Former Wholesaler Company Warehouse and Headquarters in Detroit MI

Edson, Moore and Company Building, Detroit Michigan

Date added: June 06, 2025

South facade (primary facade) on West Fort Street (2016)

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Edson, Moore & Company was a large-scale dry goods wholesale firm established in 1872 in Detroit. The firm was an outfit significant in its line of trade including fabrics, rugs, and ready-made clothing for men, women, and children. The Building at 1702 West Fort Street is an impressive landmark industrial building by noted Detroit architectural firm Smith, Hinchman & Grylls. The building is notable for its reinforced concrete frame engineering and its handsome street facade. In the twentieth century, the company's traveling salesmen served a broad area. The firm of Edson, Moore & Company existed for over one hundred years in Detroit and built a successful reputation while adapting to changes in the wholesaling industry.

The area of Southeast Michigan now occupied by the city of Detroit was home to the Fox, Iroquois, and Kickapoo Native American nations prior to and throughout the seventeenth century. For decades different tribes settled and moved through the land at the Detroit River. The Wyandot (Huron), Miami, Ottawa and "Loup" (Oppenago) tribes migrated through southern Michigan when the first Europeans arrived in 1701. Detroit was founded by French explorer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac at "the straits" when he established a fur trading and military post at the river. Cadillac and his party of two hundred French and Native Americans constructed Fort Pontchartrain. During its first one hundred years, Detroit's population never numbered more than two thousand. The opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 brought easterners from New England, New York, and Pennsylvania to Detroit in large numbers. By 1840 the population increased to nine thousand, and in 1850 had reached twenty-one thousand. The population more than doubled again ten years later to forty-five thousand, and in 1870 residents of Detroit almost numbered eighty thousand.

The early economy of nineteenth-century Detroit was based in furs, hats, lumber, and tobacco as well as grain, corn, maple syrup, and wild game. These products were transported to the Detroit River from outlying farms and settlements. Warehouses were established on riverfront property to accommodate the shipments both arriving from the outlying areas and the goods waiting for transport. Large warehouses were established along the river, and a number of railroads were founded in the area to transport goods to outlying areas. The growth of the city, and the Detroit River transit route brought wholesaling to the riverfront industrial district.

The business, retail and wholesale districts of Detroit changed as the city grew. At the Detroit River, Atwater Street (next to the water) was Detroit's business street. The two main streets in Detroit, Jefferson Avenue and Woodward Avenue later developed as the retail, wholesale, and business area. In History of Detroit and Wayne County and Early Michigan, historian Silas Farmer wrote,

"In 1812 Atwater Street was the principal business street; in about 1820 stores began to appear on Woodward Avenue south of Jefferson Avenue, and also on Jefferson Avenue. From 1830 to 1850 Jefferson Avenue was the chief business street of the city. In 1860 Woodward Avenue above Jefferson began to be the better retail street. Since 1870 the tide of business has swept past the Campus Martius, Gratiot and Grand River Avenues have for years been lined with shops."

In the 1870s Detroit quickly grew as a wholesale trade center for many types of consumer goods. At that time Detroit's wholesale industry included groceries, fruit, drugs, glass and paint, boots and shoes, oil and hardware. From the 1870s to the 1890s wholesaling businesses in Detroit lined East Jefferson Avenue, (a major east-west cross-town street) and Woodbridge Street (a north-south street) just a few blocks from the Detroit River. The wholesale trade district occupied several blocks of Jefferson Avenue and the adjacent streets at the Detroit River. For example, at 103-111 Woodbridge Street was the wholesale hardware store of Buhl, Sons & Company (built in 1871), and nearby at 92-96 Woodbridge Street was the wholesale hardware store of Standart Brothers (built in 1872). Dry goods wholesalers mainly located on East Jefferson Avenue: 142-144 East Jefferson Avenue was home to the wholesale clothing store of Heinman, Butzel & Co. (built in 1852), and 134-136 East Jefferson Avenue housed the wholesale dry goods store of Strong, Lee & Co. (built in 1871). The new wholesale dry goods store of Allan Sheldon & Company (built in 1879) was located at 162-168 East Jefferson Avenue.

In the time of Detroit's growth of the 1870s, the term "dry goods" mainly referred to clothing and fabrics, but it also included such items as carpeting, rugs, and even hammocks and umbrellas. Wholesalers typically bought goods from manufacturers and resold them to retailers. In that era, wholesalers who dealt in small quantities were known as "jobbers." As the geographical size of the city grew, and its population boomed, the demand for dry goods and consumer products of all sorts created a prosperous market for new businesses.

Establishment of Edson, Moore & Company

Edson, Moore & Company, a dry goods, importing and wholesale business, was founded on February 12^th, 1872 in Detroit, Michigan by James LaFayette Edson (1834-1895), George F. Moore (1833-1904), Ransom Gillis (1838-1901), Charles Buncher (b. 1839) and "special partner" (financial backer) Stephen Baldwin (1834-1909). The Edson, Moore & Company was in operation from 1872 through 1974 when its assets were sold and the company was dissolved.

Edson, Moore's founding partners came to know each other when they were employees of Allan Sheldon & Company wholesale dry goods in Detroit. Allan Shelden & Company was first established as Moore & Chandler in 1833 by Franklin Moore and Zachariah Chandler. The firm evolved through numerous iterations until 1866, when it was changed to Allan Sheldon & Company (formerly Town & Sheldon, formerly Orr, Town & Smith) one of the largest wholesale dry goods firms in Detroit. Orr, Town & Smith dry goods was owned by Zachariah Chandler of Detroit. Chandler remained a business partner in the wholesale dry goods firm but went on to a political career. He was elected mayor of Detroit in 1851 and then to the United States Senate. Under President Ulysses S. Grant, Chandler served as the Secretary of the Interior from 1875-1877. Chandler's wealth grew from his business interests, and his wholesale dry goods business evolved to become a leading Detroit dry goods wholesaler. Allan Sheldon & Company employees James Edson, George Moore and Ransom Gillis established their own firm under the name Edson, Moore & Company, and opened for business on February 12^th, 1872.

