Discuss Detroit » Hall of Fame Threads » Old Car Factories » Old Car Factories - 14
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Hornwrecker
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Username: Hornwrecker

Post Number: 434
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 63.41.8.107
Posted on Tuesday, November 15, 2005 - 12:51 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Bob Looks like it is on West Fort/W Lafayette and 12th, but I can't accurately make out the address. 53? ?

Aiw Thanks, I guess there are more lurkers on this thread than I thought. I wish someome would send me a totally complete and corrected list. :-)
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Sven1977
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Username: Sven1977

Post Number: 137
Registered: 04-2004
Posted From: 209.220.229.254
Posted on Tuesday, November 15, 2005 - 12:10 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The block above is 550-595 Fort
or 521-569 West Lafayette. The map is pre-1949.
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Sven1977
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Username: Sven1977

Post Number: 139
Registered: 04-2004
Posted From: 209.220.229.254
Posted on Wednesday, November 16, 2005 - 4:16 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

More Sandborn Map tidbits.

The Owen Motor Car Company on EGB & Beaufait before it became K-R-I-T and then Packard.



The Detroit Carriage Company probably 1910.



The Century Electric Car Co. 1915. Lothrop and Woodward.



The King Motor Car Co. Auto Chassis Warehouse. 1915. Off of Jefferson and uh, well, I missed the cross street but it was by the Knickebocker Theater at 1421 Jefferson.



Finally, the location of the first Chevrolet plant before the Corcoran Lamp factory was built. It's on the west side of WGB and that may be the cut off for the Sanborn Maps for that area so that might explain why I don't have any maps of the plant. There were up to 19 Sandborn areas of Detroit in the 1920's. Where were the major Chevy plants around Detroit?

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Aiw
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Username: Aiw

Post Number: 4992
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 69.156.95.2
Posted on Wednesday, November 16, 2005 - 7:08 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)


quote:

The King Motor Car Co. Auto Chassis Warehouse. 1915. Off of Jefferson and uh, well, I missed the cross street but it was by the Knickebocker Theater at 1421 Jefferson.




Motor City Marquees lists the Knicerbocker as being at 7237 E. Jefferson, near the Belle Isle Bridge.

Built in 1916, it was renamed the Whittier in 1932, closed in 1957, now demolished. I think that is East Grand. It looks like it's still standing.

king?
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Hornwrecker
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Username: Hornwrecker

Post Number: 449
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 63.41.8.189
Posted on Wednesday, November 16, 2005 - 11:21 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The King place could have been from the shop he had on St. Antoine and not part of the larger car company. I think there was two King entities the engineering one, and the motor car company at 1559 West Jefferson. More stuff to sort out.

The only other Chevy factory that I remember being mentioned, and not on the OCF list yet, is the one on Holbrook and St Aubin in Hamtramack. There was a current photo of the area in the 10,000 Acre Tract thread. Here's an older pic from the 30s, with the GTW running to the left of the plant. I'm not sure if Chevy took over any of Scripps-Booth when GM killed it, or if at any other plants around Detroit were used.

Chevy Holbrook

I managed to find the Owen/KRIT factory still standing in an aerial photo of the Packard complex from the 1930s.

Owen KRIT factory aerial

Century Electric???
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Hornwrecker
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Username: Hornwrecker

Post Number: 452
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 63.41.8.16
Posted on Thursday, November 17, 2005 - 12:58 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

At the top of this page, we were talking about Wahl, and finally located it a Woodward and East Grand Boulevard. I think someone from Switzerland asked about it, anyway, while looking at some old aerial photos, the one of the General Motors Bldg on WGB had what I think might be where the Wahl factory once stood. I'm not sure if this is the actual factory though, since this photo is from the 1930s, and Wahl went out of business around 1914, but they weren't in such a hurry to "Tear that Schitt down!" back then.

