Maternity Homes

 This building and its past use has been on my mind here recently, as well as the former hospital, behind me as I was taking this picture, now used as the Detroit Job Corps Center. This building is formerly the Florence Crittenton Home for unwed mothers.. According to a post on the Historical Detroit Area Architecture group on Facebook, it was built around 1952. This building housed teen girls and young ladies who were pregnant out of wedlock, and due to societal, religious and familial norms at the time, were not welcome at home. Family and friends were told that the young lady had moved away or had gone to be with a relative who was dying or vey ill. These homes helped a young lady while she was pregnant. Many times, after the child had been born, the child was put up for adoption. The mother, in most cases, was not informed of her child's adoption, and was in the dark about her child's wherabouts, the homes would not tell the mother where their child was located, or be told any information on the child's adoptive parents. As of the past 10=20 years, many mothers and the children they gave up have been reunited after a decades-long search for each other and limited information on parents and in birth and adoption records, at times, being sealed. For this Crittenton Home, the hospital across Woodrow Wilson in Northwest Detroit, where this is located, is the former Metropolitan Hospital, which was at one time a Tuberculosis Sanitarium  It is currently the location for the Detroit chapter of the Job Corps. If Metropolitan Hospital was not used for the mothers and their children, I am guessing Herman Kiefer Hospital just south of the home on Taylor and Hamilton/John C. Lodge freeway was used. Florence Crittenton wasn't the only organization to run unwed mothers homes. Many religious and civic groups also ran these homes, as well.

Sentimental Send-Off

 This weekend was very sentimental for fans of the Detroit Tigers, as well as baseball fans in general, in that Miguel Cabrera retired from baseball. "Miggy," as he is affectionately known, made it known at the beginning of the season that 2023 would be his final season. At each stadium the Tigers visited, each team presented Miguel with farewell gifts and a donation to the Miguel Cabrera Foundation, which helps young people through sports and education. The weekend of September 29-October 1 was the Tigers turn to honor their teammate.

There was a pop-up restaurant, El Rey, first located on Columbia Street across from Comerica Park, then again as a pop up stand in the park that served up Miguel Cabrera's favorite Venezuelan foods and offered facts about Miggy's career ad tune in Detroit. 

The weekend of festivities, the giant Tiger at Comerica Park's main entry on Witherell donned a giant Miguel Cabrera jersey. Many people got pictures with it, myself included. A drone show was featured that evening, put together by Pixis Drones , which was fantastic 

As people entered Comerica Park throughout the weekend and traversed the concourses, they experienced many different things, from enjoying a Venezuelan Street Hot dog and a specialty cocktail, to getting pictures with the many photo ops around the ballpark, to learning about Miguel Cabrera's career through information and artifacts. There was a ceremony on Saturday, September 30 where the Tigers presented Miguel with a $24,000 donation to the Miguel Cabrera Foundation, custom designed cleats, an autographed Comerica Park seat (seat number 24, of course!) and a permanent 24 statue made from 3,500 baseballs, the white baseballs representing his 3,000 hits and 500 gold baseballs representing his 500 home runs. The Tigers also announced that Miguel was made a Special Assistant to Scott Harris, the Tigers' President of Baseball Operations. He will help with developing the next generation of Tigers players 

Sunday, October 1 was the final game of a storied career. Tigers staff and concessionaires got T-Shirts, which I am modeling here, and special pins for their uniforms and ID lanyards.  At the beginning of the game, the fans pulled a surprise for Miguel, holding up cards that collectively read "Gracias, Miggy!" .

Towards the end of the game, Tigers Manager AJ Hinch, enlisting the help of the Cabrera children, daughters Rosangel and Isabella and son Christopher, took Miguel out of the game to a standing ovation from the sold out Comerica Park crowd. 

At the conclusion of the game, the Tigers had a spcial message for Migel upon his retirement. He gave an emotional curtain call and thanked the fans for their support throughout his career. This was flashed on the scoreboard, with the lights above it lit in the number 24 above it. I pray that Miguel will be blessed in retirement. 

Old Time Shopping in Downtown Detroit

 As I am going about my daily business in metro Detroit yesterday, I ran across a video from the Detroit Historical Society about the Floral Telegraph Delivery, better known as FTD, and their 1960 convention in what was called Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place). Watching the video made me recall memories of the old J.L. Hudson Department store, which was one of the tallest department stores in the city of Detroit,  if not the country, and was as well known in Detroit as Marshall Field was in Chicago and as Macy's was in New York City. The Greater Hudson's complex was bounded by Farmer, Gratiot, Woodward and Grand River in downtown Detroit. Generations of Detroiters shopped here for various products (they delivered to your house if a product you purchased was  large) and was especially grand around the Christmas holidays. Many metro Detroit brides consulted Hudson's on all aspects of their special day, from their trousseau to furnishing their marital home, and one memorable promotion was the "Good Ol' Summertime," which had a setup that hearkened back to the late 1890s-early 1900s. A large flag was draped on the Woodward side of the building on June 14, Flag Day. it was retired in 1976 to the Smithsonian Institute, and has been respectfully destroyed as of 2023.  Business dropped off in the 1970s and early 1980s, and the store closed in 1983. Hudson's was demolished in October 1998, and currently, a mixed use building is being constructed on the site. I think of some pictures I discovered in my late father's collection, taken at Detroit's Labor Day Parade in 1981, where the parade passed by Hudson's on its way to Kennedy Square for the rally. One picture is shown below. 

YouTube Friday: Westlife - Uptown Girl radio edit

 

Doing some browsing around YouTube here recently, and come across this cover of Billy Joel's song "Uptown GIrl" by the group Westlife, who were from Ireland. This is a decent cover, and one that I enjoy hearing. Hope you enjoy it, too. 

Torchlighting to help all

 As I am going about town on Monday afternoon, reliving some memories from my past and the history of my family, I come across this building for World Medical Relief, which is now in Southfield. I notice a mention that it was a Torch Drive service. The Torch Drive was annually put on by the United Foundation (now the United Way) around Christmas time. Ads were placed in the paper to solicit donations, and would sometimes list which agencies would benefit from the donations. Many public and private organizations,  religious and secular groups, veterans, alumni and other groups would regularly donate to the Torch Drive to help the greater Detroit area and those in need. 

Memorialized at School

As I am going to visit various locations that are important in my family's history and journey here in metro Detroit, I stop by Southeastern High School, shown above, which a number of family members attended. As I am visiting, I notice a monument, shown below, in front of the school. Getting closer, I notice that this is a memorial to former students who served our country during World War 2. It was dedicated by the classes of January and June 1944-1948.  I was reminded of a couple of pages in a relative's yearbook about a young man who graduated from Southeastern in the early 1930s who died on December 7, 1941 in defense of his country. He received the Medal of Honor posthumously. In the yearbook. they showed the letters his parents received from his branch of service notifying them of their son's passing. I know there are memorials like this at other schools around the country, but this is the first I have seen in Detroit. 

 

Getting Schooled

 Schooling is a big part of anyone's history. A school can be a varied experience for anyone. Nestled on Glendale Avenue between Second Avenue and Third Street in Highland Park, MI, an enclave of Detroit, sits the former Highland Park High School. According to Detroit Urbex, this building opened in 1915 as a High School, , with the Community College, which was housed here until they ceased operations in 1996. A career academy was housed here, as well. This building still sits abandoned, with the auditorium destroyed within the past couple of years. Highland Park High School and Community College hold significance on my mother's side of the family, as two family members attended classes here. This picture was taken on August 11, 2023.