Shelby Township, MI
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Shelby Township's historical Clinton River parks
Updated on 02/08/2021 4:26 PM
The advent of the automobile in the 1920s made it possible for people to escape the big city's confines. They yearned for open spaces and fresh air. They found it in Shelby Township and other rural areas of Macomb County. Small cottage-like homes called "summer bungalows" sprung up where city dwellers vacationed in the summer, and some made their permanent homes here. Some entrepreneurial farmers took advantage of this northward trek from Detroit and opened sprawling parks along the scenic and clean Clinton River, while others opened "wayside markets" to sell produce.
Shelby Township's Clinton River parks were very popular with Polish and Italian immigrants, so park names and activities drew from these influences. They were cheap entertainment and a pleasant place for family picnics, fishing, dancing and other recreational sports.
Broadway Park's original dance pavilion remains a popular destination operating today as Coyote Joe's
Swiss Valley Park was opened in 1921 by Casimer "Cass" Ochylski at a picturesque 37 acre site along the Clinton River.
Visitors could access Ramona Park and Pulaski Park off of Auburn Road. We don't know much about how Pulaski and Ramona parks' proximity affected their relationship, but we do know that they at least shared one employee. Jim Brede worked at both Ramona and Pulaski Park.
Warsaw Park was originally the dream farm of Joseph and Stephanie Kawala. The couple purchased 87 acres of land at 2767 Hamlin Road, east of Dequindre Road and on the north side of Hamlin Road.
Swiss Valley Park's most frequent visitors were German families and ethnic groups such as the German American Culture Center, which rented the park for many years on the second Saturday and Sunday in August for their "Deutscher Tag."
A group of Green Glen Park visitors enjoying one of the park's toboggan runs in 1941. Park co-owner and operator Bill Frys can be seen with the group, second to right.
Today much of Holland Ponds Park occupies the former site of Green Glen Park.
Originally called Marskie Oko Park, Green Glen Park was located on the west side of Ryan Road by the Clinton River, midway between Hamlin Road and 22 Mile Road.
Located on 22 Mile Road, just east of Ryan Road, the Helm and Lilly Park was originally a 20-acre property that was part of the Melvin Nunn farm that ran from 22 Mile Road to the Clinton River.
Warsaw Park featured a restaurant, large dance pavilion, an outdoor dance floor for moonlight dancing and two steel toboggan runs.
Warsaw Park remained popular through at least the 1940s, but the records available to us do not state when it closed or was sold.
Warsaw Park structures that used to exist near the Clinton River are no longer there, but they are visible in old aerial photographs.