-
WRITTEN HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE DATA
FIELD RECORDS
HAER MI-416HAER MI-416
DETROIT'S MILWAUKEE JUNCTION SURVEYMilwaukee
JunctionDetroitMichigan
HISTORIC AMERICAN ENGINEERING RECORDNational Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior1849 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20240-0001
-
HISTORIC AMERICAN ENGINEERING RECORD
DETROIT’S MILWAUKEE JUNCTION SURVEY
HAER MI-416
Location: Milwaukee Junction, Detroit, Michigan
The survey boundaries are Woodward Avenue on the west and St.
Aubin on the east. The southern boundary is marked by the Grand
Trunk Western railroad line, which runs just south of East
Baltimore from Woodward past St. Aubin. The northern boundary of
the survey starts on the west end at East Grand Boulevard, runs
east along the boulevard to Russell, moves north along Russell to
Euclid, and extends east along Euclid to St. Aubin.
Significance: The area known as Milwaukee Junction, located just
north of Detroit’s city center, was a center of commercial and
industrial activity for more than a century. Milwaukee Junction
served, if not as the birthplace of American automobile
manufacturing, then as its nursery. In addition to the Ford Motor
Company and General Motors, many early auto manufacturers and their
support services (especially body manufacturers like the Fisher
Brothers, C.R. Wilson, and Trippensee Auto Body) were also located
in the area, probably because of the proximity of the
railroads.
Historians: Kenneth Shepherd and Richard Sucré, 2003 Project
Information: The Historic American Engineering Record conducted a
survey of Detroit’s Milwaukee Junction, a center of auto and
related industrial production, in summer 2003. The City of Detroit
and the city’s Historic Designation Advisory Board sponsored the
survey. Richard O’Connor, HAER, served as project leader. The field
team included historians Kenneth Shepherd and Richard Sucré.
Justine Christianson, HAER Historian, edited the report. Jet Lowe,
HAER Photographer, produced large-format photographs of select
sites. These include: HAER MI-333, 1900 East Milwaukee (Industrial
Building) HAER MI-334, Ivan Doverspike Company HAER MI-336, The
Fairmount Creamery Corporation HAER MI-337, Pioneer Building HAER
MI-340, American Can Company HAER MI-343, Russell Industrial Center
HAER MI-345, Murray Body Company Complex HAER MI-351, New Center
Stamping HAER MI-352, National Can Company HAER MI-353, Ford
Service Building HABS MI-443, Engine Company Nos. 11 & 28
Firehouse
-
DETROIT’S MILWAUKEE JUNCTION SURVEY HAER MI-416
(Page 2) Chronology: 1837 Milwaukee Junction begins to be
defined by the Pontiac Railroad (later the
Detroit & Milwaukee), which runs from the waterfront to
Pontiac along Dequindre.
1899 Construction of F. A. Thompson Manufacturing Company (1962
Trombly), the oldest surviving building within the survey
boundaries.
1908 The three Trippensee brothers build a plant at 2679 East
Grand Boulevard to
produce their famous planetariums. Their wood and metalworking
skills lead them to expand into auto body manufacture, and the
factory is enlarged for this purpose in 1915.
1909 Detroit Wire Spring Company builds a factory at 1900
Marston. This plant was
later absorbed into the Murray Body Corporation as its fender
division. Albert Kahn designs and builds the Boulevard Building
(7310 Woodward) for the Ford Motor Company as its service
headquarters. The building is enlarged in 1913.
1911 The building housing the Anderson Electric Car Company (now
Russell Industrial
Center, Building 2 at 1610 Clay) is erected. An Art Stove
Company storeroom opens at 6500 Russell.
1916 National Can Company (later the George C. Wetherbee
Company) constructs a
factory at what is now 2566 East Grand Boulevard. American Can
Company also opens its doors at 1400 Trombly.
1918 Richard Brothers Die Works (later Allied Products
Corporation) builds their plant
at 1560 Milwaukee. 1919 Construction of C.R. Wilson Body Company
Building 5 (1666 Clay), now part of
the Russell Industrial Center, notable for its unique curved
façade facing the railroad.
1920 Construction of C.R. Wilson Body Company Buildings 1 (1600
Clay), 1A (1604
Clay), and 4 (1630 Clay), all now part of the Russell Industrial
Center. The Detroit Machine & Tool Company opens its doors at
6545 St. Antoine.
1922 Construction of C.R. Wilson Body Company Buildings 4A (1640
Clay) and 4B
(1650 Clay), both now part of the Russell Industrial Center.
Construction of Fisher Body Stamping Plant (Plant #37), 950
Milwaukee, now New Center Stamping.
1923 Construction begins on a new building for the Murray Body
Corporation—Body
Division, designed by Albert Kahn (now Russell Industrial
Center, Building 3,
-
DETROIT’S MILWAUKEE JUNCTION SURVEY HAER MI-416
(Page 3)
1614 Clay). An addition to the structure is completed in 1929.
Richard Brothers Die Works also opens a new factory on Lyman Place
in this year.
1925 The National Drill Twist Company constructs its factory at
1925 Clay. J.W.
Murray Manufacturing buys the C.D. Widman Company, manufacturers
of auto bodies, mirrors, and glass products.
1926 The building housing the McCord Manufacturing Supply
Company and
Springman Paper Supply Company opens at 1579 East Milwaukee.
1928 The Detroit Fire Company, Engine Company No. 28 and Ladder
Company No. 11
opens at 1475 East Milwaukee. 1929 The Boyer-Campbell Company
opens its new machine tools factory at 6540 St.
Antoine. The Fairmount Creamery moves into its building at 608
East Milwaukee.
