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Fareastsider
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Post Number: 805
Registered: 08-2006
Posted on Tuesday, February 05, 2008 - 2:19 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

JJaba what about Pembroke, Curtis, Puritan, Lyndon, Fullerton, Chicago, Tireman and Paul on the west side? Or State Fair, Nevada, and Charles on the East? Not so much on the East but I have heard people refer to west side streets as 1/2 mile roads. Given most of those worked in land surveying perhaps that is why?
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Fareastsider
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Post Number: 806
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Posted on Tuesday, February 05, 2008 - 2:20 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

JJaba what about Pembroke, Curtis, Puritan, Lyndon, Fullerton, Chicago, Tireman and Paul on the west side? Or State Fair, Nevada, and Charles on the East? Not so much on the East but I have heard people refer to west side streets as 1/2 mile roads. Given most of those worked in land surveying perhaps that is why? Personally I like to know them to help me know where I am at in the Cartesian Coordinate System that is metro Detroit!
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East_detroit
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Post Number: 1455
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Posted on Tuesday, February 05, 2008 - 2:23 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Kristen Bell was on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson last night. She said she's from Detroit and said when she saw the movie she knew where 8 Mile was.... but that she grew up near "10 Mile which is 2 miles better than 8 Mile."

Craig said "Is that 2 miles harder or 2 miles softer?" and she responded "2 miles softer."
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Detroitrise
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Post Number: 1502
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Posted on Tuesday, February 05, 2008 - 5:50 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Fareastsider, Greiner/Nevada and State Fair are the eastside.

They are all technically 1/2 mile roads.
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Jjaba
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Post Number: 6089
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Posted on Tuesday, February 05, 2008 - 6:03 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Nobody calls Fullerton 3.5, Lyndon 4.5, Puritan 5.5, Curtis Rd. 6.5, nor Pembroke 7.5 mile roads.
The onliest place jjaba has ever heard of this is in suburbs.

For example, Lincoln Rd. in Oak Park is often called 10.5 Mile Rd. When I first heard that, I thought maybe it was a Chasidic Jewish conspiracy to confuse the Goyim. But then jjaba was in Hazeltucky and was told the ice rink was on 9.5 near Dequindre, near the horse race track. Sure enough, Andre' had my Tigers tickets. Andre' doesn't know from Woodward Heights Rd. which is what the sign says.

jjaba.
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Ray1936
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Post Number: 2675
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Posted on Tuesday, February 05, 2008 - 6:15 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"My favorite road that changes names--Coolidge in Oakland County to Schaefer in Detroit to Coolidge in River Rouge."

The mystery behind this one is that before Detroit annexed that area (it was Greenfield Township), the road was called "Coolidge" all through what is now Detroit and Dearborn. The puzzle is why DETROIT renamed it, and not the 'burbs.
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Jjaba
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Post Number: 6092
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Posted on Tuesday, February 05, 2008 - 6:19 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Because Mrs. Schaefer's cow tipped over a latern. Dearborn Arabs can't pronouncce Coolidge.

jjaba, that's why.
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Ro_resident
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Post Number: 298
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Posted on Tuesday, February 05, 2008 - 7:02 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Another oddity in western Oakland County. Maple Road becomes West Maple Road as you travel west.

In downtown Walled Lake, the city uses directional separators (with Pontiac Trail being the divider) so buildings are addressed West West Maple Road and East West Maple Road in town.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f= q&hl=en&geocode=&q=walled+lake +mi&ie=UTF8&ll=42.53841,-83.48 0988&spn=0.015874,0.033817&z=1 5&om=0

I have no clue as to how locals deal with the double prefix.
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Jjaba
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Post Number: 6094
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Posted on Tuesday, February 05, 2008 - 9:06 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Ro resident. That's really amazing.
Walled Lake? Where does a fellow find work way out there. We here tales of migration up there.

jjaba.
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Novine
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Post Number: 422
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Posted on Tuesday, February 05, 2008 - 11:45 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

If you really want to have fun, follow that Google Map link WEST - you'll go from West West Maple to West Maple to East Maple and then back to West Maple before Kensington Metropark puts an end to the whole goofy trip.

Baseline AKA 8 Mile often stops and starts but if you go far enough west, it will take you to the shore of Lake Michigan in South Haven. Send us all a postcard from the beach.
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Yaktown
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Post Number: 299
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Posted on Tuesday, February 05, 2008 - 11:48 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I grew up in Commerce/Walled Lake area and have NEVER heard of it referred to as W. West Maple Road. East West Maple Road yes but then again everyone just called it Maple Road. That stretch of Maple Road between Ladd Road and Pontiac Trail was only recently built. Next time I'm over that way I'll check the road signs. There is also a 12½ Mile Road west of Novi Road. It's only about a half-mile long and is a dirt road. Love all these oddities, thanks for the thread.
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Jrvass
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Username: Jrvass

Post Number: 448
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Posted on Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 12:33 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

13 mile between Middlebelt and Orchard Lake used to be fun years ago when it was dirt. There was a big hill just before Orchard Lake Rd.

