The Continued and Unfortunate Modernization of Downtown Plymouth

If you've been to downtown Plymouth, Michigan in the past hundred years you've seen the Saxton's property at the corner of Ann Arbor Trail and Harvey Street. Previous to that it and the various stores which have occupied the buildings-from Jack's Corner Bookstore to Dave's Train Shop and Hobbies, etc.- it was the Jewell and Blaich Hall. Now it's more or less a municipal parking lot.

Today, when driving downtown for the first time in several months I noticed that the three apartment complex houses had been razed in the first steps in the further advancement of urban sprawl around Kellogg Park. Having spent a lot of time in Plymouth when my father worked at DeHoCo and lived in the township, myself having lived there for a good 6 or 7 years, am always aghast at the so-called progress of the city toward the ruination of its charm. From the demolition of the Mayflower Hotel and its rehabilitation into a bevy of corporate stores to the high-end and gaudy restaurants and shops along Main Street it's hard to envision a worse fate than complete abandonment or ruin.

I spent much of a year in the early 1990s in an apartment at the house next door to the Saxton's buildings. It wasn't a monumental year of triumph living in a cramped apartment with a girlfriend and a fat cat named Moe who ate bagels with me on Saturday mornings while I did jigsaw puzzles but it has to be better than living in a staid, upper class townhouse at any stage of your existence.

Back in the day somebody roamed the upper floor of the Saxton's building which must have been an apartment or a loft. My girlfriend would complain that she felt like we were being watched as the bottom floor bedroom was in a direct view down from the brick windows sat up high. I told her to relax and give them a show if they were so inclined to creep. She had zero intention of granting my or their wish much to the consternation of at least one party involved. Honestly, I don't remember having many good times there at all except for the mornings spent with the brother cat of my own feline named Larry, a strange tom in his own right.

Anyway, I figured that I should document the loss of these three historic properties which suffered the cruel fate of many old homes as sequestered apartments denatured from their own distinct origins. In a few years they'll disappear from Google and then likely from the public consciousness altogether. The loss isn't so much a sentimental longing for the past as is it a rued future which already has encroached into territory evoking neither shadow or substance (and certainly not the necessity of circumstance) while leaving historical value completely in the lurch.

Comments

A Dudley Randall Poem in Milestone 2

I bought this Milestone 2 poetry Magazine at a Livonia estate sale this week. Milestone was the literary publication of Wayne (State) University and this second issue dates to 1949. While I don't recognize most of the names, Dudley Randall was both a nationally known poet and the librarian for the Wayne County General Hospital at Eloise via the Wayne County Library System. The poem featured is The Southern Road which was a revised version of the completed poem from 1948 that h as a handful or two of word differences between the two. I don't know if Randall edited the poem for later collected works editions or earlier but this link features it in its likely final form in 2009. Neither version particularly enchants me but the block print in the magazine is an added bonus.

A Cabinet Card of a Dead Man Lying in Repose From Wayne Photographer Susan Doolittle

The City of Wayne, Michigan was not a large village at the turn of the 20th century so it stands to reason that there wasn't a glut of photographers practicing their trade there. As such, the 3 cabinet cards and carte de visites that I own represents roughly a quarter of the early ones. Considering that the wives of Frank Hickok and William Corlett, first Village President of Wayne, took over after Frank's death in 1892 the list grows smaller beyond those two families. Had I snagged the Doolittle dead man cabinet card I'd be even that much more Wayne-rich in photographs. Speaking of Susan Doolittle, of whom I have learned very little about, it is interesting to note that Wayne had three women photographers in an era oft dominated by men in that very field. This photograph of a corpse is a startling example of her work.

Frederick Soop: Not An Equal Opportunity Restraunteer

Detroit Free Press , March 28, 1890 If you don't want to hear a racist tale of a suburban namesake then close your eyes now. As early as 1876 Frederick Soop had left his Belleville farm once again, having done a stint at the Hawkins House in Ypsilanti during the Civil War and the City Hotel in Detroit thereafter, and ventured off to Chatham, Ontario to run the Rutley Hotel , which was conducted as a Temperance House. Detroit Free Press , August 17, 1879 In 1879 he was searching for a good restaurant or small hotel to operate. Eventually he ended up on Washington Avenue near State Street running a dining hall which he ran until around 1890. Detroit Free Press , April 16, 1890 It was in 1888 when the aforementioned racial incident occurred at his dining establishment. It was then that William H. Haynes, a black doctor, sat down with his former classmate S. W. Barkwell for dinner. The men ordered but when the food was served none was placed before Mr. Haynes who, ironically, ha...

The Nankin Township Historical Society

Search This Blog