Wahl?  Woodward and EGB
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Bate
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Username: Bate

Post Number: 46
Registered: 02-2005
Posted From: 4.247.134.65
Posted on Friday, November 18, 2005 - 5:33 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Not sure if anyone has used this resource yet...here's a link to a superfund cleanup list.

http://www.cqs.com/super_mi.ht m

Some of the addresses are auto plant related and show the last known owner/user of a listed address. This might be handy to cross-reference the ever-growing address database. As a minimun it provides hours of fun with google maps.
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Hornwrecker
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Username: Hornwrecker

Post Number: 486
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 66.2.149.77
Posted on Monday, November 21, 2005 - 11:38 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I'm happy that nothing in my neighborhood made the superfund list. It's nice to live in a semi-industrial neighborhood.

I've been busy with the Szudarek book and the OCF database; lots of entries on small makers, like cyclecars, that show up as other factories, and filling more blanks. This leads to more questions. Should be ready for posting next week.

One address that is listed in the book, but I can't find a street for on any list is 65-71 Catherine St., from an entry on the Detroit Auto Vehicle Co. (1904-07). It had ties to Willys, and may have had another factory in Wayne, MI.
Any ideas of where Catherine St. was, or if it existed?

I've found a few names of the previous names of factories, so that might help during Sanborn searching.
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Mikem
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Username: Mikem

Post Number: 2163
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 68.43.15.105
Posted on Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - 12:51 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Catherine Street was the extension of Madison east of Gratiot. Ran east to Elmwood. Not sure when the entire stretch was renamed Madison.
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Mikem
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Username: Mikem

Post Number: 2164
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 68.43.15.105
Posted on Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - 12:52 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

65-71 Catherine was between Hastings and Rivard.
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Hornwrecker
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Username: Hornwrecker

Post Number: 491
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 66.2.149.77
Posted on Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - 1:10 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Thanks Mikem, you answered a question that had me stumped. I hadn't run into that street before, and found no mention of a name change anywhere. Watch, the next local history book I read will mention it.
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Sven1977
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Username: Sven1977

Post Number: 141
Registered: 04-2004
Posted From: 209.220.229.254
Posted on Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - 12:14 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

One quirky thing about the Sandborn Maps is the huge gap between 1897 and 1910. That is when a lot of the smaller companies started but were gone by 1910. I think Henry the First's Mack Ave. plant was built and torn down within those years. There are so many addresses that going back and forth between THE list and the Maps was taking too much time. I either rely on my memory, look for factories in general (they are colored pink in the books) or look for a specific address. I found both addresses where my grandparents lived on Baldwin and Hendire. The houses were right around the corner from each other. I never had any idea and thanks to the Maps I now know more about my family. My original search was to identify a building on 12th Street. I think I posted a picture of it on Thread One. It is the Farrand building and they made things that do something or another. Here's some trivia. Without the Maps, I never would have found the Lewis-Hall factory. They were probably in business three minutes.
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Bate
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Username: Bate

Post Number: 47
Registered: 02-2005
Posted From: 4.247.134.89
Posted on Wednesday, November 23, 2005 - 11:52 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

In doing some digging on Studebaker I found a few good photo collections - mostly of main South Bend location, but still interesting.

http://www.sil.si.edu/ondispla y/studebaker/cf/studebaker_all images.cfm

http://www.monon.monon.org/sob end/studeplant.html

On a similar note, one of the better urban exploration photographers will be posting a photo set of South Bend Studebaker - some prior to fire and demolition. One interesting point about S.B. Studeabker was the wealth of artifacts left behind; stacks of frames, sheetmetal/bodywork, press equipment, and best of all - a room full of engines on pallets. I'll post a link when the images are available.
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Toolbox
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Username: Toolbox

Post Number: 740
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 65.196.220.198
Posted on Wednesday, November 23, 2005 - 12:57 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

While reading an article in Hemming's Classic Car magazine on stylist Helen Rother I happened on a refrence to the Miller-Meteor Motor Car Div.


quote:

HCCM

She created many great designs for Nash. In 1953, the company was awarded the coveted Jackson Medal, "...since 1898, one of America's most sought-after awards," according to an advertisement, for excellence of design. In the ad, she appears with Pinin Farina, graphic proof of the European influence on Nash styling.