1947 Frank Brothers Iron Works (later the Peschke Packing
Company) builds their
plant at 2600 East Grand Boulevard. Introduction Milwaukee
Junction received its name from the meeting of two of Michigan’s
earliest railways. The oldest of these was the Detroit, Grand Haven
& Milwaukee line, which was a lineal descendent of the Detroit
& Pontiac Railroad, originally incorporated in 1834. By 1855,
the line was running trains between the two southeastern Michigan
cities. The line was reorganized as the Detroit, Grand Haven &
Milwaukee in 1878 and merged with the Canadian Grand Trunk Western
line in 1928. The second of the two lines that met in Detroit at
Milwaukee Junction was the old Michigan Central line. First
chartered by the Michigan legislature in 1846, the line acquired
the charter of the Central line, one of the first three parallel
lines to cross the state from east to west.1 New York Central
leased Michigan Central beginning in 1930 for an extended period,
but in 1961, the line’s assets began to be divided among different
companies. In 1978, Penn Central received much of what remained of
Michigan Central, but when that line went bankrupt, some of its
assets went to Consolidated Rail, or ConRail.2
1
The early railroads appear on at least four maps of Detroit
published between 1837 and 1889, the date when the area begins to
be covered by Sanborn insurance maps. See “City of Detroit,
Michigan, from late and accurate Surveys, May 1837,” in Brian Leigh
Dunnigan, Frontier Metropolis: Picturing Early Detroit, 1701-1838
(Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2001), 202; Sylvester
Wesley Higgins, “Map of Wayne County” (Cincinnati: Doolittle &
Munson, [1840]); S. Augustus Mitchell, “Plan of the City of
Detroit, 1882”; Atlas of the City of Detroit, Michigan (New York:
E. Robinson, 1885); and Sanborn Insurance Company, Insurance Maps
of Detroit, Michigan (New York: Sanborn Insurance Company,
1889-2001). Of the railroads appearing on these maps, the Dequindre
line of the Grand Trunk (the old Pontiac Railroad) appears on all
five maps or collections. The old Michigan Central Line,
approaching Milwaukee Junction from the west, appears only on
Mitchell’s map, the Robinson atlas, and on Sanborn maps, from which
it can be concluded that Milwaukee Junction came into existence
between 1840 and 1882. 2 Graydon M. Meints, Michigan Railroads and
Railroad Companies (East Lansing: Michigan State University Press,
1992), 170-71, 176-77, 182-83. For the purposes of this report,
Michigan Central refers to the lines originally owned
-
DETROIT’S MILWAUKEE JUNCTION SURVEY HAER MI-416
(Page 4) Background The presence of the railroads did not
immediately make Milwaukee Junction an auto manufacturer’s
paradise. Early major industries in the area were related either to
the railroad itself (the Peninsula Car Company, located just south
of the survey area, built cars for the railroad beginning in the
late nineteenth century) or the food industry. The latter included
such local specialty shops as the Michigan Celery Beverage Company,
the Peschke Sausage Company, and several dairy and milk-processing
plants, including the Clover Milk Company and its successor, the J.
Schlaff Creamery Company (both at 105 East Baltimore), the State
Creamery Company (at the corner of East Grand and DuBois), and the
Fairmount Creamery. Most of the buildings that housed these
companies have been destroyed, but the Fairmount Creamery remains
as a reminder of this era in Detroit’s history. The industry that
benefitted the nascent auto manufacturers the most was the carriage
building trade. Early carriage builders included the Anderson
Carriage Company, the C.R. and J.C. Wilson Carriage Company, and
the Johnson Carriage Company, which was in business at 101 East
Baltimore before 1905 and remained in business until nearly 1920.3
The skilled wood and metal workers in the carriage trade quickly
applied their talents to making automobile bodies. This led to the
development of new businesses specializing in the production of
bodies for automobiles, such as the Fisher Brothers, Trippensee
Closed Body Company, the C.R. Wilson Body Company, and the Murray
Body Corporation of America. These companies supplied bodies to
both major and minor companies, including Ford Motor Company,
General Motors, Chrysler, Hupp, Reo, and DeSoto. Before the arrival
of the automotive industry, Milwaukee Junction was largely
residential, and residences and small businesses still make up a
significant proportion of the area.4 Residents were not all
transient auto workers who moved on to other jobs within a few
years. For example, Mrs. Martha F. Insko is listed in the Detroit
City Directory in 1915 as living at 75 (now 215) East Baltimore. By
1920, she had moved around the corner to 6400 Brush, where she
continued to live until at least 1935. Dr. Tobias Sigel maintained
an office at 2916 East Grand Boulevard from 1910 into the 1930s.
Zenon P. Lapinckas ran his barber shop at 455 East Milwaukee from
1910 through at least 1935. Both Mrs. Insko’s Brush Street
residence and Dr. Sigel’s office on East Grand Boulevard are still
standing and still serving their original purposes. The foodservice
industry has been an important component of Milwaukee Junction’s
history. Many saloons and bars flourished in the area, including
Karpinsky’s (1412 Clay, adjacent to the Russell Industrial Center),
the Twenty-Five Club Tavern (29-35 East Baltimore), Major Raymond’s
Saloon (17 East Baltimore), and Ed’s Bar (451 East Milwaukee).
Thomas J. Sborsky’s restaurant served drinks at 446 East Milwaukee
during the 1920s. The Y & B Market,
by
that corporation, and Grand Trunk refers to the lines currently
owned by that corporation. The 2001 Sanborn maps document the
existence of a third line in the Milwaukee Junction area,
tentatively identified as the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern,
heir to the old Michigan Southern line established in 1836. See
Meints, Michigan Railroads, 172-73, and Sanborn, Insurance Maps of
Detroit, 2001. That line was absorbed into the Michigan Central
Railroad in 1915, so in this report, it will be considered part of
the Michigan Central. 3 Sanborn, Insurance Maps of Detroit,
1905-1915; Detroit City Directory (Detroit: R.L. Polk, 1905-1970).
4 All of the information in this paragraph is derived either from
Sanborn, Insurance Maps of Detroit, 1905-2001, or Detroit City
Directory, 1905-1970.
-
DETROIT’S MILWAUKEE JUNCTION SURVEY HAER MI-416
(Page 5) a grocery/convenience store, opened at 6526 John
R. in 1932, and it remains in operation. The junction also boasted
its own movie theater and dance hall, the “Latin Quarter,” at 3067
East Grand Boulevard. Even as late as the 1950s, new industries
were moving into Milwaukee Junction. One of the most successful was
the photographic industry, and there were several independent
photographers operating out of the area. Howard J. Hite opened a
studio at 95 East Baltimore during the 1930s, Fred Holgate ran his
from 2894 East Grand Boulevard for at least ten years from 1925
through 1935, and Beatrice Zwaan opened hers at the still-extant
building at 3065 East Grand Boulevard. The largest and most
successful, however, was the Jam Handy Organization, which opened
on Grand Boulevard in 1930. Jam Handy produced and distributed
films and photographs, and it remained in business until the 1960s.
Significant Buildings 1600 Clay (see HAER MI-343 and HAER MI-345
for large-format photography) Anderson Electric Car Company, C.R.