James Edson's experience in the wholesaling industry began when he was first employed in the dry goods field in upstate New York, then Buffalo, New York. When he moved to Detroit in 1855 he held a series of positions at wholesale dry goods firms. Edson's biography stated that he was known for his force of character and for his generous support of Detroit's asylums, homes and hospitals for the poor.

Edson served on the Board of Directors of the People's Savings Bank, the Brush Electric Light Company, and was president of the Michigan Republican Club, chairman of the Board of Jury Commissioners, and an organizer and donor to the Detroit Museum of Art. Edson's obituary stated that he "was one of the pioneers in the great American game of baseball. He liked the sport in its early days and invested generously in the old Detroit team." Edson's home at 654 Woodward Avenue and Stimson Street (built in 1881, no longer extant) was a two-story wood-frame structure sheathed in clapboard in the Gothic Revival style. East of Edson's house and property was a professional baseball field known as Recreation Park, renowned in Detroit in 1887 when the Detroit Wolverines won the National League championship. Edson and Charles Buncher worked in the financial aspects of Edson, Moore & Company.

George F. Moore was born one of twelve children in Berkshire, Massachusetts in 1832. Like James Edson, he first worked as a dry goods clerk in upstate New York. Moore moved to Detroit in 1856 and began working for Town & Sheldon wholesale dry goods where he met James Edson and Ransom Gillis. Moore was an active member of First Presbyterian Church and a member of the St. Clair Fishing and Shooting Club. Moore and Ransom Gillis worked in purchasing for the firm. Upon Moore's retirement, he moved to Fonda, New York, and passed away in Magnolia Springs, Florida in 1904. At the time of his passing George Moore was the last surviving founder of Edson, Moore & Company.

Ransom Gillis was a founder of Edson, Moore & Company, although not named in the company partnership he was given the title of general business manager, according to his grandson, Gaylord Gillis, "due to the fact that he put up no money, only his brains and energy." Ransom Gillis was also a transplant from upstate New York to Detroit. Born in 1838, Gillis was one of eight children in the Gillis family, who lived in Washington County, New York. Ransom Gillis moved to Detroit in 1864, where his early days were spent working in the dry goods industry in Detroit. Gillis was working at the Allan Sheldon Company where he met James Edson and George Moore. At the Edson, Moore Company, Gillis worked as a buyer for the firm. In his spare time, he was a leading member of the Republican Party's Michigan Club, served on the Citizen's Savings Bank's board of directors, was a member of First Presbyterian Church, and was a trustee of Grace Hospital. Gillis's son Gaylord, and his grandson, Gaylord Jr., succeeded him in business at Edson, Moore & Company. After both James Edson and then George Moore retired, Ransom Gillis became sole managing owner of the company, and subsequently extremely wealthy. Ransom Gillis's name is known to Detroiters today for his historic (1876) home on Alfred Street in the Brush Park neighborhood of Detroit which was vacant for several decades and restored in 2015.

The Edson, Moore Company

Edson, Moore & Company quickly established themselves as one of the largest dry goods wholesale businesses in Michigan. In the 1870s the firm was operated by the partners and salesmen who would sell goods during the day and spend the evening invoicing and packing what their customers had bought. Almost all goods were sold from the warehouse, and there were no traveling salesmen in those early years. Silas Farmer wrote that in the earlier era of the 1850s, wholesale merchants waited for customers to come to their establishment, but by the 1890s, sending out "drummers" or traveling agents was common practice.

By 1887 Edson, Moore & Company had grown substantially. An industrial publication described the business:

"Here is stored, in generous profusion, everything in the line of staple and fancy dry goods, including, in addition to the finest products of American mills, heavy importations of Irish and Scotch linens and other goods, hosiery, gloves, etc. from Saxony and all kinds of English and European dry goods of the best and finest grades … About one hundred clerks and assistants are employed in the house and twelve experienced traveling salesmen represent the firm in its trade territory, comprising the entire state of Michigan, Northern Ohio and Indiana as well as a considerable outside trade."

By the turn of the century, two-thirds of the Edson, Moore merchandise was sold by salesmen representing the firm on the road. Edson, Moore & Company's sales force in 1908 numbered more than fifty men covering all of Michigan and a large part of Ohio, Indiana, and Wisconsin. An advertisement from this era stated that the firm was "wholesale dealers in dry goods; importers and jobbers." The firm grew to be one of the largest wholesale jobbers (merchandising distributor of goods to retailers) in the Midwest "with a reputation for an exceptionally fine line of goods and conducting their business along principles of sterling integrity." By 1910 Edson, Moore & Company had expanded to the farthest area of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to serve the copper mining community. The Calumet News reported that the firm established an office in Calumet with a resident manager, office staff and complete line of samples. The town of Ishpeming in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan was the next site of a branch office of Edson, Moore & Company in that year.

