Brightmoor, Detroit
Encyclopedia
Brightmoor is a roughly 4 square miles (10.4 km²) neighborhood in Detroit, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

, near the northwest border of the city. Brightmoor is defined by the Brightmoor Alliance as being bordered by Puritan Road to the north, the CSX railway to the south, Evergreen Road to the east, and Telegraph Road to the west. However, the demographics given here for the neighborhood are the city's formal, statistical defintion which consists of eight census tracts that includes some areas outside of its boundaries, but doesn't include some areas within its boundaries.

History

Developer Burt Eddy Taylor bought 160 acre (0.6474976 km²) of land, located one mile (1.6 km) away from Detroit's city limits at the time, in 1921. Taylor created Brightmoor as a planned community of inexpensive housing for migrants from the Southern United States
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...

 in the early 1920s. The subdivision opened in 1922. B.E. Taylor recruited workers from Appalachia with the lure of employment at one of Detroit's expanding automobile manufacturing plants. An additional 2913 acres (1,178.9 ha) was added to the community between 1923 and 1924. Most of the residents worked in the automobile industry. Model d has described Brightmoor a neighborhood where families could own a house and live in modest comfort. The City of Detroit annexed Brightmoor in 1926. The houses were intended as low cost mass produced single-family housing.

Demographics

In 1990, the neighborhood had 23,775 people. At the time 12% of the population consisted of senior citizens. A 1999 The Detroit News
The Detroit News
The Detroit News is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan. The paper began in 1873, when it rented space in the rival Free Press's building. The News absorbed the Detroit Tribune on February 1, 1919, the Detroit Journal on July 21, 1922, and on November 7, 1960,...

article said that Brightmoor had been a "little-known" community for a long time and that as of 1999 the community "could better be described as "Blightmoor."" By 1999 vandalism and many abandoned buildings were in the community.

In 2000, the neighborhood had 19,837, a 16.5% decrease from the 1990 figure. Of them, 7,380 were 0–18 years old. 37.2% of Brightmoor's population was under 18 years of age. 5.3% of the population consisted of senior citizens.

By 2009 many nonprofit agencies aim to assist the population of Brightmoor. By the same year urban gardens have been established in Brightmoor.

In 2010, the neighborhood's population had fallen to 12,836. A drop of 35.3% over the previous decade.

The Brightmoor Post Office of the United States Postal Service
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...

 is located on Fenkell Street.

Parks and recreation

Two area parks, the 139 acre (0.56251354 km²) Eliza Howell Park and Stoepel Park, are in Brightmoor. A greenway links the two parks. Howell has a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) nature trail that, in 2009, was recently constructed.

The Brightmoor Alliance is a group of community organizations that work to coordinate revitalization programs in the neighborhood. Created in 2000, the Brightmoor Alliance meets regularly to discuss programs, events, and partnerships developed by member organizations. The Alliance also works with city officials and large community foundations like the Skillman Foundation to help plan and develop new programs for the neighborhood.

Schools and organizations

Brightmoor is zoned to Detroit Public Schools
Detroit Public Schools
Detroit Public Schools is a school district that covers all of the city of Detroit, Michigan, United States. The student population of the Detroit Public Schools is about 65,971 , which is down about 9.7% from the previous school year. Detroit Public Charter Schools educate an additional 56,000...

. Schools serving sections of Brightmoor for elementary school include Murphy K-8, Vetal K-8, Burt Elementary School, Gompers Elementary School, and Harding Elementary School; all of the schools are in Brightmoor. For middle school some residents are zoned to Murphy K-8 while others are zoned to Vetal K-8. All residents are zoned to Frank Cody High School
Frank Cody High School
Named to honor the former Superintendent of Detroit Public Schools; Frank Cody High School was dedicated in 1955.Cody serves Brightmoor, the Rosedale Park Historic District and a section of Old Redford...

, outside of Brightmoor. City Mission Academy
City Mission Academy
City Mission Academy is a private, non-denominational Christian, charitable organization and K-5 school operating in the community of Brightmoor, Detroit since 1998.-History:...

, a private non-denominational Christian school, is located in Brightmoor. Nicole Aikens opened the school in the early 2000s.

Organizations in the neighborhood include Brightmoor Community Center, Motor City Blight Busters
Motor City Blight Busters
Motor City Blight Busters is a charitable organization and is located in Detroit, Michigan. They are dedicated to the revitalization of the Detroit community. The group is responsible for cleaning up dump sites, tearing down blighted houses, painting existing homes and many other activities...

, Mt. Vernon Baptist Church, Northwest Detroit Neighborhood Development, The Detroit Partnership, and 28 other area businesses, community centers, and churches. http://ndndhome.org/Brightmoor%20Alliance.htm The current Executive Director of the Brightmoor Alliance is Mary Banks.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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