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Welcome to Mt. Palmer: A look inside Detroit’s Most Dangerous Neighborhood

Welcome to Mt. Palmer

NeighborhoodScout.com is a fantastic resource for people looking to move. It as all kinds of fun stats on where want to live, how far your “neighborhood” goes, crime rates, school information, etc. No doubt it saves a Realtor a ton of time every year as they work to convince people to buy homes all over the country. Of course with this data, you can see where the safest and most dangerous neighborhoods are in the country.

Walletpop.com did a story recently analyzing the 25 most dangerous neighborhoods in the nation. Only one Detroit hood made the list, coming in at #23: The Mount Elliott / Palmer neighborhood. Within this small scope of streets there are a little over 150 projected violent crimes every year (or one every 2-3 days), the violent crime rate per thousand is almost 100, and the odds of you becoming a victim of such a crime if you live there is 11%, which is quite a bit by most standards (even the most dangerous neigborhood in America has odds of 25%).

The thing that makes the Mt. Palmer neighborhood interesting is that it’s a mix of residential dilapidation and an industrial wasteland: the neighborhood houses the Motor City Industrial Park, a massive complex that was once home to Packard Motors and now sits abandoned, with no clear owner, and is set on fire seemingly every couple of weeks now. As a Realtor, the only convincing point I could make to sell a home here is the price. There is nothing else that is even remotely inviting.

Mt. Palmer is located on the east side of the city, between Gratiot Avenue and I-94 to the east and west, as well as East Grand Blvd. and Mount Elliott to the north and south. You can view a map over at the Neighborhood Scout Website. It’s common knowledge that the east side of the city is more problematic than the west side, however while the residential parts don’t appear as bad on the outside, it looks as though this really is the place where anything can happen.

Here come the pictures. The sepia tone gives it a nice eerie feeling to it all, but of course you can see the full roll of pictures in full color over in the photos section. Click on any photo to view a larger resolution.

The Businesses

Businesses is slim to non-existent in this area. The occasional party store or something of the like is on the perimeter, but there is very little once you get off the main roads.

This Children's Center is arguably the most inviting thing in the neighborhood

Here is the first of many pictures back dropped by the Packard Plant. It's a State run Family Independence Agency.

Here's Krispy Krunchy Chicken, one of the the more modern establishments

Krystal's Korner. It looked like some sort of party store, I don't know for sure as I didn't venture indoors

Abandoned Liquor Store

Old building, it appeared to be a school.

A major problem in Detroit is the lack of access to quality food. The simple suburban concept of the "Supermarket" is rare in the city, including this one that was long since closed.

The only form of lodging in the area is the Packard hotel, across the street from the plant. I wouldn't suggest booking a room unless you're looking for quite an adventure.

Quality Furnature is located right off of Gratiot, need a new matress?

Subway: Eat Fresh

Wildcats Detroit was the only bar I could find. It was next door to the Family Independence Agency.

The Signs of Industry

I could have made this an entire feature on the Packard Plant. But for the sake of this focusing more on the way the people live and a feeling for the neighborhood, I won’t do that. You can see the glory that is Motor City Industrial Park over here in the photos section.

Alliance Steel Inc.

The back of an Industrial Building

The Boulevard Auto Center. No way to tell if the place is in business or not.

Capuchen Services

Faygo Trucks parked out back

A Burned out, industrial Building

The rusty water tower: the ultimate symbol of industrial decay

The Streets

The most amazing thing about the streets is that their condition at the core is fairly well kept. Maybe it’s the lack of traffic that comes trough, but while you would expect cracked streets and potholes, overall the ride is smooth. Save for the number of tires, amount of broken glass, or random pileups of garbage that flood the streets of Mt. Palmer. It is especially bad right around the packard plant, but trash in the streets or along the roadside is common, and may be the most frightening thing for someone who is not expecting it.

A closed off street leading to the Packard Plant

This is a group of seats I discovered in a clearing by the roadside. There are 3 benches, as if to be positioned around a large campfire. Truely a creepy sight.

A look down Mt. Elliott at Palmer

A dumpster that has been an obvious victim of at least one fire.

While the whole neighborhood was rather quiet, this ally was espcially calm

Faygo: Putting Detroit Back on a Map

You would be hard pressed to find a fire hydrant that is in worse shape that still resembles a fire hydrant.

Free wood: either referring to some wood that had already been claimed...or the tree itself.

An old man lumbers home

No parking. Or else.

Cars ranged from things like this old Buick Regal to a new BMW 5 Series.

This old Chevrolet was spotted for sale inside a gated and razor wired fence

Roadside Tires: Common as anything else

A shopping cart turned over in the ally

A trashed street. Watch where you drive.

Thou Shalt Not Steal: Good advice, for those who take it.

Down a not-so-busy street

Tires and Trash by the side of the road.

More trash piled up

A Street Corner at East Warren

The Cemetery

On the west side of the neighborhood is Trinity Cemetery, with graves dating back quite some time. This was by far the creepiest part of my endeavor.

Welcome to Trinity Cemetery

Lock your Car and be Alert

A view through the fence

Graves K-M

Discarded Casket Carriers over on the south east corner of the cemetery

Of all the things I found, this was by far the most disturbing

A nice mound of grave dirt.

The Homes

Where the people live is the most interesting part of the journey. Something that you won’t see in the pictures is the amount of people who were just sitting on their porches. My luck has been pretty bad lately, and I wasn’t about to push it by asking some of the most unfriendly looking people I’ve ever seen if I could take their pictures. So it’s just buildings, but you’ll get the picture.

Burned out Apartments

A House on the Corner

A few houses, a few cars

A Flame Broiled Home

One of the best looking homes in the neighborhood

Make what you will of this one

Here's something interesting: Houses that you can't tell if they're abandoned or not.

With the grass so high, you'd think this was Kansas

Average Mt. Palmer House

So long, porch. Things like this are all too common.

Christmas Anyone?

The light shines oh-so-beautifully through the roof

A Local man lowing his lawn

Yet another home with broken steps

A pile of rubble, who knows what it used to be

What's left of a home after a fire

Standard Home

Trash outside of a home

A few two-story homes

Yet another two story home

Churches

Faith is an important part of most communities, and there’s a handful of them in Mt. Palmer

The Church of God in Christ

Church of the living God

New Star Missionary Baptist Church

Oak Grove Church

This is only about half the photos I have, you can see the rest of them, in full color, right here.

And now you have a visual as to what Detroit’s most dangerous neighborhood really looks like. Take a drive down for yourself if you’re still curious.

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