Monday, February 13, 2012
The Anatomy of a street name
Gronow Street, Michigan USA, takes it's name from the person who subdivided the land on what is now along the north side of Engleman St. and both sides of Gronow Street between Van Dyke and Lawrence St. According to the subdivision plot recorded on May 12, 1913 his name was Dr. Adolph A.Gronow and his wife's name was Rose Agnes Gronow.
The earliest US Census records I could find with a listing of Adolph Gronow were in 1920 and 1930. Working backwards in time I was able to verify that Adolph's original surname was Gronkowski.
According to the 1900 and 1910 US Census Records, Adolph GRONKOWSKI was born in April 1870 in Germany and his wife Agnes was born 2nd October 1876 in Warren, Macomb, Michigan. In 1900 Adolph GRONKOWSKI was living on Bellevue Street in Hamtramck Township, which would soon be incorporated into the city of Detroit. He claimed to have immigrated from Germany in 1889 and was a naturalised citizen whose occupation was "Librarian". The 1903 Detroit City Directory shows Adolph A. GRONKOWSKI living at 974 Bellevue and employed as a teacher at Eastern High School. In 1910 Adolph GRONKOWSK was living on Center Line Road (now Van Dyke Ave) in Warren Township, which would become the village of Center Line in 1926. From the other names on the record, it is clear that he and his family were living with his mother-in-law Margaret Engleman in the Engleman home on Van Dyke near what is now Gronow Ave. He claimed to have immigrated from Germany in 1890 and was a naturalised citizen whose occupation was "Teacher-High School". Since it was clear that Margaret was still married in 1910 and a widow on the 1920 census record, I wondered where her husband was living in 1910. I did some searching and discovered that her husband Hieronymus passed away in 1918 and in the 1910 US Census he was shown as an "inmate" living at the Michigan Soldiers Home in Grand Rapids, Mich., which was a nursing home for US Civil War veterans.
The 1916 Detroit City Directory listed Adolph A. GRONOW as "Physician and Surgeon, Office Hours 1 to 3 PM and 6:30 to 8:00 PM (Sunday by appointment), 1910 Gratiot Ave., Tel Ridge 150, home: Center Line, Mich." 1910 Gratiot Ave.(renumbered to 8338 Gratiot in 1921) was near the intersection with Iroquois St., about a one-half mile walk from the home he apparently owned at 1221 Townsend Ave. where some of his
adult children were living at that time. According to the 1880 US Census, Adolph's wife Agnes was born about 1877 to Hieronymus and Margaret Engleman. According to the 1895 plat map of this area, the Engleman home and and 13 acres of farm land match the area of land that was subdivided in 1913 by Agnes and her husband, Adolph Gronow.
It turned out Adolph had married previously to Antonia Kremser by license in Wayne Michigan on the 20th May 1893 under his original name of Gronkowski. They had a son Joseph P.Gronkowski born the 17th March 1896 in Detroit. In 1898 Adolph married Agnes Rose Engelmann in Wayne Michigan. They had the following children; Norbert Gronkowski, Edith Gronkowski, Esther MarieGronkowski (9th Nov.1901), Frederick Gronkowski, Anthony Gronkowski, & James Edward Gronkowski, (9th July 1906)
My thanks for permission to use the photograph above, and help with the research behind the street name goes to Mike Grobbel who is Webmaster for:
"Through the Years - a Photographic History of Center Line, Michigan"
& some more information regarding
Gronow Street in Michigan.