  Livedog2 Member Username: Livedog2 Post Number: 344 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 24.223.133.177 |
What can anyone tell me about the street address numbering system(s) in the City of Detroit? How were they set up, have they been changed, if they had been changed how can you correlate between the old numbers and the new. Again, if they had been changed how often and when and what is the logic used in designating the numbers. What were the starting points and how were new streets and structures handled? What are the oldest streets and is there a map that shows the dates that streets were added to the city?  Livedog2 | ||
Fury13 Member Username: Fury13 Post Number: 1100 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 69.222.11.226 |
The old numbering system (in use up until December, 1920) was similar to Manhattan's in New York City. Numbering started at 1 at the origin of the street and progressed from there. Addresses in the same block on parallel streets often didn't line up under that system, because parallel streets often didn't begin off of the same artery or side street. For example, a house numbered "128" on one street might back up to a house numbered "315" on a parallel street. On Jan. 1, 1921, a new numbering system was instituted (more similar to Chicago's, where a grid system organized addresses by blocks). This is essentially the system we have now. It was extended to some of the suburbs (primarily Macomb County, western Wayne County, and part of Oakland County) as well. Some buildings still have both the old and new numbers on them. Check out the Renaud apartment building on Second at Hancock for a great example. The oldest streets are obviously those in the city center and immediately surrounding neighborhoods. Grand Boulevard was the outer rim of the city circa 1900. Detroit's early boom years were from about 1910-1930; most original buildings/houses just outside the Grand Boulevard loop were built in that era (i.e., Boston-Edison, North End, etc.). A notable exception is Indian Village, which was started as an exclusive neighborhood well outside the perimeter of the boulevard in the late 1890s (although most of the housing is also 1910-1930). | ||
Irish_mafia Member Username: Irish_mafia Post Number: 530 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 70.229.40.99 |
Even numbers are on the opposite side of the street from the odd numbers | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 2588 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 68.43.15.105 |
http://mipolonia.net/old_new_a ddys/old_new_addys.htm | ||
Reetz12 Member Username: Reetz12 Post Number: 59 Registered: 09-2005 Posted From: 68.40.172.108 |
Some of the main arteries out of the city are numbered to let you know what mile road to find an address. Example Beach Grill in ST. Clair Shores on 24420 Jefferson. You take the first to numbers "24" minus 5 then divide by 2 will give you the mile road it is at. 9 1/2 mile. This also works for gratiot, grosebeck, woodward and many others streets running out of the city. | ||
Hamtramck_steve Member Username: Hamtramck_steve Post Number: 2998 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 68.73.58.171 |
Generally, all of the addresses are run that way going north, even ones on the residential streets. It's true in all of Macomb County except for some very tiny sections immediately around old villages and in Mt. Clemens. Oakland County is too good for such a simple thing, so it stops working around 11 or 12 Mile. | ||
Jiminnm Member Username: Jiminnm Post Number: 667 Registered: 02-2005 Posted From: 68.35.85.184 |
If I remember correctly, for many years house numbers were assigned by Detroit Edison (using the above rules). I guess the assumption was that every new house would have electricity and numbers weren't important until mail had to be delivered (builders used lot numbers until then). I don't think this is now the case. | ||
Livedog2 Member Username: Livedog2 Post Number: 347 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 24.223.133.177 |
Thanks all; this is helpful because I was doing some family genealogy and I kept coming up with different street numbers on the same street in the R.L.Polk Directories and it didn’t make any sense. Does anyone know if the Burton Historical Records have been put online or if they haven’t are there any plans to do it anytime soon? Livedog2 | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 2269 Registered: 08-2004 Posted From: 4.229.81.49 |
Isn't the worlds highest address (according to the Guiness Book of World Records) something like 82,000 in northern Macomb County (or beyond?) and is a continuation of the Detroit numbering system?? | ||
Livedog2 Member Username: Livedog2 Post Number: 352 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 24.223.133.177 |
I have been looking and Googling and researching trying to find something that associates street names and addresses but mostly street names with the dates they were given names. Sounds like a good project -- maybe I can get a Block Grant from the U.S. Government to do the research. If I do I'm going to hire Mikem, Hornwrecker and Andrew from the Canadian side. Livedog2  | ||
Ron Member Username: Ron Post Number: 173 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 66.174.79.228 |
Don't the streets running east and west have addresses that start at 1 at woodward and escalate from there? | ||
Hornwrecker Member Username: Hornwrecker Post Number: 1226 Registered: 04-2005 Posted From: 63.41.8.214 |
Woodward is the dividing line from the river to McNichols, where it jogs east and follows John R northwards. Grand Blvd. starts at the river going higher towards Woodard, from both ends. Even #s: east or south side of street Odd #s: west or north side of street I have no idea about how Outer Drive is numbered. | ||
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard Post Number: 808 Registered: 10-2004 Posted From: 69.242.223.42 |
Don't the even/odd numbers switch sides of the street on E/W streets depending on whether you're east or west of John R? | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 2589 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 68.43.15.105 |
