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THE EARLY YEARS OF THE TIREMAN BUS LINE (THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE TIREMAN & JOY ROAD BUS ROUTES) |
One of the early bus routes to operate within the city of Detroit was along Tireman Street, located on the city's west-side. The above photo, taken on Oct. 20, 1927, looks west along Tireman just east of Greenfield Road (the north-south crossroad visible behind bus). Pictured here—heading eastbound along Tireman—is a bus operated by the Detroit Motorbus Co. (the city's first transit bus company), which by 1927 had extended its bus service along Tireman to Greenfield Road (Division Road). (eBay photo - photographer unknown) |
HISTORY FOOTNOTE: In 1927, this portion of Greenfield Road was known as Division Road and served as a boundary line dividing the townships in the area. The area north of Tireman (right) had just been annexed to Detroit from Greenfield Twp in 1926, while the area south of Tireman (left) and east of Division was located in the city of Fordson, which merged with the City of Dearborn in June 1928. The area on the other side of Division Rd in photo had already been annexed to Detroit from Deartborn Twp back in 1925. Note the rural atmosphere of the area when compared with today. |
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Meanwhile, beginning on April 3, 1923, a new Rt. 7 – West Grand Blvd.-Tireman line began providing service from the old City Hall (located at Woodward and Fort Street downtown) to the company's new Tireman Garage, where a bus loop had been built on the property. The route left downtown via Lafayette, W. Grand Blvd., and Tireman to Epworth Street. In 1924, the route was extended one mile westward, looping at Central Avenue near the old city limits. After additional territories were annexed to Detroit in 1926, the line was extended 2½-miles west to Division Road (renamed Greenfield (c. 1930)).
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Route map of the W. GRAND BLVD.-TIREMAN bus line when operated by the Detroit Motorbus Co. between 1923-1932. (Map edited by H.B.Craig,II) |
THE CITY OF DETROIT TAKE-OVER:
In 1931—with the DSR's ridership and revenue numbers continuing to plummet—the Detroit Common Council decided that it was time to revoke the Detroit Motorbus Company's license to operate in the city of Detroit; as a means to help generate more revenue for the DSR. Consequently, effective January 1, 1932, the company's city-routes were taken over by the city-owned Department of Street Railways (DSR), and as a result the DMB's Rt 7-West Grand Blvd.-Tireman line now became the DSR's new "Tireman" bus line.
One of the first route changes implemented under the DSR was to extend the route one block east from Tireman and W. Grand Blvd. to connect with the Grand River streetcar by looping via W. Grand Blvd., Grand River, Vinewood, and Scovel to W. Grand Blvd., and then continuing onward to Fort Street. This change went into effective on January 4, 1932. Two weeks later, effective January 18, 1932, service into downtown, which had been discontinued in 1930, was restored, with service continuing from W. Grand Blvd. via Lafayette, Cass, and Fort Street to Cadillac Square.
Another notable route change—although the date implemented is not certain—probably occurred prior to the DSR take-over of the route. After Bonaparte Road had been renamed and converted into a through-road by merging it with Joy Road to the east (circa 1930), bus service on the Tireman route was extended to the new Joy Road by adding branch trips that turned onto American Street and looped one-half mile north to Joy Road; returning back to Tireman via Central Avenue (see map above). Trips via American to Joy Road were identified by coaches displaying a "Tireman-Joy Road" sign.
However, beginning April 25, 1938, the Tireman-Joy Road branch service was rerouted. Service via Joy Road was rerouted off of Tireman at Beechwood, and then traveled north along Beechwood to Dailey Street where it merged into Joy Road. This change resulted in two Tireman bus routes, both leaving Cadillac Square via Fort, Cass, Lafayette, W. Grand Blvd., and Tireman—with one branching off at Beechwood Street. Originally, the Tireman-Joy Road branch provided service to Joy Road and Schaefer, but on October 30, 1939, service was extended one mile west to Joy Road and Greenfield. Effective October 6, 1941, service was extended 2½-miles west to Burt Road—and now traveled farther west than the main Tireman route a half-mile to the south. This two-route operation would continue for another decade. What then followed was rather bizarre, if not a bit confusing to riders, but actually laid the foundation for the two separate bus routes that still exist today.
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Confusion arose when, effective that same day, the former Joy Road branch (the "Tireman-Joy" route) now became the new "Tireman" bus line, although this route only traveled along Tireman Avenue one-half mile before turning north onto Beechwood Street. Patrons now had to remember that to travel along Tireman Avenue one would have to catch a Myrtle bus, while those traveling along Joy Road would need to catch a Tireman bus.
However, this confusion would only last less than one year, for on March 13, 1949, the situation was resolved. The recently renamed Myrtle line—which basically traveled from City Hall via Fort, Third, Grand River, Myrtle, W. Grand Blvd and Tireman to Greenfield—was renamed the "Tireman" line, while the former Tireman-Joy branch (recently renamed Tireman)—which basically traveled from Cadillac Square via Fort, Lafayette, W. Grand Blvd., Tireman, Beechwood and Joy Road—became the new "Joy Road" line. These changes launched the two bus routes that exist today.
Over the years, Joy Road has become more of a major thoroughfare, even forming part of the region's Mile Road street-grid system. During the DSR years, Joy Road bus service was extended further west into the suburbs, with service to Telegraph, then to Inkster Road, to Middlebelt, and later to Farmington Road by 1963. Service even operated to Westland Shopping Center for some years beginning in 1965. As for the Tireman line, service was extended further west to Spinoza Drive and Sawyer in Rouge Park in November 1964. Today, the Tireman line stands as the second oldest continuous running bus route in Detroit, second only to the Dexter line, another former Detroit Motorbus route.
Detroit Motorbus Co. coach #202—pictured here displaying its "W. GRAND BLVD.-TIREMAN" route sign—is representative of the early type "single-decker" coaches the company used on its Tireman line. Nineteen of these 33-passenger Safeway Six-Wheel Company coaches (#201-219) were delivered between 1924-25. (Photo source: Motor Coach Age Magazine – Sept. 1988 edition) |
The above map shows the two routes along Tireman and Joy Road that were operated by the DSR's TIREMAN bus line between 1938 and 1948. Also visible is a TIREMAN transfer that was issued by the DSR during the 1930s. (click-on both images to view larger version) (Map edited by H.B.Craig,II) |
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DETROIT'S "OLD WEST SIDE" BLACK COMMUNITY (1920-1950) |
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