Wilson Body Company, and Murray Body Corporation—Body Division (now
Russell Industrial Center) The Russell Industrial Center consists
of eight buildings (most dating to the 1920s) that are associated
with the early automobile industry.5 C. R. Wilson Body Company was
responsible for erecting most of the extant buildings on this site,
including Building 1 (1920), Building 1A (1920), Building 4 (1920),
Building 4A and 4B (1922), and Building 5 (1919). Many are
connected on the upper stories by reinforced-concrete bridges.
Constructed in 1920 for the Anderson Electric Car Company, Building
1 is a five-story reinforced-concrete factory building with a
twelve-bay façade facing Clay Avenue. The first-floor window
openings have been bricked in, while the other floors have a
mixture of factory or glass-block windows. There is a one-story CMU
addition with a loading dock constructed in 1951 and a four-story
corrugated-metal bump out on the west façade. Building 1A, built
1920-23, is a five-story reinforced-concrete structure. The main
façade fronts Russell Avenue and features brick corner towers and
decorative stone accents on the upper stories. Factory windows fill
the majority of the openings throughout the building. There is a
large water tower atop the building. A loading dock was built in
1961. Records indicate the Murray Corporation occupied the building
with assembling taking place on the second and third floors and
painting on the fourth and fifth floors. The four-story,
reinforced-concrete Building 2 dates to 1911 and was the home of
the Anderson Electric Car Company. The brick-faced main façade
fronts Russell Avenue. An addition was constructed in 1921.
Anderson Electric Car Company and then the Murray Corporation used
this structure for assembling.
5
General information about the history of the Russell Industrial
Center is drawn from Sanborn, Insurance Maps of Detroit, 1889-2001;
Detroit City Directory, 1905-70. For the Anderson Electric Car
Company and its successors, see Tom Kleene, “Electrics Lost Their
Support,” Detroit Free Press, November 26, 1981, and Robert G.
Szudarek, How Detroit Became the Automotive Capital (Warren MI:
Typocraft Company, 1996), 104-41.
-
DETROIT’S MILWAUKEE JUNCTION SURVEY HAER MI-416
(Page 6) Albert Kahn designed Building 3 in 1923, with a
later addition from 1929. This seven-story reinforced-concrete and
steel factory building has an L-shaped plan and fronts Russell
Avenue. There are brick corner towers on the south and west faces
and decorative stone accents on the upper stories. There is a
concrete block stair tower on the south façade. Murray Corporation
used the seventh floor for lacquer spraying. The six-story
reinforced-concrete Building 4 was completed in 1920 by Essel,
Styn, Murphy & Hanford. The main façade is on Clay Avenue and
features red brick and decorative stone accents. There is a
herringbone pattern above each window bay on the street façade
above the fifth floor. The upper stories feature a decorative stone
cornice line and moldings. The first and second floors are clad in
corrugated-metal paneling on the street façade and bricked in on
all other faces. Building 4A and 4B was erected in 1922. The
seven-story structure is contained within the courtyard of the
Russell Industrial Center complex. The fenestration is comprised of
factory windows. The first floor of the east façade has a one-story
addition. There are two stair towers on the east façade that rise
above the entire building. In 1951, Murray Corporation used the
first floor as a metal department, the second floor for small parts
assembly, the third floor for body building, the fourth and sixth
floors for painting and drying, and the fifth floor for upholstery.
The four-story reinforced-concrete Building 5 was constructed in
1919. The north façade is curved to follow the railroad line and
features factory windows. A bridge connector is located on the east
façade and provides access to Building 4A and 4B. The remains of a
railroad line are located under the connector, which dates to 1925.
The one-story steel-frame Building 6 has concrete block walls and
brick piers. A loading dock is located on the south façade, and
there is a small shed addition near the northwest corner. Essel,
Styn, Murphy, & Hanford built this structure. Originally a
carriage manufacturer, the Anderson Carriage Company occupied the
site from 1905-22. William M. Anderson founded the company in 1884
in Port Huron and relocated to Detroit in 1895. In 1911 the company
changed its name to the Anderson Electric Car Company after
production of electric cars began in addition to carriage bodies.
By 1919, the company had changed its name to the Detroit Electric
Car Company in honor of their car, the Detroit Electric. Founder
Anderson, who had retired in 1918, was replaced by M.S. Towson. In
September 1922, the bodybuilding portion of the Detroit Electric
Car Company split off to become the Towson Body Company. Murray
Body Corporation and J.W. Murray Manufacturing bought out Towson
Body. The Detroit Electric Car Company closed in 1938 due to the
declining popularity of the electric automobile. Charles R. Wilson
and his brother, J.C. Wilson, founded the C.R. Wilson Body Company
(originally the C.R. and J.C. Wilson Carriage Company). By 1902,
the company had become the nation’s largest builder of buggy and
carriage bodies. The first Wilson-built body for an automobile was
Ransom Olds’ curved-dash Oldsmobile roadster. Wilson supplied car
bodies to Ford, Cadillac, and Oldsmobile, as well as to
Thomas-Detroit and Hudson. It was the first to
-
DETROIT’S MILWAUKEE JUNCTION SURVEY HAER MI-416
(Page 7) trademark its vehicles by using the small
triangular logo of the Wilson Body Company. The Detroit factory
manufactured open bodies for touring cars and roadsters and closed
bodies for sedans, cabriolets, and limousines—the latter produced
at Factory No. 5. Founder Charles Wilson sold the company in 1924
to his friend and fellow Detroit Athletic Club member John William
Murray. The J.W. Murray Manufacturing Company began making metal
stampings for auto body parts in March 1913.6 This was one of the
first companies to specialize in sheet metal parts for the
automotive industry. Murray started as a supplier of unassembled
commodity parts to the industry, supplying parts primarily to
Studebaker in the first year. By 1922, company operations had
expanded so much that additional plants were necessary in
Cleveland, St. Louis, and Elizabeth, New Jersey. One of the most
impressive surviving buildings in the Russell Industrial Center
from this period was built for Murray: Building No. 3 designed by
Albert Kahn. In addition to the C.R. Wilson Body Company, Murray
acquired the J.C. Widman Company and Towson Body Company and formed
the Murray Body Corporation in 1924. The following year, Murray
took over the C.D. Widman Company, producer of mirrors, glass
products, and auto bodies, from founder C. David Widman. By that
time, Murray was one of the auto industry’s major suppliers,
producing (along with Briggs and the Fisher brothers),
three-million units. The Murray Body Corporation was absorbed into
the Murray Corporation of America in 1926. The Murray Corporation
of America initially began as a producer of automotive stampings,
including chassis frames and fenders, as well as washing machines,
gasoline station equipment, cushion springs, and home appliances
(kitchen cabinets and bathroom accessories). In 1930, they employed
7,000-8,000 people and produced 2,000 bodies daily. The company
bought out Dietrich, Inc., makers of custom coachwork and the
custom Clearvision corners to help blind driving, in 1931. Murray
Corporation supplied bodies to Ford, Chrysler, Hupp, Reo, Dodge,
and DeSoto. After Pearl Harbor, the company was awarded several
wartime commissions and switched all production to U.S. government
mandates. It produced war planes, chassis frames for military
vehicles (such as jeeps), and searchlight housings. The company’s
factory in Scranton, Pennsylvania, produced B-29 outer wings along
with a plant in Memphis, Tennessee, that also produced auto body
parts. In the later 1940s, production fell to around 1,200
bodies/day. The company’s post-war efforts focused primarily on
household items, so the automotive division was sold off in the
1950s and the company left the Detroit area.