The Palms Building - Early Headquarters

The expansion of Detroit's retail streets from the Detroit River to Jefferson Avenue influenced the location chosen for Edson, Moore & Company's first two locations. Edson, Moore & Company's first location was at the southwest corner of Bates Street and East Jefferson Avenue (190-192 Jefferson Avenue) near the city's riverfront warehouse district, and at the wholesale business district. Detroit's warehouse district grew from the Detroit River as docks and piers were constructed to accommodate the shipping industry. Edson, Moore & Company's rapid growth necessitated additional warehouse space. The Palms Building was constructed in 1881 by real estate developer Francis Palms, who erected the building specifically for Edson, Moore & Company. In 1882 the company moved to the five-story Palms Building at 194-202 East Jefferson Avenue at the southeast corner at Bates Street. The Palms Building had a cast iron front facade and brick structure, and measured 125 x 120 feet. An interesting point of early Detroit history was related to this site. Prior to the Palms Building, the site was the property, store, and home of John R. Williams (1782-1854), the first mayor of Detroit and a Senior Major General of the Michigan militia. Williams' store was at the Jefferson Avenue side of the lot, and his residence was immediately in the rear. John R. Street in metropolitan Detroit and the northern suburbs was named for John R. Williams.

Edson, Moore & Company occupied the entire Palms Building from 1882 to 1893. In 1893 the firm employed eighty people, and was growing. Tragically, the Palms Building burned down in a major fire on November 23^rd, 1893, resulting in the loss of seven lives. The fire broke out at 1:00 p.m. on the fifth floor near the elevators where cotton batting and light goods were stored, and quickly spread through the elevator shaft to the remainder of the building. Most employees and customers escaped, but seven workers were trapped on the top floor. An elevator operator ascended through the smoke, calling for the men, but he returned to the first floor alone. Five men died in the flames, and two died when they fell to the street from smoke-filled windows. The entire building and its inventory were destroyed. Hundreds of Detroiters watched the building burn from the surrounding streets. It was one of the most tragic and large-scale fires in Detroit to that date. News of the fire was carried in newspapers from Vermont to Missouri and beyond.

In December 1893 an inquest was held to determine the fault of the fire. The firm of Edson, Moore and Company was exonerated and the jury found that the fault lay with the City of Detroit building inspectors. Although additional inspections were requested by Edson, Moore & Company prior to the fire, the inspectors routinely reported that the building was sufficient for providing means of escape during fires. The inspectors agreed with the national board of building inspectors who held that when a building has two or more means of escape by stairs, outside fire escapes are unnecessary. The jury in this case did not agree. They stated:

"The jury find that while the evidence exonerates the firm of Edson, Moore & Company from blame in the matter, it shows culpable neglect and inefficiency on the part of the Public officials whose duty it is to determine and direct the erection of proper and adequate means of escape in case of fire or other disaster."

Following the fire, a new Palms Building was constructed for the firm of Edson, Moore & Company at the same location. A Detroit Free Press article stated that the new, larger six-story fire-proof, 110 x 100-foot building would be finished in 1894 at the same site at 194-204 East Jefferson Avenue and Bates Street. Features of the new fire-proof building included its steel frame construction, iron columns, steel floor beams, cast-iron stairs, an exterior fire escape and automatic sprinklers. Detroit architects Donaldson & Meir designed the new Palms Building. The Palms Building was located where the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel plaza entrances are today.

In 1921 most of Detroit's wholesale dry goods firms were still located south of the downtown business district on Jefferson Avenue and surrounding streets near the Detroit River. A trade magazine reported on the location of many wholesale dry goods firms: Burnham, Stoepel & Co. was at 101 East Larned Street, Crowley Bros. was housed at 206 West Jefferson Avenue; Bradley Bros. was at 437 West Congress Street; A. Krolik & Co. was at 310 East Jefferson Avenue and Westman & Shatzen was housed at 138 East Jefferson Avenue. However, Detroit's mid-nineteenth-century wholesale buildings started being demolished in the coming years. The riverfront area's warehouse and retail architecture was considered outdated by the 1920s, and the City of Detroit first hired Eliel Saarinen, an internationally known Finnish architect and city planner, at that time serving as a professor at the University of Michigan, to create a civic center and Veteran's Memorial Hall in 1924. The poor economic climate during the Depression caused the original plan to be shelved. As the economy improved, Saarinen and his Yale-educated son, Eero, updated the plan in 1938 by adding a thirty-story government building. This plan was also put on hold, this time due to the outbreak of World War II. In 1947 the Detroit Common Council approved a third civic center plan by Saarinen, Saarinen & Associates. Site plans were provided by the renowned landscape architect Dan Kiley. This new plan included the demolition of all of the wholesale district buildings in order to provide public access to the waterfront and an opening to the Detroit River, the new City-County Building (1951), and Veterans Memorial Hall (1947). Eero Saarinen revised the civic center plan again in 1955.

The Ste. Claire Manufacturing Company

Edson, Moore & Company was so successful that the company branched into a side-line manufacturing business. Historian Paul Szewczyk wrote that by 1889 Edson, Moore & Company was producing their own shirtwaists (blouses) as the Ste. Claire Manufacturing Company, first operating out of a shared industrial space on Porter and Fourth Street in Detroit. The business continued to grow until it became necessary to build its own factory. The new factory was constructed in 1905 at the southwest corner of Fourth Street and Lafayette Avenue; it was designed by Detroit architects Stratton & Baldwin. The journal Trade reported:

"Some years ago the large demand for ladies shirtwaists, wrappers, etc. made it necessary for the firm (Edson, Moore & Co.) to start a factory of their own for the manufacture of this class of merchandise. This venture has proved a large and thriving business in itself. Last year they erected their new factory, corner Lafayette Avenue and Fourth Street. This is the most complete factory of its kind in the middle west, being a five-story building, mill construction, employing three hundred to three hundred and fifty people. The product of this company is distributed not only in this territory but throughout the entire west. The factory is run as a separate organization under the name of the Ste. Clair Mfg. Co."

