Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Flint Photos: Corner of Kearsley Park Blvd. and Lewis Street









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13 comments:

  1. This past weekend I drove from Kearsley park to the house I grew up in on Delaware and Iowa. I could not ever dream how bad things were over there. In that ~ 1 mile stretch, there had to be over a dozen houses burnt to the ground along Iowa alone. I have no idea how anyone could have hope in that neighborhood. It really was the worst thing I had ever seen, even worse than neighborhoods I had driven by in Detroit. I hate to say, it was the first time I have ever felt that Flint neighborhoods could not come back.

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  2. Yeah, Gordie, see what I mean about the corpses of these burned-out houses? They just get under your skin. You can't stop thinking about them. These photos of yours really get at the heart of it. And Stringbean's comment is how I feel too, every time I drive by them.

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  3. I was disgusted when I saw that this house had burned down. I drove by it frequently, and I was a fan of the huge house. It didn't look to be in bad shape at all, though when I checked the city property lookup I saw that it was on the demolition list. Definitely a shame, being such a cool house.

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  4. The entire stretch of Kearsley Park Blvd. had some beautiful homes, but the corner house was really a gem. There are still some great houses on the block, but the east side on either side of Franklin heading north is really suffering from abandoned houses.

    I was trying to get a list of the houses that burned so I could try and get a sense of how widespread the fires were, but now I realize I see them simply by driving or walking around town. The burned out houses are tougher to take than the abandoned houses.

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  5. Does anyone have a picture of what this house looked like before it burned and was demolished?

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  6. I just added the google maps streetview. Not a great shot, but it gives you an idea.

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  7. http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=104369270639441294422.000482a55395478d593c5&ll=43.032259,-83.697968&spn=0.087835,0.145912&z=12&source=embed

    A Flint Journal-compiled map of all of the fires between March 24 and May 18. Obviously, there have been more since then, but the list is staggering. The amount of fires on the east side (Jane Avenue specifically) is mind-blowing.

    I wish I had a picture of the house, since it was massive and, like I said earlier, in quite good shape. It had a nice brick garage as well, and was one of my favorites in the city.

    Here's the city's property profile of it:
    http://taxes.cityofflint.com/display.asp?parcel=41-07-228-003

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  8. My 75 yr old mind is getting kind of foggy,but I seem to remember a Dr Dumonois having an office there or living there

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  9. I used to live in this house as a little girl, about 15 years ago. this house was sooo nice! I can't believe that it's not there anymore. I always told my fiance that when we were able to buy a house, I would want my house to look just like this one. I was such a beautiful house. It was ginueinly a dream house. Hardwood floors, 4 bedrooms on and a full bathroom on the top floor beautiful stair case, a huge kitchen and dining room, living room, family room with a fire place,and two seperate sunrooms off of the family room. and a mother-in-laws courters. It really was a one of a kind house.

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    Replies
    1. Rebecca, thanks for the comment. And sorry about the house. My grandparents lived on the 1500 block of Illinois Avenue so we passed this house many times on our way to visit.

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    2. I coach baseball at Mott CC and this house is next to our baseball field. It was a cool place. We mowed it a few times at the end. The lot has been cleaned up and taken over by neighbor.

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  10. Many a days I have been by that house also, such a shame. I knew a girl that lived on the corner of Pennsylvania and Kearsley in the late 70's early 80's (Furtaws?). It was a beautiful brick home. I always thought her family was rich compared to my family's aluminum bungalow...haha.

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  11. I owned this house in the mid 90's. I am sickened by this.

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Thanks for commenting. I moderate comments, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. You might enjoy my book about Flint called "Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City," a Michigan Notable Book for 2014 and a finalist for the 33rd Annual Northern California Book Award for Creative NonFiction. Filmmaker Michael Moore described Teardown as "a brilliant chronicle of the Mad Maxization of a once-great American city." More information about Teardown is available at www.teardownbook.com.