Wyandotte Loves Lucy! Did You Know Lucille Ball Grew Up In Michigan?
If you don’t “Love Lucy” then we can’t be friends!
Not only was Lucille Ball an amazing actress and comedienne, but she felt like family; I mean, who didn't grow up on I Love Lucy re-runs, right? Ball was also a ground-breaking producer and entrepreneur, but did you have any idea this award-winning icon was also a Michigander?
I Love Wyandotte
Let's just get this out of the way: Lucille Ball was born August 6, 1911 in Jamestown, NY. That being said, the Ball family moved to Wyandotte, MI when she was just one year old so that her father, an electrician, could take a job with the Bell Telephone Company.
At the time, the Balls rented a small back-room apartment at 126 Biddle Avenue just steps from the Detroit River. Bernard Daniels, whose parents owned the apartment the Balls rented, recalls playing in the front yard with Lucille as children.
Today, there's not necessarily a residence at 126 Biddle Ave., but this is what the neighborhood looks like now; residents are still able to catch glimpses of the river through the trees:
Unfortunately, Lucille’s father passed away when she was three years old forcing the family to return to New York. However, Lucille did not stay a stranger to Wyandotte. In 1947 Ball returned to Michigan to reconnect with old friends like Daniels, and she even attended a special engagement at the local theater while in town.
In her book Memoirs of Lucy local author Betty Schley writes,
Her memory will live on in the hearts and minds of Wyandotte residents who like to consider her one of their very own.