In August of 1905 the Ste. Claire Manufacturing Company building had a major fire causing $15,000 worth of damage, and temporarily threw the staff out of employment. Szewczyk wrote that although Edson Moore & Company continued to do business for years, the Ste. Claire Manufacturing line seemed to disappear just a few years after the opening of the factory on Lafayette Avenue and Fourth Street. 1908 is the last year that they are listed at this address. By 1910 the building was occupied by two affiliated businesses: the Crown Hat Manufacturing Co. and the National Color Co.

Thirty-three years after the founding of Edson, Moore & Company, the business was still prosperous. The journal Trade reported on the substantial growth of the company in 1905:

The different conditions governing the dry goods trade during the past few years and the large growth of the firm's business has made it necessary to carry on hand very much larger stocks than in former days, and their main store building is entirely inadequate for any goods excepting open stock. By means of a warehouse system with men in charge, and shipping facilities which have been added this fall, greater capacity in getting out goods has been gained, and the firm are in better shape than ever to handle orders rapidly: in fact, they are prepared for a very much larger business.

Edson, Moore & Company's three founders had all passed away by 1908; that year it was announced that a new corporation was formed by long-time managers at the firm. Abram P. Sherrill, who had been with the firm for thirty years became a partner as did James S. Meredith, who had been with the firm for twenty-eight years in the New York office at 51 Leonard Street (likely extant). Gaylord W. Gillis, son of Ransom Gillis, became one of the new owners of Edson, Moore & Company. The new incorporated organization took effect in January 1909. Edson, Moore & Company staff was an early participant in Detroit's workingman sport of bowling (the 1900 Detroit city directory lists six bowling alleys in the city). The Edson, Moore & Company team was a finalist in the 1903 bowling season competition.

Acquisitions

The firm was doing so well that in 1915 Edson, Moore & Company acquired the Sheldon Dry Goods Company wholesale stock valued at $225,000. The Sheldon Dry Goods Company of Columbus, Ohio, founded by Robert Emmett Sheldon, went out of business in 1915, and therefore the opportunity for purchase of the wholesale stock arose. In 1927 additional consolidation occurred when Edson Moore & Co. purchased the inventory of one of Detroit's oldest wholesale dry goods houses in the city at that time, Burnham, Stoepel & Co. The dry goods wholesaler, Burnham, Stoepel & Co., was founded in 1875 by former employees of Allan Sheldon & Company, as had the Edson, Moore & Company.

The economy of Detroit, and the nation in 1914 was described as being in the dregs of a depression, and that Detroit was affected more than any other city in the nation. The severe unemployment of that year resulted in rioting by job applicants at the Ford Automobile factory in Highland Park. The vacant East Jefferson Avenue Edson Moore Building (Palms Building) was rented to become a temporary shelter, and cots were installed in rooms and in corridors for the homeless to sleep in relay shifts. The onset of World War I and the creation of war-time production jobs relieved the crisis.

In 1915, the new Palms Building was sold to the Detroit United Railway (D. U. R.) for use as an office on the upper stories and the entire lower level was converted to the waiting room and concessions for "one of the largest and one of the most up-to-date interurban railway stations in the country." Edson, Moore had moved to their next location in 1913.

1702 West Fort Street

The early history of the site of the Edson, Moore & Company warehouse at 1702 West Fort Street traces back to Detroit's European founding. Detroit's first European settlers were the French who established "ribbon" farms that stretched from the Detroit River to the northwest in long narrow strips. The government of New France granted farmland to settlers at Detroit, initially only east of the first settlement site: Fort Pontchartrain. By the 1740s, the Native American tribe (a Huron settlement) west of Fort Pontchartrain had been displaced by French farmers who were granted ribbon farm land concessions. The British took over Detroit on November 29^th, 1760 during the French and Indian War. Detroit becomes an American territory when the British signed Jay's Treaty in 1795 and agreed to abandon all of their forts in the Northwest Territory. The city of Detroit was incorporated by Territorial Governor Arthur St. Clair in 1802. Historian Paul Szewcyk stated, "In 1804 the United States government set up an office in Detroit to sell federal land in the territory, as well as to allow those who already held property to obtain legal recognition of their ownership. Claimants had to show that they had occupied and improved the land prior to July 1^st, 1796. All claims filed received "private claim" numbers, which remain associated with the parcels today. When the land commissioners were satisfied with the claims presented, they forwarded the documents to Washington, D. C., for final approval. The owner later received a land patent signed on behalf of the President of the United States.

The earliest known owner of the site of the building at 1702 West Fort Street was Antoine Robert, confirmed by New France on April 1^st, 1750. A map of Detroit in 1765 indicated that this farm was then owned by Claude Campau. On February 1^st, 1798, Claude Campau's widow, Catherine, sold the farm to James May. Just two years later, the property transferred to Jacques Peltier. The Detroit land office recorded the 104 acre farm as private claim #27 on July 18^th, 1807. In December 1811 the property was sold to James Henry, and by 1819 it had sold to Thomas and David Gwynne. The Gwynnes immediately sold the farm to DeGarmo Jones, who by 1821 had exchanged the land with Louis Loignon, later spelled "Lognon." In 1823, Lognon passed away leaving four minor children: Louis, Gilbert, Lucy, and Moses. That year the property was divided and sold in large pieces before being subdivided into building lots.