One year after Nash merged with Hudson to create American Motors, Helene Rother left her employment there, but continued consulting and creating for other firms, including U.S. Rubber, Stromberg-Carlson, B.F.Goodrich, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, and International Harvester. Her client list included non-automotive firms too, like Magnavox and Elgin American.

But because of her strong reputation for stylish interiors, the Miller-Meteor Motor Car Division of Divco-Wayne Corporation soon hired her. Miller-Meteor was a well-established builder of ambulances and funeral cars.

In her later years, Helene Rother designed large stained-glass windows for churches, and here again she found a measure of fame. Many of her church windows are still extant, and her reputation as one of the best stained-glass artists of her time remains.

Sadly, this lovely lady with the delightful French accent is no longer with us. Ms. Rother passed away in 1999.






Her design studio was in her home on Chicago Blvd.
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Hornwrecker
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Username: Hornwrecker

Post Number: 496
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 66.2.148.45
Posted on Wednesday, November 23, 2005 - 11:14 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I found some more info on Miller-Meteor at Coachbuilt.com. Though I wasn't familiar with the name, I do remember their products. Also nice seeing other localities taking an interest in their OCFs, like Bate's second link.

Here is a photo I ran across, while not a car factory, the name of the place sure has some historic ties. This is the Houghton-Hurlburt Riverview Garage, and it is either a repair garage, or some kind of dealership. This is from the early twenties I think. I wish the photo was better, but it's another of the LOC/DPC grainy ones.


Houghon-Hurlburt Riverview Garage
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Hornwrecker
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Username: Hornwrecker

Post Number: 502
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 66.2.148.110
Posted on Saturday, November 26, 2005 - 11:44 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

This photo from the LOC/DPC is tentatively identified as an interior shot of the Hudson factory, Mack and Beaufait.

 Hudson factory interior 1909

If you look at the 1909 Hudson in this link DetNews Hudson the car in the photo sure looks like it has the same running boards.

Photo of the Hudson radiator badge from the Smithsonian.

Hudson badge
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Hornwrecker
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Username: Hornwrecker

Post Number: 513
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 66.2.149.9
Posted on Friday, December 02, 2005 - 2:20 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Here are a couple of photos of the E.M.F./Studebaker plant on Piquette. The first is from when it was the Piquette Armory, taken at morning colors. Interesting to see some cooks in the doorways rendering salutes.

Piquette Armory

I'm pretty sure that this earlier photo was taken from the same vantage point, and some traces of the smaller building's foundation are evident in the previous photo.

EMF plant courtyard

For some color a radiator badge from the Everitt automobile.

Everitt rad badge
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Jjaba
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Username: Jjaba

Post Number: 2796
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 24.22.82.162
Posted on Friday, December 02, 2005 - 2:35 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

jjaba still has never seen a list of the Ford assembly plants all over the USA and abroad from those days when Fords were assembled long distances away. Some examples we know are Seattle, Portland, Ore., Salt Lake City, Denver.

Many moons ago, jjaba listed the world wide sites of General Motors, but we never got very far with Ford assembly plants.

jjaba would appreciate such scholarship here.
Ofcourse, Hornwrecker and MikeM continue to dazzle us with their work.
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Hornwrecker
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Username: Hornwrecker

Post Number: 514
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 66.2.149.9
Posted on Friday, December 02, 2005 - 3:00 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Jjaba, I think that the Ford history book that came out for the 100th anniversary mentions the other plants, but if I remember it is mentioned chronologically in the narritive and not as a list. I don't have a copy of the book, but can eventually get it from the library, once I get this early makers stuff a bit more organized.
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Jjaba
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Username: Jjaba

Post Number: 2800
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 24.22.82.162
Posted on Friday, December 02, 2005 - 3:04 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Merci Horn.......

jjaba
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Mikem
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Username: Mikem

Post Number: 2187
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 68.43.15.105
Posted on Friday, December 02, 2005 - 3:07 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

jjaba, from the thread about Wixom closing:


quote:

Between 1912 and 1917, Ford built 30 plants around the country, most designed by Kahn, starting with one in Kansas City:

Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, Houston, Dallas, Oklahoma City, Kansas City, Omaha, Minneapolis, Fargo, Milwaukee, Chicago, Indianapolis, St Louis, Memphis, Louisville, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, Atlanta, Charlotte, Pittsburg, Washington D.C., Philly, Long Island, Buffalo, Cambridge, Mass, and Walkerville, Ont.


