2705 Michigan Avenue (1956)

Home of Walter E. Schultz & Mae Z. Schultz

This double lot was originally the site of a five-room two-story home and rear garage apartment probably constructed by Henry C. Case, who built nine homes in Dean Park on lots purchased from Dean Development Corporation.  The original dwelling shows up on the 1930 Sanborn Insurance Company map and was in existence in 1950, when it was advertised for sale for $6,700.

At some point the original dwelling was demolished and, in 1956, the lot was split in two.  The southerly halves of Lots 12 and 13 became the site of a new ranch-style home that was owned from 1956 to 1966 by Walter E. Schultz and Mae Z. Schultz.  The northerly halves of Lots 12 and 13 became 1585 Cranford Avenue.

Mr. Schultz, a bricklayer and carpenter, was born in Germany in 1899 and immigrated to the Detroit area with his family when he was just two years old.  He and Mrs. Schultz married in 1923 in Michigan and had three sons.  A 1942 article in the News-Press described Mr. Schultz as a “Michigan tourist,” and by 1950 the couple had moved to Fort Myers Beach.  Mr. Schultz continued his occupation as a carpenter and both were involved in many community activites, as well as in frequent visits to their grown sons.

Earlier address:  42 Michigan for the original house on Lot 13; Dean’s Subdivision, Block I, southerly half of Lots 12 and 13