Florence Ballard and her home on Buena Vista

[BayouMotownMan]

[QUOTE=woodward;668065]It is per Home In Detroit published by the Motor City Blight Busters

3762 W. Buena Vista.

There is also a Buena Vista Avenue[/QUOTE

There is a house that has 3762 on one side and 3760 on the other side, she had a duplex? Looks rather modest for her stature

[reese]

[QUOTE=BayouMotownMan;668069]

It is per Home In Detroit published by the Motor City Blight Busters

3762 W. Buena Vista.

There is also a Buena Vista Avenue[/QUOTE

There is a house that has 3762 on one side and 3760 on the other side, she had a duplex? Looks rather modest for her stature

Not sure of the #, but I thought Diana's family lived on one floor and she had the other floor to herself. Later, she said that she gave her brothers her space because they were going through a rebellious stage that made her mom unhappy and she wasn't using it anyway.

[kenneth]

It definitely appears that the Ross house contained two residences. I always thought of a duplex as a side-by-side home; this one appears to be what I would call flats with a single entrance but then one story belonging to one family and another story belonging to the other. Here’s the photo that I think the previous poster was referring to. There appears to be just one front door, but two addresses [[3760 and 3762) on either side of it. Growing up in Detroit, I do remember some homes in this general neighborhood where you would come into a common entryway and then go upstairs to another entrance for the upper flat or go through a door in the foyer to the lower flat.

ignore the number that appears at the bottom of the photo; that was simply the address I entered to get onto the street. It looks like this house is almost directly across the street from the one owned by Florence Ballard.

i’m sorry these didn’t reproduce better, you can blow them up but then of course the numbers are hard to distinguish.

[Ollie9]

It definitely appears that the Ross house contained two residences. I always thought of a duplex as a side-by-side home; this one appears to be what I would call flats with a single entrance but then one story belonging to one family and another story belonging to the other. Here’s the photo that I think the previous poster was referring to. There appears to be just one front door, but two addresses [[3760 and 3762) on either side of it. Growing up in Detroit, I do remember some homes in this general neighborhood where you would come into a common entryway and then go upstairs to another entrance for the upper flat or go through a door in the foyer to the lower flat.

ignore the number that appears at the bottom of the photo; that was simply the address I entered to get onto the street. It looks like this house is almost directly across the street from the one owned by Florence Ballard.

i’m sorry these didn’t reproduce better, you can blow them up but then of course the numbers are hard to distinguish.

Is Buena Vista located in an upmarket part of Detroit Kenneth, or not particularly?.

[kenneth]

Is Buena Vista located in an upmarket part of Detroit Kenneth, or not particularly?.

According to Trulia.com, The house was built in 1940. That would make it part of of the auto manufacturing boom that led to Detroit population expanding during the first half of the 20th century. I would say it was a nice middle-class neighborhood. I grew up several miles away from there in an area that was probably considered upper middle class, but had many homes similar in style to the Ross home, though I don’t recall any flats in the neighborhood I grew up in or any multi family homes except possibly a few on some of the busy streets that went through the area.

The other major event that affected Detroit housing was the 1967 riots, after which there was a huge amount of “white flight“ from the city to the suburbs. That started a lot of the declining property values and the eventual decline in the city population which persists today.


Detroit was a great place to grow up and I’m glad to see that many things going on with the city are leading to its revitalization. But in my opinion, Detroit’s almost sole focus on the auto industry and its nearly complete dependence on that industry was the biggest factor in the city’s decline over the years.

[RanRan79]

But in my opinion, Detroit’s almost sole focus on the auto industry and its nearly complete dependence on that industry was the biggest factor in the city’s decline over the years.

I agree. Add to that certain other cities, like Gary, Indiana, whose economy was so dependent on the steel industry, and what happened when it began to decline. I think cities are trying to do better now about diversifying it's portfolio, if you will, largely because of cautionary tales like Detroit, Gary and others.

[Ollie9]

According to Trulia.com, The house was built in 1940. That would make it part of of the auto manufacturing boom that led to Detroit population expanding during the first half of the 20th century. I would say it was a nice middle-class neighborhood. I grew up several miles away from there in an area that was probably considered upper middle class, but had many homes similar in style to the Ross home, though I don’t recall any flats in the neighborhood I grew up in or any multi family homes except possibly a few on some of the busy streets that went through the area.

The other major event that affected Detroit housing was the 1967 riots, after which there was a huge amount of “white flight“ from the city to the suburbs. That started a lot of the declining property values and the eventual decline in the city population which persists today.


Detroit was a great place to grow up and I’m glad to see that many things going on with the city are leading to its revitalization. But in my opinion, Detroit’s almost sole focus on the auto industry and its nearly complete dependence on that industry was the biggest factor in the city’s decline over the years.

Many thanks for the info Ken. It is something I always wondered.