6
Information about the Murray Manufacturing Company and its
successor comes from “Murray Corp Folder #1” in the collection of
the National Automotive History Collection, Detroit Public
Library.
-
DETROIT’S MILWAUKEE JUNCTION SURVEY HAER MI-416
(Page 8)
Building 1. Field photograph taken by field team in 2003.
Building 1A. Field photograph taken by field team in 2003.
-
DETROIT’S MILWAUKEE JUNCTION SURVEY HAER MI-416
(Page 9)
Building 1A. Field photograph taken by field team, 2003.
Building 2. Field photograph taken by field team, 2003.
-
DETROIT’S MILWAUKEE JUNCTION SURVEY HAER MI-416
(Page 10)
Building 2. Field photograph taken by field team, 2003.
Building 3. Field photograph taken by field team, 2003.
-
DETROIT’S MILWAUKEE JUNCTION SURVEY HAER MI-416
(Page 11)
Building 3. Field photograph taken by field team, 2003.
Building 4. Field photograph taken by field team, 2003.
-
DETROIT’S MILWAUKEE JUNCTION SURVEY HAER MI-416
(Page 12)
Building 4A and 4B. Field photograph taken by field team,
2003.
Building 5. Field photograph taken by field team, 2003.
-
DETROIT’S MILWAUKEE JUNCTION SURVEY HAER MI-416
(Page 13) 1925, 1951, 1975 Clay (see HAER MI-334 for
large-format photography) J.W. Murray Manufacturing Company—Fender
Division The 1925 complex of reinforced-concrete and brick
buildings with factory windows served as the center for J.W.
Murray’s fender-stamping business. A three-story,
reinforced-concrete factory with a two-story, seven-bay addition on
the east façade is located at 1925 Clay. A two-story
reinforced-concrete addition is at 1951 Clay, and a two-story brick
corner building is at 1975 Clay. In 1990, Ivan Doverspike Machine
Tools moved into the complex. 1824 Clay Edgar’s Sugar House The
1912 building is located at the crossing of the Michigan Central
and the Grand Trunk Western railroads. The two-story,
reinforced-concrete L-plan building has a sloped roof. A loading
dock flanks the main entrance from Clay Avenue. A small sign on the
east façade reads “Office.” This warehouse was initially
constructed for W.H. Edgar & Son as Warehouse No. 4 for sugar
and flour storage.7 The company manufactured sugars, syrup,
molasses, and glucose and was the main supplier for the candy
manufacturers and breweries in the city of Detroit. Taylor McLeish
Company has occupied the building since the 1960s. Hendley Vicars
Taylor and Robert McLeish founded the grocery distributing company
in 1899. 1831 Clay Brown-Hutchinson Iron Works (now Southfield
Machining) Located at the corner of Clay and Morrow avenues, this
complex of buildings currently occupied by Southfield Machining,
Inc., is composed of a two-story, vinyl-sided house attached to a
one-story shed building by a small brick connecting structure. The
street façade of the shed structure is composed of painted factory
windows running the entire length of the building. Roll-up metal
doors provide truck access. The roof has a slight pitch in the
center. Building permits indicate the presence of a frame storage
shed on the site in 1909, followed by a frame office building in
1911. In 1925, a two-story addition to the factory was built.
Finally, a one-story office addition was completed in 1971.
Founded by Detroit industrialist A.C. Hutchinson,
Brown-Hutchinson Iron Works has occupied this site on Clay off the
Grand Trunk Western since the early years of World War I. This
leading industrial firm in the city of Detroit manufactured
structural steel and shell handling machinery for the military.
Brown-Hutchinson was one of several firms that made Detroit the
world’s only large-scale manufacturer of automobiles during World
War I.
7
For information on Edgar’s Sugar House, see Sanborn, Insurance Maps
of Detroit, 1889-2001; Detroit City Directory, 1905-70; City of
Detroit, Detroit Building Permit Nos. 89504 (August 17, 1966) and
31634 (March 8, 1940). For information on Taylor McLeish, see
Albert Nelson Marquis, The Book of Detroiters: A Biographical
Dictionary of Leading Living Men of the City of Detroit (Chicago:
A. N. Marquis & Company, 1914).
-
DETROIT’S MILWAUKEE JUNCTION SURVEY HAER MI-416
(Page 14) After the war, Brown-Hutchinson exclusively
fabricated structural steel until 1930, when the plant was expanded
and new machinery was installed. During World War II, the company
increased its product base and produced machine bases, electrical
plating equipment, parts for naval ships and airplanes, alloy steel
brackets, bomb racks, packing cases, trays, and other military
equipment and supplies. Unlike many other companies, the
Brown-Hutchinson Iron Works was successful in converting their
wartime production to civilian production. The company supplied
automotive parts to the “Big Three” (General Motors Corporation,
Ford Motor Company, and the Chrysler Corporation).8
1831 Clay. Field photographs taken by field team, 2003.
1831 Clay. Field photograph taken by field team, 2003.
8
See Sanborn, Insurance Maps of Detroit, 1889-2001; Detroit City
Directory, 1905-70; City of Detroit, Detroit Building Permits Nos.
64882 (October 27, 1971), 18527-A (June 18, 1925), 287 (February 4,
1911), and 3112 (December 16, 1909); and A.M. Smith, Industrial
Detroit (Detroit: Detroit News, 1930).
