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When did the Country
Club Estates Subdivision begin? Why are homes located
where they are today? Why didn't Dearborn High School
locate here as a previous school board proposed? Why was this
subdivision built? How did it all begin?
What is the GCCCA all
ABOUT? Let's return to the early days of the Country
Club Estates Subdivision and revisit yesterday . . .
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Like many
sections of the community, the Country Club Estates subdivision,
bounded by the Dearborn Country Club, the Rouge River and Cherry
Hill, could have ended up much different had history gone in another
direction.
Had one plan come to fruition, the subdivision would not even exist.
The land was
owned by Henry Ford since before 1909. The property and the rest of
his estate was sold to the Ford Motor Co. in early 1951.
The first
discussion of developing this area north of Cherry Hill came in 1950
and 1951, when the school district was looking for a site for a new
Dearborn High School. Oddly, the building then in use (later Adams
Junior High School and now the Atrium office building) was only a
quarter-century old.
The land was
owned by the Ford Motor Co., which finally told the school board
that the land would not be available unless the school district
proceeded to condemn the land.
Part of the
logic for building the new high school here was the area being
centrally located in west Dearborn and parking for the high school
could also be used for major events at Ford Field.
One of the
suggestions made at the time were, if the high school was to be
built, to extend Cherry Hill through the Henry Ford Estate. No
information could be found as to where the eastern part of the road
would end up, though likely either Ford Road, Michigan Avenue or
Southfield Road.
The school
district finally abandoned this site as a potential school location.
The Ford Motor
Co. sold the land to a developer in 1952. Within 10 years, the area
was almost completely developed and sold.
The other
potential change came in 1957.
Orville
Hubbard had the city in November 1957 look at extending Brady Road
from its northern terminus in the subdivision to Ford Road as a
"thank you" for residents in the area overwhelmingly
voting against him in the recent election.
As would be
expected, most residents were opposed to such an extension of Brady.
The city
finally dropped the plan when it discovered the land-acquisition
cost would be too high, since it was estimated to be at least
$100,000.
One other
minor difference to the building landscape along Cherry Hill
involving Christ Episcopal Church almost happened in the 1920s.
Henry and
Clara Ford followed the Episcopal Church. Christ Church during the
first half of this century was where the vacant Jacobson's building
is now.
Ford toyed
with the idea of building a new church for many years, almost going
ahead with an elaborate plan in 1926 to build an impressive edifice
on Cherry Hill across Ford Field "with a spire that will be
seen from Michigan Avenue."
Ford backed
off at the last minute, apparently because of a disagreement with
the Rev. H.G. Stacey, rector of Christ Church, on choice of site and
over where the church should remain Episcopal or become a community
church as Ford wished.
In 1944, Clara
Bryant donated land on the corner of Cherry Hill and Military for
the church's current building. This was the site the Rev. Stacey had
in mind all along. The new church was dedicated Sept. 19, 1948.
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