woodward. In 1920, they moved to Royal Oak because back then you could build a house on a big piece of land. This appealed to my great-grandparents, as they had grown up in the country. Grandma's older brother moved back to Highland Park at some point, but he was living in Royal Oak again by the 1960s. | ||
Rhymeswithrawk Member Username: Rhymeswithrawk Post Number: 665 Registered: 11-2005 |
peer pressure. | ||
Paczki Member Username: Paczki Post Number: 21 Registered: 02-2007 |
I grew up in a rented lower flat in a house on Kirby Street with my Mom. My Grandmother lived 2 houses away. In the early 70's whites started moving out due to the crime. Houses were being broken into, cars were being stolen, houses were being torched and drug houses were popping up on every street. I had a friend who lived on Moran and Ferry. There was a drug/whore house across the street from her. Shootings were becoming more and more frequent. My grandmother died in 1974. I graduated from high school in 1976 and we moved to the burbs in 1977. I went to church in the old neighborhood for Easter. Not much is left. Mostly vacant land and burned out houses. It breaks my heart. | ||
Tayshaun22 Member Username: Tayshaun22 Post Number: 357 Registered: 02-2005 |
Too many blacks. | ||
Douglasm Member Username: Douglasm Post Number: 814 Registered: 10-2003 |
I wonder if the above post has more truth to it than one would like to think, and I wonder if the same implication was used on my folks. Now I don't know if a move from Highland Park to Ferndale counts, but in 1948 my folks were looking for their first house and were looking around Highland Park near Chrysler. As I understand the story, the real estate agent said something like "You don't want to raise a family here..." and directed them to Ferndale and Royal Oak. Dad liked Ferndale because it was closer to work. | ||
Eastsidedame Member Username: Eastsidedame Post Number: 107 Registered: 12-2006 |
Paczki: I know what you mean. I haven't been back to Detroit since 1981. When I ask my Detroit friends if I should come back for a visit, they say, "No, please don't. Just be happy with your memories. Go somewhere you've never been." I'd like to go to Mt. Olivet to see my grandparents, and to see the house I used to live in and what's happened with WSU and the old houses that made me fall in love with architecture. But, frankly, I'm afraid of what I might (or might not) find. What would be your advice to people who've been away a long time? Visit or not? | ||
Ericdetfan Member Username: Ericdetfan Post Number: 47 Registered: 02-2007 |
crime | ||
6nois Member Username: 6nois Post Number: 151 Registered: 11-2006 |
My family has never lived in Detroit, Saginaw Valley, I came for school and fell in love. Now for the reason of my post. Eastsidedame, it may never be the same, but it never hurts to return. See for yourself what is going on because I feel like Detroiters own view of themselves is often more muddied than they really are. | ||
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw Post Number: 2693 Registered: 02-2005 |
The 1950s and the dream of a new house. That got one of my grandfathers to move his family to GP Woods. The seeds of true sprawl were planted in the 50s, and he fell victim, like many other. The other side of my family stayed til the 90s, and, in their old age, my grandparents moved from the west side to GP Farms off Mack to be closer to their children/grandchildren and have fewer worries. Their neighborhood south of the university district near the Lodge degenerated rapidly prior to this. It looks as if I will be the first person in my family and even my extended family to start the move back to Detroit. | ||
Danny Member Username: Danny Post Number: 5799 Registered: 02-2004 |
Tayshaun22, Too many blacks! That's what happen when Segregation, Xenophobia, Freeways, and suburban sprawl can do to satisfy once white Detroiters. Is this is why Detroit became too black? Because you all white folks want to be father away from inner city as possible. | ||
Danny Member Username: Danny Post Number: 5800 Registered: 02-2004 |
Well I hear some stunning reports the every month 200 black Detroiters will move to the suburbs. What you are white folks going to do? HIT 20 MILE RD! If the city you're living in doesn't fulfill any promises for its services than move out. You all have the right to live where you all want to live. | ||
Evelyn Member Username: Evelyn Post Number: 25 Registered: 02-2005 |
Couldn't find a job in the Detroit area. I give most of the blame for Detroit's mass exodus to the auto industry. | ||
Pam Member Username: Pam Post Number: 1358 Registered: 11-2005 |
quote: You should definitely visit. There is nothing wrong with Mt. Olivet, in fact my parents recently bought plots there. WSU is fine. I don't know where you used to live but the improvements downtown are worth seeing. | ||
