Is there a more American image than the one above, a late-model Mustang stopped at a traffic light on Woodward Avenue, one of the storied thoroughfares in automotive history? Upon leaving the 2015 Detroit Auto Show, Dad and I decided to cruise up old Woodward, where we found some evidence of a renaissance, some heartbreaking decay, and some monuments for monumental men.
Detroit is in the midst of constructing a light rail system of sorts, so the Woodward, which was never exactly in fine physical fettle, is now a patent disaster. If Dad’s Mustang doesn’t have a bent rim, I’ll be shocked out of my socks. Of course, Michigan’s roadway arteries are an unfunny joke statewide, not just in the Motor City. Nevertheless, the rail system (and the Downtown District) demonstrates that there’s still some life in Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac’s inspiration yet.
Here’s a passing shot of the world famous Durant Building (now Cadillac Place), one-time home of corporate monolith General Motors. Today, it’s a state-owned entity, and one can only explore as far as the main lobby. Still, there is a sustaining whiff of its latent magnificence. Today, GM’s home is the Renaissance Center, which was largely financed by Ford, and is situated on the banks of the Detroit River.
Detroit is one of the most frustrating, inspiring, frightening places one can imagine. The farther from Detroit’s hub one drives, the more complete the destruction becomes. While many of the ruined historic edifices are elegant even in their death throes, others are graffiti-littered menaces to life and limb. Detroit’s a living graveyard, a home for zombies, even though there’s hope yet of a revival. Unfortunately, Detroit was also, for some, the point of embarkation to “put out to sea,” as Tennyson once wrote.
picture courtesy of automobilemag.com
Occupying a colossal parcel of land amongst Detroit’s ruins is the home for the remains of famous and forgotten names from America’s automobile industry, Woodlawn Cemetery. In fact, the men who occupy the four crypts illustrated below were perhaps more responsible for the success of Ford Motor Company than Henry Ford himself. Among the most significant are the Dodge brothers, John and Horace.
No fictional tome could concoct a story as romantic and moving as the story of these rough and tumble siblings. I highly recommend Charles K. Hyde’s The Dodge Brothers: The Men, the Motorcars, and the Legacy. It’s a fine story of a fascinating pair.
The Dodge Brothers’ role in early Ford history is well-trodden academic ground; their shop simply built almost all the parts of various Ford automobiles and shipped them to Ford for assembly. Their shares of Ford stock made them wealthy men, wealthy enough to separate from Ford and produce their own Dodge Brothers automobiles beginning in 1914.
Henry Ford seemed to have a knack for alienating his business partners and friends. His son, however, lacked the fortitude of those others due to familial bonds. Some say this loyalty killed him; nevertheless, Edsel was largely responsible for Ford’s tardy Model T replacement, the beautiful Model A. Henry, for all his other paternal foibles, trusted Edsel’s eye for styling implicitly. Edsel didn’t disappoint.
And here, in a monument as humble as the man himself, lies the mortal remains of Edsel Bryant Ford, along with his wife Eleanor. Little can be said of the man that has not been said, but even in death, he was elegant, with a simple marble stone that belies his earthly wealth.
While Edsel Ford’s name still rings bells, the above stone may leave you cold. The “C” in C. Harold Wills stood for “Childe,” as in “Childe Harold” from Lord Byron’s long poem. Apparently, Wills’ mother had a thing for Romantic poetry. Wills was the metallurgist and engineer behind the Model T’s vanadium steel frame, and a driving force behind the Model T itself.
He eventually left Ford to produce his own breathtaking, yet money-losing, Wills Sainte-Claire automobile.
A common legend maintains that Wills designed the Ford signature that even today graces the blue oval. Therefore, one may fairly claim that Ford Motor Company may not even be a shadow of its current corporate self if it weren’t for this man.
Another Woodlawn man who perhaps contributed more to Ford than Henry Ford himself was James J. Couzens, who rests high atop a hill in this majestic mausoleum. Couzens was the guiding financial arm behind the Ford Motor Company until his resignation in 1915.
