From AIA Detroit, by Eric Hill and John Gallagher:
"Hans Gehrke, 1929. This powerfully massive and richly detailed work reassures the public it serves and protects. Gehrke built a practice designing functionally pragmatic yet symbolically adorned fire stations all over the city."
Do you know the first Black draftee to play in the NFL?
His name was Wallace Triplett.
On December 21, 1948, the Detroit Lions drafted him. He became the first African American draftee to take the field in an NFL regular-season game.
On October 29, 1950, he set an NFL single-game record with 294 kickoff return yards, including a 97-yard touchdown. The record stood for forty-four years. He served in the Korean War. He came home to Detroit and stayed for the rest of his life, working for Chrysler and later as a teacher.
He lived at 4250 Fullerton in Russell Woods, Detroit's largest historic district, which was also home to Diana Ross, Florence Ballard, and Mary Wilson of The Supremes, and to the poet Dudley Randall.
Triplett wrote, "It became my luck to be listed in a number of situations of American Football as being a First — Hometown, High School, College, Post Season Cotton Bowl, Dallas, Texas, and what now has become America's biggest sport, the NFL."
#Detroit #DetroitHistory
From the NRHP Filing:
Although most Americans probably remember Henry Ford best for his Model T, his "unique achievement," according to distinguished historian Daniel J. Boorstin, "was less in designing a durable automobile than in organizing newer, cheaper ways to make millions of one kind of automobile. He transformed the making of automobiles from a jerking, halting process to a smooth-flowing stream." After the founding of the Ford Motor Company in 1903, Ford and his engineers made significant breakthroughs in improving and speeding up auto assembly methods by developing new machinery and placing men and materials on the factory floor in such a manner that bottlenecks were eliminated and production was increased. In 1910 the Ford Motor Company moved its operations to the new Highland Park Plant, and here, over the next 5 years the principles of modern mass production were developed by constantly rearranging men, machinery, and materials to systematize production, reduce unnecessary motion, and cut costs. In 1913 Ford and his engineers developed the continuously moving assembly line, "the crowning achievement," says company historian Allan Nevins, "in the creation of mass production techniques." This technique reduced the assembly time of a completed automobile from 728 minutes to 93 minutes. Over the years, the company constantly refined its methods until by 1920, a Model T could be produced each minute of the working day. Ford assembly techniques reached their zenith on October 31, 1925, when Model T's rolled off the line at the rate of one every 10 seconds. The economies of scale realized by Ford by concentrating on one car and reducing its manufacturing costs enabled him to reduce prices and increase his sales with each passing year. By 1924 the price of the Model T, which had been $850 in 1908, had dropped to $260. This car, says Ford biographer William Greenleaf, "put the nation on wheels, enormously accelerated the urbanization of America, and ultimately brought the motor transportation revolution to other countries." The new production methods developed at Highland Park also made it possible for Ford to substantially increase the wages of his workers. His announcement of the "Five Dollar Day" on January 5, 1914, made him world famous and he soon became, according to intellectual historian Roderick Nash, "an international symbol of the new industrialism." The Highland Park Plant, according to Ford scholar David L. Lewis, "became a national landmark and a new Niagara Falls, a place to be seen by every visitor to Detroit." In Germany, the term "Fordismus" was coined to describe mass production, and in the Soviet Union Ford became something of a hero and was viewed more as a radical economic innovator than as a capitalist. In the 1920s Ford improved mass production methods even further at his gigantic River Rouge Plant. As a result of his work at Highland Park and the Rouge, Ford "more than any other single man," in the opinion of the noted technological historian
become the arsenal of democracy in the Second World War . . . because through the manufacture of twenty million cars over some forty years Ford had evolved a certain pattern for all large-scale production including that of the atomic bomb." The Highland Park Ford Plant, the birthplace of the moving assembly line, is situated in an industrial area near northwest Detroit. Designed for the most part by noted industrial architect Albert Kahn, the plant from 1910 to 1927 was the scene of numerous advances in the development of mass production techniques. In recent years portions of the plant have been demolished, but many significant buildings remain. They include
to Clara Bryant in 1888, Ford, for a time, operated a business selling firewood and lumber. His chief interests, however, were gasoline and steam engines, and he became increasingly interested in automobiles. In 1891 the Fords moved to Detroit where Henry became an engineer for the Edison Illuminating Company. In his spare time he experimented with developing a gasoline engine to power an automobile, and in 1896 he built his first car which he called a quadricycle. Continuing his experiments, Ford by 1899 had perfected a marketable automobile. With the backing of several wealthy Detroiters, he incorporated the Detroit Automobile Company to manufacture the vehicle, but by the fall of 1900, the firm had ceased operations due to a lack of sales. Late in 1901, shortly after Ford had attracted much publicity by defeating Alexander Winton in a Grosse Pointe auto race, the company was reorganized as the Henry Ford Company. Early in 1902, however, due to differences between himself and his backers, Ford left the