Ecorse Along the Detroit River PDF
Preview Ecorse Along the Detroit River
Ecorse photographer John Duguay captured this playground scene as children played at the new playground on Pepper Road at Tenth Street in July 1958. Inspecting the play ground are from left, John Ghindia, Ecorse Recreation Department Director; Mayor Eli Ciungun, and Councilman Peter Johnson. Ecorse Echoes: The Story of the Oldest Downriver Community Kathy Covert Warnes discoverfunhistory.webs.com Ecorse Echoes 2 Copyright Notice © Copyright 2011 by Kathy Warnes .All Rights Reserved. [email protected] Ecorse Echoes 3 Ecorse Waterfront, 2004 Ecorse Echoes 4 If Buildings Could Talk This building on West Jefferson Avenue overlooked horses, wagons and street car scenes in 1906. The same building witnessed cars and coca cola in the 1970s. Ecorse Echoes 5 Stepping off the Streetcar in Ecorse In the early 1900s, West Jefferson through Trenton, Wyandotte, Ecorse and River Rouge was a mud road and the streetcar was the transportation of choice for the citizens of these Downriver communities. The DUR or Detroit Urban Railroad ran these streetcars between 1892 and 1932. They were g used for business, social and shopping trips to Detroit and even funeral trips to Woodmere and Woodlawn cemeteries in Detroit. Rental arrangements were made for a special car and the casket was carried along with the mourners. On other, happier trips people rented a special car called Yolapoa to take them to parties. The conductor is not identified, but the motorman in this photo was Sampson lake of Ecorse. Many people remember riding this streetcar into Downriver towns and stepping off into Ecorse Echoes muddy Jeffers on Ave nue. 6 Introduction Ecorse, Our Home Town When the conversation swings around to hometowns and memories the eleven-year-old girl wearing pigtails and a baseball cap walks down Third Street in Ecorse again. She‟s on her way to her Grandma Robson‟s house for a potato soup lunch. School One is just over the tracks, so it isn‟t a long walk, but it‟s an exciting walk. The gullies between each set of railroad tracks are full of wild flowers, weeds, frogs and skating dragonflies. Once that jungle is crossed and the last gravely slope safely negotiated, there‟s a dash down Third Street to look at the cemetery before going on to lunch. The lush green of the foliage contrasts starkly with the varying shades of granite and the stark white of the tombstones. The eleven year old wonders about the people buried there who once lived in Ecorse just like she does. Then she skips to her Grandma Robsons for lunch. Those lunches of Grandma Robsons are warm, loving memory spots in my childhood. Growing up in Ecorse was for the most part a positive experience for me and for generations of Ecorse people. We have a sense of shared memories, common experiences and community, no matter what our generation. We have all gone on with our lives. We have married, had families, forged careers, enjoyed children and grandchildren and experienced some of life‟s sorrow as well as wonderful times. We have learned that life is a mixture of tragedy, comedy, and in-between everyday experiences that make it sweet and meaningful. I have come back to visit and then live in Ecorse and some of it looks as old and run down as I sometimes feel. One of the Downriver newspapers that I read referred to Ecorse as “an enclave of inner city Detroit.” It is our hometown – worn out, shabby and often in financial trouble, but still struggling to survive and renew itself, much like we do throughout our lives. Ecorse nurtured us. We skated at the municipal Ecorse Echoes 7 ice skating rink, swam in the municipal pools and ate Frankie‟s Pizza. We received the foundations of our education from School One, Two or Three and Ecorse High School. Some of our mothers, fathers, and grandparents grew up in Ecorse as well. These connections leave us with something stronger and more lasting than nostalgia and reunions. They leave us with a sense of continuity. Ecorse is continuity to us and our children and grandchildren. We can keep Ecorse growing and progressing by our appreciation of its history and continuing interest in its welfare. We can continue to demonstrate what it meant to grow up in Ecorse and even though we no longer live there, by celebrating our common roots and keeping its history alive in our hearts and memories. Hooray for Ecorse, Hooray for Ecorse, Someone in the crowd is shouting, Hooray for Ecorse, One, two, three, four, Who are we for? Ecorse, that‟s who! Sincerely, Kathy Covert Warnes Ecorse Echoes 8 [email protected] Ecorse Echoes 9 Ecorse: The Timeline Mrs. Jonas Goodell was lying very ill and but little hope was entertained for her recovery. 1889-Hyacinthe C. Burke of Ecorse and Elizabeth Dunn of Ecorse Before 1701- French voyageurs travel down the Detroit River and applied for a marriage license. trade with the Indians who have villages in Ecorse and Wyandotte. 1903-The village of Ecorse is incorporated as the village of Antoine de Mothe Cadillac and his men establish French ribbon Ecorse. farms along the Detroit River from Detroit to Lake Erie, including 1910- Ecorse Presbyterian Church is founded. Ecorse and Wyandotte. 1918-1933- Rum Running Days Pontiac begins his stand against the white man on the banks of Ecorse Creek. 1922- First Ecorse library in Loveland‟s Drugstore. 1776- What is now Ecorse is deeded to St. Cosme by the Indians. 1929-Great Lakes Steel is founded. 1784-1795. First recorded white settlements. 1942-The City of Ecorse is incorporated. 1818-Arrrival of English settlers. 1950s- More new businesses in Ecorse. 1827-Township of Ecorse created. 1960s- Ecorse thrives, but is troubled. 1827-Post office, always named Ecorse, opened on October 29, 1970s- Ecorse suffers from urban blight and middle class flight. 1827, with Daniel Goodell as the first postmaster. 1980s- Ecorse has severe financial problems and goes into 1836-Settlement of Grandport platted by Alexis Labadie, Simeon receivership, but survives. Rousseau, L. Bourassa, and P. White and recorded as Grandport. 2001-New Ecorse High School dedicated. 1845-St. Francis Xavier Parish is founded. 1857-The Detroit, Monroe & Toledo Railroad line through Ecorse is completed. 1860s- First Schools in Ecorse. 1870s- Grandport gradually becomes known as Ecorse. 1880-Richard Beaubien of Detroit had six large icehouses built in Ecorse. This furnished work to men who had but little. Ecorse Echoes 10
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