The western riverfront farms became part of Springwells Township in 1827, when the eight townships surrounding the city of Detroit were platted. The name Springwells referred to the numerous springs in that area, and the early French settlers called the area Belle-fontaine. Later over the mid-nineteenth century, property in Springwells Township was annexed by the City of Detroit in stages. In 1857 the city limits of Detroit were extended to the far western edge of the Porter farm (25^th Street today), west of the Lognon farm. The area around the 1702 West Fort Street site was developed sporadically, first the parcels north of the site, south of Michigan Avenue, and then streets were laid out in a neat grid line aligned with Fort Street and Woodward Avenue in 1836. This was problematic because farms were not all subdivided at the same time, and small, oddly-shaped single-family subdivision lots were created along the old farm borders. Through the 1850s to 1900 the area north of West Fort Street was subdivided into lots approximately thirty feet wide by one-hundred feet long for single family homes and related outbuildings such as sheds, garages, coal bins and outhouses.

The warehouse building at 1702 West Fort Street (original address 494-514 West Fort Street) was the first building constructed on the site. Newspaper accounts at the time state that the building was developed by the Dodge Brothers for Edson, Moore & Co.'s use. The Dodge Brothers, John F. and Horace E. Dodge, were Detroit's early automotive pioneers who began their business in 1900 by supplying the Olds Motor Company with engines and transmissions. After a short time, they turned to supply nearly every car part needed by the up-and-coming Ford Motor Company's Model T. After fifteen years operating a successful automotive supplier company, John and Horace Dodge incorporated as the Dodge Brothers Motor Car Company and introduced their own car in 1914. The Dodge Renter tee Brothers Motor Car Company was highly successful and became the fourth-largest automobile company in the nation. By 1920 they employed 22,000 workers and produced 140,000 automobiles per year. Although the Dodge brothers both passed away in 1920, the firm continued as an independent company until 1928 when it was purchased by Walter Chrysler's Chrysler Corporation.

The Edson, Moore & Company building was constructed in 1913 and designed by the Detroit-based architectural firm Smith, Hinchman & Grylls. The general contractor for the warehouse building was the Bryant & Detwiler Company and the building was constructed at a cost of $237,000. Edson, Moore & Company began operation from the building in the fall of 1913. The site on West Fort and the warehouse building are not mentioned in a comprehensive biography on the Dodge Brothers, nor is it listed in the Smith, Hinchman & Grylls' 1978 anniversary publication. Because the Dodge Brothers (John and Horace Dodge) used Smith, Hinchman & Grylls to design their many automotive plants, factory buildings, and their own residences, the building is possibly one of the Dodge Brothers' real estate ventures constructed on property purchased for its access to railroad transportation.

The Edson, Moore & Company's need for a larger warehouse meant they had to leave the built-out downtown wholesale district, and move to the empty sites southwest of the downtown business and retail core. Larger warehouse property was available in the growing industrial area of West Fort Street. The new Edson, Moore & Company warehouse at 1702 West Fort Street was located in a warehouse and manufacturing district of Detroit's late-nineteenth-century garment and clothing industry and related businesses on West Fort Street and West Lafayette Avenue. Located on north side of West Fort Street, the Edson, Moore & Company warehouse shared transportation and business associations with wholesale warehouses once clustered on the street, where only a handful exist today. The building was sited adjacent to the Michigan Central Railway tracks (now abandoned) in order to provide direct transfer of materials to railcars. Approximately four acres of floor space in the building was comparable in size to the other wholesale and clothing manufacturing structures nearby. The warehouse used a system of freight elevators of various sizes in addition to four drive-in truck bays on West Fort Street, alley loading doors, and basement-level access.

The City of Detroit re-numbered all property addresses in the city's boundaries in 1921 in order to institute a comprehensive and coordinated address system. The original address of the Edson, Moore & Company warehouse at 494-514 West Fort Street was revised to the new (and current) address of 1702 West Fort Street in 1921.

The dry goods wholesaling business evolved over the one-hundred years of the Edson, Moore & Company's existence. In 1917, the Edson, Moore & Company's wholesale offerings included men's clothing, handkerchiefs, ladies' and children's ready-to-wear clothing, and the "Big Yank" work shirt. The firm grew exponentially through the 1920s, and in 1929 the Edson, Moore & Co. ledger showed their bank balance at $6,769,000 (converted to equal $96,540,000 today). By the post-World War II era the company discontinued selling clothing and accessories. By the mid-twentieth century, Edson, Moore & Company specialized in hosiery, textiles, floor-coverings and carpets.

Edson, Moore & Company moved out of the warehouse at 1702 West Fort Street in 1958 and the inventory and offices moved to a warehouse at 7650 West Chicago Boulevard that provided the company with a larger storage capacity. In the company's final years it specialized in wholesale carpeting, and branded themselves as "carpet distributors." Edson, Moore & Company was in business until 1974 when the firm quit operation after 102 years.

In 1959 the building at 1702 West Fort Street was advertised for sale by Edson, Moore & Company. The firm was housed in this location for over forty-six years. The owner in the 1970s was the Charles Sabadash Company. At that time, the building was leased by the Lutheran Brothers, Inc., a customs-bonded warehouse renting space for storage. During the 1980s, the Michigan Central Railroad discontinued the line adjacent to the building. In the 1990s Olde Discount brokerage used the entire building for storage. In 2004, the firm Display Creations purchased the building and located its design, fixtures and trade show kiosk company in the building. In 2016, the building was purchased by Bedrock Real Estate, the real estate development arm of Quicken Loans.