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan Post Number: 5369 Registered: 10-2003 |
For my family, it was crime. It was during the crack epidemic of the mid-to-late 80's, and with a poor family, options of moving into a more expensive and safer neighborhood and private schooling weren't really much of an option. I remember hearing gunshots at night, regularly, and we had a drill where we'd crawl to the bathroom, as our house was hit by stray bullets on a few occasions. Funny thing is, it was until much later that I realized that none of this was normal. | ||
Club_boss Member Username: Club_boss Post Number: 45 Registered: 12-2006 |
I'm not sure why my dads side moved; his father (my grandfather) moved to Dearborn and lived there until his death. The Dearborn address was the only home I ever visited them at, or even remember. I think it was because Dearborn was thick w/ Arab's, he lived on Wyoming. He opened a small grocery store in Dearborn. My mother's side moved (1975) because of crime, I believe. (Message edited by club boss on April 16, 2007) | ||
Peachlaser Member Username: Peachlaser Post Number: 73 Registered: 08-2006 |
Family left New Center in 1951 after an older brother was "hit up side the head for no reason" in a store by a young tough who was in one of the gangs moving into New Center from Hamtramck. My father made the decision to get out of town as fast as possible based on that incident and we were gone in two weeks. | ||
Exmotowner Member Username: Exmotowner Post Number: 197 Registered: 06-2005 |
I left in 87. Too much crime! and was made an offer in TN that I couldnt refuse. Huge 4 bedroom ranch home on 128 acres overlooking one of the most beautiful lakes in TN for $125 a month. Could not turn that down! By that time I was tired of getting my teeth kicked in in detroit. Every time I turned around something was happening! Coming back for the first time in 10 years this memorial day. Actually staying downtown this time too. Hope things are different. I love detroit and if Im ever single again would consider moving back. My friends say Im nuts! All my friends up there are like why the hell you coming back to this hell hole. "come on back, you wont want to come back for another 10 years". Hope they're wrong. If something bad happens this trip (i.e. car gets stolen, get mugged etc.) , I will never come back. | ||
Pam Member Username: Pam Post Number: 1359 Registered: 11-2005 |
quote: Don't worry, you will be fine. | ||
1st_sgt Member Username: 1st_sgt Post Number: 65 Registered: 11-2006 |
They died and reside at Woodmere, I have a place reserved there also. | ||
Mallory Member Username: Mallory Post Number: 102 Registered: 05-2006 |
I left in '91 to take a job in Lansing. I was the last of four. Mom left in '93 because she was alone in town. If it wasn't for the job in Lansing, I might still be in CofD, and even though life has taken me elsewhere, I still miss the city and always will. | ||
Savannahsmiles Member Username: Savannahsmiles Post Number: 30 Registered: 05-2005 |
Exmotowner, are you located anywhere near Pickwick Lake in TN? I am... I prefer East TN, though. I left Detroit in 1988. It was getting kind of bad, but I really wasn't affected directly by any crime. I minded my biz and others minded theirs. The last place I lived was at Lafayette and Beard near the I-75 service drive. I love Detroit for a lot of reasons, but I want to raise my kids here. | ||
Bobj Member Username: Bobj Post Number: 1973 Registered: 11-2003 |
My parents moved to the wide open spaces of warren in the mid 1950's because they could get more house for the money there as well as a very large lot compared to city lots. My Mom worked at the Downtown Hudson's and we as a family went Downtown quite a bit, but they felt Warren was a better investment at the time. You can say what you want about Warren, but I think they ended up being correct from an investment standpoint. | ||
Jiminnm Member Username: Jiminnm Post Number: 1240 Registered: 02-2005 |
Savannah, when my parents left Detroit in 1990 they moved to So. Fulton, Tenn. - which is on the KY-TN border, about 25 miles from the Mississippi River. A lot of folks from that area of KY and TN moved to Detroit to work. My mother moved to Detroit from there when she was 16 but, despite 50 years in Detroit, she always felt that Kentucky/Tennessee was home. They're still there, as well as many other relatives scattered from Paducah KY to Henderson TN. (Message edited by jiminnm on April 16, 2007) | ||
Ltrain Member Username: Ltrain Post Number: 117 Registered: 10-2003 |
PC answer- jobs, quality of life, more yard. Reality- the blacks were coming. | ||
Southwestmap Member Username: Southwestmap Post Number: 786 Registered: 01-2005 |
