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by
Theresa Welsh
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Apartments
There are
many vacant apartment buildings along Woodward Avenue, and some have boarded windows even while they are
partially occupied. Detroit has always been mainly a city of single-family homes, with a high rate
of home ownership, rather than tracts of multi-family buildings like many other big cities.
But along Woodward, facing its side streets, there were once many attractive apartment buildings.
Some of these have elaborate entrances off the side street, with storefronts facing Woodward. |
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Vacant Lots - Abandoned Homes
There are many vacant, weed-filled lots along Woodward Avenue where there used to be
commercial buildings. Along the side streets are more empty lots and abandoned houses.
Highland Park
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Highand Park is centered on Woodward Avenue and is
completely surrounded by Detroit. It was once
a solid middle-class community, with many beautiful homes and buildings. It has
been especially devastated by abandonment; both houses and
commercial buildings are in ruins along the Woodward corridor. |
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Highland Park is the home of the original
Henry Ford Model T factory and office building. The historic buildings now sit next to
the "Model T Plaza," a commercial strip along Woodward Avenue.
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That's Henry Ford's historic office building, no longer in use;
there is a historical marker in front of it facing Woodward Avenue. In the factory
behind the office building, workers built the Model T on a moving assembly line.
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These former YMCA and YWCA buildings on Woodward are now operated by the Detroit Rescue Mission.
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Highland Park once had an impressive, large police station in a City Center collection of municipal buildings.
Its former elegance is visible here through the weeds. The city was without any
police department for a number of years, patrolled only by Wayne County deputies
because the city had no money. But now
they have a small police force, with headquarters in a strip mall.
 
Woodward Avenue is indeed a scenic byway, with 300 years of history along its curbs.
But it's gone from boom years to bust years, and the scars of poverty and abandonment
are everywhere you look.
There are many more historic sights along Woodward and on the streets just off it. Not all
of it is devastated. As you begin to reach the downtown area, you see considerable redevelopment.
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