http://www.detnews.com/2005/metro/0506/ ... 223817.htm
DETROIT -- It was a neighborhood that changed the world.
Today, the factory district that transformed Detroit into the world's engine has become a palette for graffiti artists and a painful reminder of how close the area's automotive heritage is to extinction.
As firefighters doused the last of a mighty blaze Tuesday that destroyed the former Studebaker Piquette Avenue Plant near New Center, historians fretted for the future of nearby factories that housed many of the nation's early carmakers.
"This is the area that put America on wheels, and now a piece of that history is gone," said Dale McDermott, 48, of Roseville, who volunteers with a group that is restoring the nearby Ford Piquette Plant where Henry Ford built his first large facility in 1904."Most of what's left is run down, hacked up, chopped up or gone. It's pretty sad."
Known as Milwaukee Junction, the neighborhood was home to the Model T, the Studebaker and companies such as Regal, Hussey, Maxwell during the dawn of the 20th century. Even before the fire, the so-called Cradle of the Automotive Industry had long since become a neighborhood of blighted buildings, broken windows and tall weeds.
About 150 firefighters worked overnight to extinguish the fire that began about 10 p.m. On Tuesday afternoon, they were still there, along with the curious who brought video cameras, scavengers who took souvenirs and history buffs who mourned the loss.
"Let's wake up," said Francis M. Grunow, executive director of Preservation Wayne, a nonprofit group.
Said Grunow: "What's sad is that this was a missed opportunity to showcase our automotive history, which is what sets us apart ... instead of having weeds grow out of the place that gave birth to the assembly line."
The fire is the latest blow to preservation efforts in Detroit, which some consider among the worst cities in the Midwest at honoring old buildings. Last month, the National Trust for Historic Preservation listed more than 200 properties downtown as among the most-endangered places in America, Grunow said.
Studebaker left Detroit for South Bend in 1928. For at least 50 years, the site of the old plant was home to Piquette Market, a meat wholesaler that was one of four businesses destroyed in the fire. Several boxcar loads of meat worth at least $1 million were lost as well.
"All this talk about 'Oh my goodness, we've lost the Studebaker plant,' someone needs to take a step back," said Mark Young, a spokesman for the market. "We've lost a family business, a livelihood and an anchor for the neighborhood. This was a vital part of Detroit and not some old historic building."
The curiosity Tuesday was in marked contrast to the panic that preceded it.
McDermott rushed downtown from his home in Roseville as soon as he heard about the fire late Monday, afraid the flames would spread a block to the Ford Piquette Plant.
Along with two others who belong to a nonprofit that is preserving the plant as a museum, McDermott climbed onto the roof with a fire extinguisher. Wearing shorts and sandals, he stomped on embers as they blew onto the roof of the factory.
"We could feel the heat, the fire must have been close to 300 feet," he said. "My toes are all burnt up from stamping my feet all night."
The efforts helped save 15 cars in the building, including McDermott's 1914 Model T and 1928 Model A. The two are worth $60,000, but McDermott said he was just as worried about saving the birthplace of the Model T.
Henry Ford designed the Model T in a cloistered room in the plant. The project was so secret than neither his employees nor board of directors could see the car, said Mark Pischea, executive director of the MotorCities National Heritage Area, a Detroit nonprofit that promotes historical tourism.
Such skulduggery was common in Milwaukee Junction.
"This was the center of the universe, the Silicone Valley of its time," Pischea said. "Talk about corporate espionage. You had (car pioneers) the Lelands, the Durands, the Fords, Ransom Olds all competing for the same money in the same industry, trying to steal the same secrets and employees."
The Studebaker plant first housed Wayne Automotive in 1906, then Everitt Metzger Flanders. In 1910, Studebaker branched out from making carriages to cars and bought the plant. After it left, Chrysler used the plant as a parts facility until the 1960s. During World War II, it served as the U.S. Army's 182nd field artillery armory, Pischea said.
The plant's fortunes mirror those of other old factories in Milwaukee Junction, which was so named because it straddled Milwaukee Street and the Grand Trunk Railroad.
Before the fire, some of the plant was in good shape. Other parts were crumbling. Likewise, the Ford Piquette Plant is in the midst of restoration, while the nearby Fisher Body Plant 21 has become a rotting hulk. Up the road about 3 miles, in Highland Park, overgrown trees conceal the historical marker in front of Ford's first headquarters.
In the crowd of onlookers Tuesday, Kimberly Sak closed her eyes and imagined workers toiling in a scene reminiscent of Diego Rivera's frescoes.
"It's a symbol of what's happening in Detroit," said Sak, a Royal Oak artist.
"The automotive industry is changing, and it's ironic an auto plant that gave this community life would burn down."
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