Detroit once boasted some of the most expensive homes in the United States, so what happened? Hi
everyone, Ken here, welcome to "This House"! Today we are exploring Millionaire’s Row in
Detroit’s Brush Park Neighborhood. We are getting so close to 100,000 subscibers! Make
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Chapter 1: Quiet Streets & Clean Air
In the mid 1800s, Detroit was seeing an economic boom. Construction of new homes and buildings was
a daily occurrence as the densely populated city began to rapidly expand. What were once considered
the suburbs were becoming increasingly urban with every new build, so the wealthy residents
sought larger lots where they could spread out and enjoy quiet streets with clean air. That’s
when Edmond Brush, the son of Detroit’s second mayor had an idea. His father had purchased a long
narrow tract of land in 1806 to use as a family farm, but now, in the 1850s, their once remote
farm was now at the edge of the ever expanding city. Edmond began planning out a neighborhood,
but not just any neighborhood. It would boast large lots along wide avenues that were lined with
elm trees and only large, ornate mansions would be allowed to be built. His idea was an instant
success and Detroit’s wealthiest residents quickly bought up and developed the lots.
Architects and craftsmen arrived by the dozens, some considered to be the finest in the world,
to create masterpieces in an ideal setting. By the 1880s, the neighborhood of brush park had
gained the nick name, The Little Paris of the Midwest, and for good reason. Not only
were there elaborate mansions, but religious buildings started popping up such as Temple
Beth El designed from solid stone blocks with imposing architecture demanding a sense of
permanence. Nearby the first Presbyterian Church towered overhead with its Romanesque proportions
dwarfing the human scale. But regardless of one’s faith, every child in the neighborhood
attended the same school, the prestigious Irving Elementary School. Brush Park was now a thriving
upscale neighborhood with some of the most desirable addresses in the entire world.
Taking a walk down Alfred street, you would have seen some of the most beautiful homes to have
ever been built. Such as the architecturally flamboyant George Jerome House which had been
built in the beaux arts style with Eastlake influences across its limestone façade.
Following the wrought iron fence down the perfectly manicured lawns, next door was James
Campbell’s House, a stately home which appeared almost understated between the neighboring homes.
As you continued down the street, not only did the homes become larger, but the lots they sat
on did as well such as the home of one of the nations most powerful attorneys at the time,
Elisha Taylor whose Gothic Revival style mansion sat on a double lot. In his later
years, Elisha was known to dress in a tuxedo with a top hat and wonder the
streets at which point the neighborhood children would escort him back home.
The neighborhood was a melting pot of contemporary architecture,
with each of the 300 plus mansions looking entirely unique. At the Albert Eugene Fay
White house, we can see a horse tied to a hitching post outside the stately
Italianate residence on a corner lot, a location which people paid a premium for.
One of the residents of Brush Park was Russell McLauchlin who grew up attending
Irving Elementary during the peak of the neighborhood. Later in his life,
he wrote about the neighborhood’s golden years, “On a summer’s evening there was no front porch
unoccupied. The front porch brought all these neighbors into a single, close-knit community,
as if one pleasant sitting-room had stretched, quite unobstructed, for a quarter mile.”
In addition to Russel’s description, before the days of ice cream trucks,
a man known as D. Peters would sing in the streets as his pony carted around a popcorn
wagon. The neighborhood children would hear him singing and come running out from their houses,
penny in hand, to buy a bag of popcorn. Life seemed to be perfect in Brush Park,
the kind of neighborhood everyone dreams of living in but few can ever afford, so what happened?
Chapter 2: Automobiles
At the turn of century, automobiles were quickly replacing the days of horse drawn
carriages which allowed people to live further away from the city centers. What was once a
full days trip reasonably became a morning commute. Wealthy residents moved further out,
purchased larger lots, and built even larger, more modern homes,
one by one abandoning the neighborhood. The once grand mansions were now viewed as outdated as many
of them did not have electricity and were costly to maintain, so no buyers could be found. By 1920,
every single house along Alfred Street had been converted into a boarding house where factory
workers could cheaply rent a room while they established a new life in Detroit.
By the 1950s most of the homes had started to fall apart with many of them having boarded up
windows and leaking roofs. One by one houses were torn down for safety reasons and paved over to
create parking lots for nearby factories. Many of the houses that did survive throughout the years
ended up being torn down for the construction of the Fisher Freeway and the Woodward Widening.
The once great Christian churches had burned down and the grand Jewish temples
had been defaced. The only homes that were left were mere husks,
rotting away with the only memories of former glory slipping as they caved in on
themselves. Brush park was now a desolate wasteland, ridden with criminal activity,
the kind of place that no reasonable person would ever voluntarily travel to.
In 2005, the city of Detroit stepped up to save what was left of the dwindling neighborhood.
They stabilized many of the remaining abandoned houses. Following the stabilization, a 70 million
dollar development was announced to revitalize the area with new housing and amenities. Since then,
there has been a renewed interest in restoring the remaining homes of Brush Park. Such as the
Ransom Gillis House, one of the most extreme restoration projects to be seen in Detroit when
Nicole Curtis televised her restoration process on the TV show Rehab Addict. Her actions have since
inspired several other people to purchase and restore abandoned homes in Brush Park. Hopefully,
this is the beginning of a resurgence for the neighborhood as a new community
strives to preserve what is left for future generations. Do you think it
is possible to turn Brush Park around and recapture the once thriving neighborhood,
or do you think it is too far gone? Let me know down below in the comments section.
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