Yesterday I noticed some work had begun on the warehouse on S Hosmer a block off of Kalamazoo. I know that it is going to be a self storage business, but I am hoping they will improve the outside of the building as well. I have been wondering who takes care of the grass along the rail spur there. It really is kept up nicely, wouldn't it be cool to see a little street car rolling along that line, it looks kind of like New Orleans right there. {kind of}
bah, I'm late to the discussion regarding Holmes/Pleasant Grove.
That's the site of the LEAP project's town square and public art space, the parking lot in across Pleasant Grove from QD. That and the addition of Beacon SW would be huge for the neighborhood.
I've been researching the history of the area, trying to find out more about that particular school. I know it was was New City Academy before the church bought it, and I know that the site has been the location of a school going back to pre-war days when the surrounding area was still farmland.
I learned recently that the land Churchill Downs sits on was the site of a private airfield called Aero Manor, it opened in the 40s before higher real estate prices convinced the owners to sell out to Francis Fine for his new subdivision. Apparently Aero Manor was home to a lot of aircraft and drew thousands to shows. There's still open greenspace just off Holmes near Waverly that was not developed in the middle of Churchill- perhaps it was a brownfield due to gas storage.
Okay, so that's what you can see in this old annexation map at Holmes and Waverly:
That said, I think the empty land - if you're talking about the linear pieces of land that runs from Averill Park down past the church and then over Holmes - is a drain for flood control in the area, at least that's what it looks like. The county land bank seems to own the open space on the south side of Holmes.
I do remember that Pleasant Grove and Holmes was nearly the edge of town, but I had never heard that there was an Airport in that area. I guess it is not quite in the right area but there is the house at 2200 W Mt Hope that looks like it is from that era, and I always thought it looked like an airport building.
The dark purple area is immediately south of Mt Hope, with the southern boundary as Homes Rd. The light blue block immediately south of that is the Churchill Downs area- but those roads appear to be from after development began- so the airport isn't visible as it was on this map.
I'm attaching a news copy showing the annexation from 1955 if that deep purple area.
Comments
Yesterday I noticed some work had begun on the warehouse on S Hosmer a block off of Kalamazoo. I know that it is going to be a self storage business, but I am hoping they will improve the outside of the building as well. I have been wondering who takes care of the grass along the rail spur there. It really is kept up nicely, wouldn't it be cool to see a little street car rolling along that line, it looks kind of like New Orleans right there. {kind of}
bah, I'm late to the discussion regarding Holmes/Pleasant Grove.
That's the site of the LEAP project's town square and public art space, the parking lot in across Pleasant Grove from QD. That and the addition of Beacon SW would be huge for the neighborhood.
I've been researching the history of the area, trying to find out more about that particular school. I know it was was New City Academy before the church bought it, and I know that the site has been the location of a school going back to pre-war days when the surrounding area was still farmland.
I learned recently that the land Churchill Downs sits on was the site of a private airfield called Aero Manor, it opened in the 40s before higher real estate prices convinced the owners to sell out to Francis Fine for his new subdivision. Apparently Aero Manor was home to a lot of aircraft and drew thousands to shows. There's still open greenspace just off Holmes near Waverly that was not developed in the middle of Churchill- perhaps it was a brownfield due to gas storage.
Okay, so that's what you can see in this old annexation map at Holmes and Waverly:
That said, I think the empty land - if you're talking about the linear pieces of land that runs from Averill Park down past the church and then over Holmes - is a drain for flood control in the area, at least that's what it looks like. The county land bank seems to own the open space on the south side of Holmes.
I do remember that Pleasant Grove and Holmes was nearly the edge of town, but I had never heard that there was an Airport in that area. I guess it is not quite in the right area but there is the house at 2200 W Mt Hope that looks like it is from that era, and I always thought it looked like an airport building.
The dark purple area is immediately south of Mt Hope, with the southern boundary as Homes Rd. The light blue block immediately south of that is the Churchill Downs area- but those roads appear to be from after development began- so the airport isn't visible as it was on this map.
I'm attaching a news copy showing the annexation from 1955 if that deep purple area.
This second article from 09-30-1945 describes the runways and also mentions the drainage that @MichMatters referenced.
Anyways, this is old development news lol, sorry for the flashbacks- I'm a history nerd.
I can't edit my posts, but I totally missed what MichMatters was pointing out- I see the airstrip on his map. Super cool!
Huh, I still can't see the airstrip on the map. I'm looking at the dark purple area, the blue area above it, and the orange area above that.
It's tucked on the far lower left, super easy to miss. It's in the shape of a tilted cross