His invariable hand lent stability to the infant corporation, and made Couzens fabulously wealthy. After Ford, he became Detroit’s mayor, and ultimately, a United States Senator, a position he held until his death in 1936.
Thomas Gray famously penned that “the paths to glory lead but to the grave.” That may be true, but not entirely. A day in an old cemetery (which is also home to George and Earl Holley of Holley carburetor fame and Roy Chapin of Hudson Motor Car Company fame) may be morbid and disconcerting for some; however, remembering the great men who made a once great city great is one of the foremost honors man can pay; and I’m proud and happy to be a Michiganian, home to these titans, men who have made my life interesting and educational, men of my esteem. Requiescat in pace.
I don’t think it’s morbid, although there is an element of the paleontological to it. The world these people helped to create and shape has made them nearly extinct and probably inevitably extinct as surely as any meteor.
I have mixed feelings about that — I think the modern corporate mindset is poisonous to creativity or innovation, but at the same time, I find the American tendency to canonize self-made autocrats rather pernicious. Looking at them as a historian or a writer, they certainly make more interesting characters, but, like Dracula or Fantomas, you wouldn’t necessarily want to be around those characters for long…
“I find the American tendency to canonize self-made autocrats rather pernicious.”
This is a nation that thinks Ayn Rand is a great political philosopher. I’m a native son, as American as a McDonald’s Apple Pie in its handy dispensing sleeve, but my compatriots do make me scratch my head a lot.
Anyway, thanks to Aaron for the tour of a sad but fascinating place.
Michiganian? All these years I thought it was Michiganas.
Ever since 6th grade, I always thought it was Michigander. Growing up in the northern burbs of Houston in the early to mid ’80s meant you grew up with a lot of kids (and every year had at least one teacher) from Michigan. Many of them showed up during the summer of 1980 in what was one of the largest mass migrations in the US since the Depression. That was the summer when on our annual car trip to visit family here in Illinois, my parents and I made a game out of counting cars with Michigan plates heading south. It was in the hundreds!
That fall I started 6th grade and the brand new, state of the art middle school that I attended was near capacity on day one. Before too long the grocery stores were even selling Vernor’s ginger ale and Stroh’s beer. It was then that I was assured that there was no such thing as a Michiganian of Michiganer. It was Michigander!
I even ended up graduating from high school with five kids, all unrelated, who went to school together in Dearborn Heights.
I’ve mentioned this before, but Michigander (while still in use as a descriptor) was originally coined by Abraham Lincoln as a derogatory term.
I am in the minority these days by proclaiming myself a Michiganian.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigander
I remember those days when it was not uncommon to see people wearing t-shirts that said “Will the last person out Michigan please turn off the lights”.
Whew, I haven’t seen that in a decade, turning off Jefferson heading north on Woodward and I said the same thing when I left ( last one out…) I have walked, rode a bike or waited on the bus everywhere you took a pic. Even across from Mt. Elliott, Woodlawn and Grand Lawn cemeteries. I only miss the trees, water and jazz. The first words I uttered as a child were “You said I live where?, the second words were “This must be some mistake”
Excellent!
I notice the Dodge Brothers mausoleum has the name carved in the Official Dodge Font, those squarish/roundish letters that were used for the car’s own nameplate, all advertising, and all the signs in the Dodge plant. Highly appropriate.
Aaron, this was very enjoyable. It doesn’t seem morbid at all – it’s simply automotive genealogy. From having been to the grave sites of Truman, Lincoln, and a few others canonized as saints, it gives a feeling of being in their midst and provides a connection of sorts.
However, Woodlawn must be huge, exclusive, or both. Finding so many well-known people in one cemetery is quite surprising.
It’s good to hear Detroit appears to be on the upswing. During my last trip there is 2000 (can’t believe it’s been that long), the trip down Michigan Avenue from the Ren Center to Dearborn was quite the adventure. I’ll leave it at that.
Thanks for the tour Aaron, not what I was anticipating.
