When was woodward avenue built

What's in a name? Woodward Avenue was named after Augustus B. Woodward, the first Chief Judge for the Michigan Territory. Woodward worked diligently to help rebuild Detroit after a widespread fire in Photo by Tanya Moutzalias MLive.

Campus Martius Park. It was the heart of where Augustus Woodward planned his renovation of the city after the fire of The park is known as the best place to go ice skating during the winter months. A huge, beautiful Christmas tree is found here during the holidays. During warm weather months, you can find food trucks and festivals here.

A streetcar named Woodward. From the midth century through the midth century, Woodward Avenue was home to streetcars that transported Detroiters around downtown. In the early days, the cars were pulled by horses.

Detroit went for decades without streetcars, until the QLine opened to riders last year. The M-1 Rail system stops at a dozen stations along a 3. Photo by Matt Weigand. An annual dream The Woodward Dream Cruise is a dream for car lovers. The annual Dream Cruise is considered the largest single-day automotive event in the world. If you want to see some awesome classic cars, this is the place to be. The event is scheduled for Aug.

The street even became a verb in the 50s and 60s, when car lovers met up at drive-ins on Woodward to show off their wheels. They called it "Woodwarding. Parade avenue Within just three years, the Wayne County Road Commission embarked on an experiment that would revolutionize the way roads were built and create a new standard that has endured right up to the present day.

County engineers had heard success stories from Ohio and Windsor, Ontario where concrete had been used for sidewalks and alleys. Road commissioners Edward Hines and John Haggerty decided the time was right to test concrete on a major thoroughfare. The section of Woodward Avenue between Six Mile Road [McNichols] and Seven Mile Road was selected most likely because that is where the county's jurisdiction began, but also because Ford's new Model T plant down the road in Highland Park would be turning out a large number of new automobiles.

Woodward also was a likely candidate because it was one of the major transportation spokes radiating out of downtown. As for the choice of concrete, this is how the road commission stated their reasoning in its annual report: "we decided that a concrete road would come more nearly realizing the ideal than any other form.

The points considered were comparatively low first cost, low maintenance cost, freedom from dirt and dust [there being no detritus from a concrete road itself] its comparative noiselessness, and ease of traction for vehicles of all descriptions. The site was previously occupied by the Equity Building and the Hotel Norton on Griswold Street and a number of smaller commercial buildings along Jefferson and Woodward avenues, all dating to the late 19th Century.

By the s, the Equity Building and the buildings along Jefferson had been demolished, leaving gaping holes in the streetscape. McElvenny made it clear that this needed to be a building Detroiters would be proud to have in such a prominent place. Further, Yamasaki wrote, this was to be the first high rise constructed in downtown Detroit in nearly 30 years. The two men agreed that it needed to harmonize with buildings near it, but also be distinct as a symbol of future progress. To separate the building from those around it and the busy streets, he set the building on a pedestal, surrounded it with greenery and gardens, and made the lobby open to the public, much like his beloved Japanese temples and Venetian plazas.

Its modest gardens, raised platform and sensual sculpture are serene against the backdrop of the all-concrete downtown. Though separated by the wide lanes of Jefferson Avenue, the gardens are an extension of the riverfront and a welcoming vision for passersby. Instead, it is delicate and delightful, paying homage to the history of its towering neighbors, with their heavy ornamentation, while distinguishing itself as refreshingly new.

Finally, the glaring white lobby, with its three-story glass walls and chrome hexagon tracery that is transparent from inside or out, has a surprising lightness amongst the enclosed behemoths of nearby buildings. They serve both an aesthetic and practical purpose. Yamasaki had a severe case of acrophobia and expressed concern for office workers in all-glass buildings who might walk up to a floor-to-ceiling window and feel as if they might fall.

His solution was to frame the glass in pre-cast concrete modules at a width of one foot, 11 inches. This way, he said, one would feel secure while experiencing the full views looking out from the building. In , a mile-long stretch of Woodward became the first mile of American road paved with concrete.

By , the road was paved for 27 miles, all the way to Pontiac, Michigan. Then there was a new problem: how to coordinate all the traffic. In , a local police officer named William Potts developed the first manually operated, three-color traffic light and installed it along Woodward. With cars now able to zip down Woodward at a speed previously unimaginable, the only thing standing in the way of the car-centered city of the future was the people. The number of pedestrian fatalities was soaring, particularly among children, who were accustomed to playing in the streets.

There seemed to be little that could be done about it. Until now, it had been culturally acceptable to walk in the street. The prevailing attitude was that the streets were made for everyone, and no mode of transportation had the natural right of way.

Automobile industry leaders realized that there needed to be a paradigm shift. Streets needed to be redefined as places first and foremost for cars. Previously normal walking habits needed to be recast as reckless and backwards. The auto industry began funding campaigns to shame those who walked in the streets — starting with the children. Peter Norton, historian of engineering and society at the University of Virginia and author of Fighting Traffic: The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City , said the first step was to try to equate the act of walking in the street with backwards thinking.

The main tool in their campaign was peer pressure.