If you got going fast enough travelling W. from Middlebelt, you could get your car airborne for a few seconds before having to hit the brakes and stop at Orchard Lake!

Weee!
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Fishtoes2000
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Post Number: 406
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Posted on Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 12:48 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

There is also an 8 1/2 Mile Road in Southfield near Lahser.
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Jimaz
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Post Number: 4448
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Posted on Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 12:49 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Airborne cars, yeah. That's where it's at.

Let's do it again! :-)
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Jjaba
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Post Number: 6098
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Posted on Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 1:48 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Lahser is pronounced "Lash-er" in Detroit. We know there are students who claim it is Lah-ser High School but we know better. We can't help it they spell it wrong.

jjaba, Old Timey Westsider tell it like it tis.
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Hudkina
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Post Number: 118
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Posted on Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 2:25 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Wyandotte is notorious for changing the names of their roads.

W. Jefferson = Biddle
Northline Rd (-8 Mile Rd) = Ford Ave
Eureka Rd (-9 Mile Rd) = Eureka Ave
Leroy Rd (-9.5 Mile Rd) = Grove St
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Jrvass
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Post Number: 455
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Posted on Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 3:06 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Hall = Huron = Highland = M-59
Big Beaver = Quarton
Wattles = Lone Pine
Middlebelt = Merriman

The list is endless.
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Jman
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Post Number: 118
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Posted on Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 4:17 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I think you mean Merriman = Orchard Lake
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Jjaba
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Post Number: 6103
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Posted on Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 6:53 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Hudkina, does anybody downriver actually say Minus Mile Roads or are there any street signs to this effect? If not, how can we speak of something that doesn't exist in cultural practice or signing?

jjaba, standing at Six and Wyoming..
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Detroitrise
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Post Number: 1518
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Posted on Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 7:04 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Jjaba, actually the grid is set up like that (as Hudkina states).

Wikipedia says so:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M ile_road_system

Hud is just saying Minus to not confuse those mile roads with the ones going north. Most people in SE Michigan don't consider those streets going south mile roads since they're not so obvious.
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Jrvass
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Post Number: 458
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Posted on Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 8:06 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yeah, Merriman-Orchard Lake, my memory fades in and out due to a stroke in 2002 and having to change out a truck battery in 4-shifts today. It is 1/2 frozen. (So are my feet!)

I spend a 1/2 hour-hour unscrewing this & that, and reassembling this & that... until I get cold. Then I come inside.
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Jjaba
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Post Number: 6107
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Posted on Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 9:19 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Thanks Detroitrise. So the designations are for some geography class, not what anybody on the streets would know, probably not even the UPS driver.

jjaba, at Six and Southfield in Detroit.
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Thesweetlycool
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Post Number: 3
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Posted on Thursday, February 07, 2008 - 1:49 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Northwest burbs is where it's at. Im from Wixom and I agree with Yaktown that no one refers to Maple as W. West Maple, it's just Maple or sometimes W Maple.

Maple also starts to slide south though Walled Lake and then shoots north again going into Milford Twp. It creates some oddities since you expect it to be a grid, and it's not.
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Professorscott
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Post Number: 1075
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Posted on Thursday, February 07, 2008 - 3:19 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"Wikipedia says so"? What the hell is that? That means "Somebody with internet access says so".

Overall, a very interesting discussion.

I know Fenkell, once you get to Livonia, is Five Mile Road, but does any road south of that (in metro Detroit) officially have the name X Mile Road at all? Or is Five the lowest number actually found on a street sign?

There's a great story about Father McNichols and how he bought the U of D property, if you want to hear it (since Jjaba is on the road named for him). The Marathon station on the NE corner of Livernois and West McNichols was the turnaround for the Trumbull streetcar incidentally.
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Mikem
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Username: Mikem

Post Number: 3583
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Posted on Thursday, February 07, 2008 - 3:46 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Professor Scott, here is the story from a thread about the U of D area:

quote:

Another important feature of today's landscape, the University of Detroit, was gradually moved during the 1920's from its original downtown site to the present campus in Fitzgerald. The campus occupied land once owned by Gildersleeve Hurd, but most recently by the Horkey family. The Horkeys had several farmhouses, one, the oldest, on Livernois and three on Six Mile. Their land, partially boggy at first, had gradually been improved and agricultural production had intensified with the coming of truck farming. The Horkeys had gone in for green onions in a big way, and had prospered. Except for the elder Horkey's anti-theism, the family was highly conservative.

When Father McNichols, who led the move of the University to its present campus, came to purchase the property, the assembled Horkeys insisted on payment in one dollar bills. Father McNichols was stunned, but evidently retained his practicality, for he and his aides dutifully marched off to the bank and returned with an enormous was of one dollar bills, which the Horkeys counted carefully. After the papers had been signed and the Father had departed, the Horkey family carefully divided the money into small piles, rushed out to the hen house, and placed the piles under various nesting hens. There were enough country slickers around so that the farmers were afraid of robbery, and the entire male contingent of the Horkey clan stood armed guard in the hen house all night, waiting for the bank to open in the morning.

