Jefferson-Chalmers Historic Business District

Jefferson-Chalmers Historic Business District

Jefferson streetscape looking west toward Chalmers
Location E. Jefferson Ave. between Eastlawn St. and Alter Rd.
Detroit, Michigan
 United States
Coordinates 42°22′26″N 82°56′34″W / 42.37389°N 82.94278°W / 42.37389; -82.94278Coordinates: 42°22′26″N 82°56′34″W / 42.37389°N 82.94278°W / 42.37389; -82.94278
Area 29 acres (12 ha)
Architect multiple
Architectural style Early Commercial, Late Gothic Revival
NRHP Reference # 04000598[1]
Added to NRHP June 16, 2004

The Jefferson-Chalmers Historic Business District is a historic district located on East Jefferson Avenue between Eastlawn Street and Alter Road in Detroit, Michigan. The district is the only continuously intact commercial district remaining along East Jefferson Avenue, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.[1]

The Historic Jefferson-Chalmers Business District is one of a few early twentieth-century neighborhood commercial districts that still survive in Detroit.[2] During the 1920s, this district along Jefferson was the center of the east-side neighborhood's commercial, social, and cultural life.[2] The district is unique in that two big-band era ballrooms, the cultural fulcrums of the early 20th century social scene, still exist within the district: the Monticello and the Vanity Ballroom.[2]

Nomenclature

The Jefferson East neighborhood of Detroit is bounded by Alter Road on the east, St. Jean Street on the west, Charlevoix Street on the north, and the Detroit River on the south.[3] Jefferson Avenue runs approximately through the center of the Jefferson East neighborhood, and is primarily commercial in nature for thirteen blocks from Dickerson Street to Alter Road. This section of Jefferson Avenue is also known as the Jefferson East Business District.[3] Historically significant structures exist along Jefferson Avenue for eight blocks from Conner to Alter Road; this section of the Jefferson East Business District is designated as the Jefferson-Chalmers Historic Business District.

History

East Jefferson Avenue was originally an Indian trail running along the Detroit River. As French settlers established ribbon farms along the river in the 1700s, the trail morphed into the River Road connecting the farms with Fort Detroit. The area that is now within this district was at the time a marshy section surrounding Fox Creek, and so was relatively sparsely settled. In the 1800s, the Jefferson-Chalmers area gradually became more agricultural as the swamp was drained. In 1851, a plank road was built along Jefferson from Detroit to Grosse Pointe, with a toll bridge over Fox Creek. Roadhouses were built along the road, including, by 1876, a saloon located on the south side of East Jefferson Avenue near Fox Creek, within what is now this historic district. Other roadhouses were established in the area in the alter 1800s.[4]

In 1874, draining of the surrounding swamp began in earnest, spurred in part by prominent Detroit attorney William B. Moran, who owned much of the land. By the 1880s, Moran had built Edgewood Road (now Alter) to access his summer resort on the river. In 1891, a streetcar line was built through the district, connecting Detroit and Grosse Pointe. That same year, the land in the district began to be subdivided, and by 1893 a number of streets crossing Jefferson had been platted. However, by the early 1900s, only a handful of houses had been constructed. However, in 1907 the area was annexed to Detroit, and by 1910 a number of industrial concerns had been established in the Connor Creek area, just west of the district. The rise of industry resulted in a rapid influx of residents, and the Jefferson-Chalmers Historic Business District now began to grow rapidly as a result.[4]

By 1913, a number of commercial buildings had been constructed in the district, including the 1912 W.J. Hiller Building (14350-56 E. Jefferson), one of the oldest buildings still extant in the district. Businesses included a tailor, hardware store, drug store, physicians, grocers, and dry goods. Also by 1913, a small frame St. Columba church was constructed on Manistique. Two years later saw an explosion of developemnt in the Jefferson-Chalmers area, with a string of commercial buildings constructed along Jefferson. Automobile-related businesses also were constructed in the district in the later 1910s, as well as religious buildings. Construction in the district and the surrounding neighborhoods continued into the 1920s, spurred in art by the Chrysler Motor Company's construction of a huge nearby factory. A number of apartments were built in the district to house the influx of workers.[4]

The Great Depression ended the construction boom in the district, but business began to revive later in the 1930s with the establishment of stores in the area. The Jefferson-Chalmers area continued to thrive through the 1940s and 1950s, but in 1954 the nearby Hudson Motors plant closed, starting a slow decline in economic fortunes. The loss of jobs was exacerbated by the loss of residents as more people left Detroit for the nearby suburbs. The decline lasted through the 1970s and into the 1980s, but in the 1990s, there was a reinvestment in the area, with new residential and retail construction.[4]

The district has recently seen a resurgence, with a Michigan Cool Cities grant,[5] five million dollars worth of streetscape improvements, and rehabilitation of a number of anchor buildings in the district, such as the Platte Warehouse at Jefferson and Ashland and the Chalmers Building at Jefferson and Chalmers.[6]

Description

Jefferson streetscape looking east from Newport

The Jefferson-Chalmers Historic Business District contains 57 buildings bordering East Jefferson Avenue, running for eight blocks between Eastlawn Street and Alter Road, at the border between Detroit and Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan. Most of the buildings front onto Jefferson, but a few front onto side streets in the block adjacent to Jefferson. Most of the structures are two-story, multi-storefront commercial buildings, dating from the 1910s and 1920s, but the district also includes apartment buildings and churches, and houses two ballrooms: the Vanity and the Monticello. The buildings lining Jefferson generally fill the entire lot, fronting directly onto the sidewalk and sharing walls with adjacent buildings, creating an unbroken streetfront. [4]

Significant structures include:[4]

Churches

Apartment Buildings

Ballrooms

Commercial Buildings

Cityscape

The housing consists of bungalows and Arts and Crafts houses built in the early 20th Century. John Carlisle (Detroitblogger John) of the Metro Times said that the houses "still have beauty and character despite weathering over the years". Most blocks have many owner occupied houses and mowed lawns. There are some vacant lots alongside streets and some boarded-up foreclosed houses.[7] Recently Kathy Makino-Leipsitz, owner of Shelborne Development, completed full rehabilitations on three buildings located on Jefferson Avenue opening up 49 - 1, 2 & 3 bedroom apartments.[8]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. 1 2 3 THE EASTSIDE’S BIGGEST SUMMER STREET PARTY EXPANDS TO TWO DAYS -- JUNE 22 and 23 from Tell Us Detroit
  3. 1 2 Jefferson East Business Association (JEBA) from ModelD
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Rebecca Binno; Marilyn Florek; Marleen Tulas (March 17, 2003), NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES REGISTRATION FORM: Jefferson-Chalmers Historic Business District
  5. ↑ Michigan Cool Cities Pilot Program Executive Summary--Jefferson East Business Association
  6. ↑ Santiago Esparza, "Far east side revels in its revitalization," The Detroit News, June 23, 2007
  7. ↑ Carlisle, John (Detroitblogger John). "Street fightin' man." Metro Times. February 17, 2010. Retrieved on February 20, 2010.
  8. ↑ http://detroit.curbed.com/tags/shelborne-development-detroit
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