The Boston–Edison Historic District is a historic neighborhood located in the geographic center of Detroit, Michigan. It consists of over 900 homes built on four east/west streets: West Boston Boulevard, Chicago Boulevard, Longfellow Avenue, and Edison Avenue, stretching from Woodward Avenue on the east to Linwood Avenue on the west. It is one of the largest residential historic districts in the nation. Sacred Heart Major Seminary surrounds it to the west, the Arden Park-East Boston Historic District, the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament to the east, and the Atkinson Avenue Historic District to the south. The district was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1973 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
A substantial number of prominent Detroiters have lived in the neighborhood. Notable residents have included labor leader Walter P. Reuther, Rabbi Morris Adler, Detroit Tigers Harry Heilmann, and Dizzy Trout, Michigan Supreme Court justices Franz C. Kuhn and Henry Butzel, U.S. Representative Vincent M. Brennan, Michigan governor Harry Kelly, boxer Joe Louis, druggist Sidney Barthwell, Congressman Charles C. Diggs Jr., Congressman George D. O’Brien, Motown record label founder Berry Gordy, Detroit Tiger Willie Horton, and dentist and pioneering WCHB radio station owner Wendell F. Cox.
The district boasts the oldest continuous neighborhood association in the City, the Historic Boston–Edison Association, founded in 1921. The District received historic designation from the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office in 1973, the Detroit Historic District Commission in 1974, and the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. M&H Pest Control Detroit
History
The land now within the boundaries of Boston–Edison was first owned by John R. Williams (who was granted a single parcel in 1822) and Thomas Palmer (who was given three parcels in 1828 and 1832). These original four grants were transferred from owner to owner over the next fifty years until they were obtained by the Joy family, the Newberry family, and Edward W. Voigt. In 1891, Voigt, foreseeing the growth of Detroit, MI northward, platted out the Voigt Park subdivision, consisting of seven east/west streets between Woodward and Hamilton: Calvert Avenue, Glynn Court, Schiller Esplanade, Shakespeare Esplanade, Longfellow Avenue, Edison Avenue, and Atkinson Avenue. Four of these streets—Schiller Esplanade (now Boston Boulevard), Shakespeare Esplanade (now Chicago Boulevard), Longfellow Avenue, and Edison Avenue—formed the Boston–Edison neighborhood. The location of the neighborhood park was originally to have been between Chicago and Boston Boulevards but was later changed to be situated between Longfellow and Edison Avenues.
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