Ltrain: that is wrong. In the 1950's, people in Detroit had no concept that the "Blacks were coming." Most families of that era moved to the suburbs because they were getting mortgages under the G.I. bill and the provisions of the G.I. bill mortgage was that the house had to be "new construction." Detroit was dense - no "new construction" possible, and so young fathers bought houses in the endless tracts that were Dearborn and Dearborn Hts., Centerline, Warren and Roseville, etc. And, by the way, these were very close-in to the City. Near relatives and also very much in the way of the "coming Blacks" - thoughtless planning, if escaping from Blacks had been a motive. It is a mistake of cheap thinkers to ascribe racial motivations to every action of history - especially when history appears to have been little studied. | ||
Bobj Member Username: Bobj Post Number: 1982 Registered: 11-2003 |
Good response SW Map Just like now, it is cheaper to buld a house or buy a house in the middle of what was a farm than in a fully developed area with all the necessities of life. The GI Bill was also an issue and was how my parents financed their house in Warren. The yard we had in Warren was at least 3x bigger than the one we had in detroit, with 5 kids, it was important to us. | ||
Waz Member Username: Waz Post Number: 15 Registered: 11-2006 |
I grew up in Ferndale so I suppose I don't actually count, but here goes. We lived about 1/3 of a mile north of 8 mile. You could see 8 mile from our street. During the '67 riots the kids were all called in early and were watched carefully by the parents. The next year, my family, the neighbors behind us, and my best friend all moved away. My folks settled at the north end of Warren. It took me years to understand the reason for the move. I never addressed the topic specifically to my parents, but I'm sure the riot had a big impact on their decision to move. | ||
Danny Member Username: Danny Post Number: 5833 Registered: 02-2004 |
Ltrain, In a matter of fact the reality that " blacks were coming " happen during the 1960s and word spread before and after the 67' riots. And after the riots whites folks in Detroit in their psychological thought said " If black folks did this to their own Detroit neighborhoods, then we should leave and buy a home in the suburbs. Thank goodness I have my G.I. Bill with me." | ||
Penelopetheduck Member Username: Penelopetheduck Post Number: 11 Registered: 09-2006 |
My grandparents left in 1971 because they hated the idea of their daughters going to school with black kids. I think we can talk about gi bill, freeway construction, mortgage policy and still acknowledge that "the blacks are coming" was a pretty powerful motivator for a whole lot of white people. It's not really honest to pretend that racism wasn't a very, very important factor in a lot of white people's decisions to leave the city. (also I know that the growth of warren, dearborn, ferndale in the fifties happened in a different context from the growth of troy, farmington hills, bloomfield, canton etc.. during the early 70s. But even then, Dearborn's best gimmick was that it excluded black people so racism obviously had some impact) | ||
Unclefrank Member Username: Unclefrank Post Number: 58 Registered: 03-2006 |
The crappy schools circa 1962 | ||
Kronprinz Member Username: Kronprinz Post Number: 279 Registered: 12-2006 |
Is it racism to freak out because you know the value of your property/home is going to plummet? "Racism" is such an easy word to bandy about. Most people just didn't want to loose what they worked so hard to achieve. | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 642 Registered: 04-2006 |
Well maybe we should talk about the racist GI Bill that allowed these families to build in the suburbs. | ||
Southwestmap Member Username: Southwestmap Post Number: 788 Registered: 01-2005 |
That forced the families to buy new construction in the suburbs. I guess that was racism, too - the misguided notion that, post-war, the economy could be revved up with new construction and so the mortgage bill demanded new construction. | ||
Quozl Member Username: Quozl Post Number: 454 Registered: 07-2005 |
quote: Give me a freakin' break. There is NOTHING racist about the GI Bill you idiot. | ||
Barnesfoto Member Username: Barnesfoto Post Number: 3367 Registered: 10-2003 |
Fear is often used successfully by hucksters to make wads of cash...Real Estate Charlatans made a killing in Detroit by steering a black family into a neighborhood here and there, and then sending out flyers touting the impending "changes" to white families. I'm just barely old enough to remember when it was legal and common. As for the GI Bill and the building boom in the burbs, don't forget that after WW2, there was no room in much of the city...it was crowded, with many older homes broken into multi-family housing, and single family homes at a premium... | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 643 Registered: 04-2006 |