One significant historic item remains in the building; the eastern side of the first floor of the building has a walk-in cast metal safe with a door containing painted decorative scroll work and lettering reading: "The Edson-Moore Co.; Specialty Manufacturers; Detroit, Michigan; Est. 1913; Guaranteed; Fire and Water Proof."

Smith Hinchman & Grylls

Founded in 1853, the Detroit architectural firm known throughout the twentieth century as Smith, Hinchman & Grylls (SH&G) and today as Smith Group JJR, is Michigan's oldest architectural practice. In southeastern Michigan, an important part of SH&G's legacy is the many fine buildings, including Detroit's most significant skyscrapers, factories, theaters and churches. In addition to the building at 1702 West Fort Street, Smith, Hinchman & Grylls designed other Detroit warehouse buildings in the era from 1912 to 1915 including those for: the Crane Company (1912), Roehm & Davison (1912), Standart Brothers Hardware (1913), Palmer-Bee Co., at East Blvd. and Cameron Ave. (1914), J. L. Hudson Department Store Warehouse #3 at Beaubien Street (1915). From 1912 to 1915 SH&G also designed many residences for industrialists in Detroit, Ann Arbor, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and Ontario, Canada. Of these SH&G warehouse buildings from the 1912-1915 era, the most significant one standing today is Warehouse #3 built for the J. L. Hudson Company department store at 2000 Brush Street in Detroit. The Hudson's warehouse is a 122,000-square-foot reinforced concrete-construction building that was converted for office use by an advertising agency. The Edson, Moore & Company Building is 160,000 square feet making it larger than the Hudson's warehouse.

Other major projects by SH&G in the 1917 era included the factory, office, and ancillary buildings for the Dodge Brothers' automotive complex in Hamtramck, Michigan known as Dodge Main. SH&G's significant projects from that era included the landmark Orpheum Theater in downtown Detroit, and retail buildings for such firms as Freemont Woodruff, Robinson & Campau, R. H. Fyfe Co. shoes and the Women's Exchange Building in Detroit.

In downtown Detroit, Smith, Hinchman & Grylls's later legacy includes three of Detroit's tallest office towers of the 1920s: the Buhl, the Penobscot and the Union Trust (Guardian) Buildings. The three constitute the architectural and artistic high point of the 1920s bank/office building design in Detroit and the entire state of Michigan. SH&G's chief designer during the later 1920s, Wirt C. Rowland, was the architect primarily responsible for these buildings being the architectural and artistic achievements they are.

The twenty-six-story 1925 Buhl Building is unique for the cruciform plan of the office tower that allows for light and air for all offices without any central light court. The Penobscot Building, actually the third and largest part of the Penobscot Building complex, was built in 1927-29. All three of the Penobscot buildings were constructed for former lumberman Simon J. Murphy, or the Simon J. Murphy Company that succeeded him. The forty-seven-story Penobscot Building is Detroit's and Michigan's tallest bank/office building of the 1920s period that saw office towers constructed in many of southeastern Michigan's cities. The Penobscot Building remained Detroit's tallest building for fifty years, until the construction of the Renaissance Center in 1977. The Penobscot's detailing and form rising in setbacks at the top are Art Deco in style.

Wirt Rowland's 1927-1929 Union Trust or Guardian Building, is the crowning achievement among Detroit's bank/office towers of the 1920s and one of the nation's outstanding examples of Art Deco. The long narrow forty-story building is notable for its profile, with tall and narrow masses at each end that rise into towers above the main roofline, and for its themed use of simple geometric shapes, particularly the rectangular stepped arch form. The Guardian Building is notable for its lavish use of materials and colors in the interior and exterior.

Warehouse and Clothing Manufacturing District Today

In 1897 the site at 1702 West Fort Street was vacant land. Surrounding properties were occupied by single-family homes and their related carriage houses. One exception was at 504 West Lafayette Boulevard, where the Phillip Christa and Sons Marble Works (now demolished) was located next to the Michigan Central Railway. To the north of the marble works was the Riverside Storage Company warehouse building (now demolished) a cold-storage rental building. These two buildings set the precedent for warehouses and industrial buildings to congregate in the area around West Fort Street, West Lafayette Street, and the Michigan Central Railroad.

In 1914 neighboring buildings near the Edson, Moore & Company warehouse (original address 494-514 West Fort Street) included the Detroit Show Case Company at 476 West Fort Street (extant), the United Fruit Auction Company at 507 West Fort Street (extant) and Lee & Cady wholesale grocers at 524 East Fort Street (demolished). The Detroit Graphite Company, a paint manufacturer (now demolished) was located at the southeast corner of Twelfth Street and West Fort Street. At 950 West Fort Street was the Otis Elevator Company of New York's manufacturing plant constructed in 1909, it is now demolished.

By 1921 the area had evolved to become occupied almost completely by warehouse and manufacturing properties. Machine shops, stamping plants such as the Whitehead Stamping Company (portions extant) and a safety glass factory (now demolished) dominated West Lafayette and West Fort Street. At the Detroit River and Twelfth Street was the massive Michigan Central District Produce Terminal (1928) building, now known as the Detroit Produce Terminal, which is still serving its original purpose today. To the west of the Michigan Central Railroad tracks on West Fort Street (directly west of the Edson Moore & Co. Building) was the Montgomery Ward Company's Detroit warehouse, a large structure that included rail access on the building's east side (now demolished). The Montgomery Ward Co.'s warehouse serviced their four Detroit-area retail locations.

