Have you thought about how the busy concrete intersection may have once been a dirt road?
How about that building over there? What was there before?
I think these thoughts all the time.
Even while waiting at a red light in my car I look around and wonder what this exact spot looked like 100 or more years ago.
You see, most of the buildings from a century (and before) in my city of Eastpointe have been long torn down; I'm an old soul living in a very modern suburban city.
So I decided to do some super-sleuthing and find out about the ghosts of buildings past.
As a board member of my local historical society, I have access to the hundreds of original photographs in the archives. As I made the attempt to piece the 100+ year old puzzle together and align the photos in some sort of order, an idea popped into my head:
why not try to locate the original location of the buildings pictured in the old photographs? In that way I can actually *see* what was originally in that spot, thus allowing me to live out (to an extent) my fantasy of traveling back in time while in my own hometown.
To take it a bit further, I took photographs as close as possible to where the photographers once stood way back when.
The following photographs are my results:
NW corner of Gratiot Blvd & 9 Mile Rd THEN
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| St. Peter's Lutheran Church This church was razed and the cemetery was relocated to the new St. Peters located almost directly across Gratiot Ave. Halfway was the original name of my hometown of Eastpointe. It was changed to East Detroit in 1929 and then to Eastpointe in 1991. NW corner of Gratiot & 9 Mile NOW - A BP gas station |
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~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 9 Mile Rd looking west from Gratiot Blvd THEN |
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It was just a country lane known as School Road because there were
multiple schools along this road within a relatively short distance from
each other. Note the wood-plank sidewalk. This photo was taken around
1900. 9 Mile Rd looking west from Gratiot NOW. |
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| No longer a country lane, 9 Mile and Gratiot is a very busy intersection. And schools are still located along this strip. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ |
This was the west side of Southbound Gratiot THEN.
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| Eastpointe was a rural country town where one could buy, sell, or trade horses here. The inter-urban tracks were laid in the early 20th century photo. |
The west side of Southbound Gratiot NOW.
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| Here is the exact same location of the previous picture - The horse market is long gone... That spot is now part of the parking lot of a shopping plaza ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ SE corner of Gratiot Blvd. and 9 Mile THEN. |
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| "Then" being in the 1930's. If you look to the left of the brick Kaiser building you will see a framed structure. That was the original school house that was moved from its location along 9 Mile to here in the 1920's. It has since been moved back to within 100 feet of where it was originally stood and beautifully restored (see link at bottom of post) |
SE corner of Gratiot Blvd and 9 Mile NOW
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The original Kaiser building was razed a few years ago and an ugly Rite Aid was built in its place ugghhh!!! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Gratiot Blvd. just south of 9 mile THEN. |
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| This is even before the brick Kaiser building from the above "THEN" photo! How cool it would be to see my hometown during the late 19th or early 20th century! Notice the portion of the Ameis Hardware store on the extreme right |
Gratiot just south of 9 mile NOW.
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| Bland and boring... ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ |
I guess I have an old soul indeed.
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Great post! I just moved to 10 Mile & Hayes and frequently drive and walk by the intersection featured here. At least the old First State Bank to the south of the new Rite Aid is still standing.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me like there isn't as much appreciation for history on the east side as there is on the west side. With a little more forethought, Eastpointe could've been a rival to Ferndale, but at this point it's too late as it looks like most of the older buildings have been razed to make way for strip malls and other modern developments. Historic Mt. Clemens, too, is struggling, while Partridge Creek is the area's new "boom town", ha ha.
It's a shame, but what are you going to do?
You hit the nail right on the head!
ReplyDeleteEastpointe had its chance and now it is probably gone for good...and that's a shame!
Damn great post...I grew up and was raised right down the street from city hall. I always wondered how eastpointe would look when it was called halfway
ReplyDeleteGreat post. I've just recently purchased a building on 9 Mile and have been looking to get information on what it previously was. Is there somewhere I can go to get some information about it? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteDaniel
Yes, Daniel. You can get in touch with Mayor Suzanne Pixley - she is the resident Eastpointe historian.
ReplyDeleteAwesome historical v/s modern info graphic. I attended grades 6th through 12th in the northeast corner of east Detroit. Before that I was born and came of age in the rural township on macomb in the late eighties. I witnessed firsthand the destructive transition from rural to suburban along 23 mile red. Between north avenue and romeo plank.
ReplyDelete