This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. By 1911 it was 175,000 and growing. It consisted of an ornate, three-story station and an 18-story office tower that stood south of Michigan Avenue and a mile west of downtown. Moroun, whose Detroit International Bridge company declined to comment or provide access to the train station for this report, is said to be open to redeveloping the property if the Detroit real estate market recovers to the point where a renovation project is feasible. "Michigan Central was a bustling, dynamic train station" when Melvin Larson arrived in Detroit in 1952. The abandoned station quickly fell prey to vandals and thieves, and its dearest features were yanked out, including the chandeliers, brass fixtures, decorative balcony railings, elevator ornaments and the great clock once mounted over the ticket windows. Detroit was a city beyond crisis. We are going to take down or re-point every piece. But Detroit’s days of lavish prosperity are long gone. The figures are complicated but some estimates say the company is getting an initial package of tax breaks of up to $207m, in return for investing $738m across its five Corktown sites. “I loved that clock,” he wrote in anonymous email, “and I loved that station.” That is a good start. DETROIT – The last train rolled out of Michigan Central Station 30 years ago. One promising sign: The vandal who stole the wrought-iron clock that greeted visitors at the station has offered to return it. She resists the notion that Ford is “saving” Corktown, pointing to the small-business owners on Michigan Avenue’s commercial quarter who stuck it out and contributed to the area’s resurgence. Now it's toast. It became not only a hot spot for photographers and the homeless, but for vandals. Ten minutes by car from Michigan Central, the Detroit Institute of Arts provides a similar parable of the city’s rise and fall. Contact Dan Austin: daustin99@freepress.com. The idea was that if the station was placed in the area, development would quickly follow. The project was intended to bring together the services of Amtrak, DDOT, SMART, M-1 Rail (later QLine) streetcars, and future proposed services including the Woodward Avenue BRT and Ann Arbor-Detroit regional rail. Since the last train left in 1988, it went through a lengthy period of deterioration. Ironically, the automobile that been responsible for Detroit’s success also contributed to its decline. Copyright 2018 by WDIV ClickOnDetroit - All rights reserved. In 1906 the workforce in Detroit stood at about 80,000. Local estate agents Ryan Cooley and Lauren Bruyninga have been watching the changes to the area for more than a decade. The structure was dominated by a 15-storey tower. As train traffic decreased, Michigan Central Station began to struggle. Bardelli is fast becoming as much architectural historian as construction engineer. There was a large restaurant and areas for shops.”. Urban explorers poured in to venture through the massive interior. The station, constructed by the same architects who built Grand Central Terminal in New York, was designed to inspire. Some city officials consider it among the ugliest behemoths to pockmark Detroit and have ordered its demolition, but others see it as the industrial age’s most gracious relic, a Beaux Arts gem turned gothic from neglect but steeped in haunting beauty. These cookies do not store any personal information. Agricultural difficulties after the war only encouraged more southerners - black and white - to leave the land and seek their future in Detroit. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Downtown was bleak and forbidding. The station is decorated for the holidays this year with 22 giant snowflake lights fixed to the exterior. DETROIT – The last train rolled out of Michigan Central Station 30 years ago. ", Detroit train station officially sold to Ford. But as Babson puts it: “The motor industry’s decline was established by its dominance.”. We wanted the city’s attention,” she says. Ford is making all the right noises. In 1913, when it opened its doors to passengers, the 18-story, 500,000 square-foot Michigan Central Station was the tallest rail station in the world. Michigan Central Station in Detroit, Michigan, USA was opened in 1913 and was once the tallest railway station in the world. “On the women’s side there was a tea room and rest room at the eastern end of the building,” Bardelli says. But the question remains: Can the restoration of Michigan Central Station transform a city burdened by high crime, massive unemployment and stubborn levels of poverty? "The new station stood last night, lights shining from windows high above the building line in the neighborhood, a sentinel of progress," the Detroit Tribune published after the station's rushed opening. And then as the auto industry moved out and left the city there was a lot of decay.”. "We're trying to raise awareness... to help people understand the building and see where it came from and what it could be again. It currently serves Amtrak. FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. Read about our approach to external linking. But it was more then just a transportation hub; the station, with vaulted ceilings and marble floors, represented Detroit’s new-found industrial might and its soaring expectations for the future. Downtown Detroit had been undergoing a resurgence, but there was still “this huge ruin of a building, made worse by the fact that there were no other buildings around it - a symbol of the city’s failure”. It was owned and operated by Michigan Central Railroad and was planned as part of a large project that included the Michigan Central Railway Tunnel below the Detroit River for freight and passengers. The Empire State Express connected Detroit and Cleveland with Buffalo and New York. It was the main passenger terminal for Detroit’s rail network however as it was away from Downtown, it always struggled and the last Amtrak train departed in 1988. Your email address will not be published. “The ‘rebirth’ is mainly about white people coming back to the centre of the city.”.
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