Parker Feldman

Professor Erik Mortenson

HON 1000
10 November 2016
Community Building through Transportation
After heavy deliberation, and a little pushing from a few different people, my group
finally decided on using Michigan Central Station as our site of focus. Originally, we were
arguing for Cass and Woodward avenue as sites for out research, but decided that MCS more
accurately reflected who we were, and where we are going. MCS acted as an early social hub for
people to have converse and share ideas and values at. Because of the heavy flow of people
traffic that the station faced early on, it was no doubt considered one of the most diverse places
in the city. Though MCS shut down in early 1988, I would argue that Michigan Central Station,
with its inherent ideals and symbolism, along with new renovation plans proposed and possibly
being acted on, still embodies who we are as citizens in the city, and where we are going as a
society itself.
Built from June of 1912 December of 1913, Michigan Central Station was meant to be
stand out. At the time of its construction and early operation, MCS was the tallest rail station in
the world, with a roof height of 230 feet. The building began operating as Detroit's main
passenger depot in 1913 after the older Michigan Central Station burned on December 26, 1913.
Transportation by train, at the time, was the most reliable and feasible method of transportation
for the working class who worked out of the city, or for travelling large distances (as it operated
on the main service track of the Vanderbilt rail lines). Most people choosing to use MCS as a

method of transportation out of the city would arrive by street car, because of the distance from
Detroits city center. MCS was strategically placed this far away from the city center to stimulate
related development to come in its direction. WWI signaled the peak of US railroad travel. More
than 200 trains left the station each day and lines would stretch from the boarding gates to the
main entrance. Through the 1940s, on average, more than 4,000 people used the Michigan
Central Station as a method of transportation per day, and more than 3,000 people worked in
worked in its office tower.
The major downfall of Michigan Central Station came after WWII. The builders of MCS
did not consider putting in parking at the facilities because at the time of the railways
conception, cars were not all that popular. But, after the war, with a growth in automobile
ownership, people used trains less and less. Service of the train network was cut back and
passenger traffic became so low that the owners of the station attempted to sell the facility in
1956 for $5 million, which was only one-third of its original 1913 building cost. Amtrak took
over the nation's passenger rail service in 1971, reopening the main waiting room and entrance in
1975, but this had little avail. On January 6, 1988, the last Amtrak trail was launched from the
station, and the station was closed, forgotten about, and left to become just another piece of
beautiful rubble that are all too prevalent in Detroit.
But, just because the Michigan Central Station has been shut down, does not mean that it
does not still reflect who we are as people or where we, as a society, may be heading too. The
MCS was a place where many people, ideas, and cultures met. Much like the Silk Road in Asia,
the MCS was a way for people to meet, and form connections with each other. This is how I view
the ways of seeing from this site. The way of seeing most represented by MCS is one of

connectedness and community. This is who we are as a society, and this is the best direction for
society to keep heading.
Community is something ever-present in social hubs like the city, but this community at
the MCS was different from just normal feelings of community. It was the forming of an entirely
new community, forged by working class Americans, in the most densely populated social outlet
at the time, in one of the most densely populated cities at the time. The MCS was not simply
limited to those working-class Americans though. Among notable passengers arriving at MCS
were Presidents Herbert Hoover, Harry S. Truman and Franklin D. Roosevelt, actor Charlie
Chaplin and inventor Thomas Edison. Communities were forged and built closer to the MCS to
assist in the travel of the working class, thus bringing people even closer together. This does not
just simply teach us about interconnectedness in Detroit, but in all cities around the world. Cities
thrive because of business. Business thrives because of people. There is a system of balances that
makes societies, particularly those in cities, work. Detroit is one of these cities, and the MCS
was, and still is, a great aid in community building.
There are lots of new proposals as for what to do with the newly closed MCS. Some of
these ideas include it becoming a trade processing center, a casino, or the Michigan/Detroit
police headquarters. Most notebly to me though was one of the more recent proposals to turn it
into a homeless housing center, or an art foundation building. This simply exemplifies where we
are going from the past. When the MCS was first built, it was innovative, and cultural, and
record setting. Now, with the homeless shelter proposal, it could be just as innovative, cultural,
and record setting. The proposal is to make the MCS into the USs largest homeless shelter that
is locally run, and it would bring tons of people, from different backgrounds together, and form
ties back to the community.

At the time of the MCSs creation, the MCS perfectly captured who we were as a society,
and in both a literal and symbolic sense, set us on our path as to where we were going. Now, with
new pitches for renovation and remodeling, with the possibility of it creating more communities
than those that it has built thus far, the Michigan Central Station continues to lead our society in
the right direction, and exemplify who we are as citizens in the community of Detroit.
Word Count: 1015

Works Cited

Blake, Paul. Michigan Central Station: The story of its rise, fall. BBC News Company, 2015, pp.
1-3. Gale. www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31596161. Accessed 30 Oct. 2016.
"MICHIGAN RAILROADS." Detroit Free Press (1858-1922): 1. May 23 1872. ProQuest. Web.
9 Nov. 2016
Schultz, Joe. "Michigan Central Station, Detroit, 2010." Technology and Culture 51.4 (2010):
889-92. ProQuest. Web. 9 Nov. 2016.
"TWO GREAT RAILROADS." Detroit Free Press (1858-1922): 1. Nov 18 1900. ProQuest. Web.
9 Nov. 2016

Photography of the Site

Beautiful
Disaster:
This picture
displays the
vastness of
MCS, and the
beautiful
architecture

Basking in
Glory:
This picture
of the MCS
highlights
just how
enormous it
is, and how