I found my old house in Detroit today... (Jackson, Walker: big home, neighborhoods)

[pekemom]

Your thread caught my eye, I'm from Youngstown, Ohio, and my childhood home is no more. Burned down years ago along with many others on the block. My elementary school a block away is also gone. It was an older, but well kept neighborhood. I lived there in the 50's, by the 60's it was going downhill. Neighbors I knew all left, now it is considered unsafe. It is sad to know it's all gone.

[zthatzmanz28]

Originally Posted by reconmark

When people mention the "67" riots as the catalyst thay started the decline of the city, you can pretty much discount anything else they have to say.

Reference was to Coleman Young....

Anyone and everyone knows the City began dying long before 67...

The Eight Mile Wall.

The East - West divider that Woodward was referenced as.

The social-economic divide 8 Mile became.


It just picked up speed A.C.Y (After Coleman Young) era...

The truth doesn't change just because we choose to ignore it.

Reality is what it is.

If Detroit isn't what I said it is, then where am I wrong?

[Blacman]

The downturn of Detroit came with the shutting down of the Auto Industry. That's exactly what happened in Flint. I'm from Canada but my uncle lives in Windsor and goes down to Detroit to work in one of the few factories not shut down. He recalls in the late 1950's when he was a young child, in some areas white children would chase him down on bikes. Detroit is in horrible condition today and it's not race related at all,

[MaryleeII]

Originally Posted by Remisc

...and I was horrified. I found the street, but all I found at my former address was a teal foundation and the remains of the pillars of my front porch. I used to feel safe in my neighborhood, but I was scared just trying to find my own former home. I drove up and down the streets where I used to let my children play. They're now full of remains of burned down homes, caked with garbage, and infested with assorted stray animals. I moved out of Detroit 17 years ago, when the neighborhood was still pretty OK. I'm still in shock that all that could happen in under 20 years.

You actually went back and looked? I "visited" my former neighborhood by google map, I could barely recognize my old neighborhood, most of the houses are torn down and nothing but vacant fields. I just sat staring at the lot the google indicated was my home, nothing but a vacant field. I recognized a crack in the sidewalk, I used to draw chalk lines on it.

I spent a lot of time just remembering the old neighborhood, the people who lived there, and spent the best years of their lives there. It was a solid, working-class neighborhood. My father, like many residents, found his way there after WWII, bought a home with his VA loan, got a job in the auto industry, and we all felt it would be that way forever. After all, we worked for the auto industry, we supplied the world with vehicles, and also the military. How could we fail and cease to be?

I remember hearing the city at night, the boat whistles, the train horns, the hum from the Chrysler Stamping Plant down Jefferson, the city never slept,it was somehow comforting to know someone was always awake, always on the move, always on the watch.

And, yes, Detroit did start to die after 1967 and the riots. Oh, dear, was I being "racist"? To even mention the riots is considered racist, I guess we're supposed to call it a "socially significant event" or some such mish mash. All I know is right after that the old neighborhood split up, for sale signs sprouted like mushrooms, school attendance dropped that Fall as anyone who could either sold and got out or sent their kids to private school. We stayed in touch, but never again did we have the feeling of community that I did with the old neighborhood. Its all "Gone With the Wind" now, but, that's racist, too.

I was just thinking about those old houses. I the right neighborhood, they would be desirable today. They were small, most just had one bathroom, but with a few rennovations, they would hold their own, except for the area. There was a certain cozy feeling about those homes, they "hugged" you.

Sorry for ther OP you came back and found your home like that! That's why I don't want to go back, its too sad.

[Remisc]

Originally Posted by MaryleeII

You actually went back and looked? I "visited" my former neighborhood by google map, I could barely recognize my old neighborhood, most of the houses are torn down and nothing but vacant fields. I just sat staring at the lot the google indicated was my home, nothing but a vacant field. I recognized a crack in the sidewalk, I used to draw chalk lines on it.

Yes, I did make the drive down there. I lived in the area by Coleman Young Airport (around French St./Van Dyke)

[Jwo85]

People's old homes might be gone, but new ones get built right over it.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=detroit,+mi&s ll=42.580312,-83.030203&sspn=0.116034,0.220757&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear =Detroit,+Wayne,+Michigan&ll=42.364363,-82.948987&spn=0.007277,0.021973&t=h&z=16&layer=c&c bll=42.366199,-82.948653&panoid=NLESC-jt_FhOvDPMFwOmtA&cbp=12,265.27,,0,6.14

[MaryleeII]

Originally Posted by Remisc

Yes, I did make the drive down there. I lived in the area by Coleman Young Airport (around French St./Van Dyke)

Was that the former Detroit City Airport? I lived on Newport, between mack & Charlevoix, its all gone now........funny, I didn't feel sad to leave, just wanted out. I never wanted to go back, have moved on. But still, I feel sad its gone, that part of my life is completely erased like it never happened.

Remember Mr. Belevedere? His home improvement company? his speciality was fixing up older houses that stlill had some life in them, he never really hit our neighborhood. I wonder if anyone has a "Belevedere home" and how those neighborhoods fared?

What killed my neighborhood was the opening of the suburbs, they just had so much more house for the money. None of the houses where I lived had more than one bathroom, we did install a flush-up toilet in the basement for "back up" but most people just had one toilet, basemments were just storage, unfinished, when they built those nice, big homes in the suburbs people just wanted there, left our little homes to rot. Its sad, they could have been fixed up and habitable today. Oh, welll..........

[Bondurant]

It's sad to read and to hear about those who return to Detroit to find their hold home/neighborhood gone or in ruin. The house my dad lived in as a youngster on Homer St in SW Detroit is still standing but I cannot speak for the quality of the neighborhood as I've never been there to see it myself.

Things like this can be prevented with determination and initiative. If able bodied persons could buy up the cheap homes, fix 'em up and move in then things could really change. I thought about doing that myself but as an unskilled laborer Detroit and Michigan in general is not economically a good bet.

[ilovemycomputer90]

Originally Posted by Bondurant

It's sad to read and to hear about those who return to Detroit to find their hold home/neighborhood gone or in ruin. The house my dad lived in as a youngster on Homer St in SW Detroit is still standing but I cannot speak for the quality of the neighborhood as I've never been there to see it myself.

Things like this can be prevented with determination and initiative. If able bodied persons could buy up the cheap homes, fix 'em up and move in then things could really change. I thought about doing that myself but as an unskilled laborer Detroit and Michigan in general is not economically a good bet.

I agree. If owners who took pride in their homes started moving into these neighborhoods, things could turn around. Whether, they're single, married, or have families. Or if several members of a family decided to move into a neighborhood in several houses, then the whole neighborhood would improve. Of course this is complete fantasy and unrealistic.

[SCBaker]

Marylee II, I lived on Eastlawn between Mack & Charlevoix. Do you remember the stores at Mack & Chalmers? The Uptown Theatre, Cunningham's drug store, Kresge's, Red Robbins dress store, Chalmer's Lunch, and many other stores?

The area was not of significant historical importance, so no pictures available in any arcihves. If, I had only known what was to become of my beloved neighborhood, I would have taken tons of pictures when I had the opporturnity. Unfortunately the images only remain in my memory.