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Chitaku
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Username: Chitaku

Post Number: 313
Registered: 03-2006
Posted From: 68.43.107.72
Posted on Thursday, May 11, 2006 - 6:38 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Anyone know where Ford's first shop on Mack was located?
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Gistok
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Username: Gistok

Post Number: 2087
Registered: 08-2004
Posted From: 4.229.105.106
Posted on Thursday, May 11, 2006 - 6:42 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I don't know about Mack Ave..... but the VERY FIRST Ford shop was in a carriage house in a back alley off of Bagley Ave. (on the site of the former Michigan Theatre) where Henry Ford built his first motor and his first horse-less carriage back in the mid 1890's.
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Jjaba
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Username: Jjaba

Post Number: 3804
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 67.160.138.107
Posted on Thursday, May 11, 2006 - 8:50 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Greenfield Village.

jjaba.
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Livedog2
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Username: Livedog2

Post Number: 229
Registered: 03-2006
Posted From: 24.223.133.177
Posted on Thursday, May 11, 2006 - 9:11 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Started off on the Eastside and ended up on the Westside!

ford

Livedog2
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Mackinaw
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Username: Mackinaw

Post Number: 1505
Registered: 02-2005
Posted From: 68.248.2.9
Posted on Thursday, May 11, 2006 - 9:22 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

From ModelD media...

"September 27, 2005

Ford’s original showroom to showcase artists

Ford’s building that originally was used to showcase his cars is being put to good use after being vacant for years. Josephine Marino, a local artist, recently purchased the historic building to provide a larger studio to work in. She plans on converting the first floor of the three-story, 30,000-sqare-foot building into a showcase for art and artists. Meanwhile, the top two floors will be reverted to their original purpose by serving as storage space for cars and boats.

Understanding that artists need a lot of space to work in, Marino is renting out the bottom floor to artists who also are seeking a larger workspace. Marino works with clay, metal and oil and is seeking to attract artists who will add other creative media to the list, such as glass-blowing. Studio space can be rented out for any period of time, from hourly to yearly.

The additional top two floors are used as storage space for cars, boats, bikes, etc. The original steel elevator was designed to transport cars to the top two levels. Storage units are available for immediate use, while artist space will be ready soon.

The building is located at 14801 E. Jefferson Ave."



I'm not putting too much into this when it comes to historical data, I just remember coming across this.
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Hornwrecker
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Username: Hornwrecker

Post Number: 1146
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 63.41.8.146
Posted on Thursday, May 11, 2006 - 10:29 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

685(?) Mack & Beaufait, 1903-04, fate: demolished




Also on that intersection is the first Hudson (1909-10) factory, formerly Aerocar (1906-08), which is still standing. Brick structure with arched front door.

(Message edited by Hornwrecker on May 11, 2006)
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Sven1977
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Username: Sven1977

Post Number: 187
Registered: 04-2004
Posted From: 209.220.229.254
Posted on Friday, May 12, 2006 - 10:46 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Check the Old Car Factory thread for the location of the shed on Bagley. I circled it from an 1897 map.
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Detroitnerd
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Username: Detroitnerd

Post Number: 594
Registered: 07-2004
Posted From: 209.69.221.253
Posted on Friday, May 12, 2006 - 1:14 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I seem to recall the street was called Rowena when the Ford factory was first built.
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Gistok
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Username: Gistok

Post Number: 2090
Registered: 08-2004
Posted From: 4.229.6.200
Posted on Friday, May 12, 2006 - 2:45 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Was the entire stretch of Mack called Rowena? Or was only the few blocks near Woodward called Rowena? I remember Albert Kahn's 90 year old daughter Rosalie mentioning Rowena a few years ago (the Kahn residence is the Urban League building today at the corner of Mack/John R), but I thought that it was only called that for a few blocks, and the rest of the road was always called Mack Ave. (changing names somewhere near where I-75 is today). Am I wrong?
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Jams
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Username: Jams

Post Number: 3267
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 69.212.122.61
Posted on Friday, May 12, 2006 - 3:04 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Came across this on a Google search, too lazy to pull out the old maps.

http://www.phigam.org/history/ Sites/detroit.htm

Hotel Cadillac, from a postcard
Hotel Cadillac (site only)
1909 Ekklesia
A famous hotel in its day, the Hotel Cadillac hosted the 61st Ekklesia in August 1909. 244 brothers attended.

