City of South Gate history

After 1850, his land was divided among eight sons and daughters, with portions eventually falling into other hands, including those of the Tweedy family which was to lend its name to a prominent South Gate street.

An 1880 study reported that the key crops grown in the area included alfalfa, barley, beets, corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and pumpkins.

Michael Cudahy, a meatpacker from Chicago, purchased several thousand acres in 1893 but died before he could introduce the pedigreed cattle and thoroughbred horses he intended to breed there.

By 1917, the Cudahy Ranch Company had evolved into the Southern Extension Company and was advertising plots of lands for sale in a new community it was calling South Gate Gardens.

The 1st school, now known as State Street School, was established with 52 pupils, opening September 8, 1919.

Like South Gate as a whole, the Hollydale area began as a planned community, with a development company laying streets and sidewalk and constructing a handful of homes in the early 1920s.

What was his connection to South Gate? Although Glenn Seaborg spent his earliest years in Michigan, in 1922, when he was ten, his family moved to Home Gardens‹a community later annexed to South Gate‹where he completed grammar school.

On January 20, 1923, the Board of Supervisors formally declared the incorporation of the "City of South Gate." The population at that time was 2,500 people.

Firestone's 1st tire rolled off the assembly line on June 15, 1928.

The school opened in September 1930 with 500 9th and 10th grade students, and 27 faculty members.

In 1932, Amelia became the 1st woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

In 1933, moreover, an earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter Scale damaged schools, businesses, and homes in South Gate and killed five people.

Just three years later, in 1940, Seaborg discovered a new radioactive element, plutonium.

It remained thus until 1941 when South Gate Junior High was constructed on Firestone at Otis Street.

In 1945, South Gate organized a Chamber of Congress which began promoting the community, luring still more industrial operations to the area.

Southgate is a great community to live, work and raise a family. It was in 1953, also, that the Recreation Department was formed, along with the first Planning Commission, and the progress in municipal services has been continuous since.A highlight of the City’s involvement with its residents is the well-organized public recreation facilities.

The history of Southgate itself begins with a petition to incorporate filed with the WayneCounty Board of Supervisors in November 1955.

The Township hall remained in Allen Park until late 1956, the original municipal building was built on Northline near Burns.

When the new library on Tweedy Boulevard was built in 1973, a portion of the old building was given to the South Gate Art Association for a gallery.

Joining the baseball diamonds, the City’s impressive community ice and hockey rinks, and the 18-hole municipal golf course with clubhouse.In 1976 the existing Police, Fire, Court and Civic Center were built and the staff was moved from the Northline facilities.

Firestone closes completely after significant downsizing in 1980 when 1,300 workers are laid off and the plant closes.

In 1994, the scientific community named a new element seaborgium in his honor.