An interesting article from the Detroit Free Press in November of 1917. It is the real first mention of the beginning of Rosedale Park that I can find.
From the article:
Grand River at Mill Road and six other artistic houses nearing completion, of the following types:"
English Half- Timbered
Dutch Colonial
Modern English
New England Colonial
Attractive Stuccos (Western Design)
High class material and workmanship through as well as -- plate glass in all front windows -- pressed brick all around -- White brick in basements -- Slate roofs or stained cedar shingles -- Sun parlors -- Sleeping porches -- Steam heat -- Ash receivers under furnaces -- Kerner Incinerators -- Fireplaces with dome dampers.
. . .
Rosedale Park consists of 354 acres, and is being developed with 14 boulevards, 80 to 100 feet in width. Each boulevard will be paved and curbed with concrete, elaborately parked and beautified with lawns, flowers, shrubbery and shade trees.
An artesian water systems - 30,000 gallon tank - fire plugs - 4, 6, 8-inch mains - is about completed. A complete and permanent sewerage system. A boulevard lighting system - underground wiring - iron standards. A beautiful grove of trees has been dedicated as a park for the neighborhood. Recreation grounds and school and church sites are reserved, besides the sidewalk and a shade tree which you usually get on a subdivision.
These homes are being built to establish a standard for the property and to serve as a nucleus for the community that will rapidly follow. Profit is a secondary consideration. Visit Rosedale Park and see something different. Inspect these homes and then let us tell you the prices and terms. The have prepared a booklet on Rosedale Park, illustrating some of these homes and explaining our plans and purposes. It will be mailed at your request.
