Beautiful Boston-Edison District

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oston-Edison is a special slice of Detroit for many reasons-from grand homes once owned by some of the city's biggest names to a vibrant community of passionate residents who keep the neighborhood looking good.

"There's a lot of history here," says Brian Ceccon, president of the Historic Boston-Edison Association and resident for 15 years. Homes in the neighborhood were built in subdivisions during three different time periods: 1905-06, 1915-16 and 1925, he says.

The neighborhood's historic association was founded early on in 1921, making it the oldest continuously run neighborhood association in Detroit, according to the group's website. The neighborhood also has committees including beautification, zoning, security and community relations.

The beautification committee takes care of public spaces and vacant lots, while the zoning committee makes sure residents follow city and historic code.

The security committee educates neighbors on safety practices and coordinates with a private security patrol and also with the neighborhood's citizen's radio patrol, he notes. Residents can pay a monthly fee for private security patrol service.

"Our crime rate is very low when you compare it to the area around us," Ceccon says.

This "huge volunteer effort" is what Ceccon says "makes this neighborhood so special."

Ceccon says Boston-Edison has always been a diverse neighborhood. Even historically, the neighborhood never had "restrictive religious covenants" preventing any group of people from living there, the site notes.

"Racially diverse, socio-economically diverse, ethnically, religious, sexual orientation-it's just a very diverse neighborhood, and I think that's another one of the attractions," he says.

Dorothy Hall, 83, has lived in the neighborhood since 1968. She says everybody who lives there is "really nice."

"It's kind of like everybody looks out for everybody else," she says.

For Ceccon, it's the sense of community in this neighborhood that makes it a great place.

"I've never lived anywhere where I've felt this," he says, adding, "this neighborhood has something that the others don't have."