The oldest things in Detroit

By Metro Times editorial staff on Thu, Mar 17, 2022 at 11:40 pm

Detroit was founded in 1701 and incorporated as a city in 1806. A lot has changed since then, with each year bringing another wave of redevelopment and new businesses, but a lot has stuck around, too. Here’s to the staying power of some of Detroit’s oldest things.

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Oldest documented building: Charles C. Trowbridge House (c. 1826)

Located at 1380 East Jefferson Ave., this house was originally built on what was then farmland — far from the heart of Detroit. At some point it was updated with Victorian elements, and today it houses multiple businesses, including the Trowbridge Law Firm.

Photo via Google Maps

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Oldest commercial building: 1208-1244 Randolph St. (c. 1800)

The Randolph Street Commercial Buildings Historic District includes six buildings, and is a rare example of surviving Victorian-era commercial structures in the city. Businesses in the block operating today include a Buffalo Wild Wings and the Baltimore Bar & Grille, a classic Detroit dive that plays the Stooges on its jukebox.

Photo via Google Maps

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Oldest remaining military structure: Barracks of Fort Wayne (c. 1848)

Originally the location of burial sites for Indigineous tribes, this fortress was constructed due to tensions with British Canada in the 1830s. It was also used during the American Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, the Cold War, and the Vietnam War, when the Army discontinued its use. While it has been largely vacant in recent years, it’s now poised for a massive redevelopment that will include a number of organizations and businesses, thanks to federal funds.

Photo is public domain, Wikimedia Creative Commons

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Oldest congregation: Ste. Anne de Detroit (c. 1701)

Founded just two days after Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac founded Detroit, Ste. Anne de Detroit is the oldest congregation in Michigan and the second-oldest continuously operating Catholic parish in the U.S. (Its current home, the Gothic Revival-style church at 1000 Ste. Anne St., was built much later, in 1886.)

Photo by Andrew Jameson, Wikimedia Creative Commons

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Oldest church building: Saints Peter and Paul Church (c. 1848)

Commissioned in 1844, this church was the original cathedral of the Diocese of Detroit and was later given to the Jesuit Order with the intention of becoming Detroit’s first Catholic college, which eventually became the University of Detroit-Mercy.

Photo by Andrew Jameson, Wikimedia Creative Commons

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Oldest jazz club: Baker’s Keyboard Lounge (c. 1933)

This Avenue of Fashion staple is one of the oldest continuously operating jazz clubs in the world. It has hosted many notable performers over the years, including Louis Armstrong, John Coltrane, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Cab Calloway, and Miles Davis, among others.

Photo by Dwight Burdette, Wikimedia Creative Commons

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Oldest bowling alley: Garden Bowl (c. 1913)

Now part of what is known as the Majestic Theatre entertainment complex, the Garden Bowl claims to be the oldest continuously operating bowling alley in the nation. Today, it has 16 lanes and is known for its “Rock ’n’ Bowl” DJ nights.

Photo by Andrew Jameson, Wikimedia Creative Commons

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Oldest cemetery: Elmwood (c. 1846)

This cemetery claims to be the state’s oldest continuously operating non-denominational cemetery. It’s home to many Michigan notables, including Governor Lewis Cass, Mayor Coleman Young, and Fred “Sonic” Smith of the rock band MC5.

Photo by Goldnpuppy, Wikimedia Creative Commons

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Oldest stretch of road (c. 1819)

Originally an Indigenous trail known as the Saginaw Trail that led to what is now Pontiac, after Detroit’s devastating fire of 1805, Judge Agustus Woodward devised a plan for a new city that would utilize a wheel-like design with major thoroughfares as its spokes, including this one. In other firsts, the first automobile in Detroit was driven down Woodward Avenue, and a stretch of it also became the nation’s first road paved with concrete.