-
DETROIT’S MILWAUKEE JUNCTION SURVEY HAER MI-416
(Page 15) 2566 East Grand Boulevard (see HAER MI-352 for
large-format photography) National Can Company The 1916 three-story
brick and steel building has a concrete addition on the south
façade and a series of smaller shed buildings on the north façade.
A brick arcade frames each opening, all of which have been boarded
up with wooden boards or concrete blocks. The remains of a sign
reading “National Can Co.” can be seen on the building’s west
façade. A brick garage was constructed in 1924, and a 1930 building
permit approved remodeling the brick factory and building a loading
dock. The National Can Company factory was built in 1916. In
addition to manufacturing aluminum cans, the company expanded into
the automotive industry. In the 1930 edition of Industrial Detroit,
the company was listed under the subheading: “Stamping: Motor
Vehicle Parts and Accessories.” After the National Can Company
vacated the building, the Continental Can Company, the Sears &
Roebuck Company, and the George C. Wetherbee Company occupied it.
The building has primarily remained a storage warehouse for most of
its existence and is currently vacant.9
2566 East Grand Boulevard. Field photograph by field team,
2003.
9
Smith, Industrial Detroit.
-
DETROIT’S MILWAUKEE JUNCTION SURVEY HAER MI-416
(Page 16) 2679 East Grand Boulevard (see HAER MI-337 for
large-format photography) Pioneer Building, originally Trippensee
Manufacturing Company This two-story English bond brick building
facing onto Grand Boulevard was enlarged in 1915 with a three-story
addition to the rear of the structure. The openings on the street
front have stone sills. The three Trippensee brothers (William,
Albert, and Frank) had the building erected in 1908 to house their
growing planetarium and tellurium (models of the solar system
intended for classroom use) manufacturing business that had been
established two years earlier.10 A Detroit Fire Marshall’s plan
from ca. 1909 shows the original building (which was devoted to
office space) with an additional building behind that housed the
planetarium manufacturing space and a separate lumber yard.11
Around 1915, the building was expanded with an addition to the
southern side that eliminated the original outbuilding and
lumberyard. This addition still stands today, occupying the south
end of the site. Part of the need for this expansion was rooted in
the fact that the Trippensee brothers had entered auto body
manufacturing between 1913 and 1916.12 Their expertise in wood and
metal made their factory an ideal place for creating quality bodies
for the burgeoning automobile industry. Frank, the company’s
original secretary and treasurer (and the most active of the three
brothers in automotive work) was a carriage builder by trade and
had come to Detroit from Flint in 1900 to work at the C.R. Wilson
Company.13 By 1921, Trippensee Manufacturing was creating bodies
for Fisher, Chrysler, the Rickenbacker Motor Car Company, and
several others. The following year, Clarence Burton recognized the
contributions the brothers were making to the city, stating they
had created a business that was “one of massive proportions,
employing more than 800 people….Today [in 1922] the great industry
is meeting an extensive demand for automobile bodies on the part of
companies that assemble motor cars, and year by year that trade is
growing in importance.”14 Trippensee primarily made open-body cabs
until 1923, when it merged with the Everett Brothers Corporation,
one of Byron Everett’s companies that specialized in automotive
trim and the manufacture of tops. Out of this merger came the
Trippensee Closed-Body Company, a million-dollar corporation that
continued as an independent organization until it was merged with
Rickenbacker in 1925.15
10
Clarence M. Burton, The City of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, vol.
5 (Detroit: S. J. Clarke, 1922), 239. The original planetarium
manufacturing part of the business continues to make planetariums
under the Trippensee name in Buffalo, New York. 11 City of Detroit,
Fire Marshall’s Plan & Violations, in National Automotive
History Collection, Detroit Public Library. 12 The 1913 Detroit
City Directory for the first time lists the Trippensee
Manufacturing Company as “Mfgrs of Planetariums and Automobile
Bodies,” but Burton, City of Detroit, vol. 5, page 239, states that
the company only converted to building auto bodies in 1916. 13
John Bluth, “ ‘Bodybuilders’ of the DAC—World Class Craftsmen, Part
2,” DAC News (December 2000), 41. 14 “Two Detroit Body Companies
Combine,” Automobile Topics 70 (May 19, 1923): 20; quote from
Burton, City of Detroit, vol. 5, 239. 15 “$23,000,000 Merger is
Subject of Meeting,” Automobile Topics 75 (October 18, 1924): 859;
and “Rickenbacker Motor Now Merged with Trippensee,” Automobile
Topics 79 (October 24, 1925): 999. The original merger aimed at
-
DETROIT’S MILWAUKEE JUNCTION SURVEY HAER MI-416
(Page 17) Within four years, however, Trippensee had
abandoned its original factory on East Grand. The last year that
Trippensee was listed at that address in the Detroit City Directory
was in 1929. Since then, the building has had a variety of tenants,
including Pioneer Furniture, and builders of hacksaws and ice
scrapers. It currently houses artist’s studios.
2679 East Grand Boulevard. Field photograph by field team,
2003.
creating
a broad-spectrum line of automobiles, presumably along the lines of
General Motors, by combining Rickenbacker Motor Car, Peerless Motor
Car, and Gray Motor Corporation.
-
DETROIT’S MILWAUKEE JUNCTION SURVEY HAER MI-416
(Page 18) 1600 Euclid Joseph T. Ryerson & Son, now
Stress-Con Industries The two structures on this site include a
one-story brick and steel office building dating to 1969 and a
large saw-tooth steel-frame warehouse. The warehouse is faced in
corrugated-metal siding with metal roll-up doors located at regular
intervals along Hartwick. Steel and iron manufacturer Joseph T.
Ryerson & Son, Inc. owned the shed through the 2000s. Ryerson
was founded in Chicago in 1842 and quickly expanded its markets
throughout the Midwest region and the East Coast. Occupying the
site for most of the building’s life, Joseph T. Ryerson & Son
continued as a steel distributor until the latter part of the
twentieth century. In 1986, Ryerson merged with Tull Industries to
form Ryerson Tull Industries. The building is currently occupied by
Stress-Con Industries, who continue to use the building as a
storage shed and factory building.
1600 Euclid. Field photograph taken by field team, 2003.
1600 Euclid. Field photograph taken by field team, 2003.
-
DETROIT’S MILWAUKEE JUNCTION SURVEY HAER MI-416
(Page 19) 1900, 1910 Marston Detroit Wire Spring Company
(now American Axle Manufacturing) Located at the corner of Marston
Street and Morrow Avenue, the complex is made up of three separate
buildings: a three-story steel and brick building (1900 Marston), a
one-story steel office/warehouse (1910 Marston), and a one-story
shed building and loading dock (1930 Marston). The entire complex
is connected to the back of 1925 Clay Avenue. The three-story
factory building curves to the nearby railroad line on the east
façade. There is a large sign on the upper portion of the
office/warehouse that reads “American Axle & Manufacturing.”
