Center. Disturbed by the failures of low-income housing projects that came out of the depression, he funded an alternative. He contributed $550,000 of his own personal money, combined with $300,000 from Oakland Housing, to create a managed low-income housing project called Westacres, in West Bloomfield, Michigan. The project gave the low-income factory working man a chance to own a home. The homes were located on 1 acre of land and the owners were required to farm the land to provide food for their families when seasonal layoffs took place. Miscellaneous Asked how to say his name, he told The Literary Digest: "Pronounced exactly as cousins." The middle section of the Lodge Freeway in Detroit was originally named for him. After the entire freeway was renamed to The Lodge, only the service drive retains the Couzens name. See also List of United States Congress members who died in office (1900–49) List of United States senators born outside the United States References Bibliography American National Biography Dictionary of American Biography Barnard, Harry. Independent Man: The Life of James Couzens, New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1958. Republished by Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2002. U.S. Congress. Memorial Services Held in the House of Representatives of the United States, Together with Remarks Presented in Eulogy of James Couzens, Late a Senator from Michigan. 75th Cong., 1st sess., 1937. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1938. External links 1872 births 1936 deaths Mayors of Detroit Ford executives People from Chatham-Kent Republican Party United States senators from Michigan Michigan Republicans Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Detroit) Canadian emigrants to the United States Detroit Police Department chiefs