Food for thought, Aaron, and well chosen photos. There’s a Scroogian element to the bleakness of those snow covered mausoleums that seems appropriate to the world these guys created. However you judge it, we aren’t where we find ourselves now without them. I wouldn’t be surprised to find the grave of John Foster Kane somewhere on that hill.
Here’s hoping MoTown is on the cusp of a great return .
-Nate
Interesting piece. So many well-known names and the places associated with them.
I’ve read articles about the Wills Sainte Claire. It seems the cars were “too good to survive” much like Marmon automobiles. Supposedly, the engineering was superior for its day. No wonder C Harold Wills and Henry Ford parted ways. Ford wanted to keep things simple and rugged and you cannot argue with the early success of the Model T.
I also agree that Edsel Ford (along with Bob Gregorie) had something approaching genius regarding automotive style. I sometimes wonder what path Lincoln in particular would have taken had Edsel lived to ripe old age as did Henry.
Tucson also has a newly-built streetcar system, part of the city’s urban renewal program. For my part however, I don’t believe in such romantic magic; rails have to have people or things to carry before they’re worth laying, esp. given the $/mile they cost.
This the #7 line on Queens Boulevard in NYC.
As a former NY’er and subway rider I have to tell you that what works there doesn’t make much sense in other parts of the country. One reason is population density or the vast areas that a metropolitan may occupy. I would like to see long distance high speed trains (mag levs) criss-crossing the country. It sure would beat the hell out of the cattle car conditions of commercial airline travel. But that is my personal bias and apparently it is not cost effective.
What worries me about long-distance HSTs in America, apart from taxpayer cost, is destructive vandalism & terrorism, considering how easily trains are sabotaged, & how few Americans seem to value self-control.
The Northeast Corridor is ideal for passenger service.
Couldn`t help but notice that there are no people on the street in the first few photos. Does Detroit always look this deserted and bleak?
Too cold at around 5. It’s not too wise to walk around
I live about 2 hours from Detroit, so I only make it down there a few times a year, and that day it was only about 30 degrees, so that probably has something to do with it. Honestly, I don’t like to visit Detroit very much, because you just don’t want to end up in the wrong area. This same day, I drove past the old Ford plant in Highland Park, but I didn’t stop for pictures because of a legitimate concern for our safety. You know when you just get a gut feeling? Yep…Highland Park was mine.
Highland Park…
Sigh*
Where it looks the worst
I guess that further drives home the messages in the movie Gran Torino which was partially set in Highland Park.
Does that guy still live at what was once the Packard factory complex? There was an article on Autoblog last year which said the place had been put up for sale and he might lose his residency. I can’t imagine what it must be like to be there at night (not to mention living in Detroit with no heat or running water in the winter).
I loved reading this! I think I was the only kid in my elementary school that would check out books about the early days of the automobile and I was fascinated by the stories of Ford, Durant, Chevrolet, etc.!
Edsel’s father, Henry, is spending eternity in even more humble digs, pun intended. At least he took his last ride in a Packard. Henry II got a bake and shake into the Detroit river without fanfare I have read.
Perfect timing , Aaron. I am currently reading “FORD The Men and the Machine” by Robert Lacey.
I promise to read Charles K. Hyde’s “The Dodge Brothers: The Men, the Motorcars, and the Legacy” next.
On a slightly related note, Dodge’s 100th anniversary commercial was damn good.
Missed it. Thanks for posting.
Appreciate the tour. I was at Washington’s Mt. Venon last summer, which includes his crypt. You do appreciate history differently walking where others have walked before, or visting where they have been laid to rest by their suvivors.
Aaron, this isn’t morbid in the least, it’s fascinating. These vehicles didn’t build themselves; people had to design them, build them and finance the operations.
Someone, or a group of someones, made these one-time backyard operations the larger than life monoliths they are today.
” A day in an old cemetery (which is also home to George and Earl Holley of Holley carburetor fame and Roy Chapin of Hudson Motor Car Company fame) may be morbid and disconcerting for some; however, remembering the great men who made a once great city great is one of the foremost honors man can pay; and I’m proud and happy to be a Michiganian, home to these titans, men who have made my life interesting and educational, men of my esteem. Requiescat in pace.”