The office/warehouse and the shed building are clad in
corrugated-metal panels. The Detroit Wire Spring Company was
originally located at 21st and Standish but decided to build a new
81' x 119' factory at Morrow and Marston. The brick building with
composition roofing was designed by Smith, Hinchman & Grylls,
architects and built in 1909. The company initially produced
mattresses, mattress units, spring cushions, wire coat hangers, and
mechanical springs. During World War II, it produced large and
small ammunition, ammunition links, feed mechanisms, floats, life
rafts, aircraft gasoline tanks, aircraft terminals, cable
assemblies, shell containers, and motor parts. After the war, the
Detroit Wire Spring Company resumed manufacturing metal spring
parts and began contributing parts to auto makers and other
industries, like General Motors, Chrysler, Nash-Kelvinator, General
Electric, Douglas Aircraft, Lockheed, and many others. American
Axle Manufacturing currently occupies the building.
1900 Marston. Field photograph taken by field team,
2003.
-
DETROIT’S MILWAUKEE JUNCTION SURVEY HAER MI-416
(Page 20) 608 East Milwaukee (see HAER MI-336 for
large-format photography) Fairmount Creamery Company (now Midcity
Warehouse, Inc.) The three-story reinforced-concrete building is
located directly adjacent to the railroad line. Fenestration is
comprised of factory windows. Brick piers capped with stone accents
divide the street façade into bays, and stone blocks are located
between the second and third floors. “The Fairmount Creamery
Company” is written in white stone directly on this main façade.
The west façade has a series of loading docks on the first floor.
The structural frame is visible on the east façade, and there is a
three-story concrete-block addition. An old foundry chimney and a
smaller one-story steel and brick garage building are located to
the west of the main building. The east façade also has the ruins
of an exterior staircase and a small one-story metal shed. The
Fairmount Creamery was built in 1926 and remains as an example of
the rich food-processing history of Milwaukee Junction. Backing up
against the railroad embankment, the building and the extant
support structures erected on the east side of the site in 1954
retain signs of the equipment used to load and unload dairy produce
from the rail cars. This building is one of the few that still show
signs of the intimate relationship between the railroad and the
city of Detroit.
608 East Milwaukee. Field photograph taken by field team,
2003.
-
DETROIT’S MILWAUKEE JUNCTION SURVEY HAER MI-416
(Page 21) 950 East Milwaukee (see HAER MI-351 for
large-format photography) Fisher Body Plant #37 (now New Center
Stamping) The three-story steel and brick building has a two-story
addition on the south façade. The east and west facades have brick
piers capped with stone capitals located at regular intervals. The
north façade, facing East Milwaukee, has a parapet with stone and a
large flagpole. The piers on the north façade sit on stone bases.
Fenestration is comprised of factory windows. According to the
Detroit City Directory, the Fisher Body Corporation occupied a
plant attributed to Alfred Kahn Inc. at this address in 1925.
Fisher Body operated a stamping plant (described in some of the
literature as a “die tryout facility”), and it has the distinction
of being one of the few buildings in Milwaukee Junction that is
still used for the same purpose for which it was designed
seventy-five years ago. The old Fisher Body plant closed in 1989,
and entrepreneur Gregory Smith purchased it in 1992. Smith
continues to use the property to produce “Class A stampings, large
industrial stampings, weldments and assemblies for the service
parts industry.” Most recently, the site was used in the film Eight
Mile about Detroit rapper Eminem.16
950 East Milwaukee. Field photograph taken by field team, 2003.
16
Detroit City Directory, 1925; Tom Pidgeon, “In Detroit: New Center
Stamping Plant Celebrates Fifth Anniversary,” Detroit News, June
10, 1998; John Monaghan, “Putting Detroit on the Map,” Detroit Free
Press, November 8, 2002; and “New Center Stamping Celebrates 5th
Anniversary,” Detroit News, June 1, 1998.
-
DETROIT’S MILWAUKEE JUNCTION SURVEY HAER MI-416
(Page 22) 1475 East Milwaukee (see HABS MI-443 for
large-format photography) Fire Department, Engine Company No. 28,
Ladder Company No. 11 The 1904 two-story steel and brick fire
department has a one-story steel and brick addition on the west
façade. The street façade features brick corbels, garage doors, and
a bricked-in arched opening. Fenestration is primarily comprised of
double-hung sash with stone sills and stone headers. There are four
carved stone pieces with the number of the fire department and the
ladder company on the street façade as well. Designed by the
architectural firm Rogers & McFarlane, this is the only fire
department in the Milwaukee Junction area. An addition was
completed in 1928. It is currently occupied by Fast Pete’s Hauling
and Demolition Company.
1475 East Milwaukee. Field photograph taken by field team,
2003.
-
DETROIT’S MILWAUKEE JUNCTION SURVEY HAER MI-416
(Page 23) 1560 East Milwaukee Richard Brothers Die Works
(now Power Press Sales) The complex of buildings at this location
consists of a two-story brick and steel warehouse at the corner of
Milwaukee and Orleans that connects to a larger, two-story factory
fronting Lyman Place. There is a large foundry chimney. The Lyman
Place and Orleans Avenue street facades have decorative stone
finishes. The first-floor window openings have all been closed in.
The street facades feature brick pilasters capped with stone
capitals and diamond-shaped accents. The Lyman Place façade has a
row of factory windows. A three-story central bay features an
arched window surround with a keystone. The Richard Brothers Die
Works operated a sheet metal die shop that produced punches and
digs for automobile factories. A warehouse was added in 1919, and a
factory was built on Lyman Place in 1923. Later absorbed into the
Allied Products Corporation, this building has remained a machine
shop and stamping factory. It is currently occupied by Power Press
Sales Company.
1560 East Milwaukee. Field photograph taken by field team,
2003.
1560 East Milwaukee. Field photograph taken by field team,
2003.
