I have several old topographic maps of this area and I'm interested in finding
more of them. Specifically the 15' series from around 1900-190. It's fasci-
nating looking over these and comparing features with the current map series.
Anyone else have bad habits like these?

52 responses total.

Line noise ate my '7' => 1900-1907

I am also interested in such things, but most of the maps I own are of Ingham
County.

I've never managed to find the U-M map library open (it has very limited
hours, especially in the summer).  MSU's map library, however, is open for
almost the same hours as the library itself, and they have a complete
collection of USGS topos going back years.  They can also be photocopied
quite easily, though obviously that does not capture the color and beauty
of the original.  Still, it's usually sufficient for comparing features.

Old maps are fascinating. I did a lot of research on Saginaw of the 19th
century and it's utter fascinating what was there that's still around
today. 

Did you know Saginaw was one of the stops Lewis and Clark made in their 
famous expedition? Clark mentioned it in his diary, but about all he said
was "The mosquitoes are terrible."

I think old maps , especially aerial photograpy ones, are way cool !

In the Milford Township Library they have a large aerial photograph of
Milford (the town I grew up in) that was taken in the early sixties.  I
always used to love to look at it to figure out where all the new 
buildings were.  It was also pretty cool to point out my house.

I think Wahr's book store on S.State carries old maps.

What used to be Wahr's carries/carried old maps but the proprietor was/is
into cutting up old atlases and books in order to mount and sell the illustra-
tions and/or maps. To me, this destroys the integrity of the work as a whole
and is unehical - prostitution of the worst sort.

Alas, the aerial photography maps don't get too old. (re #4)

  I have a 1952 Michigan map. It lacks several things. Freeways, the Mackinac
Bridge and a LOT of little M-numbered roads that don't exist today. For example
Plymouth Rd was actually US-12 and the US 12 that we know today was US 112.

It is available for loan, if you would like to see it.

I have a 1940's Detroit map sans freeways too, & its wall size.  But if you
want area topo maps, try the Library of Congress or National Archives--
they will send you photocopies of any out-of-print map you want for a small
fee through the mail.  I got the Ypsi and Romulus quadrangles from 1902 and 
1906 this way.  I'd look up the address & list it here, but since this item
is so old I'll wait until someone mails a message to me for it.

I have copies of Bjarni's first maps of Vinland.

re 9: Interesting.  I've seen signs on Plymouth Road that say M-14 and I
assume that it started out as US-12, was redesignated M-14 when 94 was 
built, and stopped being a numbered highway when the M-14 freeway 
was built.  Jackson Road coming out of AA must also have been US-12.
But does anyone know how this old US-12 got from Plymouth Rd. to Jackson
Road?  How long has the Broadway Bridge been there?

This response has been erased.

Well I hadn't read #9 before you pointed it out. #9 is 16 months old!
I did not know that Plymouth Road was ever US-12. 
It was M-14 when I came to the area in 1966.
It lost that name when the M-14 Freeway was built parallel to it
in the early 80's (I believe).

Here's what I did know about the history of the named route "US-12":

Originally, the main road from Detroit to Chicago was the route currently
taken by modern US-12. It followed Michigan Avenue through Ypsi, Saline,
Clinton, etc. Clinton was the end of the first day of travel from Detroit
back when a stagecoach was used, and the historic Inn there has been
moved to Greenfield Village.

When US Highways came along, that road was labeled "US-12".
If there was a "Jackson Road" at that time, it certainly was
not dubbed "US-12".

Later (Well before 1952, but I don't know the dates), Jackson Road
was improved, and took the name US-12 away from its rightful owner.
The Old US-12 was renamed US-112.

Still later (in the 1960s) when the Interstate Highway system was
being built. I-94 was constructed parallel to US-12 nee Jackson Road.
When this was finished, Jackson Road lost the title and US-112 reverted
back to being US-12 again. This is the modern nomenclature.

I had always assumed that when Michigan Avenue was named US-112 that
US12 came out as far as Ypsi and then diverged into AA via Washtenaw
Ave. aa8ij's map from 1952 dispels that theory. US-12 must have come
into AA via the modern Plymouth Road route, crossed the Broadway
bridge and on into town, turning right at Huron Street.

Very interesting indeed.
The Broadway Bridge is ancient, by the way. Anybody know how old?

I have a 1937 map which shows:

    (1) North Main as US-23

    (2) Beakes Street and Broadway as US-12

    (3) East Huron, to South Forest, to Washtenaw as US-23

            (Washtenaw originally ran straight into campus; the part
            that connects with Huron was originally part of Forest)

    (4) Stadium (labeled "Boulevard Dr.") as M-17

    (5) West Huron and Jackson Ave. as US-12

    (6) Dexter Ave. as M-132

I assume the piece of North Main from Huron to Beakes was *both*
US-12 and US-23.

South Main is just a big street, not a designated highway on this map.
(And so it remains today.)

The Detroit inset shows Plymouth Road, west from Grand River, as US-12.
Grand River itself was US-16.  (I remember, when we moved to East Lansing
from Chicago in 1963, that Grand River -- part of the same street that runs
to Detroit -- was widely called "old US-16".)

Fort and Gratiot are given as US-25.  Woodward is US-10, Michigan as US-112.
Telegraph was (and remains?) US-24.  I note that M-17 continues east from
Ypsi on Ecorse Road.

The heaviest line on the map (wide red line flanked with thin blue lines)
marks "Michigan Super Highways (3 lanes and over)".  Red lines without the
blue edging mark "Hard Surfaced: Asphalt, Brick, Concrete, etc.".  All the
other markings (except a solid blue line for paved county roads) indicate
what we would now call "unpaved".  A large section of US-23 between Ann
Arbor and Flint was not paved at the time.  There appears to have been no
paved roads within about 10 miles of Stockbridge.