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Detroitrise
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Post Number: 1528
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Posted on Thursday, February 07, 2008 - 3:58 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Professorscott:

1. That was a bit of sidebark humor. Apparently, you lack the sense for it.

2. No. About the mile roads going south. however, they are all 1 mile S. of the next.
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Professorscott
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Post Number: 1076
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Posted on Thursday, February 07, 2008 - 4:01 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Mike,

It's even better than that. The story you gave is correct, but missing a cute detail.

Fr. McNichols and another priest drove to the Horkeys' place with a deputy sheriff providing guard. They were carrying a leather satchel, and when they met with Mr. Horkey, Fr. McNichols opened the satchel and dumped it out on the table. To the horror of the other priest and Mr. Horkey, what poured out was a large quantity of shredded newsprint!

Fr. McNichols then calmly started to empty the pockets of his coat, vest and slacks of the money, which he had there hid.

Story from the late Fr. Herman Mueller, historian and author, whom I had the pleasure of dining with on occasion.

Prof. Scott
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Mikem
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Post Number: 3584
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Posted on Thursday, February 07, 2008 - 4:09 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Thanks Prof.

BTW, Caniff used to be Four Mile Road long before the city limits extended that far north.
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Jjaba
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Username: Jjaba

Post Number: 6112
Registered: 11-2003
Posted on Thursday, February 07, 2008 - 4:11 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Great stories. So about when did the Trumbull streetcars cease to operate to Six and Livernois?

Father Mc Nichols was big, but not so big that we changed the name from Six Mile Rd. in our hearts.
Maybe the key is diversity because Fenkell is Fenkell in our hearts. He was Water Commission as jjaba recalls. Nobody says "Five Mile Rd." in Detroit. It's Fenkell! As for Livonia, who cares? jjaba's never been that far out of town.

jjaba waiting at Six and Livernois.
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Professorscott
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Post Number: 1077
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Posted on Thursday, February 07, 2008 - 4:55 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Jjaba,

On June 19, 1951, the last Trumbull Streetcar turned around in front of the University. The next day, and still to this day (though no longer 24 hours a day), the Linwood coach began running on precisely the same route as the streetcar had run, a route which has not changed in 56 years.

For such the Professor always visits detroittransithistory.info, a wonderful source of all such things, compiled by a former DDOT employee. (I think "former".)

Prof. Scott
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Hamtragedy
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Post Number: 77
Registered: 10-2007
Posted on Friday, February 08, 2008 - 1:33 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I read somewhere that 8 Mile Road, (Baseline Road) extended west is the Illinois-Wisconsin border.

"Wayne County was the third organized in the Norhtwest Territories. It was established 8/15/1796. When organized Wayne County consisted of nearly all of the State of Michigan, and portions of Ohio, Indiana, and Wisconsin"

-Manual County of Wayne Michigan 1930, Dept of Systems and Reports, Board of County Auditors, Det. MI; pp 23 & 24
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Jjaba
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Post Number: 6121
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Posted on Friday, February 08, 2008 - 1:51 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Hamtragedy, the Wisconsin-Illinois border is more like at 11.5 Mile Road in Oakland County.
It gets you pretty close to South Haven, Michigan.

Eight Mile Rd. does separate that whole third tier of Michigan Counties across the state.

jjaba.
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Stinger4me
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Username: Stinger4me

Post Number: 172
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Posted on Friday, February 08, 2008 - 4:44 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Does anybody recall the name, "Baseline Rd"?
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Novine
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Post Number: 426
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Posted on Friday, February 08, 2008 - 11:29 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

It's still called Baseline Road out here in the Northville/Novi area. I think it's signed that way at 8 Mile and Haggerty and where 8 Mile jogs north going through Northville, the original route takes the Baseline Road name:

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF 8&ll=42.438439,-83.479271&spn= 0.01213,0.029182&z=15&om=0

If you go further west (Jackson and points west), almost all of the road segments that follow the Baseline are named Baseline Road. Only in the Detroit area west to Whitmore Lake is 8 Mile more common that Baseline.
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Lopsidedfrock
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Username: Lopsidedfrock

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Posted on Friday, February 08, 2008 - 5:50 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Is anyone familiar with this approximately north-south oddity, 3 Mile Drive, 3 blocks west of Outer Drive's eastern terminus?

http://maps.google.com/maps?f= q&hl=en&geocode=&q=3+mile+road +detroit&sll=37.0625,-95.67706 8&sspn=32.527387,59.765625&ie= UTF8&ll=42.403305,-82.938881&s pn=0.029598,0.058365&t=h&z=14& iwloc=addr&om=0

An inferiority complex, perhaps?

It is 2.7 miles in length.
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Rocketwhit
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Post Number: 23
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Posted on Friday, February 08, 2008 - 8:05 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

8 1/2 MILE RD OFF VANDYKE IS TOEPFER

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