No, what was racist was who was allowed to build those homes in the suburbs c/o the G.I. Bill. | ||
Southwestmap Member Username: Southwestmap Post Number: 789 Registered: 01-2005 |
Well, a little googling of the issue does show that blacks weren't able to utilize the mortgage insurance benefit as much as whites due to restrictive covenants and bank red-lining. So there is something to the racism claim. | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 644 Registered: 04-2006 |
"Give me a freakin' break. There is NOTHING racist about the GI Bill you idiot." Clearly, you know nothing about the GI Bill, you idiot. | ||
Quozl Member Username: Quozl Post Number: 459 Registered: 07-2005 |
Iheartthed wrote: quote: I know nothing about the GI Bill? Well, it only put me through college for 4 years at the University of Florida and I bought my first house in Jacksonville, Fla with it b0z0. The GI Bill is the furthest thing from being a racist instrument of assistance for Veterans of the Armed Forces you idiot, get a grip! | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 645 Registered: 04-2006 |
"I know nothing about the GI Bill? Well, it only put me through college for 4 years at the University of Florida and I bought my first house in Jacksonville, Fla with it b0z0." Many people drive cars and can't change a tire. Just because you used it doesn't make you an expert. Go read up on it. | ||
1st_sgt Member Username: 1st_sgt Post Number: 66 Registered: 11-2006 |
I find that a part of Southwestmap's statement is incorrect. "Provisions of the G.I. bill mortgage was that the house had to be "new construction."" No where can I find any reference to "New construction" in the GI bill or for a VA home loan. I checked all the way back to 1945. I know my benefits do not say new construction only. (The G.I bill as amended in 1966.) Where did your information come from? Where there not hundreds of thousand of minority GIs starting around 1945 that had the same home loan benefits? In the 50’s, 60’s, ect If they could only use their loans for “new construction” then I think that integration of the suburbs would have been the norm as there was not a lot of new home construction going on in the inner city. | ||
Quozl Member Username: Quozl Post Number: 461 Registered: 07-2005 |
quote: Link to where I can "read up on it" please. Even better, kindly tell me what is "racist" about the GI Bill. I have no recollection of my black, latino or minority friends in the Navy not receiving their GI Bill benefits. Back it up with some hard evidence big boy because I think you are full of sh*t! | ||
Quozl Member Username: Quozl Post Number: 462 Registered: 07-2005 |
Since you cannot reply, I will help you Iheartthed: quote: From: Ronald Roach, "From Combat to Campus: G.I. Bill Gave a Generation of African Americans and Opportunity to Pursue the American Dream," Black Issues in Higher Education, (August 21, 1997), 26-29. Now sit down and shut up! (Message edited by quozl on April 19, 2007) | ||
Quinn Member Username: Quinn Post Number: 1245 Registered: 01-2005 |
My Dad (now deceased) was born in Detroit and lived somewhere in the city until he was 13 when they moved to the Walled Lake area. He was born in 1929, so he would have moved in 1942. To be honest, I'm not too sure why they moved. I could guess that since my dad was a HUGE racist, among other fabulous attributes like homophobe, sexist, elitist, narcissist (okay okay), that it was for backwards social reasons. I could be wrong. I do know that my mother, who met my dad then, thought he was a bully and that he kept talking about how great he was for being from Detroit and what a dump Walled Lake was. Years later, when I was growing up (I was born in 1973) my dad wouldn't let me go anywhere near the city. He hated Detroit at that point. Lets see...back to the thread question. My grandfather was a tradesman of some sort in Detroit, but a farmer when they moved. He and my grandmother worked the farm together. I think it was dairy...nothing big. My parents were pretty old when they had me so I didn't know my grandparents very well, except my Mother's mom, who along with my Mom, never lived here and was always scared of the city. (Message edited by quinn on April 19, 2007) | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 646 Registered: 04-2006 |
