Detroit Archives - Page 2 of 3

Detroit’s Mostly Forgotten Fort Wayne

Posted on September 2, 2019 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Detroit, Historic Places .

Most people are unaware of the old historic Civil War-era fort next to the Detroit River near downtown Detroit. When I tell people about Fort Wayne they think of Indiana, but it is the name of the fort in Detroit. It was built in the 1840s and used by the army all the way up to the 1970s. Civil War soldiers mustered at the fort and learn how to fight. Truck parts made in detroit was shipped trough the fort during WWII. During the Korean War and Vietnam War Thousands of enlistees and draftees were sworn in at the fort. It is open for tours on the weekend during the summer for a $5 donation.

I have a lot more photos and stories to share about the old fort, It would be too much for me to do in one post so I will share them over the next few months.

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A Miracle at Peterboro and Park

Posted on August 7, 2019 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in castles, Detroit .

In Midtown Detroit on the corner of Peterboro And Park is the old James Scott mansion. The transformation that has occurred is nothing short of miraculous. It was not divine intervention that restored this historic old building, but good old fashioned hard work and money. If you want to see what it looked like before check out my post about it a couple of years ago HERE

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Good News and Bad News

Posted on July 7, 2018 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Detroit .

You have probably been asked the question before ” do you want the good news or the bad news first?” I am gonna give you the bad news first. The old Boblo Island boat the SS Ste Claire caught fire yesterday where it was docked and was destroyed. you can find out more at the Free Press HERE I have fond memories of riding this boat in 7th grade on a field trip to Boblo Island. I took this pic a few years ago when it was on the river near Dearborn. I was hoping to get a photo of it at its new location but not after the flames took away this grand old ship. I am thankful I got a photo of it when I did. It’s sister ship the SS Columbia is being restored in New York and hope she will sail into Detroit someday. you can check out the website HERE

In good news, the James Scott Castle’s restoration project is progressing along well. It’s hard to believe that a build in such a dilapidated state could be brought back from the dead. The mansion sits on the corner of Peterboro and Park near Wayne State University. I have not seen it yet since the exterior was restored but I am looking forward to it. you can read more about the restoration HERE

They say the only constant is change, sadly some of the places I have photographed are gone but it’s also nice to see some of them have been restored. If it’s gonna change I prefer change for the better.

P.S. if you got a 2018 Lost In Michigan calendar my photo of the SS Ste Claire is the photo for the month of July.

P.P.S. I have not been posting a lot since I have been out taking more photos and spending some quality time with my family on summer vacation at some of Michigan’s state parks, you can see more about that on my Camp Michigan website HERE and facebook page HERE I have lots of great photos and interesting stories to share and I can’t wait to share them with you.

I hope you will subscribe to email updates since facebook prioritizes your friends a family they will not show you many of my posts, I promise I won’t email you a bunch of junk email, it’s only to notify you of a new post which will be two or three times a week.

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New Life For An Old Train Station

Posted on June 24, 2018 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Detroit, Train Depots .

I just saw that the Ford Motor Company purchased the historic Michigan Central Station in Corktown. They have plans on renovating it and using it for the headquarters of there automated vehicle division. I am exited to see what they do with this grand historic building. I hope the bottom floor will be open for visitors after the renovations. I wish I was able to tour it when it was open to visitors this past weekend.

you can read more about Ford’s plans on restoring the station in the Detroit Free Press HERE

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The Old Firehouse On the Northeast Side

Posted on November 22, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Detroit, Fire Houses .

The old firehouse on Mount Elliott was the oldest operating firehouse in Detroit when it closed in 2012 and the city put it up for sale. It’s a beautiful old two story firehouse built in 1893, and designed by famed architect Gorge Mason, who designed the Masonic Temple, and the Ransom Gillis House in Detroit. I can only imagine all the emergency runs the firefighters went on over the years, from horses to the massive fire engines they have today.

P.S. Thank you to all the first responders working over the holidays and every day.

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The Hauntingly Beautiful Masonic Temple in Detroit

Posted on October 5, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Detroit, Haunted Places .

The Detroit Masonic Temple was designed by famed architect George Mason, who also designed the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island and the Ransom Gillis House ( you can see my post about the house HERE), with his partner Zachariah Rice. The cornerstone of the temple was placed on September 19, 1922, using the same trowel that George Washington had used to set the cornerstone of the United States Capitol in Washington D.C.. The building was dedicated on Thanksgiving Day, 1926.

