RIP: Abandoned since 1958, Detroit's Packard Plant

Packard went out of business and abandoned this massive factory the year I was born. And I just turned 64, so it's been sitting derelict as the poster child for Detroit's urban blight for decades. (And the Lions still haven't won an NFL title in all that time.)



Of all the city's ruined buildings, it's probably the most famous now that Michigan Central Station is nearly renovated.

Detroit Begins Demolition on Hazardous Portions of Packard Plant - DBusiness Magazine

 

The Curse of the Packard Plant?

Some of the ruin porn from there is amazing.

I was always surprised it was left untouched for so long. It’s a pretty prominent site. Isn’t it right off one of the freeways?

 

About friggin' time. Now that Detroit has an actual mayor, sounds like he's getting things done. Unlike Kwame the Kriminal. Couple this with the I-375 removal and it could be great for the rebirth of east side Detroit.

The Feds did a great job of taking over Detroit, getting its finances and debts ship-shape again and reverting it to local governance. This is a great read:

 

You can drive through the remains

 

That brick curtain construction was built to last. There's a former railroad warehouse in downtown Newark with three foot thick concrete floors built in the Thirties that was recently renovated and now houses Mars/M&M's headquarters.

 

When it was built in 1903, it was the most modern industrial complex of its day. And the fact it's still standing despite 65 years of neglect and vandalism is pretty impressive. But I won't shed a tear for its demise. Anything would be better than looking at a derelict that sums up Detroit's ills since before the '67 riots.

 

There's probably enough asbestos in those buildings to put Johns Manville back in business.

 

I've seen those factory window frames repurposed as luxury shower stall walls.

 

Chicago suburb shopping mall was far better.

 

Could Tom "The Bomb" Tracy help here?

 

That's a tremendous pull.

I can't even imagine what Birmingham, Mich., looked like in 1934. Heck, even Berkley, where my father was born, was considered "out in the country" before World War II.

Mom taught one year of elementary school in Birmingham in 1957 and there were still unpaved roads to farmland.

 

Reminds me a bit of when Tiger Stadium was still standing and neglected for many years after the Tigers moved to Comerica.

There was a TV news story showing people bribing the one security guard on duty $20 to let them in the stadium and they brought equipment and played pickup baseball games on the field. I’ve always wanted to run around and explore an abandoned sports stadium. Never went to Detroit, though.