Today, the vast majority of historic warehouse and industrial buildings on West Fort Street have been demolished. Remaining warehouse buildings near the Edson, Moore Company Building to the east on West Fort Street include the "Coat Factory Lofts" at 1652 West Fort Street and the former warehouse buildings at 1627 West Fort Street, built as the Central Detroit Warehouse now renovated as the Salvation Army's Southeast Michigan Adult Rehabilitation Center. The Advance Glove Company factory was originally at 901 West Lafayette Boulevard at Fourth Street (located six blocks east of the Edson, Moore & Company Building), when then 1948 construction of the John C. Lodge Expressway crossed the factory site, and the building was lifted and moved a block west to 945 West Lafayette Boulevard. The Advance Glove Company factory building is occupied today by the John K. King Used & Rare Books retail store. Most warehouse structures to the west and south of the Edson, Moore & Company Building have been demolished over the years, leaving the Edson, Moore & Company Building one of the few remaining in Detroit's warehouse and clothing manufacturing industrial district.

Building Description

The Edson, Moore & Company building at 1702 West Fort Street, Detroit, Michigan, is constructed of reinforced concrete frame and features simplified Neoclassical ornamentation on its main facade. The warehouse building was constructed in 1913 for the wholesale store and warehouse of the Edson, Moore & Company. The Edson, Moore & Company warehouse building is four stories tall on the eastern half; on the western half the ground floor and partial sub-basement make it six stories tall. The plan of the building is trapezoidal, with the front-facing south on West Fort Street, the southwest side facade at with a forty-five-degree angle to it, and the north and east facades parallel and perpendicular, respectively, to the West Fort Street front. The building is faced with dark reddish-brown brick, and the West Fort Street facade is trimmed in cast concrete architectural features that impart a simplified Neoclassical aesthetic. The roof of the building is flat. The West Fort Street (south) facade is the main facade of the building, and the elevation of West Fort Street inclines gently to the west towards a bridge over the Michigan Central Railroad tracks, resulting in a change in height on the south facade. Built of reinforced concrete construction the building has many reinforced concrete columns throughout the interior. Reinforced concrete floor decks and structural columns are visible along the alley and eastern facade wall. The warehouse used a system of freight elevators of various sizes in addition to four drive-in loading docks (truck bays) on West Fort Street, the alley, and the basement level. Much of the original building plan, systems and detailing are intact. The exterior is mostly intact today, reflecting its appearance when it was constructed in 1913.

Detailed Description

The Edson, Moore & Company warehouse building is four stories tall on the eastern half, on the western half the ground floor and partial sub-basement make it six stories tall. The plan of the building is trapezoidal in form, with the front-facing south on West Fort Street, the southwest side facade at a forty-five-degree angle to it, and the north and east facades parallel and perpendicular, respectively, to the West Fort Street front. The building is faced with dark reddish brown brick and the more ornamental on West Fort Street is trimmed in cast concrete architectural features that impart a simplified Neoclassical aesthetic. The roof of the building is flat. The building fills the lot line and is set at the street wall on West Fort Street between a driveway and the former Michigan Central Railroad tracks.

The West Fort Street (south) facade is the main facade of the building, and the elevation of West Fort Street inclines gently to the west towards a bridge over the Michigan Central Railroad tracks, resulting in a change in height on the south facade. The main facade is faced with dark reddish brown brick laid in running bond. There are nine vertical bays, with the center seven bays containing window openings of four vertical panes with a horizontal transom above. The transom window of the third and fifth stories retain the original divided vertically into four small vertical panes. The windows of the third floor have been replaced with new aluminum windows that have the same pattern of four vertical casement windows and a transom above (these are similar to the original windows). There are brick spandrels between the windows. The brick spandrel panels feature a recessed rectangle and vertical brick bands centered in the recessed rectangle. The first and second stories are divided from the upper stories by a cast-stone cornice. The West Fort Street facade has cast stone trim including bases for the brick piers, the cornice that caps the two-story base, bases of the piers subdividing the front above the base's cornice, and the classical surrounds that outline the central entry, and a window bay at each end above the base.

On the building's West Fort Street facade is a centered double-height main entrance. There is discoloration of the brick above the entrance giving evidence that some type of signage above the entrance has been removed. The deeply recessed arched entrance has a cast stone surround. A metal roll-down gate fills the entrance door space. At the eastern side of the facade, there are four bays of basement-level windows grouped into three vertical openings that are filled with glass block. These basement level windows are surrounded with cast stone. The first-story window openings on the eastern side of the building are held by cast iron three-over-three windows with a wider vertical window flanked by two shorter and thinner vertical windows, each surmounted by cast iron decorative panels. There are three shorter windows above the three vertical windows. At the western side of the front facade are three openings originally designed as loading docks for trucks to enter from West Fort Street Metal roll-down doors currently block the openings of the truck doors. The loading dock closest to the main entrance to the east has been infilled with concrete block and a pedestrian door was added. Above this entrance and above two of the three remaining loading dock entrances are a series of four, four-over-three cast iron windows. The windows at two sides of the western-most loading dock have been removed. These loading docks have been fenced with aluminum cyclone fence gates.

The eastern and western window bays of the front facade have cast stone quoined surrounds from floors two through four. There is a segmental keystone arch at the top of the vertical window groups and a cast stone spandrel separates each window opening. The windows are the same as those in the center of the facade with the exception of the arch at the fifth floor. Above the projecting cornice is a brick parapet capped with cast stone. The parapet terminates each pier below with a projecting brick end cap. At the east and west sides of the roofline the brick parapet rises with decorative cast stone details terminating the decorative bays. This decorative parapet wraps the front facade at the western bay to the southwest facade.