Yes. Even numbers south side of the street on east side of city, even numbers on the north side of the street on the west side. | ||
Treble484 Member Username: Treble484 Post Number: 7 Registered: 02-2006 Posted From: 69.14.92.85 |
in General as numbers increase even is on the right and odd on the left. This is a good rule of thumb. of course there are exceptions, | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 2591 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 68.43.15.105 |
Outer Drive addresses run the opposite of Grand Boulevard, increasing away from Woodward. | ||
Lowell Board Administrator Username: Lowell Post Number: 2681 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 66.167.210.191 |
A subject near and dear to my heart as a former Sears Appliance delivery driver. Each day, before we loaded the trucks, we had to map out our route so we wouldn't have to dig a refrigerator out of the back of the truck that comes off at the first stop. Woodward is indeed the big D, the divider, with the river as its axis. All numbers east, west and north start from there. A key to remember is, as noted above, the odd and even numbers are on opposite sides of the street. East of Woodward the odds are on the north side and the evens on the south. West of Woodward it is the opposite. If you know which side of Woodward you are on, that can save you a lot of grief in getting your truck on the correct side of the road in front of your house. Except in a few older urban sprawled villages, each block encompasses 100 numbers. So if you are at 1100 Whatever you know you are roughly 12 blocks from Woodward or north of the river. After awhile you learn the Mile road numbers, like 17300 = Six Mile, 19100, seven, 20300 Eight etc. When you get really good, you learn the North-South road numbers and their name sequences. When you go south of the river line, like downriver, the zero line become Cherry Hill Road, so numbers climb south and north from there and, as I recall, the odds and evens flip. All this is great -- until your go 'off the grid'. This happens in the eastside tangle of Gratiot, Gunston, Hayes and in the Pointes. Grand Blvd and Outer Drive are hopeless and Dearborn is a mess. | ||
Livedog2 Member Username: Livedog2 Post Number: 353 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 24.223.133.177 |
I think many of the oldest street names echo back to our French beginnings with many French Military names from that Napoleonic Era. Street names like – Army, Bivouac, Calvary, Dragoon, Fort, Infantry, Military, Musket, Navy, Napoleon (Baldwin Place), Regular, Volunteer, Waterloo (Antietam) and many others. There is much good history of the names of the streets in Detroit at this location: http://www.geocities.com/histm ich/streetname.html Livedog2 | ||
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard Post Number: 809 Registered: 10-2004 Posted From: 69.242.223.42 |
There's no Calvary, you religious freak... | ||
Livedog2 Member Username: Livedog2 Post Number: 354 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 24.223.133.177 |
O o o d o e o p v g s i 2 ! L | ||
Ro_resident Member Username: Ro_resident Post Number: 164 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 63.85.13.248 |
The highest (legitimate) address range that I could come up with in the region is 81660 to 81999 on Main/Memphis Ridge/M-19 from the Belle River to the city limits in Memphis. The St. Clair County side of Memphis. Detroit is interesting as you know whether you are heading towards or away from Woodward by what side even and odd numbers are on streets. Typically, even numbers are found on the north or east side of the street, and odd numbers are found on the south and west side. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 2270 Registered: 08-2004 Posted From: 4.229.105.25 |
Thanks Ro_resident.... I seem to remember that Yale Michigan had the highest address number. That would be north of where you described. | ||
Kilgore_south Member Username: Kilgore_south Post Number: 84 Registered: 05-2005 Posted From: 24.176.20.117 |
Fascinating thread! One of Detroit's many unique features is how fast the numbers increase. For example, the Fox Theater is only a mile or so north of the river, but its address is already 2211. Compare that to Chicago (another city with a grid-pattern and orderly house numbers) where the addresses progress at a much more gradual rate. The Hancock tower is about a mile north of Madison Ave. (the divider street) but its address is only 875. Not sure why this would be, but it's something different about Detroit that I kinda like. | ||
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard Post Number: 815 Registered: 10-2004 Posted From: 69.242.223.42 |
M'Waukee generally uses 8 hundred blocks per mile. Detroit has around 15 to 20 hundred blocks per mile. | ||
Focusonthed Member Username: Focusonthed Post Number: 241 Registered: 02-2006 Posted From: 209.220.229.254 |
Chicago's "blocks" are gigantic...blocks are 8 to a mile. This is why. | ||
Rustic Member Username: Rustic Post Number: 2538 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 130.132.177.245 |
Two neat things about metro-Detroit streets are: (1) the gigantic address numbers as mentioned above and (2) the intimate way metro-Detroiters rarely use "Road" "Street" "Avenue" etc. in conversation. It is usually just "Eight Mile" "McNicholls" "Fenkell" "Gratiot" "Grand River" "Livernois" "Northwestern" "Big Beaver" (esp with residential streets) ... The few exceptions (e.g. Outer Drive, West Grand Boulevard, Long Lake Road, Lakeshore Drive, Orchard Lake Rd.) sound almost formal and stuffy in comparison. "Park" "Chalfonte" "Sussex" "Pilgrim" "Wyoming" "Dix" "Balmoral" ... it just sounds so friendly. | ||
220hendrie1910 Member Username: 220hendrie1910 Post Number: 25 Registered: 02-2006 Posted From: 20.137.2.50 |
Gistok wrote:
The institution of 911 service in all parts of Ontario, including rural areas, has led to some truly huge house numbers; I have seen 6-digit numbers along some rural highways near here. Going for a million in Ottawa. |