-
DETROIT’S MILWAUKEE JUNCTION SURVEY HAER MI-416
(Page 24) 1579 East Milwaukee McCord Manufacturing Supply
Company and Springman Paper Supply Company The three-story
reinforced-concrete factory building has a three-story steel and
brick addition faced with tile on the street façade. A green tile
border surrounds the second and third floor windows. There is a
loading dock on the street façade and a stack at the northeast
corner. Built in 1926, the building served as the headquarters for
a variety of industries, including Schwanbeck Brothers bakers;
Springman Paper Products; McCord Radiator & Manufacturing
Company’s supply office; Detroit Gasket & Manufacturing
Company; Crown Cork & Seal Company; Kingston Detroit Company
Inc. (makers of auto accessories); John Sexton & Company; Sears
Roebuck & Company warehouse; and Wisconsin Toy &
Novelty.
1579 East Milwaukee. Field photograph taken by field team,
2003.
1579 East Milwaukee. Field photograph taken by field team,
2003.
-
DETROIT’S MILWAUKEE JUNCTION SURVEY HAER MI-416
(Page 25) 1900 East Milwaukee (see HAER MI-333 for
large-format photography) Detroit White Lead Works (now Arco Die
Cast & Metals) The three-story steel and brick building is part
of a large complex on Milwaukee Avenue that includes 1920, 1950,
and 1960 East Milwaukee. The first-floor openings have been bricked
up. There are decorative brick corbels on the street facade. The
upper windows on the other facades are arched. The entire complex
is attached to the back of 1891 Trombly Avenue. Ford M. Rogers
purchased the Detroit White Lead Works in 1880 after the owners
declared bankruptcy. Construction at this site started in 1908 with
a one-story brick factory that underwent numerous expansions. The
Detroit White Lead Works made insecticides, soaps, red and white
leads, and paint, even supplying paint to automobile manufacturers
in the Milwaukee Junction area. Initially, they only produced white
lead paint but began to produce other colors in response to demand
from the automotive industry. The company also shared this complex
with various companies ranging from furniture makers to automotive
parts manufacturers. Tenants have included the Detroit Varnish
Company, Randall-Williams Company (manufacturers of cleaning
compounds), Detroit Paint & Glass, Peninsular Paint &
Varnish Company, Maldaver Brothers Company (makers of auto parts),
and Arco Die Cast & Metals.
1900 East Milwaukee. Field photograph taken by field team,
2003.
-
DETROIT’S MILWAUKEE JUNCTION SURVEY HAER MI-416
(Page 26) 6500 Russell Avenue Art Stove Company This brick
warehouse dating to 1911 is the last surviving building of the Art
Stove Company, one of the leading stove manufacturers in the city
of Detroit until the Detroit Stove Company assumed that title in
1923. The original factory of the Art Stove Company was located
across the street on the northwest corner of Russell and
Milwaukee.17
6500 Russell Avenue. Field photograph taken by field team,
2003.
17
Marquis, Book of Detroiters; Smith, Industrial Detroit.
-
DETROIT’S MILWAUKEE JUNCTION SURVEY HAER MI-416
(Page 27) 1400 Trombly Avenue (see HAER MI-340 for
large-format photography) Detroit Can Company This complex of
buildings, begun in 1916 with an addition in 1920, consists of a
three-story reinforced-concrete factory with a one-story loading
dock and a one-story brick and steel building on the east façade.
The three-story factory has vertical metal paneling on the upper
story. The south façade has been significantly damaged and part of
the structure is exposed. The entire complex is painted pink. A
sign on the corner of Trombly and Russell reads “The Kirlin Co.,
Plant No. 2.” The original tenant was the American Can Company,
manufacturer of aluminum cans and other metal stamping products,
including automobile parts. In Industrial Detroit, the company was
listed under “Stamping: Motor Vehicle Parts and Accessories. Cans
and Containers, stampings.” Kirlin Company later occupied the
property. The company manufactured electric lights and various
glass products. During World War II, it supplied parts for P-51
Mustang fighter planes and held a patent for the first cruise
control system for automobiles.18
1400 Trombly. Field photograph taken by field team, 2003.
18
Smith, Industrial Detroit.
-
DETROIT’S MILWAUKEE JUNCTION SURVEY HAER MI-416
(Page 28) 1558 Trombly Avenue American Radiator Company
This is the last surviving building of the American Radiator
Company. The one-story brick and steel-frame building has a stone
foundation and entry doors on the north and west facades. The
street façade has nine windows separated by brick piers. The entry
door on the north façade has been bricked in. The American Radiator
Company was established in 1891 and was, according to some of its
literature had the distinction of being “the largest manufacturer
of steam radiators and hot water boilers in the world.” The Detroit
plant went from a production plant of cast-iron radiators and
castings to the experimental and mechanical division of the
American Radiator Company in the 1930s. The company was later
subsumed by the American Radiator and Standard Sanitary
Corporation. After the demolition of the American Radiator Company,
Detroit Edison occupied the site and built their Trombly Service
Station there.
1558 Trombly. Field photograph taken by field team, 2003.
-
DETROIT’S MILWAUKEE JUNCTION SURVEY HAER MI-416
(Page 29) 1962 Trombly Avenue F. A. Thompson Manufacturing
Company (now Michigan Box Company) Completed in 1899, this is the
only nineteenth-century building remaining in the survey area. The
brick structure has corbelling. Most of the windows have been
removed, although some openings have glass blocks. The owner, Frank
Thompson, worked for Parke-Davis and Company for fourteen years
before founding F.A. Thompson Manufacturing Company in 1897. The
company specialized in resinoids, plus fluid, solid and powdered
extracts, and Golden Seal Alkoloids. F.A. Thompson was the first
company to use coffin-shaped glass bottles for prescriptions and
poisons. It also manufactured pharmaceutical products, with
international representation in England and Australia. By 1927,
C.E. Jamieson & Company occupied the building, remaining
through the 1940s. This company, organized by Detroiter C.E.
Jamieson in 1925, also produced pharmaceuticals, including powdered
extracts, solid extracts, elixirs, syrups, tablets, pastes,
ointments, and powders. C.E. Jamieson & Company also
manufactured vitamin products for U.S. soldiers during World War II
and continued in the international market through the 1940s.19
1962 Trombly Avenue. Field photograph taken by field team,
2003.
19
Marquis, Book of Detroiters.
