Detroit Archives - Lost In Michigan

The Thompson Home

Posted on December 18, 2023 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Detroit, Iconic Buildings .

David Thompson, a wealthy Detroit businessman, died in the early 1870s, leaving his estate to his wife Mary with instructions to establish a charitable institution. In 1874, Mary Thompson allocated $10,000 to build a home for aged women. However, construction did not start until nearly ten years later when land was purchased and Mary commissioned George D. Mason of the firm Mason & Rice to design the home.

Mason designed a four-story home measuring 60 by 90 feet with private rooms for forty women. For a number of years, the Thompson Home was a prestigious retirement home for wealthy widows. Sun rooms were added to the original structure in 1914, living quarters for the staff were added in the 1950s, and a five-bed infirmary was constructed in 1964. However, the number of residents declined in the 1960s and 1970s, and the home closed in 1977. Wayne State University bought the building and remodeled it, and in 1980 WSU’s School of Social Work was installed in the building.

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The Dreadful Reality of the Downtrodden at Eloise Asylum

Posted on May 31, 2023 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Cemetery, Detroit .

one of the few remaining buildings from the Eloise complex.

Some say that the Eloise Asylum near Westland on Michigan Ave. is one of Michigan’s most haunted places, I am not sure about that claim, but I would say it’s one of Michigan more interesting places, with a lot of history both good and sad.

The place began in 1839 when a log cabin known as the Black Horse Tavern and its property was converted into a poor house and 35 of the overcrowded tenants at the Wayne County poor house in Hamtramck were transferred to the newly constructed buildings. For years it was known as the Wayne County Poor House until a post office was opened in 1894 and named after Eloise Dickerson Davock the daughter of Detroit’s postmaster.

In 1913 there were three divisions: The Eloise Hospital(Mental Hospital), the Eloise Infirmary (Poorhouse) and the Eloise Sanitarium (T.B. Hospital) . Over the years the complex continued to grow with about 10,000 residents at its peak during the Great Depression. It had its own police and fire department, railroad and trolley stations, bakery, amusement hall, laundries, and a powerhouse. It also had many farm buildings including a dairy herd and dairy barns, a piggery, a root cellar, a Tobacco curing building, and employee housing.

Eloise was one of the first if not the first hospital to use x-rays for diagnosis performed by Dr.Albarran. Patients came from Detroit and other communities to have x-rays done. It also housed the first kidney dialysis unit in the State of Michigan and was a pioneer in the field of Music Therapy.

the old Eloise Cemetery on Henry Ruff Road.

The other part of Eloise that remains, are the cemeteries and with a complex that had about 10,000 people living there, death was a regular occurrence. There were a few different locations that the bodies of the patents and residents of the poor house were buried. One of the cemeteries is about a mile away down Henry Ruff road and is nothing more than a field with small stone markers engraved with only a number for the body buried below. It seems rather cruel and inhumane that a person is remembered as a number and not even a name was placed on the marker. They used the cemeteries up until 1948 after that a law was enacted to use the bodies as cadavers for medical training. ( was not able to get a pic of the markers since the cemetery is fenced off and says no trespassing, and I really don’t want to go to jail)

The main building left standing from the former Eloise Complex

The farm operations ceased in 1958 and some of the large psychiatric buildings were vacated in 1973. The psychiatric division started closing in 1977 when the State of Michigan took over the psychiatric division. The general hospital closed in 1984. Many of the buildings are gone and some of the property has been redeveloped into a golf course and condominiums. There is a Michigan Historical Marker near the parking lot.

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The Whitney House

Posted on April 5, 2023 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Detroit, Houses .

Before Michigan became the automobile capitol of the world, creating wealthy men like Henry Ford and the Dodge Brothers, timber brought vast wealth to many lumber barons. Among them, David Whitney Jr. was one of the most affluent. Already successful in the lumbering business in Massachusetts, he moved to Detroit in 1857 when he was 27 years old. He expanded his operations throughout the Midwest and was popular among the social elite in Detroit. Whitney enjoyed spending time at the Detroit Athletic Club on Woodward Avenue.

In 1890, he began construction of an extravagant home near the club. He had pink jasper stone shipped from South Dakota to accent the exterior. The fifty two rooms inside were trimmed with the finest wood and hand crafted with exquisite detail. The stained glass windows were made by Tiffany’s and are priceless today. The home also contains the first elevator in a private residence in Detroit. After four years of construction, David Whitney Jr. and his wife moved into their new mansion. Six years later at the turn of the century, Mr. Whitney died. His widow, Sara, lived in the home until her death in 1917.

The Whitney family remained owners of the grand house but allowed the Wayne County Medical Society to use the home and the Visiting Nurses Association remodeled the carriage house. The home worked well as a medical center since Wayne State University was nearby which worked with doctors and nurses in training. In 1941, the Whitney family donated the house to the medical society which used it until they built a new facility in 1956. The Visiting Nurses Association used the home for their offices until 1979. Upon learning the home could possibly face demolition, entrepreneur Richard Kughn purchased the historic home.

He spent three million dollars renovating the home, and converted it into a restaurant called The Whitney. Patrons and staff at the restaurant began to witness strange occurrences. One of the most common is the elevator mysteriously moving on its own. Others have said that they have seen a well dressed man looking out the window before suddenly vanishing. Some believe the mysterious man is the spirit of David Whitney Jr. who still resides in the magnificent home. The third floor bar has been given the moniker of Ghost Bar, because of the unusual phenomena witnessed.

