Was Gratiot Road ever US 25?

[roadman65]

Was wondering if M3 and M19 in the Detroit area ever been the historic alignment of US 25?

I would think it is, but what looks say don't always mean and the fact M3 is not assigned to the M19 part of Gratiot Road also raises the question as well.

[Flint1979]

Was wondering if M3 and M19 in the Detroit area ever been the historic alignment of US 25?

I would think it is, but what looks say don't always mean and the fact M3 is not assigned to the M19 part of Gratiot Road also raises the question as well.

Yes it was. M-19 was was extended south on Gratiot between Richmond and New Haven and then to I-94 when US-25 was shifted to the freeway. M-3 came into existence when US-25 was truncated at Cincinnati. Also M-85 which is Fort Street was also a part of US-25.

[Ryctor2018]

http://www.michiganhighways.org/listings/HistoricUS-025.html

[jOnstar1979]

I am always looking for pictures of Gratiot or I-94 in Macomb & St. Clair County in the late 60's early 70's showing US-25. I had a great screenshot from a video I found online, but my portable hard drive stopped working and I lost it. If I find it again... I will post it here. It was a shot of a US-25 overhead sign and next exit 5 miles when 94 was still being built.

[CoolAngrybirdsrio4]

Yes, indicating from the fact it ended at Port Austin at some point.

[Henry]

And, in addition, US 25 remained a surface road until its decommissioning, which is the complete opposite of how other US routes in the state were rerouted onto their Interstate equivalents. Only from Woodhaven to downtown Detroit and from Chesterfield Township to Port Huron did it ever follow a freeway alignment (totaling about 48 miles), which are today's I-75 and I-94.

[KCRoadFan]

It makes sense that it would have been - looking on the map, you can see that Gratiot Road eventually links up to M-25 in Port Huron, and the source of that number seems rather obvious.

I suppose it follows, then, that US 25 used to end in Bay City, like M-25 does now. Is that right?

[bulldog1979]

It makes sense that it would have been - looking on the map, you can see that Gratiot Road eventually links up to M-25 in Port Huron, and the source of that number seems rather obvious.

I suppose it follows, then, that US 25 used to end in Bay City, like M-25 does now. Is that right?

Nope, US 25 ended at Port Austin at its northernmost extent. The rest of the way to Bay City was M-25.

Michigan has had a tradition of a state highway continuation of US Highways. In 1926, M-24 and US 24 connected at Pontiac. At the same time, US 131 terminated outside Fife Lake, and M-131 continued northward through Petoskey. When US 25 was extended from Port Huron to Port Austin in 1933 over part of M-29, the rest of M-29 to Bay City was redesignated M-25.

[NE2]

Grayshit?

[23skidoo]

Grayshit?

GRASH-it, rhymes with "crash it". As many an east side father warned his son when he took the family car to go "cruising": Don't crash it on Gratiot!

[Henry]

Grayshit?

GRASH-it, rhymes with "crash it". As many an east side father warned his son when he took the family car to go "cruising": Don't crash it on Gratiot!

I always thought it was either "gray-she-oh" or "grash-ee-oh", and also that the name was French, since I took it in high school. Detroit itself is a French word, and it is not pronounced the same way as the English version; instead, it's called "Day-traw", like the number 3 is trois ("traw").

[7/8]

Grayshit?

GRASH-it, rhymes with "crash it". As many an east side father warned his son when he took the family car to go "cruising": Don't crash it on Gratiot!

His joke might also be referencing the Michigan/US Great Lakes accent, where the short a sound (ex: "cat") sounds similar to the long a sound (ex: "say") of other accents. This a good read for those interested in phonetics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inland_Northern_American_English#Northern_Cities_Vowel_Shift

[GaryV]

Yes, Michiganders fail miserably trying to pronounce French names.  One article I read a few years back noted that the local pronunciation of Gratiot couldn't even be printed in the newspaper.

(Not that some other areas are any better - Illinois certainly isn't pronounced the way the French would say it.)

We do a little closer when pronouncing German, e.g. Schoenherr.

[skluth]

There's a street in St Louis also called Gratiot. Locals call it Gray'-show, though they butcher many other French names like Gravois (last syllable rhymes with boys) and Cuivre (pronounced quiver). They're equal opportunity pronunciation butchers though as Goethe (named after the German author) is pronounced go-thee (soft th).

[Flint1979]

There's a street in St Louis also called Gratiot. Locals call it Gray'-show, though they butcher many other French names like Gravois (last syllable rhymes with boys) and Cuivre (pronounced quiver). They're equal opportunity pronunciation butchers though as Goethe (named after the German author) is pronounced go-thee (soft th).

Well in Michigan, Gratiot is pronounced Gra-shit.

[tchafe1978]

There is a small town in Southern Wisconsin in Lafayette Countt spelled and said the same way. Methinks it's the French who were wrong all along here, with their fancy-schmancy pronounciations.

[Flint1979]

There is a small town in Southern Wisconsin in Lafayette Countt spelled and said the same way. Methinks it's the French who were wrong all along here, with their fancy-schmancy pronounciations.

I went through there earlier in the year when I was county clinching the rest of NW Illinois and Southern Wisconsin.

[jOnstar1979]

Found this one doing a search in google.

[Flint1979]

Found this one doing a search in google.

I remember when they had the freeway names on the signs. I wish they still did.

[cwf1701]

here's one of Gratiot as US-25. sorry about the writing, this was someone's high school yearbook (from East Detroit High School): https://archive.org/details/eastdetroiter1964/page/n3/mode/2up

[bessertc]

I remember when they had the freeway names on the signs. I wish they still did.

Interestingly, here in the Grand Rapids area, they still do (courtesy GSV):