13900 Hamilton Avenue
H. E. McAlpine Auto Shop, Carson Auto Sales, Carson Buick, Steel Tank Co., Hi-Park Machine Co., Goodwill Printing Company, First Class Customizing and Auto Care, HP Auto Clinic
13900 Hamilton Avenue was built around 1925. The first business I found at the location was an auto shop run by H. E. McAlpine. Several auto shops called the building home throughout the late 20s and early 30s. I’m not certain if these are unique businesses, new branding techniques, or newspaper misprints, but the building’s name would stabilize in the 1930s.
The ornate limestone details on this structure are stunning, especially considering why it was built. I believe its original purpose was sales and service, even if the first records I’ve found don’t point to that.
By 1934, Carson Auto Sales had moved into the building. They would last until at least 1958, and they were a Buick dealership. Louis V. Thompson was a co-owner at Carson and the secretary and treasurer of the Steel Tank Co., which operated from the structure in the early 1940s alongside Carson Buick. A company called Hi-Park Machine Co. worked here around that time, too.
In the early 1960s, Goodwill Printing Company moved into the location. On the articles of incorporation, Edward Fishman put Detroit as the city instead of Highland Park by accident, which would be corrected on later paperwork.
In 1966, the print shop made the news because of an anti-Cavanagh leaflet printed at the shop. The pamphlet, published by Sponsors for Community Action, suggested that Cavanagh supported Harold M. Ryan (described as an anti-black segregationist) and Charles F. Edgecomb (who was opposing black candidate Dick Austin for auditor in the election). It was suggested that the pamphlets were to be passed out at black churches.
Cavanagh’s aides tried to have a circuit court judge block the distribution of the leaflets, but Judge Joseph A. Moynihan Jr. struck down the proposal due to a lack of jurisdiction by the court.
Michael Bromberg, manager of Goodwill Printing Company, said they didn’t know who the company that had asked for the print job was and weren’t sure how it had gotten through.
Cavanagh won another term as mayor and would hold his seat until 1970. Goodwill Printing would stay in Highland Park until at least 1989 and leave for Ferndale by at least 1994.
In its later years, 13900 Hamilton was once again an auto shop. First Class Customizing and Auto Care utilized the space in the early 1990s.
Later, HP Auto Clinic, a barber & beauty salon, and a corner store moved into the structure. Over the years, since the building was abandoned, the paneling has started falling off the facade, revealing the ornate details behind it.
I believe this may have, at one time, been three addresses; the parcel is lumped together now.
Across the street, a brand-new 440,000+ square-foot manufacturing, logistics, and distribution facility is being constructed. It’s scheduled to be completed by April 1, 2023. I’m not certain if it has a tenant yet, but it will change the outlook and traffic in the neighborhood. Whether positively or negatively, I’m not sure.
