A Driving Tour of the Boston-Edison Historic District
by Jerald A. Mitchell
Archivist & Historian; Historic Boston-Edison Association
(Built primarily between 1905-1925)
SOME HOMES OF INTEREST
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This driving tour of the Boston-Edison neighborhood focuses on residences of some of the historically significant people who have made Boston-Edison their home. The tour consists of two parts: a loop of the eastern portion of the neighborhood, between Woodward Avenue and the Lodge Freeway, and a loop of the western portion, between the Lodge Freeway and Linwood Avenue. The eastern section covers about three-and-a-half miles of driving, the western section about six miles.
WOODWARD AVENUE TO LODGE FREEWAY
Start this section of the tour on the corner of Boston Boulevard and Woodward Avenue.
BOSTON BOULEVARD WEST (North side, east to west)
| House # | Owner | Built |
|---|---|---|
| 70 | Sebastian S. Kresge (S.S. Kresge, now K-Mart) | 1914 |
| 150 | Benjamin Siegel (Women's Clothier) | 1915 A. Kahn |
| 610 | Joseph Siegel (Women's Clothier) | 1915 A. Kahn |
| 650 | John W. Drake (President, Hupp Motor Car Co.) C. Harold Wills (Designer, Model T) Ira Grinnell (Grinnell Electric Auto Co.; Grinnell Brothers music) |
1911 |
| 670 | Charles T. Fisher (President, Fisher Body) | 1922 |
| 700 | Walter O. Briggs (President, Briggs Mfg.[made car bodies], Briggs Stadium, Tigers owner) | 1915 |
| 872 | Charles and Frank Feinberg (Argo Oil Company) | 1915 |
| 892 | Edward F. Fisher (Fisher Body) | 1922 |
| 918 | Nels Michelson (timber, real estate) Berry Gordy, Jr. (Motown Records) |
1917 |
Turn around to travel eastward on Boston Boulevard.
BOSTON BOULEVARD WEST (South side, west to east)
| House # | Owner | Built |
|---|---|---|
| 929 | Moses Himelhoch (Himelhoch's Department Store) | 1912 |
| 859 | John Wagner (Wagner Bakery / Wonder Bread) | 1911 |
| 803 | Harry A. Stormfeltz (Real estate developer) | 1915 |
| 751 | Frank H. Goddard (General Contractor; built Ford House on Edison Avenue) | 1911 |
| 611 | Charles Lambert (President, Regal Motor Car Co.) Ossip Gabrilowitsch (Conductor, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, 1918-1936, responsible for Orchestra Hall) and his wife, Clara Clemens (mezzo soprano, daughter of Mark Twain) |
1912 |
| 121 | Clarence M. Burton (President, Burton Abstract & Title Co.; Burton Collection, Detroit Public Library) | 1914 |
| 51 | Jacob Siegel (Women's Clothier) | 1919 |
Travel one block southward along Woodward and turn right (west) on Chicago Boulevard.
CHICAGO BOULEVARD (North side, east to west)
| House # | Owner | Built |
|---|---|---|
| 52 | Hugo A. Freund, M.D. (Physician to James Couzens, among others) | 1915 A. Kahn |
| 130 | Edward C. Kinsel (Kinsel Drugstore - 1 st 24-hour drugstore) | 1912 |
| 610 | Charles W. Munz (Furniture, vaudeville and film theaters) | 1914 |
| 640 | John Riccardi (Roman Cleanser Co.) | 1915 |
| 664 | Meyer L. Prentis (Treasurer, General Motors; philanthropist) Remus G. Robinson, M.D. |
1925 |
| 690 | Samuel Mintz (Hardware) William A. Hilliard (Bishop, AME Zion Church) |
1917 |
| 736 | Dr. Nellie Ebersole (Art Center Music School) | 1919 |
Continue past Hamilton St, then turn around to travel eastward on Chicago Boulevard.