Evidently you didn't look too hard for the information: "The GI Bill accomplished its discrimination by placing decision-making power for distributing GI benefits in the hands of state- and local-level bureaucrats. In the South, these white administrators, working for the Veterans Bureau or state departments of education, channeled most of their GI Bill revenues to white colleges and vocational schools and away from black institutions. Thus, a much higher proportion of white veterans than black received GI benefits. Many well-qualified black veterans in the South were turned away from the black institutions they wanted to attend simply because not enough spaces were available. The inequality in distribution also widened the gap in quality between white and black institutions in the South, further limiting the opportunities available to black veterans. And so, hundreds of thousands of black veterans got the short end of the stick." http://www.dissentmagazine.org /article/?article=433 That's just one component of it. | ||
Ferntruth Member Username: Ferntruth Post Number: 11 Registered: 11-2006 |
Everyone should stop picking on lheartthed about his accusing the GI bill of being racist. In today's America, to deny an accusation of racism is...well, racist. My family toughed it out in the city until 1984, when in reality they should have left much earlier. Why did we leave? Gee, I'm funny..I like the police to actually come when they are called. I like my trash picked up in a reliable fashion and I want to feel welcome in my own neighborhood. Between the drug houses, gunshots, and lousy city services, we decided enough was enough. If, as some say it has gotten so much better, well I congratulate you (although I seriously doubt that city services have improved much, if at all). You live there then, because I certainly won't. | ||
Quozl Member Username: Quozl Post Number: 464 Registered: 07-2005 |
That is YOUR hard evidence? GMAFB. I looked hard enough in Wikipedia to know you are wrong. You forgot this: quote: Now do me a big favor brainiac, Sit down and SHUT UP! | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 647 Registered: 04-2006 |
Going from zero to 1 is a 100% increase, thus greatly expanding. You want to ignore this key sentence: "Thus, a much higher proportion of white veterans than black received GI benefits." So there really is nothing else we have to say to each other on this subject. | ||
Quozl Member Username: Quozl Post Number: 465 Registered: 07-2005 |
Ferntruth wrote: quote: Huh? You are kidding me, right? You are calling me a racist? I beg to differ. OP, sorry for the temporary thread hijack, back to your normally scheduled programing. | ||
Southwestmap Member Username: Southwestmap Post Number: 790 Registered: 01-2005 |
1st sgt: You know, I can't pinpoint how I came to the impression that the 1944 G.I. Bill required new housing. I have had that impression for many years. My Father was a G.I. who minded buying a house outside of Detroit, but did and I thought it was because of the mortgage requirement. At his first opportunity he sold that little suburban house and moved back to the lower east side, riverside neighborhood of his youth. I do have this note from a paper by Barbara Kelly of Hofstra University on Post War Housing Developments: "The most significant and widely noted benefit of World War II, the Serviceman’s Readjustment Act, or GI Bill, took effect in 1944. Two major provisions of the Bill provided access to housing and education.2Through the institutionalization of a formerly radical approach to the politics of housing in America--government underwriting of mortgages for Americans who had no capital--the GI Bill set in motion a dramatic transition in American society. The houses the Bill funded reinforced the nuclear family, not only through economic incentives but also through the very design of the housing it promoted. As a result, the years immediately following World War Il were years in which the working class of America, at least those who had served in the military, experienced an upsurge not only in the level of their expectations, but in the realization of those expectations. By expanding the homeowning class, the postwar housing policies served to preserve the established order in what might have been a period of risk." Note that she says the Bill promoted a specific housing design. I know that the housing had to be single-family. It had to be cheap. So maybe the combination of those factors led to the end-result that the housing had to be new construction. | ||
Southwestmap Member Username: Southwestmap Post Number: 791 Registered: 01-2005 |
One more note, 1stSgt re this observation: "If they could only use their loans for “new construction” then I think that integration of the suburbs would have been the norm as there was not a lot of new home construction going on in the inner city." As I said above, it seems that blacks weren't able to use the loan as much as whites because the suburbs and banks each in their own way made it difficult for blacks to both reside and/or get a loan. The V.A. just guaranteed the loans - it didn't do the actual lending. The Bill did not supercede the housing restrictions then very much in play. What happened is that Blacks must have let the benefit lapse, given how hard everything was. | ||
