LoginCrossing the Lines: Highland Park pastor says he serves in an ‘enclave of love’
WDET is examining the highlights and history of Highland Park as part of our Crossing the Lines series.
The roughly three-square mile enclave, completely surrounded by Detroit, has many of the same issues as the Motor City. Some Highland Parkers say it’s often hard for visitors to know when they have left one city and traveled into the other.
Those residents include Pastor Leon Morehead, who leads the New Grace Missionary Baptist Church in Highland Park.
He’s a native of Detroit who has lived in Highland Park for about four years.
Morehead says the enclave is taking steps to reverse decades of decline.
Listen: Highland Park pastor says he serves in an ‘enclave of love’
The following interview was edited for length and clarity
Leon Morehead: It is becoming more of a walkable community. Many things are within walking distance right now. I love the tradition. I love the family atmosphere of Highland Park. I can talk to any of my local politicians and it’s just like we’re family. Even if I disagree with what they’re saying, they make themselves easily accessible.
Quinn Klinefelter, WDET News: Do you get the same sense from your parishioners? Does they seem pretty happy with the area?
LM: Yes, we love Highland Park. We even discussed one time about moving and everybody said, “Absolutely not, we will not move from Highland Park.” It’s centrally-located. And there’s so many things that Highland Park is on the brink of doing. There’s some great developments that are on the way. There’s some housing developments, there’s more jobs that are coming online and more community partnerships, which are helping us a lot.
QK: As a native Detroiter, when you come to Highland Park, did you notice much difference between the two?
LM: With Highland Park being inside of Detroit, it’s almost like you’re just riding through one city. Highland Park was built to be a suburb, I was told. I actually grew up in the north end area of Detroit. As a child, we would ride through and we would see the Chrysler plant and the Ford workers that were working in Highland Park. So it’s not really much of a difference for me because I’ve already experienced it.
My children grow up now in an area where everybody knows them. It’s like the old school days. They don’t want my children to get in trouble. They’ll say, “Hey, he came in at eight o’clock at night instead of six o’clock.” Things like that. I love that part of the Highland Park community. It is an enclave. But it’s an enclave of love.
QK: If you suddenly were granted the power to change things to whatever you would like, is there anything you see around Highland Park that you would like to address?
LM: Just like many other places, I wish we could have the roads together. Our roads are not bad. But there are some street roads that I just wish were a little bit better. Especially with the hot and cold temperatures, we all deal with the potholes. We have a good [Department of Public Works] that fixes them. But I just wish we had a way to have self-sustaining roads.
QK: For people who maybe have not been through Highland Park, what would you tell them? What would you like people to know about the area if they haven’t been here before?
LM: Stop at some of our local shops. One of the greatest things we have is our recreation department. We got a really nice park. They have concerts every Wednesday in the summertime. And when you go there, everything is safe. Everybody’s having a good time. Everybody’s just looking at each other enjoying the family atmosphere. So it’s a great thing.
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