company. Renamed the Cadillac Motor Car Company, this firm went on to earn a distinguished place in the annals of automotive history. By mid-1902 Ford, influenced by Ransom E. Olds' success with the popular priced Oldsmobile, had turned his attention to designing a low-priced vehicle with mass appeal. With financial backing from Alexander Y. Malcomson, Ford in 1903 launched the Ford Motor Company. Successful from the start, the company produced automobiles in several price ranges in its early years, but the excellent sales of the cheaper vehicles convinced Ford that the company should concentrate all its resources in this segment of the automobile market. His principal impediment, however, was a group of stockholders led by Malcomson who wanted the company to build expensive vehicles. In 1906 Ford and James Couzens, his able business manager, gained firm control of the company by purchasing the stock of Malcomson and his supporters. That same year, Ford placed his Model N, priced at $700, on the market. Its success, says Ford biographer William Greenleaf, "raised the net income of the company for the first time to more than $1 million, placed
the firm at the forefront of the industry, and showed that Ford was correct in his view that the future of the industry belonged to the quantity-produced small car." Meanwhile, Ford and his engineers were developing, says historian George S. May, "a 'universal car,' an inexpensive car that would be light in weight, yet durable, simple to repair, and simple to drive anywhere, regardless of road conditions." The culmination of this work came in 1908 with the introduction of the famous Model T. This car's "essential note was certainly utility, not beauty," says company historian Allan Nevins, "yet its very homeliness had an appealing quality... Its basic merit lay in a hitherto unmatched combination of lightness, simplicity, and power." Although the Model T was the handiwork of a dozen men, Ford, in Nevins' opinion, "contributed the guiding concepts and furnished the guiding hand." The Model T was phenomenally successful from the start largely because of its attraction to rural Americans, who from 1909 to 1916 were undergoing a period of great prosperity. This rural market, says Greenleaf, "gave the first sustained impetus to the car that was principally responsible for taking the automobile out of the luxury class and making it an inexpensive necessity for the common man." This vehicle "put the nation on wheels, enormously accelerated the urbanization of America, and ultimately brought the motor transportation revolution to other countries." Ford achieved this position of dominance, according to automotive historian John B. Rae, "because, instead of starting out to produce a car as cheaply as possible, he concentrated first on designing a car that would be suitable for the mass market and then turned his attention to the problem of cutting manufacturing costs." In fact, says distinguished historian Daniel J. Boorstin, Ford's "unique achievement was less in designing a durable automobile than in organizing newer, cheaper ways to make millions of one kind of automobile. He transformed the making of automobiles from a jerking, halting process to a smooth-flowing stream." Since the company's founding in 1903, Ford and his engineers had worked to improve and speed up auto assembly methods by developing new machinery and placing men and materials on the factory floor in such a manner that bottlenecks were eliminated and production was increased. In the first Ford plant on Mack Avenue in Detroit, crews of 2 or 3 men worked on 4 chassis simultaneously and sometimes assembled as many as 15 automobiles per working day. Soon this plant was too small, and in 1905 the firm moved to a larger factory on Piquette Avenue. Manufacturing techniques were further refined until by 1908, Ford was producing 101 cars per day. Despite these figures, which were amazing to most automobile manufacturers, Ford was not satisfied. In 1907 Ford purchased 60 acres of land (later increased to 230) in Highland Park, a small community several miles north of Detroit, for a new factory which would be designed in such a manner that production could be greatly increased. Although the new plant's design was largely the work of Albert Kahn, soon to be hailed as one of the Nation's leading industrial architects, a number of Ford engineers, particularly Edward Gray, influenced its design as well. Actual construction did not start until 1908 and proceeded slowly because of Ford's determination to finance building costs entirely out of company profits. On January 1, 1910, Ford operations were shifted to the Highland Park Plant (the house that Model T built), and here over the next 5 years the principles of modern mass production were developed. Ford and his associates, among whom were men (continued), like Peter E. Martin, Charles E. Sorenson, Carl Emde, Clarence W. Avery, and future General Motors president William S. Knudsen, spent much of their time on the factory floor where they rearranged machinery, men, and materials in such a manner as to systematize production, reduce unnecessary motion, and cut costs. Machines were arranged according to their function in the manufacturing process rather than by type; overhead conveyors, gravity chutes, and belts were used to transport materials from one work station to another so as to bring the work to the man rather than the man to the work; and each worker's task was constantly simplified by an increasingly minute subdivision of labor. The great breakthrough at Highland Park came in 1913 when Ford and his engineers developed the continuously moving assembly line, "the crowning achievement," according to Nevins, "in the creation of mass production techniques." The first step in this evolution in manufacturing methods occurred that spring when a conveyor belt was installed for assembling flywheel magnetos. The average time required to put together one