There is a myth that architect George Mason went broke funding the construction and his wife left him so he climbed to the top of the building and jumped off, but that is not true. He lived to be 92 years old and died in 1948. The building has over 1,000 rooms, and several secret staircases, concealed passages, and hidden compartments in the floors and strange things are said to happen, but I just think the old temple has a hunting beauty to it.

The Detroit Masonic Temple has been the largest Masonic Temple in the world since 1939, when the Chicago Masonic Temple was demolished. The stage of the auditorium is the second largest in the United States. The building houses two ballrooms: the Crystal Ballroom and the Fountain Ballroom which measures 17,264 square feet and accommodates up to 1,000 people. There is also an unfinished theater located in the top floor of the tower, that would have seated about 700. Several movies have been filmed on location at the temple including Batman vs Superman ( there’s 3 hours of my life I will never get back) A 17,500-square-foot drill hall has a floating floor, where the entire floor is laid on felt cushions. This type of construction, also known as a sprung floor, provides ‘give’ to the floor which tends to relieve the marchers.

In April 2013, the building was reported to be in foreclosure over $152,000 in back taxes owed to Wayne County. The debt was paid off by singer-songwriter Jack White, a Detroit native known for his work with The White Stripes. He wanted to help the temple in its time of need as they had helped his mother in a time of need. The temple gave her a job as an usher in the theater when she was struggling to find work. In response, the Detroit Masonic Temple Association renamed its Scottish Rite cathedral the Jack White Theater.

Lost In Michigan calendars are on SALE, They are going fast, I sold out of them last year, if you want one before they are gone you can order them HERE.

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Where Faygo Comes From

Posted on August 30, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Detroit .

I was roaming around Detroit getting pics of old fire houses when I came upon the Faygo Bottling Plant on Gratiot Ave. I took a pic of it with no intention of ever posting it but I figure since Labor Day is coming up why not post a pic of a plant in Detroit that’s not abandoned. I love buying stuff made in Michigan and I like seeing where its made, my kids always get annoyed with my when we are driving somewhere and I point out different factories like Flint Truck and Bus ” that’s where the trucks are built” or the Jiffy Mix mill in Chelsea “that’s where the cornbread comes from” I wish I could point out more places where things are made instead of ” used to be built”

What are your favorite Michigan Products? I would love to know in the comments below

P.S. In case you don’t hear from me before then, have a safe and relaxing Labor Day Weekend, and thank you for following me and reading my posts.

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The Unbelievable Transformation of the Ransom Gillis House in Detroit

Posted on July 13, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Detroit, Houses .

I finally got a chance to get a pic of the famous Ransom Gillis house in the Brush Park neighborhood of Detroit. This is the house that Nicole Curtis renovated for her HGTV show. I was down in Detroit a few years ago but I never took a pic of this house before Nicole started working on it. I did find a photo of it on Wikipedia from 2005, and it’s unbelievable how bad of shape the house was in before the restoration. I see beautiful old historic houses thought the state, but they are in need of serious restoration. I get a lot of comments that they are “too far gone” but I know a lot can be done, if someone is willing to do it. Money wise, it’s up for debate if it’s worth the investment to restore an old home, but it’s hard to put a price on history. you can build a new house, but you can build a new historic house.

The Ransom Gillis House in 2005: wikipedia

The Ransom Gillis House was built in 1876 at a cost of $12,000 for Ransom Gillis, a wholesale dry goods merchant. The property was sold by Gillis in 1880. The house and property passed though the hands of four different upper-income families between 1876 and 1919. After this time, the main structure was converted into a rooming house, along with most of the other structures on the street. The carriage house behind the structure was rented by Mary Chase Perry Stratton in 1903, becoming the first home of Pewabic Pottery (which you can read about in my post HERE). The pottery moved in 1906, and the carriage house was then occupied by an auto repair shop, a battery service shop, and finally a filling station, before being torn down and replaced by a restaurant in 1935. The restaurant operated until the 1960s and was demolished in 2005/2006, as part of the city’s “mothballing” work on the property.

