MANUFACTURING FREIGHT CARS & AUTOS FOR 150 YEARS

Few sites in Southwest Detroit provide more insights into the city’s industrial evolution than those that were established on 46 acres south of Michigan Avenue. American Car and Foundry was one of the city’s early manufacturers of railroad freight cars. Although it evolved into one of the nation’s largest industrial trusts prior to the turn of the 20th century, its facilities were moved out of state in the course of consolidation. 

In 1919, General Motors began construction on the Cadillac production facility.  When completed in 1926, it was one of the most modern operations in the world − producing luxury automobiles for more than sixty years. In 1997, its operations and those of its sister Fisher Body Fleetwood plant were consolidated into the GM Hamtramck facility. General Motors and its partners then launched the development of the Clark Street Industrial Park, Vitec a minority owned supplier of plastic gas tanks was one of the early anchors and was recently acquired by Kautex / Textron. The Ideal Group led an effort to develop, with two other Hispanic owned businesses, the Hispanic Manufacturing Center on a portion of the site. The Guide hopes to highlight these firms in future posts.

PHOTO CREDITS

General Motors Media Archives
Clark St Cadillac Assembly

Kel Keller
Clark Street Technology Park Entry

Welcome to the Southwest Detroit Auto Heritage Guide, a resource chronicling the auto legacy built by the entrepreneurs, workers, businesses, and unions of Southwest Detroit. 

Visit Firms & Sites for the stories of key Southwest Detroit businesses and places. The recommended order of viewing sites outlined there offers a chronological arc of the neighborhood’s auto legacy.

Community History puts into context the trends and topics highlighted in the stories of individual firms and neighborhood sites.

Labor History posts explore the emergence of the United Auto Workers union in the late 1930s, its achievements, and the challenges it confronted in the decades that followed.

The We “Auto” Know More page explains our interest in profiling other firms. We anticipate paying tribute to the ties of various ethnic communities to the auto industry while documenting the histories of Teamsters Local 299 and the United Steel Workers Local 1299.

This section introduces you to those responsible for developing the Guide and outlines how you can help contribute to future Guide updates.

The Map harnesses Google Map features to permit viewers to locate the sites that are featured in the Guide. The thumbnails featured there allow easy access to our site profiles while identifying other important cultural resources that highlight Motor City auto history.

PHOTO CREDITS

Detroit Historical Society
Lincoln Motor Car Company / Ford Local 600 Women’s Auxiliary Workshop

Detroit Public Library, National Automotive History Collection
DeSoto Plant

Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University
Michigan Central Station Passengers / GM Cadillac Sit Down Strike Pickets

We are excited to announce our event's first place winner of $500: Bruce Blevins!

We hope all our teams enjoyed the journey! During these difficult times, we wanted to create a safe and fun experience, and we did just that.