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Every kid who’s looked out the car window on Eight Mile or Six Mile Road has probably asked why Detroit’s streets are named after miles. The answer goes back more than 200 years to a plan that started at Campus Martius Park, the city’s center point.
Where the ‘mile’ names start
The mile road system in Detroit begins from a spot called “mile zero” at Campus Martius Park in downtown Detroit, where Woodward Avenue meets Michigan Avenue. From there, surveyors laid out east-west roads each spaced one mile apart. Because of that, Eight Mile Road is exactly eight miles north of that downtown center, according to the Detroit Historical Society.
That means Six Mile is six miles north of downtown, Nine Mile is nine miles north, and so on. The road names reflect how far north they sit from that origin point.
From survey lines to actual roads
Back in 1815, when land was being surveyed in what is now metro Detroit, lines were drawn to divide the land into sections. One of those east-west lines became what is now Eight Mile Road. At first it was a dirt path called Baseline Road, according to the Detroit Historical Society.
Over time, as people moved northward and transportation needs increased, this baseline and those parallel lines were turned into real, maintained roads. By the 1920s and later, paving, widening, and formal improvements made them major thoroughfares.
Why some roads vanish or change inside the city
Inside Detroit city limits, the mile roads don’t always appear as continuous named streets. That’s because older parts of the city had different layouts before the mile-road grid was applied. Also, many early streets followed French land grants, which were aligned differently than straight grids, according to WDET.
So you might find that Six Mile or Ten Mile Road stops, changes name, or shifts direction as it enters older neighborhoods.
A note about Eight Mile and its meaning today
Eight Mile Road has become especially well known. It often marks the boundary between the city of Detroit to the south and its northern suburbs, according to the Detroit Historical Society.
It’s also a cultural landmark. Thanks to Eminem’s movie 8 Mile, named after the road he grew up near, the street has become a symbol of Detroit’s grit, creativity and resilience. What started as a simple survey line has come to represent the border between city and suburb, challenge and opportunity.
But at its heart the name simply reflects that it lies eight miles north of “mile zero.”
What this teaches kids
You can tell your child that naming roads this way was a practical move. By measuring out miles from a central point and laying roads accordingly, early planners gave settlers and travelers a way to tell how far north you were.
So next time someone says “meet me at Seven Mile Road,” your family can remember: that means it’s seven miles north of downtown Detroit’s origin point at Campus Martius.
FAQ
- What is Mile Zero? Campus Martius Park, downtown Detroit.
- Why does it matter? It’s the survey starting point for metro Detroit.
- What’s the farthest Mile Road? Around 37 Mile near Romeo, Michigan.
- What’s the most famous? Eight Mile Road, marking Detroit’s northern boundary.
Updated October 2025
