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 sure to hit that subscribe button if you haven't
already to help us hit this monumental milestone! 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. And while you’re there, make sure to hit
that subscribe button so you never miss an exciting episode of "This House".
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