Wfw Member Username: Wfw Post Number: 207 Registered: 03-2004 |
Both of my grandfathers were born in Detroit, one in 1912 and one in 1915, one black and one white. My maternal grandfather (white) moved to Windsor not long afterwards, but my paternal grandfather lived in Detroit nearly all his life. From the 70s to 2002 he had an apartment on E. Lafayette. Unfortunately by 2002 he could no longer live unassisted due to health issues and moved into the US Veterans home in Grand Rapids. He passed away in 2005 at age 89. I mentioned a few years ago that Detroit seemed to be coming back, but he replied sadly, "I don't see it". My father was born in 1942 and lived in Detroit until age 10 when my grandparents divorced and he moved to Windsor with my Grandmother. She was born in Canada and wanted to be closer to her family, thus the move to Windsor. My father eventually got his Canadian citizenship but retained strong ties to Detroit, singing in various church choirs, attending cultural events, shopping, etc. | ||
Ferntruth Member Username: Ferntruth Post Number: 12 Registered: 11-2006 |
Quozl, I was NOT calling you a racist. I was making the point that in todays climate, when you are accused of racism and deny it, some people see THAT as PROOF of your racism. I apologize if my sarcasm was lost on you. | ||
Quozl Member Username: Quozl Post Number: 469 Registered: 07-2005 |
^^^Thanks Frentruth, I appreciate the clarification. | ||
Ptpelee Member Username: Ptpelee Post Number: 2 Registered: 09-2005 |
My family left in the early '70's...The crime in the Puritan/Greenfield area just got out of control. Not only crime but "weird' things would happen...my mother caught a man staring at her at her bedroom window, she screamed and he didn't even move!..My Father had to chase him away...Bottle rockets and M80's were shot at our house at night (It was hard to get to sleep for the rest of the night each time). The old lady next door had her house cleaned out while she sat on the front porch watching us play ball in the street. Finally when our bikes were stolen, the police questioned what we were still doing living there! That was the last straw...we went to Dearborn. | ||
Cmubryan Member Username: Cmubryan Post Number: 429 Registered: 11-2003 |
My dad moved out to Troy as a single in the mid-60s to the brand new Somerset Apartments (for which the mall was named for). The reason for this move was to be closer to his job which was in Lake Orion at the time but still be close to his parents who remained in the city. My grandparents moved out of the Seven Mile/Greenfield area in the early 70s as they were getting older and didn't want to maintain a home. They moved to an apartment on that corner in Oak Park that was still Royal Oak Twp at the time. My uncle was the last remaining close family member in the city until his relatively young age death in 1994 (approx 65 yo). My mom was from Windsor and had been back and forth between Detroit and Windsor until she met my dad in 1969. She lived in a couple different houses where she rented rooms from in the city (one house I know was in the Southfield Fwy/Joy Road area) until she rented an apartment out in Royal Oak around 1971ish. The reason for that move was to be closer to my dad who lived in Troy and her friends who were in the Royal Oak area. It seems like that early 70s era was a popular time to get up and go. However, now that I think about it, I don't think the neighborhood disinvestment or rise in crime had a direct affect on my family leaving. Although it surely didn't help things. I do know that the 1950s era of the Dexter area changing was a reason for my grandparents' move to the Seven Mile area. | ||
Exmotowner Member Username: Exmotowner Post Number: 253 Registered: 06-2005 |
Hey Savannahsmiles, No I was on Center Hill lake, COOKEVILLE/SPARTA. I now live in nashville by the airport. Its ok, but its not home. :-( | ||
Fury13 Member Username: Fury13 Post Number: 1578 Registered: 10-2003 |
Why did my family leave? It was 1961. A declining neighborhood (eastside near Vernor and St. Jean; it was getting shabby even then); poor neighborhood schools; the desire to have a larger lot with a single-family house (we were in a two-family flat)... all those reasons played a part. | ||
Savannahsmiles Member Username: Savannahsmiles Post Number: 34 Registered: 05-2005 |
Exmotowner no kidding? Cookeville/Sparta? I was born in Crossville. I love it on the Plateau. Anything west of Nashville sucks, IMO. I can't think of a good reason why my family left. My mom just never was satisfied anywhere for very long. My dad stayed in Detroit until he fell ill and became disabled. It was then that he moved back home to Jamestown, TN to be near my grandparents. |
