The Dorais Park Velodrome

View from the top of Dorais Park's Derby Hill

It seems incredible, but buried in an overgrown, under maintained Detroit park, sits a velodrome.  Quoting from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, velodrome comes from the French word vélodrome meaning a track designed for cycle racing.  As an amateur cyclist, I couldn't believe what I had stumbled upon in the middle of one of the most blighted neighborhoods in Detroit. Sure, I'd watched a few cycle races during the Olympics trying to comprehend the sports unique strategies and incredible speeds.  But to set foot in an actual velodrome?  If I didn't have pictures I wouldn't believe it.  Here, at the corner of Mound Road and Outer Drive, sits a velodrome with a history for having trained some of our nation's most distinguished cyclist.  Names that include Frankie Andreu, former 7-Eleven and U.S. Postal Service racer and two-time Olympian John Vande Velde.



The Dorais Park Velodrome

Built by Michael Walden, a legendary cycling and track coach, it was completed the same day that Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon in 1969.  It was built on land donated by the Chrysler Corporation whose 35 acre assembly plant looms just a few wheel rotations across Mound Road.  The land is part of Dorais Park, which because it contains one of the city's few hills, was site for Detroit's 1956 soap box derby and some of the city's best winter sledding.  It's named after former University of Detroit Mercy football coach Charles "Gus" Dorais, a member of the college football hall of fame.

Sledding on Derby Hill in the 1930s.

(Soap Box Track and flagpole in background)



Derby Hill in 2012
(Note the flagpole still standing in the background)

250 meters around with 45-degree banks and a concrete surface, it was home to the 1969 U.S. National Track Championships.  For 21 years it would serve its purpose as a world class training facility. But it would host its last race, the Michigan State Championship, in the summer of 1990.

A group of good Samaritans known as the "Mower Gang" rediscovered the track in 2010.  Though the concrete racing surface is cracked, and littered with graffiti, racing returned to the Dorais Park Velodrome on October 16, 2010.  For a brief moment, racers circled the track on small motorcycles, mopeds and bicycles, bringing the dormant spirit of the Velodrome back to life.  Time will only determine how long the track's renaissance will continue.

Home to the Stars

Just off Joseph Campau Street, just before you past under the Grand Trunk Western railroad, at the edge of Hamtramck's Veterans Memorial Park, sits an old rusting grandstand.  The non-descript structure sits fenced in among the weeds and overgrown trees as Dan Street curves to avoid crossing the railroad.  It appears like just another poorly maintained urban ball field.

But from 1930-1933, this was the home to Detroit's entry into the National Negro League: the Detroit Stars.  It was built by John Roesink to replace Mack stadium which burned to the ground after a fire started to dry the infield spread to the main grandstand, injuring hundreds of fans.

A racially tolerant Hamtramck Polish community and a street car connection to Hasting Street's "Black Bottom", the heart of Detroit's Black community, instantly gave the Detroit Stars a new home. Ty Cobb threw out the first pitch at Roesick Stadium, when it opened in 1930.  Babe Ruth is said to have always paid a visit when in town.  It was also home to Detroit's first night baseball game (18 years before the Detroit Tiger's Briggs Stadium) when the legendary K.C. Monarchs paid a visit on June 28, 1930. 

But its life was short lived.  Completed just as the Great Depression began, the team, the Owner and the League would end up bankrupt by 1933.

Walking among the bleachers I can image the roar of the crowd on a Turkey Stern base hit, the shouts of a peanut vendor and the PA announcer reading off the starting lineup.

Walking the adjacent grass field one can find hints of the old pitcher's mound.  Standing on the high ground, I can imagine Satchel Paige throwing one of his trademark "bee balls" (because it would "be where I want it to be.") or Josh Gibson calling for a high and tight fastball or Cool Papa Bell racing around the bases stretching a double to a triple.

Walking along the concrete back to my car, I can hear the sound of player cleats clicking their way  to the locker rooms.  I imagine which boarded up doorway led to the player's showers.

It seems appropriate that in July of 2012, the field was finally designated an historic site.  I hope improvements follow.  Improvements that make clear Roesick Stadium's nearly forgotten history.

One House at a Time

 

The scope has been defined and now work is about to begin on these beautiful historic Detroit homes.

 

Yeat Built: 1915 (1923 sq.ft.)

Year Built: 1917 (2447 sq.ft.)

Year Built: 1915 (1652 sq.ft.)

Year Built: 1917 (3033 sq.ft.)

Just Below the Surface

For the last few days, I've been establishing the scope of work on some historic vacant Detroit homes.  Their insides always hold surprises.  Despite their decay, it's clear their beauty is just below the surface.  Like a tarnished piece of silver whose beauty is recovered with a little rubbing, these houses will once again be beautiful once loved again.

Building Green with The Value Guide

In partnership with WARM Training, we've developed a new Excel based tool for adding "green" value to your next residential renovation or new construction project.

We call it the Value Guide and its designed to:

1. Encourage incorporation of energy efficient and environmentally-friendly design elements.
2. Provide a checklist of design amenities that will maximize marketability.
3. Provide rough construction cost and cost savings information.
4. Provide a single source document for testing alternative design scenarios.
5. Create a marketing brochure for use with potential home buyers.

To download the FREE software go to:
Value Guide 1.1

Power Plant Physical Therapy

I had never been in a power plant until I stepped into Detroit's Mistersky power plant. Producing power at a fraction of its former capacity, it stands as a living monument to a city whose thirst for power has been quenched by a declining population.

As we tour the site, maps prove sometime useless. We walk through tunnels of wires and conduits. Row after row of control panels, throw switches and gauges sit dormant. Analog dials stand frozen, locking in measurements for equipment which has long since turned off. A crew of engineers monitors modern computers which sit interspersed among deserted consoles.

Mistersky power plant was the wind farm of its day. Mitersky is proof of the incredible technological heights achieved through Detroit's industrial might.  Can the might used to create Mistersky by redirected to build a new Green economy?

Housing Site Scavenger Hunt

Demolition is about to begin at this housing site, but there might not be anything left by the time work begins.  Like a turkey at Thanksgiving, the carcus of this housing site is being picked to its copper bones.





Care for a drink?



Stolen cooper hosebibs create a new water feature



The sounds of water cascading
from the 2nd floor soothe the senses





Continuously flowing water creates
a carpet of wall to wall water