Where I spent the first 22 years of my life

Where I spent the first 22 years of my life

Dac

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I also threw tennis balls, rubber balls and even regular baseballs over or onto our roof as a game to see where they would end up

here are photos of my family house in Detroit and that part of the city

our 1/8 acre, 40 ft x 108 ft lot in a tract neighborhood

our block from 8 Mile to Collingham along Joann Street

map of our block

the general area I played in from when I began school until

I graduated from high school.  Didn't own a car until late in the Summer of 1963. I bought it from the money I earned that Summer working as a beginning mechanical draftsman at the engineering firm that my brother was an engineer at for most of his working life.

much of the neighborhood is devastated or houses are boarded up or burned out over the past 20 years.

The original house as my parents purchased it in 1941

was roughly 24 x 24 with an attic space.

During the next couple years before I was born in 1944

with help my father expanded most of the attic into

two rooms.  Nearly doubling the sq ft of the house plan

He also added a back porch that served many functions during the year and often is where we might eat some meals in June, especially on the weekends.

The front porch was added and enclosed after my middle brother and I moved out after our marriages.

view of our house as it looks now.

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