5702 Field Street
Orange Front Grocery Store, Palmer-Field Market, Field and Palmer Market, Mount Carmel Tabernacle COGIC, Scott’s One Stop Dollar Store
This structure, at the corner of Palmer and Field Streets on the east side of Detroit, was built in the 1920s. I can’t be certain what it was when it was completed; however, by 1928, it was a grocery store. It was listed in an advert that read, “403 Quality Grocers Join in a Powerful Chain of Orange Front Stores.”
In 1958, an anniversary announcement in the Detroit Free Press shed more light on the one-time owners of the grocery. Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Michael, who had been married in Lebanon 50 years prior, were celebrating their golden anniversary in their adopted hometown of Detroit. Joseph operated the Palmer-Field Market until his retirement ten years earlier (1948). The couple had moved to Detroit in the 1910s, so they may have opened the first grocery at the corner.
In 1975, the Detroit Free Press had less joyous news. Elisha Morrell, a 50-year-old security guard at the Field and Palmer Market, was shot and killed in a holdup of the grocery. Two gunmen were involved and stole an unknown amount of money. Morrell was dead when he arrived at St. Joseph’s Hospital.
At some point, the structure was sold to Mount Carmel Tabernacle COGIC. The church was incorporated in 1976, so it isn’t impossible that it was sold shortly after the shooting, but I’d guess it was in the 1980s.
It isn’t clear whether the structure was ever used for worship, as the church opened a new building on Pennsylvania Street near the intersection of Gratiot and Harper on August 7, 1988.
In 2001, the apartment was listed for rent in the Detroit Free Press. One clipping said it was three and a half bedrooms, and another said four, but both agreed that there were two bathrooms. It was listed for $950 a month, or roughly $1,600 in 2023. The number listed was for Mount Carmel Tabernacle COGIC, and callers were supposed to ask for Deacon Thomas.
At some point, the church opened (or leased) a store here. Scott’s One Stop Dollar Store was incorporated in 2003 and dissolved by 2006; however, the show may have been open before then. The facade was clad with cartoon characters and bible verses. Tweety Bird and a palm tree remain, but Toucan Sam and Spongebob Squarepants have been buffed after graffiti was added to the Palmer side of the structure.
Since the store closed, the structure has sat vacant. The interior has been scrapped, and the exterior is often hit with graffiti. Luckily, Tweety Bird has been spared.
Activating smaller structures like this one is essential to the health of Detroit’s neighborhoods. However, we continue to demolish them. If small businesses don’t return to the hands of Detroiters, it’s hard to see a pathway forward for neighborhoods that the city is actively ignoring.
Hopefully, Tweety will survive long enough to see renovation.