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Kathleen
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Username: Kathleen

Post Number: 1035
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 69.14.122.57
Posted on Friday, December 02, 2005 - 11:15 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Speaking of Ford....this may be of interest to some:

Historian to discuss Edsel Ford

Historian John Dean will offer "A New Interpretation of the Life and Achievements of Edsel Ford" in a free, public lecture at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. The lecture will be held at 6 p.m. Monday [December 5], in room 1030 of the campus's College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters Building. Dean, a cultural historian at the University of Versailles in France, is the author of Practical Dreamer: The Life and Times of Edsel Ford, to be published next year by the Wayne State University Press. For information call (313) 593-5518.

http://www.umd.umich.edu/univ/ur/press_releases/nov05/edselfordlecture_pr.html

(Message edited by Kathleen on December 03, 2005)
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Jjaba
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Username: Jjaba

Post Number: 2805
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 24.22.82.162
Posted on Saturday, December 03, 2005 - 2:38 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Thanks for the list.

The Portland, Oregon plant is on SW 11th and Division. It was built in 1913 out of red brick and is pure Albert Kahn. With the Ford model A, Portland closed in 1927.
jjaba
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Sven1977
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Username: Sven1977

Post Number: 142
Registered: 04-2004
Posted From: 209.220.229.254
Posted on Monday, December 05, 2005 - 1:28 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I have lots of Sandborn Maps laying around so here are a few Briggs factoies from 1910 or 1915.




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Bate
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Username: Bate

Post Number: 49
Registered: 02-2005
Posted From: 4.247.134.216
Posted on Monday, December 05, 2005 - 2:22 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Detroitfunk has some new photos up of a Fisher Body office/factory building. Anyone know an address for this one?
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Mikem
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Username: Mikem

Post Number: 2195
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 68.43.15.105
Posted on Monday, December 05, 2005 - 2:42 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

It's the former Ternstedt plant, which Fisher acquired. W Fort at Livernois. I don't have a specific address - 6200 block of W Fort Street.
http://terraserver-usa.com/usg sentry.aspx?T=4&S=9&Z=17&X=326 5&Y=46858&W=3
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Hornwrecker
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Username: Hornwrecker

Post Number: 530
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 66.2.148.130
Posted on Thursday, December 08, 2005 - 11:51 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

This is some kind of Packard car prep facility (or maybe a dealer?) that had an address of 574 East Jefferson.

Packard E Jefferson

1941 Packard taxis?

Packard 574  E Jefferson

Packard 29 and 39

The last one shows 1929 and 1939 Packard models.
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Sven1977
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Username: Sven1977

Post Number: 143
Registered: 04-2004
Posted From: 209.220.229.254
Posted on Friday, December 09, 2005 - 12:39 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Not much detailed info but here is the Sanborn Map for the Packard building above. The dark part shows that it is brick. The detail doesn't come out on microfilm. Great pictures Hornwrecker.

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Sven1977
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Username: Sven1977

Post Number: 144
Registered: 04-2004
Posted From: 209.220.229.254
Posted on Friday, December 09, 2005 - 12:41 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Actually, it must be concrete or some type of steel skeleton with a brick/concrete facing.
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Jjaba
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Username: Jjaba

Post Number: 2863
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 24.22.82.162
Posted on Friday, December 09, 2005 - 2:43 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The 1929 and the 1939 Packards were some stout vehicle awright. Thanks to Hornwrecker for the photos. Excellent.
jjaba
Discuss Detroit » Hall of Fame Threads » Old Car Factories » Old Car Factories - 14
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