The Arden Park–East Boston Historic District is a neighborhood located in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

, bounded on the west by

Woodward Avenue A woodward is a warden of a wood. Woodward may also refer to: Places ;United States * Woodward, Iowa * Woodward, Oklahoma * Woodward, Pennsylvania, a census-designated place * Woodward Avenue, a street in Tallahassee, Florida, which bisects th ...

, on the north by East Boston Boulevard, on the east by Oakland Avenue, and on the south by Arden Park Boulevard.The Detroit Historic District Commission
The area is immediately adjacent to the much larger and better-known Boston-Edison Historic District, which is on the west side of Woodward Avenue, and also close to the Atkinson Avenue which is just south of Boston-Edison. There are 92 homes in the district, all on East Boston or Arden Park Boulevards. Arden Park Boulevard and East Boston Boulevard feature prominent grassy medians with richly planted trees and flowers. The setbacks of the homes are deep, with oversized lots. The district was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1982.

History

The neighborhood was originally platted in 1892 by Joseph R. McLaughlin and Edmund J. Owen along two streets east of Woodward: specifically, East Boston Boulevard and East Chicago Boulevard.Detroit 1701
/ref> and given the name "McLaughlin and Owen's Subdivision."Plat map of McLaughlin and Owen's Subdivision
from the state of Michigan. The lots were spacious to attract the city's wealthier residents.Model D Media
The subdivision was sold twice before being purchased by Max Broock, a prominent real estate developer, in 1910. At Broock's urging, the name of "East Chicago" was changed to "Arden Park," giving the thoroughfare its present name. Although the neighborhood was first platted in 1892, most of the homes built in the community date to the first two decades of the Twentieth Century. This time period coincided with an economic boom in Detroit, and many newly minted millionaires hired architects to design prestigious dwellings in the neighborhood.

Architectural styles An architectural style is a set of characteristics and features that make a building or other structure notable or historically identifiable. It is a sub-class of style in the visual arts generally, and most styles in architecture relate closely ...

represented in Arden Park–East Boston include

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...

Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the archit ...

, Tudor, Bungalow style and

Prairie Style Prairie School is a late 19th- and early 20th-century architectural style, most common in the Midwestern United States. The style is usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped i ...

. Some of the neighborhood's first residents included automotive icons Frederick Fisher and John Dodge, retail pioneer

J.L. Hudson Joseph Lowthian Hudson (October 17, 1846 – July 5, 1912), a.k.a. J. L. Hudson, was the merchant who founded the Hudson's department store in Detroit, Michigan. Hudson also supplied the seed capital for the establishment, in 1909, of Roy D. Cha ...

, as well as Alexander Y. Malcomson,Albert Nelson Marquis
''The Book of Detroiters''
1908, A. N. Marquis & Co., p. 312 Clayton and Albert Grinnell. Another retail magnate, Stanley Kresge, Jr. of K-Mart fame, lived in the community. The home of Frederick Fisher, on Arden Park Boulevard, was built in 1918 in the Italian Villa style to the plan of architect George D. Mason. The residence—which comprises nearly —is built entirely of Indiana limestone and features elaborate stone-carvings and ironwork. 211 Arden Park was built in 1914 by Hans Gehrke for a renowned jeweler of the time Robert C.J. Traub (until 1911, the Traub Bros. & Co. jewelry store was located where Foran's Grand Trunk Pub is now located in downtown Detroit. The store later moved to the corner of Woodward Avenue and Grand River). The Traub house was featured on the cover of the "House Beautiful" magazine in 1914, as well as every page of that issue featured interiors of the house. This source provided an opportunity for maintaining architecture and interior design of the house in its original state. 211 Arden R

The neighborhood's most prominent landmark is the

Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament The Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament is a Neo-Gothic style Roman Catholic cathedral church in the United States. It is the seat of the archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit. The metropolitan archdiocese for the Roman C ...

. Next door to the cathedral, is the personal residence of Detroit's Roman Catholic archbishop. In the 1940s, notable residents included Dr. Dewitt Burton, founder of the Burton Mercy Hospital; Charles Diggs, Sr. first black elected to the Michigan State Senate (father of Charles Diggs, Jr.), and Dr. Haley Bell, dentist, and the first black to receive an FCC license to operate a radio station (

WCHB WCHB (1340 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Royal Oak, Michigan, and serving the Detroit metropolitan area. It broadcasts an urban gospel radio format and is owned by Crawford Broadcasting. The station is a reporter to Billboa ...

). Rev. Dr. Stephen C. Campbell, Pastor of the Russell St. Baptist Church. Prophet Jones, a prominent African-American Detroit religious leader of the 1950s, lived in a mansion on Arden Park and often addressed his congregation from the front steps of the residence.Zena Simmons,
Detroit's flamboyant Prophet Jones
," ''The Detroit News'' Today, the city neighborhood is home largely to professionals, many of whom work in downtown Detroit. The neighborhood is listed on the

, the State of Michigan Register of Historic Sites, and is a City of Detroit Designated Historic District.

Schools

Residents are zoned to schools in the

Detroit Public Schools Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) is a school district that covers all of the city of Detroit, Michigan, United States and high school students in the insular city of Highland Park. The district, which replaced the original Detr ...

district. Residents are assigned to Loving Elementary School, Golightly Education Center (6-8), and Central High School.DPS School Boundary Search
" ''

''. Retrieved on March 30, 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arden Park-East Boston Historic District Neighborhoods in Detroit Historic districts in Detroit Michigan State Historic Sites in Wayne County, Michigan National Register of Historic Places in Detroit Culture of Detroit Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan