HistoricDetroit.org

HistoricDetroit.org serves as a hub for anyone interested in exploring the rich stories connected to Detroit’s historical sites. It welcomes photographers, historians, and enthusiasts to share their passion, images, and personal memories of the city’s landmarks. This nonprofit website invites everyone to contribute their photos and stories. All contributors retain complete rights to their submissions and are credited accordingly, with the option to remove their content whenever they choose. Essentially, this platform acts as a showcase, providing a comprehensive resource for those who appreciate Detroit's architectural heritage.

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City of Mackinac II | Historic Detroit

2 weeks ago | historicdetroit.org | Dan Austin

The City of Mackinac II was an overnight passenger steamer operated by the Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Co. (D&C). Passengers would climb aboard in the afternoon, eat dinner and spend the night in a cabin, then wake up at their destination the following day. In an era before airplane travel or highways, these "floating hotels" were a fast and often luxurious way to travel.
First Congregational Church (old) | Historic Detroit

1 month ago | historicdetroit.org | Dan Austin

This building on the southwestern corner of West Fort and Washington Boulevard started as a church but later offered refuge to a homeless newspaper following the deadliest disaster in Detroit's history. The First Congregational Church and Society was organized Dec. 28, 1844, and quickly established a lasting legacy by helping to usher enslaved African-Americans to freedom on the Underground Railroad. Under the Rev.
Detroit Journal Building | Historic Detroit

2 months ago | historicdetroit.org | Dan Austin

Note: This history marks the longest entry to date on HistoricDetroit.org. We have put the history of the building pictured here up front and moved the lengthy history of the Detroit Journal leading up to its construction - including the deadly 1895 building explosion - beneath it.
The Players | Historic Detroit

Aug 14, 2024 | historicdetroit.org | John L. Daly |Edward J. Priebe

If you drive along Jefferson Avenue in Detroit, an unusual, two-story brick building about a mile northeast of downtown may draw your attention. Ten gargoyles guard the building's roofline. On the second floor, four pairs of tall, leaded-glass doors open to nowhere and serve as nearly all the building's windows. Above the double entrance door, a six-foot-tall face seems to depict a cross between the mask of comedy and the Roman god of merriment, Bacchus.
Temple of the Maccabees | Historic Detroit

Aug 6, 2024 | historicdetroit.org | Dan Austin

This house started off as the home of a beloved lumberman and ended up being felled for an Art Deco masterpiece. In April 1887, the Free Press reported that Edward Smith would erect this two-story stone home and a barn on the southwest corner of Woodward and Putnam avenues at a cost of $37,000, the equivalent of about $1.3 million in 2024, when adjusted for inflation. The original architect of the house was not reported at the time, and has seemingly been lost to time.
Owen Building | Historic Detroit

Apr 17, 2024 | historicdetroit.org | Dan Austin

This structure was the home of the “Kahn System,” a revolutionary building company that helped to change the way things were built around the world - but it wasn’t the Kahn many probably think of. The Trussed Steel Concrete Co. was incorporated Oct. 7, 1903, to manufacture and sell building products patented by Julius Kahn, famed architect Albert Kahn’s younger brother. Julius was born March 8, 1874, in Germany. He graduated from the University of Michigan as an engineer.
Comique Theatre | Historic Detroit

Mar 17, 2024 | historicdetroit.org | Dan Austin

This forgotten theater was one of many designed by noted Detroit theater architect C. Howard Crane. It began its life as the Crystal Theater, the brainchild of Eugene Silverman of Milwaukee. Ironworkers began erecting the steel for the building on Aug. 10, 1905. The entrance was at what was then 231-233 Randolph, near Gratiot and Miami Avenue (today known as Broadway). The Crystal was billed as a first-class vaudeville house offered seven or eight acts and four performances each day.
Majestic Hotel | Historic Detroit

Mar 16, 2024 | historicdetroit.org | Dan Austin

Under every parking lot in Detroit lies pieces of our city's history - sometimes, even "Majestic" ones. The building was built, owned and managed by William S. Buckley. Buckley was born on Christmas Day 1882, and had founded the National Drapery & Carpet Co. in 1906. Deciding to expand his business repertoire to cash in on all the workers moving to Detroit for factory work, Buckley hired architect J.
Hannan Memorial YMCA | Historic Detroit

Feb 13, 2024 | historicdetroit.org | Dan Austin

On Detroit’s east side stands - for now - the Hannan YMCA, a building that served countless Detroit men and youth, and is a monument to one of the city’s great families of benefactors. The Detroit Young Men’s Christian Association’s origins go back to 1851, when efforts began in the interest of bettering “the spiritual and mental condition of young men” led to the organization’s founding here. Detroit was a city of just 27,000 souls at the time, and things didn’t really take off.
Gordon-Pagel Bakery | Historic Detroit

Oct 17, 2023 | historicdetroit.org | Dan Austin

For generations of Detroiters, the products of Gordon & Pagel were the best thing since before bread came sliced. In 1900, James C. Gordon and William M. Pagel entered a partnership, setting up shop at Chene and Hendricks streets. It would go on to become Detroit's most prolific bakery, pumping out 150,000 loaves a day from this factory on the east side. Gordon was born in Greenfield Township, Mich., in Wayne County, on Feb. 16, 1873, to Scottish immigrants.