CHICAGO BOULEVARD (South side, west to east)
| House # | Owner | Built |
|---|---|---|
| 1101 | Elmer W. Grinnell (Grinnell Brothers music) | 1918 |
| 853 | Mischa Kottler (Concert violinist) | 1912 |
| 655 | Adam H. Sarver (President, Detroit Durant Motor Car Co.) | 1917 |
| 631 | Alfred O. Dunk (Manufacturer, electric cars) | 1911 |
| 155 | Eugene Sloman (Real estate) | 1916 |
From the corner of Chicago and Woodward, travel south along Woodward two blocks to Edison and turn right (west). Both Edison and Longfellow are one way streets through the Voigt Park area; traffic flow on Edison is westward while traffic flow on Longfellow is eastward.
EDISON AVENUE (East to west)
| House # | Owner | Built |
|---|---|---|
| 26 | Rabbi Leo M. Franklin (Temple Beth El, 1899-1941) | 1911 |
| 90 | Horace Rackham (Original Ford Motor Co. shareholder; philanthropist) | 1907 |
| 111 | William A. Fisher (Henkly Motor Co., Fisher Body) | 1916 |
| 112 | James W. Knox (publicist) Franz Kuhn (Chief Justice, Michigan Supreme Court) Willie Horton (Tigers left-fielder, 1963-1977) |
1908 |
| 121 | Ernst Kern (Kern's Department Store; Kern Block) | 1916 |
| 140 | Henry Ford (President, Ford Motor Company) | 1908 |
| 151 | Anthony Maiullo (Attorney) | 1909 |
| 671 | Rev. Henry Hitt Crane (Minister, Central Methodist Church) | 1914 |
| 693 | Celeste Cole (Concert soprano; the first Black Aida) | 1911 |
| 834 | Rev. Tracy Pullman (Minister, First Unitarian-Universalist Church) | 1912 |
Please note: one block south of Edison Avenue at Third, are the homes of Ty Cobb, legendary Tigers center-fielder, at 800 Atkinson (n.w. corner of Atkinson and Third) and Ty Tyson, the first radio announcer for the Tigers, at 758 Atkinson (n.e. corner of Atkinson and Third).
Travel one block northward on Hamilton and turn right (east) on Longfellow.
LONGFELLOW AVENUE (West to east)
| House # | Owner | Built |
|---|---|---|
| 819 | Second Boston Edison Development, Inc. House* | 1907 |
| 610 | James Couzens (Treasurer and shareholder, Ford Motor Co.; Detroit Police Commissioner, Mayor from 1919-1922; U.S. Senator) | 1910 A.Kahn |
| 160 | S. D. Waldon (Vice-president, Packard Motor Car Co.) | 1915 |
| 111 | Joseph Dumouchelle (Art, antiques auctioneer) | 1915 |
| 36 | Frank Navin (Navin Field, Detroit Tigers owner) | 1906 |
*Boston Edison Development, Inc. ("BEDI") is a non-profit housing rehabilitation corporation that acquires, rehabilitates and sells abandoned houses in the Boston-Edison Historic District. Other houses in the District will be designated as BEDI #3, #4, etc.
LODGE FREEWAY TO LINWOOD AVENUE
Cross the Lodge Freeway at Chicago to the west side. Turn right at Woodrow Wilson St., then left (west) onto West Boston Boulevard to continue the tour.
BOSTON BOULEVARD WEST (North side, east to west)
| House # | Owner | Built |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Frank Couzens (Mayor of Detroit, 1933-1938; son of James Couzens) | 1921 |
| 2266 | Hon Vincent M. Brennan (Wayne County Judge; U.S. Congress) | 1919 |
| 2522 | Hon. Charles C. Diggs, Jr. (U.S. House of Representatives) | 1922 |
Turn around to travel eastward on Boston Boulevard.
