The subdivision known as Hitchman's Haven Estates was platted in the southeast quarter of Section 8 of the former Township of Avon (now Rochester Hills) in 1952. Detroit real estate broker
Thomas A. Hitchman and his wife, Ada Lillian Sternbridge Hitchman, developed the subdivision that bears their name; they included the name "Haven" in a nod to the
Haven Sanitarium that lay adjacent to their property immediately to the east. The streets in the original Hitchman's Haven Estates development were named for the western states of Texas and Nevada. The Hitchmans expanded the subdivision in 1953, adding the streets of Arizona and Oklahoma, and again in 1955, adding a fifth street named Colorado.
An interesting side note about this property is that before the Hitchmans acquired it for development, the parcel was owned by Beryl Harnett Schuyler Kahn, who was the wife of
Detroit architect Louis Kahn (not to be confused with the famous Estonian-born architect Louis I. Kahn of the Yale School of Architecture). Detroit architect Louis Kahn was the brother of renowned industrial architect Albert Kahn.
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My family lived on Arizona Court from 1960 to 1993. Our house was built in 1955 when there were only 2 houses on the street. The original owners sold it to my parents in 1960. Lots on that street sold for $500+. You had to have a well and septic system as city utilities didn't become available until 1971. It was a mix of blue collar and young suburban executive families. The area was surrounded by farms off Walton Blvd. and Brewster Road. On the n
ReplyDeleteOn the north end of the subdivision, Oklahoma Court had a high elevation, and in the Winter when the leaves were off the trees you could see downtown Detroit from there... 24 miles away.
ReplyDeleteBuilding of homes on the streets of Colorado, Arizona, and Oklahoma picked up in the mid-1960s offering 3 BR tri-level homes from the low $20Ks. I believe the developer was Shepard (sp) Realty.
Hitchmans also backed up to Gladstone's gravel pit off Brewster Road (it is now a subdivision) and it had a deep pit and lake. Of course, kids would sneak in and play there. I remember how noisy the gravel trucks were, rumbling down unpaved Brewster Road 8 hours/day.
Elementary school kids living in Hitchmans in the 1960s were bounced around the school district, attending North Hill, then Meadowbrook, then Long Meadow schools. Junior High kids went to Central, and then in 1962, to West Junior High (now a middle school). High schoolers started at Rochester High, and ended up finishing in the brand new Adams High in 1970.