Before the “Great Lakes”, there was “Clairemont Park”
Decatur Metro | February 7, 2011 | 3:58 pmA reader sends in a picture of a map hanging in the new Burnt Fork BBQ on Church Street. They report that all the roads on the map retain their current Great Lake names, even though the original name of the development was “Clairemont Park”.
What does “5 Minute Schedule” refer to? Is that a reference to the trolley?
I would guess the “5 minute schedule” refers to the interval between streetcars, not the length of the trip.
“30 Minuters From Town”
i’m guessing no spell check back in the day…
A 30-minute trip was a 30 minuter so throughout the day you could catch any of the 30 Minuters. That’s my guess.
What year is this? It looks like Clairemont Elementary was not part of the development unlike Westchester Elementary whose grounds supposedly were donated to the city by the developer specifically for a school.
I think I read 1913 or 1918 on the map. Clairemont was built 1923 or 1925.
could be mistaken, but from my days in Great Lakes (just a few yrs ago), I seem to recall “Great Lakes” was the unofficial neighborhood name, and the legal descriptions of the properties still read Clairemont something-or-other. Neat map, though.
I love this map. Was there really a lake in the middle where Waddell Park now is? I can read “Lake…” I think but not the name of the lake. What’s the white spot in Zone 3–reflection? Hole in map? Dead zone? And look how different zones represented very different size lots and probably architecture. With all the renovation, it’s hard to tell anymore but I do remember vaguely when there were a lot more tiny craftsman style cottages in the Great Lakes vs large renovations. Anyone know why the developers decided to name all the streets after Great Lakes?
Karass – When Waddell Park was ‘created’ several years ago, after neighbors joined to purchase the land instead of a developer who wanted to build some houses there, I seem to recall someone saying there was a spring there that had been capped. As you may know, the neighborhood deeded the land to the City eventually.
This is a map used for the purpose of selling lots in a new subdivision. The actual plat of Clairemont Park is recorded in plat book 2 page 58 in the clerk’s office at the courthouse. The numbers are block numbers. The “blank area” in block 3 is apparently a hunk of THIS map which is missing. The missing info is lots 7, 8, 9, 18, and 19 of block 3. The lake in the center is called Lake Seneca. It is in the park called Closeburn Park. Can you tell I don’t want to be working right now ?
I love it! Lake Seneca! A Finger Lake, right? So it’s really the Great and Finger Lakes neighborhood. I kind of wish there was a Skaneatales Lake or street in the neighborhood. It’s one of my favorite Upstate New York names, along with Onandaga and Ticonderoga.
Oh. And it’s dated 1913.
Very Interesting. Notice the street on the north side of the Clairemont school property, leading from the Clairemont school street down to Church Street. The street was never built but I remember an alley that you could use as a short cut to Glenlake pool. Any trace of the alley disappeared when Church Street was widened in the mid 1980s.