Joseph Campau at Caniff, Hamtramck, MI, looking
NORTH on Jos. Campau,
ca. 1955. These were the "salad days" . . Dodge Main, a couple miles SOUTH of this intersection on Jos. Campau, was booming.
Today, the corner buildings on the
NE (was shops with second floor offices/apartments) and
NW (was a major local bank) corners are still there .. otherwise not much else recognizable.
Below, still in Hamtramck. source:
Under Jos. Campau, a view of the city’s street car past | Hamtramck Review
Looking
SOUTH on Jos. Campau Street, toward downtown Detroit (
NOT visible, Jos. Campau Street was bi-sected when Dodge Main was razed, it picks up again on south side of I-94 and runs to Detroit River downtown) and
Dodge Main Plant (on left, NOT visible).
Pic is somewhere in the
early 1940's. I suspect the main part of Hamtramck downtown is NORTH on Jos. Campau. This seems to be closer to the City of Detroit/Hamtramck border --
maybe one of you locals can help out?
The
Baker Street car line (on of the rail cars is in the intersection) ran on Jos. Campau. Detroit at one time had a street car system that was the envy of the whole world (you can look it up).
I dont know the intersection. However, I believe that taller building in right background WAS there
until ca. 1980 when Dodge Main closed and was razed to building GM's Detroit-Hamtramck plant (now called GM Plant Zero, will be building full-size truck EV's)
Below, the remnants of the Baker Line unearthed in 2022 on Jos. Campau during a sewer line project.
Guess it was common practice to just pave over the rails in Detroit ... some parts of the city they are still still there as they are poking through asphalt . go slow over them or lose a rim.
Dodge Main was, in essence, IN downtown Hamtramck. You can see storefronts acress the street from the the complex, on the right (WEST) side of Jos. Campau.
I saw it with my own eyes in high school ca. 1978 .. this HULKING set of buildings on that seemed to go on forever .. then go under the "bridge" and 3-4 lights up (NORTH) on Jos. Campau you were in downtown Hamtramck proper (it was NOT the bustling metropolis then as it was the 20's-50's'
Somewhere in the early 1950's, looking SOUTH down Jos. Campau, the famous bridge at the Dodge Main Plant.
Below. same structure, looking SOUTHEASTERLY, toward the Dodge Main plant complex, same time period. (Building No. 4 in background).
Below, looks like the late 1930's, looking SOUTH (pretty sure bridge OVER Jos. Campau was NOT up yet - it would be further SOUTH close to where the main assy. bulding No. 4) on Jos. Campau, Dodge Main plant and administration building.
Adminisstration Building (former Dodge Bros. HQ) on left (WEST), about 2/3 down Jos. Campau in the pic.
Dodge Main Plant complex, a NORTHEASTERLY look, ca. 1930.
67 acres, multi-story, 5M sq. ft., 44,000 people worked there at its peak in the 40's, made everything but tires and glass. Trucks, A, B, E, and F bodies.
ASIDE. The Dodge Main story has the best and worst of American automobile history (ton of source material out there).
Starting with the Dodge Brothers as suppliers the first/bigger OEMS (Olds & Ford), then building their own cars (huge success), to acquisition by Chrysler, nearly 50 booming years, until an ignominious end to allow Chrysler to pay back their bailout.
By the end, it was a terribly bad way to build cars .. multi-floor, labyrinthine assembly lines .. just closing it - alone - took enough costs out of Chrysler to save it after bankruptcy and pay back their government bailout EARLY and help do the "cab-forward" cars.
The litigation, eminent domain issues, ethnic neighborhood strife... might make ones blood boil .. at the end of Dodge Main's useful life. More drama than the Daimler, Cerebrus, Fiat, Stellantis-capades IMHO.
Below, another view looking NORTHEASTERLY.
In the distance the vacant plot that became Lynch Road (still there today). Next to it (right) to the EAST, future Chrysler Corp's Detroit Axle (Eldon Avenue) Plant (demolished). No Huber Foundry yet .. it will be directly SOUTH of Detroit Axle (partially demolished).
Photo
date ca. 1920's - presumably after ole Walter P. put Chrysler together in summer 1925 out of the ruins of Maxwell Motors in Detroit.
sources:
Inside the Dodge Main plant: 1910 to 1981,
Discuss Detroit: Old Car Factories - 4,
The 1970 Hamtramck Registry Assembly Plants Photos Page