Discuss Detroit » Archives - July 2008 » If the RIC is on Clay St. what's the building on...... « Previous Next »
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Bcscott
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Username: Bcscott

Post Number: 21
Registered: 05-2008
Posted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 - 4:46 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

When I head to Detroit like I'll be doing this Saturday and next Friday :-) I always see this old factory building on my left from 375 just as I get into town. I've tried to read part of the signage on the building and it looks like Murray Body Co. I know that Murray used the Russell Industrial Complex on Clay Street and I assume this is the building I'm seeing from the expressway. If that's the RIC, what is the building on Russell Street just south of Piquette? The one where they work on the semi's and I guess rent out for storage. It looks like an Albert Kahn building and I was wondering if anyone knows its origin? Thanks, Scott.
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Detroitnerd
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Username: Detroitnerd

Post Number: 2696
Registered: 07-2004
Posted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 - 4:51 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Is that the old Square D building?
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Detroitnerd
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Username: Detroitnerd

Post Number: 2697
Registered: 07-2004
Posted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 - 5:10 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The old Square D building is the one south of Piquette on the west side of Russell. It's bounded on the west by Rivard. It often has trucks there. Was once the Detroit plant of Square D. They went to some pains to avoid demolishing it when they built the freeways. Once the freeways were done, Square D hopped on the expressway and left town. (Boy, those freeways sure did a job on Detroit.)

If that's the building you're thinking of, it's now a storage warehouse. IIRC, it was briefly owned by the United Way before that.
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Bcscott
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Username: Bcscott

Post Number: 22
Registered: 05-2008
Posted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 - 5:39 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Thanks DN, I always thought that was the Russell Industrial Center due to the building's location on Russell Street. I just stumbled upon it one day while exploring Piquette Ave. I couldn't see 375 but I assumed this was the same building that I was seeing each time I came to town. Am I correct in identifying the RIC as the building on the left visible while heading south on 375?
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56packman
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Username: 56packman

Post Number: 2357
Registered: 12-2005
Posted on Thursday, July 17, 2008 - 7:04 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

That building was built as the American Blower plant, making large whole-building fan systems. Square-D took it over from A-B and they were by far the longest owners/occupants. Suqare-D sold the building to the Volunteers of America, who operated a rescue mission with a return-to-work element, rebuilding mattresses for resale. My friend has co-owned the building since the late 80s and offers storage there.

Bscott--the Russel Industrial Center was built as the Murray body plant, just as Ford,GM or any other large industrial concern built their own plants back in the industrial boom. Murray built bodies for many auto manufacturers, Ford was a repeat client until 1951, the last auto body manufacturing Murray completed was the 1953-'54 Hudson Jet and Willys Aero Ace compact auto bodies. They did not "use" the Russell Industrial Center, they built the complex as their plant. It became the RIC after Murray left the body fab business for the plumbing fixture biz (Elijer,Crane brands) and presumably, someone named Russell took over the complex as a real estate venture, as others did with the Ford Highland Park plant and the Packard plant after the original business left.
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Reddog289
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Username: Reddog289

Post Number: 465
Registered: 08-2007
Posted on Thursday, July 17, 2008 - 4:31 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I,d been wondering where the Detroit Square D plant was, seen quite a few breaker boxes made in Detroit. Also Bulldog brand was somewhere in Detroit.
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Detroitnerd
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Username: Detroitnerd

Post Number: 2701
Registered: 07-2004
Posted on Thursday, July 17, 2008 - 4:53 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

56: That's correct. If I remember it right, it was only a small building when American Blower owned it. Square D was the company that kept adding on to the building until it took up the whole block. I believe they left Detroit before 1960. And, yes, the do-gooders who moved in were VOA, not United Way.

I think I met your friend once when I dropped in. Must be a heckuva view of the freeway interchange from atop that building.

BCS: You can't see RIC from I-375 because I-375 is a very short leg of freeway extension that begins well south of there. RIC is visible from I-75 between Clay and Holbrook.
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Hamtragedy
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Username: Hamtragedy

Post Number: 220
Registered: 10-2007
Posted on Saturday, July 26, 2008 - 2:34 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yeah 375 starts where 75 veers west and heads toward Toledo. 375 is only 1/2 mile and ends at Jefferson.

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