Woodbridge is a historic neighborhood of primarily Victorian homes located in Detroit, Michigan. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, with later boundary increases in 1997 and 2008.

Most of the structures within the neighborhood were built after 1870, beginning with modest cottages. Larger structures were built later, including the James Scripps house (now demolished and turned into a city park), built in 1879. The Eighth Precinct Police Station, built in 1901, was architecturally designed to blend in with the lavish upper-class homes in the neighborhood.

Notable structures

thumb|right|upright|The former [[Eighth Precinct Police Station was redeveloped into lofts in 2013]]

Notable structures within the Woodbridge neighborhood include:

  • The Eighth Precinct Police Station is located at 4150 Grand River Avenue, and was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1973 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. which was created in 1993 when members of the collective established a nonprofit corporation and purchased the property, two Victorian houses on either side of a single-story art space.

Education

Detroit Public Schools operates public schools.

Frederick Douglass Academy for Young Men is located in Woodbridge.

Notable people

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  • Kenneth Cockrel Jr., former Detroit City Council member and president, as well as former mayor of Detroit
  • Tony Hawk, professional skateboarder, video game subject, and real estate entrepreneur who maintains a second home in the neighborhood
  • Rose Mary Robinson, Michigan State Representative, former member of the Detroit Charter Revision Commission (in 2009) and former Wayne County Commissioner (one of the first women ever elected, in 1970)
  • Sixto Rodriguez ("Rodriguez"), folk musician and subject of Academy Award-winning movie Searching for Sugar Man
  • Gary Schwartz, Academy Award–nominated filmmaker, animator, artist and educator

Previous residents included:

  • George Gough Booth, publisher of the privately held Evening News Association, co-founder of Booth Newspapers, co-founder of the Cranbrook Educational Community, major benefactor of The Detroit Institute of Arts, and son-in-law of James E. Scripps
  • Ty Cobb, Detroit Tigers outfielder and Major League Baseball hall-of-famer
  • Ken and Ann Mikolowski, Cass Corridor artists and cofounders of The Alternative Press
  • James E. Scripps, founder of The Evening News (now The Detroit News) and early benefactor of the Detroit Museum of Art (now The Detroit Institute of Arts), to which he gave one of the first major accessions of early paintings for any American museum. Scripps is the namesake for Scripps Park, a public park in the southern part of the neighborhood.
  • David Stott, early Detroit millionaire, "Detroit's Flour King," commemorated in the David Stott Building
  • William Woodbridge, second Governor of Michigan and United States Senator

References

  • Anthony Agbali, Jason Booza, Jennifer Creighton, Amanda Dudley, Richard Fancy, Lance Greene, Amy Howell, Kevin Johnson, Ken Kelso, Rachel Klamo, Mary Mans, Alexandria Meriano, Elizabeth Pare, Girthia Porchia, Michelle Proctor, Oliver Rue, Tim Scrimger, Joseph White, Shihong Yao, "University City - Woodbridge Historic Area Together: A Community Study of the Woodbridge Historic District", April 23, 2001, paper presented on COMM-ORG: The On-Line Conference on Community Organizing and Development. http://comm-org.wisc.edu/papers.htm.
  • Woodbridge Historic District Association