I don’t find it morbid. Some of those tombstones and mausoleums are works of art. I love old architecture and historic buildings.
Whatever’s good for the Michigoose is good for the Michigander…
Oy vey
This was a fascinating overview of what remains visible of some of the founding titans of the US automobile industry. There must be tours of Detroit that go through historical sites of its auto industry, and if they do not include these sites, they should.
6 years ago I did my own tour of that cemetery. My brother lived on the first street south of the graveyard; me and my other two siblings were staying with him while we cleaned out the parents home and move mom to the Left Coast.
Tree branch in the cemetery snapped and took down the power line and pole just behind the home across the street from us. So I drove over to see what was up and how long an outage. I remember seeing a couple of these graves, but it was snowing pretty good and I couldn’t see much from the car and I didn’t have my Sorels, so I wasn’t about to go stomping around in the snow.
It was mainly because of these men that the Detroit area had the highest per capita income in the country from about 1920 to 1970. I got to grow up during the last part of that era, so it was something of a shock when 1973 started the real downfall for SE Michigan.
Wasn’t it the “Black Tag Folks”, in Texas in ’81? The colors of the Michigan license plate back then. Friend of mine was working at Northrup in So Cal in the early ’80s. He said about a third of the staff were recent immigrants from Michigan. If all of us had stayed in Michigan, they’d be about the third most populous state in the country instead of 25th or so.
Interesting stuff. Anyone who finds this sort of history of Detroit fascinating might also enjoy this blog: http://www.nailhed.com/p/greatest-hits.html
The author isn’t just photographing urban ruins; he digs into the story of each building/complex.
That’s a great website…and it has ruins from all over Michigan.
Detroit is sad. I watch the show “Rehab Addict” with Nicole Curtis, (she is cute 🙂 ) on the DIY network. And I can’t help but think some of these homes she saves may very well been the dream homes of some of the titans of the early auto industry. And while I’m not one to hang out at cemetery’s, if I ever make it back to Detroit, I would surely take a walk through this one. I was in Detroit once. In 1996. Got stuck at the airport for 6 or 7 hours when my connecting flight back to Portland was cancelled due to lack of passengers.But it was kind of cool. Lots of auto industry displays to look at and pass the time, and in the pre Sept 11 days, I could go anywhere. A non-gearhead would probably have shot themselves trapped there that long. And I seem to recall the airport kind of dumpy and needing a remodel; not to mention the lack of people there. It was a ghost town. But I did get to see Ford’s dancing iron particle display. 🙂
So Detroit is bleeding population, but the population of Michigan is always growing so what fuels the state’s growth? I grew up in the Southern Tier which is similar to other areas of the Rust Belt, but I moved out about two years ago so guess I am not tough enough to persevere in that kind of malaise.
And in Woodlawn Cemetery is one very plain gravesite, that of Edward Gray, Henry Ford’s Chief Engineer from 1909 to 1914 and the inventor of the huge power plant engines, one of which is in the museum. My grandfather worked for Edward Gray from 1906 in Oil City, PA until 1919, five years after Gray left Ford. You have a photo of James Couzens mausoleum- Couzens once fired Gray. Henry Ford came into the power plant area looking for Gray- when he asked, “Where’s Gray” one of the workers in the department piped up, “Couzens fired him!” then Henry replied, “What the hell did he do that for??? Get him back here!” after all, it was only his Chief Engineer! Many funny stories in the Benson Ford Library’s Oral Histories.
You’d never know who was buried under the “Gray” headstone- and actually four are, two children that died at birth and one son who died at age 18, plus Edward.
When I visited Woodlawn one of the more intriguing sights was what someone had done at the Dodge Brothers mausoleum- arranging pennies on one side in the shape of a cross and the other a triangle with a single penny in the middle- strange.
The photo- it didn’t upload the first time