-
DETROIT’S MILWAUKEE JUNCTION SURVEY HAER MI-416
(Page 30) 7310 Woodward (see HAER MI-353 for large-format
photography) Ford Service Building (now Boulevard Building)
Designed by Albert Kahn, Inc., the eight-story reinforced-concrete
building has an exposed structural frame infilled with factory
windows on the north and west facades. There are ribbon windows on
the south and west facades. A one-story addition was built on the
north façade of the building. Stone veneer covers the south and
west facades. Built for the Ford Motor Company in 1909, the
building was originally only four stories, but another four were
added in 1913 and the whole exterior was clad in white terra-cotta
facing. By the 1960s, however, the terra-cotta facing was cracking
and falling apart, and the decision was made to reface the building
in stone. The building housed the Ford Motor Company’s Detroit
branch while Ford moved his operations from the Piquette Avenue
plant to the new Highland Park facility. The Ford Service Building
housed a variety of functions, including offices, a service
station, a repair facility on the third and fourth floors, and
various painting related functions. Ford Motor moved out of the
building in 1919, and the Wayne County Home Savings Bank occupied
the property in 1921. Various banks and other businesses continued
to lease the property through the 1960s. One of the last tenants
was the Michigan Employment Security Commission, who stayed through
the end of the twentieth century.20
7310 Woodward. Field photograph taken by field team, 2003.
20
W. Hawkins Ferry, The Buildings of Detroit (Detroit: Wayne State
University Press, 1968), 187; Sanborn, Insurance Maps of Detroit,
1915; Detroit City Directory, 1921.
-
DETROIT’S MILWAUKEE JUNCTION SURVEY HAER MI-416
(Page 31) Bibliography “$23,000,000 Merger is Subject of
Meeting.” Automobile Topics 75 (October 18, 1924): 859. Atlas of
the City of Detroit, Michigan. New York: E. Robinson, 1885.
Beasley, Norman, and George W. Stark. Made in Detroit. New York:
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1957. Bluth, John. “ ‘Bodybuilders’ of the
DAC—World Class Craftsmen, Part 1.” DAC News (November 2000):
44-47. ________. “ ‘Bodybuilders’ of the DAC—World Class Craftsmen,
Part 2.” DAC News (December 2000): 40-44. Burton, Clarence M. The
City of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922. 5 volumes. Detroit: S.J.
Clarke, 1922. “Cleveland’s Pride is a Factor in Merger Plan.”
Automobile Topics 75 (October 25, 1924): 971. City of Detroit, Fire
Marshall’s Plans and Code Violations. National Automotive History
Collection, Detroit Public Library. Croll, Robert Frederick. Fall
of an Automotive Empire: A Business History of the Final Years of
the Packard Motor Car Company, 1945-1958. Detroit: Automotive
History Research Foundation, 1978. Danilovich, Robert S. “Location
and Distribution of Defunct Automobile Plants in Detroit,
1900-1956.” M.A. Thesis. Mount Pleasant, MI: Central Michigan
University, Department of Geography, 1974. Davis, Donald Finlay.
Conspicuous Production: Automobiles and Elites in Detroit,
1899-1933. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1988. Detroit
City Directory. Detroit: R.L. Polk, 1905-1970. Dunnigan, Brian
Leigh. Frontier Metropolis: Picturing Early Detroit, 1701-1838.
Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2001. Ferry, W. Hawkins.
“Representative Detroit Buildings: A Cross Section of Architecture,
1823-1943.” Detroit Institute of Arts Bulletin 22, no. 5 (February
1943): 46-60. ________. The Buildings of Detroit: A History.
Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1968. Hyde, Charles K.
Detroit: An Industrial History Guide. Detroit: Detroit Historical
Society, 1980.
-
DETROIT’S MILWAUKEE JUNCTION SURVEY HAER MI-416
(Page 32) ________. “ ‘Detroit the Dynamic’: The
Industrial History of Detroit from Cigars to Cars.” Michigan
Historical Review 27, no. 1 (Spring 2001): 57-73. Industrial and
Commercial Buildings. Detroit: Albert Kahn, Inc. 1936. Kollins,
Michael J. Pioneers of the U.S. Automobile Industry, 2 volumes.
Warrendale, Pennsylvania: Society of Mechanical Engineers, 2002.
Marquis, Albert Nelson. The Book of Detroiters: A Biographical
Dictionary of Leading Living Men of the City of Detroit. Chicago:
A.N. Marquis & Company, 1914. Mitchell, S. Augustus. “Plan of
the City of Detroit, 1882.” Map Collection, Detroit Public Library.
Monaghan, John. “Putting Detroit on the Map.” Detroit Free Press,
November 8, 2002. “New Center Stamping Celebrates 5th Anniversary.”
Detroit News, June 1, 1998. Olsen and Cabadas. The American Auto
Factory. St. Paul, Minnesota: MBI Publishing, 2002. Pidgeon, Tom.
“In Detroit: New Center Stamping Plant Celebrates Fifth
Anniversary.” Detroit News, June 10, 1998. “Plant Capacity Will Be
Doubled.” Detroit Free Press, December 8, 1912, 12. Poremba, David
Lee. Detroit: City of Industry. Chicago: Arcadia Publishing, 2002.
Rice, H.H. The Book of Michigan Industry and Those Who Serve.
Supplement of Michigan Manufacturer and Financial Record. 33, no.
19. Detroit, 194?. “Rickenbacker Company Makes $347,563 in First 10
Months.” Automobile Topics 80 (December 19, 1925): 504.
“Rickenbacker Motor Now Merged with Trippensee.” Automobile Topics
79 (October 24, 1925): 999. Sanborn Insurance Company. Insurance
Maps of Detroit, Michigan. New York: Sanborn Insurance Company,
1889-2001. Smith, A.M. Industrial Detroit. Detroit: The Detroit
News, 1930. Szudarek, Robert G. How Detroit Became the Automotive
Capital. Warren, Michigan: Typocraft Company, 1996. “Trippensee
Resigns Post.” Automobile Topics 79 (October 3, 1925): 688.
-
DETROIT’S MILWAUKEE JUNCTION SURVEY HAER MI-416
(Page 33) “Trippensee Wins Tax Rebate.” Automobile Topics
92 (February 2, 1929): n.p. “Two Detroit Body Companies Combine.”
Automobile Topics 70 (May 19, 1923): 20. “Wire Spring Company
Extends Plant.” Detroit Free Press, September 5, 1909, A12. Yanik,
Anthony J. “Byron F. Everitt: Pioneer Body Builder, Founder of
Three Car Companies.” Chronicle 25, no. 4 (Spring 1990): 8-10.
_______. The E-M-F Company: The Story of Automotive Pioneers Barney
Everitt, William Metzger and Walter Flanders. Warrendale,
Pennsylvania: Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc., 2001.
coverMilwaukee Junction Survey report