of these devices was cut from 20 to 5 minutes by using 29 workers, each of whom had one simple task to perform. By December 1, a continuously moving final assembly line went into operation which reduced assembly time of a completed automobile from 728 minutes to 93 minutes. The company continued to refine its assembly techniques, until by 1920 a Model T could be produced each minute of the working day. Ford assembly techniques reached their zenith on October 31, 1925, when Model T's rolled off the line at the rate of one every ten seconds. The economies of scale realized by Ford in adopting these techniques enabled him to reduce the price of the Model T, greatly increase his sales, and made him by far the Nation's leading automobile manufacturer. In 1908 when he introduced the Model T, he sold 5,986 touring cars at $850 each, but in 1916, after the moving assembly line was fully implemented. Ford had raised his output to 577,036 and reduced his price to $360, a figure which declined to $260 in 1924 when production was well over the million mark. In 1917 Ford controlled over 42 percent of the Nation's market for new cars and by 1921 had nearly 56 percent of total car sales. In fact, by this date every other automobile in the world was a Model T Ford. The new production methods developed at Highland Park also made it possible for Ford to substantially increase the wages of his workers. His announcement of the "Five Dollar Day" on January 5, 1914, made him a worldwide figure and he "was praised as the prophet of a new industrial order and high-consumption society," says Greenleaf, "when he pointed out that workers should be paid high wages so that they might buy the goods they produced." The Highland Park Plant, according to Ford scholar David L. Lewis, "became 'a national landmark and a new Niagara Falls, a place to be seen by every visitor to Detroit." In Germany, the term "Fordismus" was coined to describe mass production, and in the Soviet Union, Ford became something of a hero, "not as a capitalist," says automotive historian James J. Flick, "but as a revolutionary economic innovator." By World War I Ford had become convinced that the Highland Park Plant was outmoded. In addition to inadequate water and sewage facilities, the factory complex could not be enlarged sufficiently to produce a million cars yearly as Ford desired. Near Dearborn between 1919 and 1927 he constructed the River Rouge Plant, which he envisioned as an almost self-contained industrial city that would not only assemble greater numbers of motor vehicles more efficiently but would produce the basic components from raw materials as well. Gradually the focus of company operations shifted from Highland Park to the Rouge, a move which was virtually completed in 1927 when the final assembly line was moved to the new plant. In 1919 Ford gained total control of the company by buying out the other stockholders, giving him, according to Nevins, "industrial power such as no man had ever possessed before."
What does $800,000 get you in Detroit?
The largest house in the city, located in the Palmer Woods neighborhood: 35,000 square feet, 12 bedrooms, and 14 bathrooms.
The Bishop Gallagher house sold for $800,000 in January 2026, after listing for over $9 million.
But the house has a dark backstory. It was gifted to Michael James Gallagher, the Bishop of Detroit by the Fisher Brothers, owners of the Fisher Body corporation.
Gallagher was notorious for appointing, and staunchly defending, Father Charles Coughlin, America's most infamous anti-s*mite. "I made no mistake and have never doubted my judgment in putting him before the microphone," Gallagher said. Coughlin openly defended the f*scist governments of Germany and Italy.
From AIA Detroit, by Eric J. Hill and John Gallagher:
BISHOP GALLAGHER HOUSE
1880 Wellesley Dr.
Maginnis and Walsh, 1925
"Ecclesiastical power may have its earthly symbols. This Tudor Revival mansion was built in 1924-1925 for Bishop Michael J. Gallagher at a time when European immigration was swelling the number and influence of Detroit's Roman Catholics. Look closely at the medallions, crests, and shields on the exterior and you'll see angels, papal insignia, and other religious inspirations. The interior was among Detroit's most regal, with marble fireplaces, intricate carvings, Pewabic tile inlays, and extensive oak paneling. In 1989, in a more secular world, the arch diocese sold the house after first taking out all religious objects, including an altar and stations of the cross. Former Detroit Pistons star John Salley then owned the house for a time."
We took these photos yesterday as part of our project to photograph every historic building in Detroit.
Did you know Detroit has gargoyles?
Sculptor Corrado Parducci carved eight of them around the spire of the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament.
Parducci's work adorns more than 600 Detroit buildings, including the Penobscot, the Guardian, and the Buhl. Most Detroiters have walked past his sculpture their whole lives without knowing his name.
Detroit, the quintessential modern city, has heavy medieval influences, and many of its most beautiful buildings, such as the Masonic Temple, are Gothic in style.
So next time, don't forget to look up.
#detroit #detroitarchitecture #gothic #artdeco
Did you know there are ten eagles watching Detroit?
They sit on the roof of the Fisher Building in New Center. Albert Kahn designed the art deco tower in 1928.
Hungarian artist Géza Maróti sculpted the eagles. They help give the building its nickname: "Detroit's largest art object."
Step inside the arcade. Look up. Alexander Pope's words are carved on the southern arch:
"To wake the soul by tender strokes of art; to raise the genius and to mend the heart."
Save this for next time you're in New Center. Go look up.
(pardon the new account - I wasn't able to change the username of the old one)
This image was created without the use of any AI tools.