BOSTON BOULEVARD WEST (South side, west to east)
| House # | Owner | Built |
|---|---|---|
| 2435 | David Wilkus (Real estate; President, Temple Beth El) | 1925 |
| 2341 | Dr. James J. McClendon (National Board, NAACP) | 1928 |
| 2265 | Herman Finsterwald (furniture) Hobart Taylor, Jr. (Asst. Wayne Co. Prosecutor) |
1923 |
| 2215 | Charles E. Feinberg (President, Argo Oil Co.; collector of Walt Whitman and art) | 1923 |
| 2055 | U.S. Senator Carl Levin; U.S. Rep. Sander Levin | 1921 |
| 2035 | Sidney Barthwell (Barthwell Drugs) | 1921 |
| 1937 | Fred W. Sanders (Sanders Ice Cream) | 1922 |
| 1529 | Robert Sloman (Attorney; nephew of Eugene Sloman) | 1916 |
Loop around the Boulevard and return to Woodrow Wilson St. Travel one block southward along Woodrow Wilson and turn left (east) on Chicago Boulevard. Travel one block to Byron St, then turn around to travel westward on Chicago.
CHICAGO BOULEVARD (North side, east to west)
| House # | Owner | Built |
|---|---|---|
| 1486 | Peter E. Martin (First Vice-President of Manufacturing, Ford Motor Co. Model T) | 1918 |
| 1970 | Richard Wagner (Wagner Baking, now houses Motor City Casino) | 1925 |
| 2522 | Louis Robinson (Robinson Furniture) | 1922 |
Turn around to travel eastward on Chicago Boulevard.
CHICAGO BOULEVARD (South side, west to east)
| House # | Owner | Built |
|---|---|---|
| 2275 | John Ballantyne (President, Merchants National Bank of Detroit) | 1922 |
| 2215 | Ralph Lee (Builder) BEDI #3 |
1923 |
| 1725 | Brace Beemer (The voice of The Lone Ranger) | 1919 |
| 1261 | Roy Williams (President, S.S. Kresge Co.) | 1922 |
| 1247 | Barney Smith (Vice-President, Cadillac Motor Co.) | 1936 |
Travel one block southward along the Lodge Freeway service drive, and turn right (west) onto Longfellow.
LONGFELLOW AVENUE (East to west)
| House # | Owner | Built |
|---|---|---|
| 1258 | BEDI #1 | 1915 |
| 1403 | BEDI #8 | |
| 1642 | Hon. Trudy Duncombe Archer (Judge, 36th District Court, First Lady of Detroit) Beth Duncombe (Chair, Detroit Econ. Dev.) |
1916 |
| 2292 | Walter P. Reuther (Labor leader, United Auto Workers) | 1922 |
| 2437 | Henry P. Hellmuth (Scripp Motor Co.) | 1921 |
| 2499 | Joan Freeman (Concert pianist) | 1922 |
Travel one block south on Linwood St and turn left (east) onto Edison.
EDISON AVENUE (West to east)
| House # | Owner | Built |
|---|---|---|
| 2460 | David E. Williams (Liberty Motor Car Co.) | 1919 |
| 2418 | Richard A. Whiting (Composer of popular music, 1900-1935) | 1922 |
| 2244 | Isadore A. Berger (Attorney, photographer) | 1921 |
| 2225 | Harry Heilmann (Tigers right-fielder, 1914 and 1916-1929) | 1920 |
| 2062 | Rabbi Morris Adler (Congregation Shaarey Zedek) | 1922 |
| 2027 | Osman E. Fisher (Fisher Wallpaper Company) | 1921 |
| 1935 | Paul "Dizzy" Trout (Radio announcer, Tigers ballplayer) | 1920 |
| 1683 | Joe Louis (Heavyweight Champion of the World) | 1917 |
| 1643 | BEDI #4 | 1918 |
| 1602 | Lewis B. Alger (Detroit Soda Products) BEDI #7 |
1917 |
| 1533 | BEDI #6 | 1916 |
| 1477 | J. L. Webber (Hudson's Department Store; Hudson-Webber) | 1915 |
| 1404 | BEDI #5 | 1916 |
Please note: When the Lodge Fwy was built in the 1950's, forty (40) plus homes in the Boston-Edison Historic District were demolished. Although the Freeway provides ready access to our neighborhood, the homes are lost forever.
We hope you have enjoyed your driving tour of a small part of the Boston-Edison Historic District in Detroit. If you have additional information regarding the history of Boston Edison or know someone who does, please contact the Historic Boston-Edison Association.