At the southwestern building facade, the decorative cast stone quoined surround and string course wraps to distinguish the first bay. There are smaller vertical three-over-three windows in this portion of the southwestern facade. The southwestern facade, with the exception of the first ornamental bay, embodies form much simplified from the front, with brick vertical piers and low horizontal brick strips separating bays of broad square-head window openings that take up most of the facade. The warehouse is adjacent to the Michigan Central Railroad tracks (now abandoned) at the southwest. The placement of the railroad tracks created a trapezoidal parcel, which resulted in an angled southwestern wall and an angle for one decorative bay matching that of the West Fort Street facade. There are five industrial window bays on the western facade. The original windows of the western wall have been infilled on the four upper stories with red brick and a small slider window in the center. Two of the windows have been completely infilled with brick. The fourth story of the western wall has a concrete-block-infilled window at the north side. The western wall is six stories tall, constructed from the grade level of the railroad tracks. There are large metal freight-car size doors at the lowest level of the western facade.

The north facade faces the rear alley and an unrelated two-story brick early twentieth-century building standing on the northern side of the alley. The north facade and the eastern facade are more simplified than the southwest facade. Reinforced concrete floor decks and structural columns are exposed along the alley and eastern facade walls. The north facade is five stories tall and is faced with common brick that has been painted dark reddish brown. Various openings have been infilled with concrete block over time. Two wide horizontal second-story windows were created in concrete block infilled areas. These two openings contain glass block. Nine slider windows have been added to concrete block-infilled areas throughout various floors of the north facade. The staircase on the northeastern corner of the building has four-over-four pane double-hung windows at floor landings of the third floor to the roof staircase penthouse The second-story staircase landing window has been infilled. There is a pedestrian door at the bottom of the staircase at the northeastern corner, and at the middle of the north facade.

The east facade faces a driveway that likely once served the Edson, Moore warehouse and the warehouse on the east side of the driveway. Today, that driveway is fenced and only used by the Edson, Moore Company building tenants. The eastern facade has six bays where reinforced concrete structural members are visible on the facade and common brick infills the wall. Three horizontal windows on the second story are now filled with glass block. Reinforced concrete haunches project from the vertical structural columns beneath each structural deck. These were likely installed to accommodate a future addition. A seven-foot-tall entrance to the lower-level parking area under the building leads to interior staircases and elevators.

A brick staircase penthouse rises at the northeast corner of the building's roof. A corrugated metal-sided elevator penthouse is in the center of the building's roof. A metal water tower rests on top of a brick structure and a brick chimney is also in the center of the building's roof. The large elevator equipment penthouse is close to the north facade, five bays west of the building's eastern corner. The roof is flat. It is an asphalt roof painted reflective white.

Much of the original building plan, systems and detailing are intact. The building interior has many reinforced "mushroom" concrete columns throughout, spaced in a regular pattern supporting the flat slab reinforced concrete floors. In the sub-basement at the western side of the building, train freight car loading docks are at the southwestern wall. The sub-basement is two stories in height. There are elevators and dumbwaiters at the eastern side of the sub-basement.

The ground floor of the building occupies only the eastern half of the floor plate because of the two-story height of the sub-basement. The eastern half of the ground floor was converted to parking at some point in the building's history. An open entry to drive into the building is at the eastern wall accessed from the driveway. The staircase is at the northern (alley) side of the first floor and the western half of the first floor related to the sub-basement level below. The elevators and dumbwaiters are in the center of the floor plan, and an additional stair is at the western side of the building. Unpainted concrete ceilings and floors are throughout the ground level. Utilities are exposed on the ceiling and walls. Reinforced concrete "mushroom" columns are throughout the floor. There are four sets of three grouped windows filled with

glass block on the southern wall. Windows on the eastern wall that have been infilled on the alley (north) facade wall still retain the metal windows and glass in some areas.

The first floor of the building is divided into the eastern half and the western half. On the first floor at the eastern side of the building is a two-story walk-in brick-lined cast metal safe. The safe door is painted with decorative scroll work and lettering stating "The Edson-Moore Company; Specialty Manufacturers; Detroit, Michigan; Est. 1913; Guaranteed; Fire and Water Proof." The warehouse used a system of freight elevators of various sizes at the center of the building. These included two large freight elevators at the center of the building as well as two passenger-size elevators and three dumb-waiters. Also in the center service core is an incinerator chimney. A contemporary kitchen was installed at the north side of the building. The first floor has polished oak hardwood flooring covering the floor on the eastern side. The ceilings are bare reinforced concrete and the sprinkler system and utilities are exposed throughout.

The second floor is divided by gypsum wall-board partition walls both east-west and north-south. These create large open rooms on the second floor. The ceilings of bare reinforced concrete are unfinished and the sprinkler system and utilities are exposed throughout. The floors are covered by hardwood at the south side of the building, and grey-painted plywood in other areas. The exposed brick interior walls are painted grey. Concrete block infills most of the window openings on the north and southwest facade walls.

The third floor is also divided by gypsum wallboard partition walls to the north/south and east/west creating smaller sections. The floors on the southern side of the building are covered in grey-painted plywood and the northern side of the building is covered with polished hardwood flooring. The ceilings are reinforced concrete with an exposed sprinkler system and utilities throughout. The interior walls' exposed brick is painted grey and concrete block infills the window openings on the north, east and southwest facade walls.

The fourth floor is similar to the third floor, although it is completely open with no partition walls. The floors on the southern side of the building are covered in grey-painted plywood and the northern side of the building is covered with polished hardwood flooring. The ceilings are exposed reinforced concrete with an exposed sprinkler system and utilities throughout. The exposed brick interior walls are painted grey. Concrete block infills many of the window openings on the north, east, and southwest facade walls.