The Ransom Gillis House brought to Detroit the Venetian Gothic style, made popular by John Ruskin’s book The Stones of Venice. The centerpiece of the structure is the turret situated in the front left corner, the circumference of which is accented by five rows of tiles of simple geometric designs in hues of bright blue, red, yellow, and brown. Similar tile work was spread throughout the rest of the structure. The base of the turret is decorated with stone carvings of quadruplets of flower blossoms, similar but all slightly different. The turret was supported from below by an ornate stone post. Dark ornately carved wood columns enclosed the porch at the entrance to the house. Lastly, a steep, dark slate mansard roof with ornate iron cresting completed the peaks in a traditional detail of the day

I hope to someday see the Ammi Wright house in Alma restored HERE or the Sleeper Mansion in Bad Axe HERE or the Cat Lady House in Saginaw HERE

P.S. I watched the Batman Vs Superman movie to see the house in the movie before it was renovated. they showed if for a few seconds. (There’s 3 hours of my life I will never get back.)

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The James Scott Castle in Detroit

Posted on March 31, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Detroit, Forgotten Places .

This is the James Scott residence on the corner of Peterboro and Park in the Midtown District in Detroit. James Scott’s father also named James Scott was a prominent businessman in Detroit and when he died in the 1870’s he gave a large fortune to his son. He built this house in 1887, but from what I read Mr. Scott was not the most well-respected person in Detroit. When he built his house he wanted to purchase the property south of his, when the owner would not sell it to him he built a giant wall to block the sun from reaching his neighbor’s house, that is supposedly why the south wall has no windows.

when he died in 1910 he left the city $200,000. to build a fountain and stipulated that there needs to be a statue of him. Many of the citizens did not want to build the fountain because of the stipulation and felt he was not worthy of a statue. Some pointed out that he apparently never worked a day in his life and was best known for the time he spent in downtown bars. eventually, it was decided to spend his money and expand Belle Isle and build a fountain.

the home eventually was converted into apartments then suffered from a fire in the ’70s and was left abandoned, A developer is in the process of converting it into condominiums. you can read about it HERE. I am looking forward to getting an “after” photo of the restoration to go with this “before” pic from a few years ago.

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The Stadium at Michigan and Trumbull

Posted on April 5, 2015 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Detroit, Historic Places .

The corner of Michigan and Trumbull has had a few names over the years and you can tell how old someone is by what they called it. For my Dad, it’s Brigg’s Stadium, to me it was Tiger Stadium. I have never been to the new stadium, I am sure it’s a nice stadium and is similar to several other modern stadiums around the country, but you will never get that sense of history walking into a new stadium like you did walking into the old Stadium on Michigan and Trumbull.

To be honest with you, I could not tell you the last time I watched a Tiger’s game on TV, my dad probably could not tell you when he missed a Tiger’s game. As we get older, memories from our youth fade away, but there are some memories that will live with us forever.

I remember in the late 70’s my dad loading the family up in the Olds 88 and taking a trip down 75 from Saginaw to Detroit. Back then, there was not much parking around the stadium, either that, or my dad was too cheap to pay for parking, and I remember parking in a neighborhood across the highway. I remember taking the walkway over the highway and as you crest the center you see that enormous white stadium, with the lights protruding from the roof. I remember passing those gates surrounding the Stadium and looking up at the towering white walls, inside the stadium was the distinct aroma of popcorn and beer. Finding our way around the stadium to our seats and traversing huge steal beams and girders and finally heading towards the light coming from one of the openings, like the light from the heavens, of which we walked into revealing perfectly manicured field and rows of green wooden seats. I think that is the thing I like most about Tiger Stadium, was the fact it was an old man made structure built during the Industrial revolution and made with bricks and steel which personified Detroit’s magnificent manufacturing history. And yet in the middle of this industrial jungle was a beautiful oasis of green grass.

When I got to Michigan and Trumbull this summer, the gate was left open, I don’t know if was intentionally or incidentally, but either way I went onto the field and it was a strange feeling standing there at home plate knowing this was where Kirk Gibson hit the homerun in game 5 of the 84 world series. It was sad looking at the mound that Mark Fidrych groomed with his own hands. Now all that is left is a Flagpole and Diamond, surrounded by dandelions instead of rows of seats filled with cheering fans.

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