The hotel was demolished and replaced with the Book Cadillac Hotel.

Corner of Michigan and Washington Boulevard
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Jams
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Username: Jams

Post Number: 3268
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 69.212.122.61
Posted on Friday, May 12, 2006 - 3:21 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Mack is definitely a very old road name through the Eastside. I can't find that particular map, I have of the rural area from the 1800's, although I'm sure, I've seen it on the web somewhere.

Rowena; named for the wife of Alfred E. Brush, Rowena Hunt; 1878


(Message edited by JamS on May 12, 2006)
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3rdworldcity
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Username: 3rdworldcity

Post Number: 241
Registered: 01-2005
Posted From: 69.212.214.147
Posted on Friday, May 12, 2006 - 3:57 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Jams: "The Hotel Cadillac was demolished and replaced by the Book Cadillac Hotel."

Where were the preservationists? How could they have permitted that to happen?
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Fury13
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Username: Fury13

Post Number: 1058
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 69.222.11.226
Posted on Friday, May 12, 2006 - 3:58 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Or was only the few blocks near Woodward called Rowena?

Yes.

If you take Mack from Woodward, you'll notice that there is a subtle jog in the road somewhere east of Hastings/I-75 (I believe that's where it is). That's where Rowena ended and Mack originally started.
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Jams
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Username: Jams

Post Number: 3272
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 69.212.122.61
Posted on Friday, May 12, 2006 - 4:08 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

3rdworldcity,
I'm just p*ssed all the log cabins are gone. :p
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Hornwrecker
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Username: Hornwrecker

Post Number: 1148
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 63.41.8.77
Posted on Friday, May 12, 2006 - 4:24 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

From 1884 map: Rowena for 2 blocks to Brush, stops, starts as Ohio to Russell, jogs over North and becomes Edwards to Riopelle, jogs over North, again, to become Bellair.

Bellair runs to Jos Campau in 1884: stops, starts, stops, then Gratiot, Mack starts on the Eastside of Gratiot.

The map isn't suitable to reduce down for posting, so the above description will have to do.
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Gistok
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Username: Gistok

Post Number: 2092
Registered: 08-2004
Posted From: 4.229.81.207
Posted on Friday, May 12, 2006 - 7:03 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Wow, thanks Hornwrecker. Didn't realize that it was so complicated in the old days!
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Fury13
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Username: Fury13

Post Number: 1059
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 69.14.122.204
Posted on Friday, May 12, 2006 - 10:20 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Hornwrecker, by some point around 1900-1910 I believe all that was simplified and it was Rowena for a few blocks and then Mack. A map circa 1910-15 should show this.

I could be wrong, but I remember seeing an old map that showed this.
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Hornwrecker
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Username: Hornwrecker

Post Number: 1149
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 63.41.8.185
Posted on Friday, May 12, 2006 - 10:41 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Fury, yes it did; Rowena into Bellair at around Riopelle on the 1889 map, and Bellair going all the way through to Gratiot. I just wanted to find out when, and was surprised by all of the convolutions taken in one street name on the earlier map, so I though I'd share.

One interesting thing I found on that map was the old ball park on Brady, behind Harper Hospital. I forgot about where the Tigers played on the Eastside.
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Hornwrecker
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Username: Hornwrecker

Post Number: 1165
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 63.41.8.166
Posted on Monday, May 15, 2006 - 10:15 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Detroitnerd, it turns out that you were partially correct, Ford did have a factory at 419 Rowena, between Brush and Beaubien, in 1921 to make carburetors. You learn something knew everyday. I'll post a map of it later in the OCF thread.

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