When we moved to A2 (1973) the section of Washtenaw from South University to
Huron was called Forest (or possibly Old Forest) on some maps - and I think
some addresses were given that way, and possibly a few street signs reflected
this too.  Finding things in that area was rather interesting.

So M-17 coming from Ypsi which now ends at US-23 must have continued
down Washtenaw to get to Stadium.  US-23 from Ann Arbor would have gone
from Washtenaw to Carpenter down toward Milan.

US-25 Gratiot must have gone through Port Huron and connected to what is
now M-25 going up along the thumb.  Yes, Telegraph is still US-24.

Thanks for sharing all that, polygon!

So Carpenter was the southbound leg of US-23?  I wondered about that.

That really makes sense considering how the modern 23 parallels it.
Of course "making sense" doesn't make it so. Thanks Jeff.

I think one of the reasons that many of the roads radiating from town are
named obvious things like "Ann Arbor-Saline Road" is because at one time
they were interurban lines named "Ann Arbor-Saline Electric Railroad".  Or
at least some of my old maps hint at it.

I lean to a different explanation.  Southern Michigan was originally
settled by people from upstate New York.  They brought with them many of
the habits and practices and traditions of that area, including the town
names, the forms of local government, etc. 

Any detailed map of western upstate New York will show lots and lots of
roads named after the towns at each end, like "Smithburg-Jonesville Road".
This phenomenon used to be more common in Michigan than it is now: I
remember when "Okemos-Haslett Road" in Ingham County was changed to the
less verbose "Marsh Road".  Other such roads have been supplanted by
freeways.  But we still have "Dexter-Pinckney Road" and "Ann Arbor-Saline
Road".

About the S. Mich W. NY connection, I've heard about that before.  Brighton,
MI is named after Brighton, NY (a suburb of Rochester), not Brighton,
England as you might expect.

It definitely does *not* resemble Brighton, England, in any respect.

Another history of the roads question for you all:  I read in an Ann Arbor
News piece on the history of North Campus (about a year ago, more or less)
that Bonisteel Blvd. is divided and as wide as it is because it was going
to feed US-23 when the new freeway was built.  US-23 was to pass closer to
North Campus than it now does. 

Does anyone know the former plan for US-23?  Does it have something to do
with Huron Parkway?  Is there a story of Huron Parkway?  Where is the
Huron Parkway Extension I've heard about going to go?  When?

I know there's a story, because I remember hearing it years ago
(like in the late '60's). I remember none off it though.
I'd love to hear the answer.

When I was a kid, there was no Huron parkway bridge over the river. There
was a tiny metal bridge instead, where the Gallup Park wooden bridge is now.

I remember that bridge very well from my early days here,
circa 1968.  Now that was a year.

Yes, that was a one-lane vehicle bridge. Do you know where Eastbound
Geddes Road madkes the sharp left and heads downhill straight for
the river at Gallup? It used to cross the river on that little bridge
and then continue east. Now Geddes Road is in two separate parts and
you have to cross the Huron Parkway bridge to get form one half to
the other.

Historically that part of AA wasn't the traffic corridor that it
is now.  North Campus was built on a big tract of farmland.  Traces
of the old apple orchards that used to be there can be seen here
and there.  Must have been nice.

A story on the history of Huron Parkway almost becoming US 23 was in
the AA News about a year or two ago.  From what I can recall it was
going to be US23 in order to serve North Campus as part of some grand
state and university plan, but for some government-type reason (funding
got pulled, land couldn't be purchased, or an opponent won out), US23
was routed to the east.  I may be making this up, but it seems like I
read that the reason for the US23 re-routing also was the reason for
North Campus never really developing into a grand place.  The
diagonal walk running between the Commons and the engineering building
was going to be the second Diag.

I wonder in what year US23 was built in its current right-of-way.
I remember coming to Ann Arbor in 1962 as a HS senior to interview 
at U of M, and I think it was already built then, but Huron Parkway
wan't built until later. Is my hazy memory confusing the issue here?

I have a question:  Why are the numbered streets in downtown Ann Arbor
numbered the way they are?  I.e., there are 1st, 2nd, 3rd, ... streets
(progressing westward) and 4th and 5th avenues (progressing eastward).
The best guess I've always had is that 1st Street was originally the
center of town, and at some point 3rd Avenue became Main, 2nd Avenue
became Ashley, etc.  A reprint of a 1914 Ann Arbor map that I have
shows the streets just as they are now, so if my guess is correct,
the transformation took place a long time ago.  Does anyone have any
more info?

From what I've heard, that guess would be correct.  Apparrently the
advocates of numbered streets were a lot more successful on the west side
than on the east side.

Could be worse...

I wish they'd rename Fourth and Fifth Avenues (N & S)
to eliminate confusion with Fourth and Fifth Streets.

Does anyone know how Division Street got its name? I wish I did.

Division street, so I hear, was once the dividing line between the
"wet" and "dry" sides of town.  Don't remember the details of how
a towne came to be so literally divided on the subject of prohibition.
(Larry, are you around here somewhere?)

It was because there were students (minors) on one side of town.

Cool, I knew it sort of divided between the U and the townie parts, 
but I didn't know about the wet and dry aspect of it. Thanks.

Ok, how about this one:  Does anyone know the story behind the name of the
park at the corner of Main and Ann Streets (A Little Park For a Little
While)?

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss