Looking Back at St. Clair Shores is a series of historical articles featured most months in the St. Clair Shores Sentinel newspaper. Unless noted otherwise, the photographs used are part of the St. Clair Shores Historical Commision's Photograph Collection. These photographs, along with many others, are available to view through the Digital Media Archive.

Previous articles can be found by clicking on the year.

The Greendale Inn in St. Clair Shores occupied the space at 27609 Harper Avenue at 11 Mile Road. With its large parking lot, the Greendale presided over the corner from at least 1937, since a phone directory for that year lists the phone number as ROSevl-238.

The owners were Leo Delo and Al Witrick. They served meals and they also served drinks. The Inn had a bar, tables, and in the early days, a lunch counter. There was something for everyone in the family at the Greendale Inn: there were gumball machines for the children and slot machines for the adults.

The Greendale Inn was typically open by 11 or 11:30 in the morning, and served dinners all day and well into the night. In 1955 the closing hour was midnight; in 1953 closing time had been 1:30 in the morning.

In a 1953 area phone book, the ad for the Greendale Inn noted the restaurant was open 7 days, and served beer, wine, and liquor—all of which a patron could also get to go. The ad went on to say the restaurant “specialized in Frankenmuth Dinners”. A sign outside the building with the same advertising is shown in this photograph from the 1940s.

With the Frankenmuth dinners, the owners were capitalizing on the popularity of the chicken dinners with several side dishes and dessert in Frankenmuth, which was about 90 miles away.

Herman Carl Hilgendorf was born in Bremen, Germany in 1879. In 1884, his family came to the US. By the 1910 census, Hilgendorf was listed as married and working in Detroit. In this photograph from the mid 1930s, Herman Hilgendorf was the station owner (in hat); he is pictured with John Maison and the Maison children, Helen and John Jr. The price shown at the pump was 10 gallons of gas for 95 cents.

The first “purpose built” gas station was built in St. Louis, Missouri in 1905. Prior to that, anyone needing gas could purchase it from a local pharmacy, general or hardware store, or even at a blacksmith shop. Once automobiles became more widespread, so did the stations that provided gas. 

In early pumps similar to the ones shown here, the gasoline was pumped up into a calibrated glass cylinder. Once the desired amount of fuel was in the cylinder, the pump was stopped. A hose was inserted into the vehicle’s gas tank, and gravity pulled the fuel from the pump into the car’s tank.

The Hilgendorf Service Station was listed in the 1928 Macomb County phone directory (with the phone number Rosevl-443); the location was Jefferson Avenue at Laukel. Mr. Hilgendorf and his wife Eva and son Aaron lived in a home behind the station, at 22905 Laukel.

In 1881 in Pittsburgh, Captain John Ford founded a plate glass company. By 1883, his company was known as the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company—the first commercially successful plate glass firm in the U.S. The success of the company would shortly end large scale plate glass imports from Europe and foster the growth of the domestic glass industry.

Ford’s two sons were involved in the company and by the early 1900s, Emory L. Ford had moved to Detroit. He and his brother were still involved in the glass business as well as with other business ventures, but glass was Emory’s passion.

When Emory Ford built a home at 485 Lakeshore Drive in Grosse Pointe in 1916, he made certain to have “glass houses” (what we today call greenhouses) erected on the property. One of those greenhouses is shown here, in the mid 1940s.

In 1944, Frank Viviano Sr. paid $2,000 to purchase this glass house. By 1951, it had been re-assembled at the Viviano Flower Shop on Harper Avenue, near Masonic, in St. Clair Shores. Until 1958, the structure was used as a greenhouse, but in 1958 it became a retail area, the purpose that it still serves today.

The Emory L. Ford estate was demolished in 1964, but a piece of its glass history lives on in St. Clair Shores.

Frederick Schroeder and his wife Sophia emigrated from Mecklenburg, Germany in the early 1850s to what was then Erin Township (now St. Clair Shores). In 1865 they purchased 320 acres of property to farm. Their first home was a log house, but about 1870 Schroeder built a new home of brick. Accounts vary, but anywhere from 100,000 to 300,000 bricks were said to have been used in the three-story Victorian style building with the current address of 26717 Little Mack.

Frederick Schroeder died in 1895; his wife inherited the house and farm. The Schroeder family lived in the house until the 1920s, when it was rented, and then converted into a road house by Renny Tesoriere. Guests could dance to bands and meals cost 50 or 75 cents. A ballroom was added to the building in 1937.

Ruth and Danny DiSanti acquired the building in 1953 and once again changed its use. It became E. C. White’s Old House, a furniture store, pictured here. E. C. White was Ruth’s father, who in 1912 had founded the Gardner-White Furniture Company.  Some of the surrounding land continued to be farmed in the 1950s.

Sold again in 1986, the building was re-named Victoria Place by its new owners, Ray Domke and Larry Berdasono. The Schroeder house became home to an assortment of shops and a café. Since 2008, the building has been known as Ardmore Park Place, hosting a café, salon, yoga studio, and other enterprises.

The one thing that has been consistent is the solid construction of the Schroeder home that has welcomed so many through its doors. Recognizing its history, the St. Clair Shores Historical Commission granted approval of the request for a marker recognizing the history of the building. The marker was dedicated on October 27, 2012.

1954 Fire Truck