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The Nike Base

Posted on January 24, 2023 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Detroit, Historic Places .

River Bend Park in Utica sits along the Clinton River. It has baseball fields, soccer fields and a shooting range. Near the middle of the park is a historical marker that stands as a reminder of what the park used to be. The property was originally developed in 1955 by the military as a Nike missile base. Fifteen such bases were placed around Detroit to defend the city in an attack. Ajax missiles were used to shoot down any enemy aircraft that could drop a nuclear bomb on the city.

By the 1970s the Soviets had intercontinental ballistic missiles and the Nike bases were not capable of shooting them down. In 1974 the bases were deactivated. The missile silos were filled in and the buildings were demolished. The property was given to the Michigan DNR. All that remains of the old base are a few foundations from the buildings and one small building that is being used as a storage shed.

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The Old Engine 4 Firehouse

Posted on August 23, 2022 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Detroit, Fire Houses .

I had already taken pics of the oldest church in Michigan (Ste Anne De Detroit, you can see my pic HERE) on a previous trip to Detroit and did not plan on taking more but when I was in the neighborhood I saw the twin steeples of the church looking out over the trees and the houses and decided since I was near there why not get a few more pics. I headed over there from a different direction than last time, and that is when I saw the old firehouse sitting near the church, as if the the tall steeples were watching over it, and protecting it all these years. The numbers 1897 displayed between the doors gave away the year it was built but I found out the DFD stopped using the old firehouse in 1976. It’s still standing with it’s magnificent brickwork like you will never see on a new building. Looking at it, I can only imagine the firefighters going from a horse drawn apparatus, to an early primitive motorized fire truck, and then on to a post WWII truck with the fireman riding on the back, but the station was passed by in the 70’s before it could get a new modern fire truck.

P.S. thank you to all the firefighters who answer the call for help, It takes a special kind of person to run into a burning building.

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Historic Fort Wayne

Posted on July 21, 2022 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Detroit, Forgotten Places .

Fort Wayne sits near Detroit along the Detroit River and was built to defend and invasion by Canada. The invasion never happened but the fort served the military for a long time. The building in the photo was the enlisted men’s barracks. I believe that is where they stayed before and after being sworn into service in the United States Military. It was built in the 1890s and I can only imagine how many men stayed in the old barracks going to war from the first World War all the way to Vietnam.

Some say the old fort is haunted, you can see my post about that HERE

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The Houses of Fort Wayne

Posted on July 30, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Detroit, Historic Places .

This row of officers housing sits in Fort Wayne near Detroit along the Detroit River. The fort was built to defend an invasion by Canada in the early years of the county. The invasion never happened, but the fort served the military for a long time.

I have a story about the historic fort in volume 4 of my Lost In Michigan book series available HERE

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The Oldest Church in Michigan

Posted on March 28, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Churches, Detroit .

I like posting photos of churches around Michigan since in many places churches are central to the community, it’s where people are married, baptized, and remembered at the end of their life. When I posted a photo of St. Stephens church in Hamburg the historical Marker said it was the oldest church building still operating in Michigan. But it got me to do some research to find out what the oldest church in Michigan is. When I found Ste Anne de D’etroit and read it’s history it struck me how important this church is, not only to the local community, but to the state of Michigan.

founded July 26, 1701, Ste. Anne’s original church was the first building constructed in Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit, which later grew into the city of Detroit. Ste Anne’s is the second oldest continuously operating Roman Catholic parish in the United States with parish records dating back to 1704. From 1833 to 1844, Ste. Anne’s was the Cathedral Church for the diocese of Michigan and the Northwest. The church also has the oldest stained glass in Detroit.

In the Early 1800s Father Gabriel Richards, started a school that evolved into the University of Michigan. Started the First newspaper The Michigan Essay or Impartial Observer. From 1823 to 1825 Richard was Michigan Territory’s delegate to the United States Congress. As a delegate, he was instrumental in gaining support for the Territorial Road, which linked Detroit and Chicago

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313 Day

Posted on March 13, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Detroit .

March 13th is a popular day with Detroiters because 313 is the area code for Detroit. According to the show How The States Got Their Shapes the larger cities in the United States got low number area codes. Detroit is 313, New York City is 212, and Washington DC is 202 and so on. It is because low digit numbers are easier to dial on a rotary phone. It is a long way around to dial the number 9. With touchtone phones, it is not that important to have low-numbered digits. I will say I don’t miss the days of rotary phones and long-distance calling fees. Other dates for area codes in Michigan are 517 and 906. I used to be in 517 but my area got changed to 989. Maybe someday there will be 89 days in September and we can have an unofficial day to celebrate.

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Police Radio Broadcast

Posted on October 12, 2019 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Detroit, Historic Places .

This castle-like stone building in the center of Belle Isle State Park seems like an ordinary building. Thousands of visitors pass by it, but I wonder how many realize how much it affected society. This was the first police radio dispatch station in the United States. In 1928 the Detroit Police broadcasted from this building on their own frequency to patrol cars around the city. They chose Belle Isle to avoid interference with other radio stations.

Before the station was constructed the department did not have a dedicated frequency band to broadcast on. In 1921 the station experimented with broadcasting to officers between songs on station KOP. Between songs, they would read a list of stolen cars or alert them to missing children.

A modern patrol car today is filled with electronics and the officer is surrounded by a computer, radar guns, and communication equipment. It’s hard to imagine a day when the police did not have a basic radio in their car.

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