Photo is public domain, Wikimedia Creative Commons

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Oldest market: Eastern Market (c. 1841)

Started as a farmers market in Cadillac Square downtown, by the 1850s additional markets opened on the present-day site, and in the 1890s the first of Eastern Market’s large sheds were constructed. Today it’s a vibrant shopping district and home to the annual Murals in the Market festival, which invites artists from Detroit and beyond to decorate its walls.

Photo by Evan Gonzalez, Detroit Stock City

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Oldest theater: Senate Theater (1926)

Detroit once had dozens of movie theaters, but today it only has a handful of small art-house theaters (though Big Sean is working to change that with a new movieplex planned for Midtown). As far as we can tell, the Senate Theater, with its Mighty Wurlitzer organ, is the oldest still operating in the city. After closing and reopening in fits and starts through the ages, it now hosts classic movies and the occasional concert.

Photo courtesy of the Detroit Theater Organ Society

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Oldest school: Central High School (c. 1858)

Detroit’s first high school opened in 1858, becoming Capitol High School. After that school was destroyed in a fire in 1893, Central High School was opened in what is now known as Wayne State University’s Old Main. In 1926, it moved to 2425 Tuxedo St.

Photo via Google Maps

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Oldest parade: America’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (1924)

Founded in 1924 by the former J. L. Hudson Company, this annual tradition shares the title for the nation’s oldest Thanksgiving Day parade, alongside New York City’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. It was suspended in the 1940s due to shortages caused by World War II.

Photo courtesy of george communications + design

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Oldest hotel: The Detroit-Leland Hotel (c. 1927)

This 22-story building is the oldest continuously operating hotel in Detroit, though it no longer rents to overnight guests. In 1983 it opened City Club, a nightclub known for goth and industrial music.

Photo by Mikerussell, Wikimedia Creative Commons

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Oldest brewery: Motor City Brewing Works (1994)

Not yet 30, Motor City Brewing Works is hardly as old as the other things on this list — but the fact remains, it’s Detroit’s oldest continuously operating brewery. Things are going so well that it opened a second outpost on the Avenue of Fashion. Stop by for a Ghettoblaster Ale and a specialty pizza. Photo by Ted Swedenburg, Flickr Creative Commons

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Oldest neighborhood: Corktown (c. 1840s)

Irish immigrants fleeing the Great Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s settled in Corktown, named after County Cork, Ireland, which is now Detroit’s oldest extant neighborhood. By coincidence, Henry Ford’s ancestors were from Ireland, and now the Ford Motor Co. is redeveloping the massive Michigan Central Station near Corktown to serve as a new laboratory for electric and autonomous vehicles.

Photo by Brian Mulloy, Wikimedia Creative Commons

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Oldest bar: Two-Way Inn (c. 1872)

After the Civil War, Col. Philetus Norris purchased 80 acres of land in Michigan, which became a village dubbed Norris that eventually became known as Nortown. The Two-Way Inn initially served as the village’s jail and general store, where Norris lived for a time, and eventually became a dance hall.

Photo via Metro Times archives

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Oldest restaurant: Amore da Roma (c. 1888)

Originally the Roma Cafe, which operated in Eastern Market for 127 years, this Italian restaurant reopened as Amore da Roma in 2017 when a former chef wanted to keep the tradition alive.

Photo by Tom Perkins

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Oldest pop: Faygo (1907)

While the beloved ginger ale Vernors was developed by a pharmacist in Detroit in 1866, it stopped being manufactured here in the 1980s, and Vernors is now part of the Massachusetts-based parent company of Dr Pepper. Faygo, invented by Russian immigrant brothers, is still headquartered in and produced in Detroit, thanks in large part to strong sales generated by rap duo Insane Clown Posse and their Faygo-lovin’ fans, the Juggalos.

Photo via Shutterstock

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Oldest piece of art: Polished celt at the Detroit Institute of Arts (c. 8,000 B.C.E.)

Estimated to be from 8,000-6,000 B.C.E. in what is now Syria, these polished pyroxenite stones are the oldest objects in the DIA’s massive trove of art. You can find them in the museum’s Ancient Middle East Gallery.

Photo courtesy of the DIA

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