2800 Standish Street
Hammond, Standish, & Company, George H. Hammond & Company, K. Shapiro, Inc., Topor’s Pickle Company
The corner of 20th and Standish was at one time the epicenter of the meat-packing industry in Detroit and one of the largest facilities in the midwest. Today, only one building remains. Although the plight of thousands turned the corner into a meat manufacturing mecca, its existence is invariably tied to one man.
George Hammond was born on May 5, 1838, in Massachusetts. At a young age, he would be involved in the mattress business on the east coast, eventually relocating to Detroit, where his enterprise expanded to furniture. After a fire burned most of his assets, he decided to get into the meat industry.
His first shop was at the corner of Howard and Third downtown. Within a short time, the business had moved to 38 Michigan Grand Avenue (Cadillac Square).
In 1872, he went into business with J. B. Standish and S. B. Dixon to form Hammond, Standish, & Company. Hammond would later purchase a patent from William Davis for an ‘icebox on wheels’ that could keep meat cold while it was transported across the country.
Shortly after, Hammond built a meat-packaging facility south of Chicago. This position was close to one of the largest cities in the midwest, was at the epicenter of the midwestern rail hub, and was close enough to the Great Lakes to get ice for cooling his meats. The town that grew around the meat packaging facility is today known as Hammond, Indiana, and is the last city you pass through before getting to Chicago and the first you reach when leaving the town on the way back to Detroit.
According to a Detroit Free Press article in 1965, George H. Hammond & Co. had annual sales that totaled $15 million in 1886, or roughly $475 million today. Hammond died in late December 1886 and is buried at Elmwood Cemetary.
Today, he is better known for the building that bore his name downtown—Detroit’s first skyscraper and a colossally large structure, especially considering its masonry construction. George’s wife, Ellen, completed the job after his death.
At some point, Hammond had moved his Detroit shop and slaughterhouse to the corner of 20th and Standish. A few weeks before his death, the shop suffered an awful fire. It was rebuilt, but the company wouldn’t continue independently much longer. According to the Detroit Historical Society, the National Packing Company purchased the company by 1903. The Hammond-Standish name existed until the 1960s at least.
At some point after George H. Hammond & Co. was sold, the behemoth facility at the corner of 20th and Standish was parted out to be used by various enterprises. By 1956, a company called K. Shapiro, Inc. was packaging meat at the facility. The corporation had existed since at least the 1920s. That same year, 25 calves escaped and had to be rounded up. One calf made it two whole miles away before being caught and returned to be killed. In May 1958, 50 more calves escaped, and it took two hours to get them corraled again.
The state took a portion of the complex for owed back taxes in 1963, and a part of the brick structure collapsed. That same year, Detroit Common Council ordered the demolition of the packing plant at 2101 Twentieth because it was a fire hazard. A portion of it was rented to K. Shapiro, Inc. at the time. In December 1967, it still stood, and State Rep. James DelRio sued the City of Detroit to have it torn down. I’m unsure if this got the city to tear down the structure.
In September 1964, 200,000 square feet of space were up for rent at the Hammond-Standish Building, including loading platforms and railroad frontage. There were multiple advertisements spanning weeks.
On November 27, 1965, a five-alarm blaze decimated a six-story building at the corner of 20th and Standish. This may have been the same structure that burnt a few weeks before Hammond’s death that was rebuilt.
There were 29-mile-per-hour winds, and the fire department worried the blaze could jump to nearby structures. The Detroit Free Press included a quote from Police Lieutenant Robert Moore stating that the flames reached 90 feet tall. One hundred twenty-five firemen fought the blaze.
Ironically, the Detroit Historical Society had an exhibit on the life and legacy of George Hammond running when the fire occurred. A week later, the Detroit Free Press ran a retrospective on Hammond and the fire—which initially only received a blip in the paper. I don’t think any structures remained after the fire other than those that still stand today.
In January 1968, K. Shapiro, Inc., alongside the Wohlman and Michigan Hide Companies, proposed the expansion of their hide-tanning complex at 2800 Standish (pictured here), which had survived the blaze. Residents of the neighborhood, many of whom were members of the Hubbard-Richard Community Council, were vehemently opposed to the plans. The group argued that the operation smelled awful and worried that expansion would lead to worse conditions in the neighborhood. They also reported that flies and rats ran rampant in the neighborhood because of the operation already.
K. Shapiro, Inc. suggested introducing an odor-free tanning process called “brining” and eliminating the stockyards—which they claimed caused most of the objectionable odors. They also claimed that the parcels had been zoned for such activities for over a hundred years—essentially asking, why change it now? Neighborhood groups suggested that the companies had ignored their requests to do something about the issues when brought up previously, so they did not have trust that they would follow through this time.
I haven’t been able to determine whether the Common Council gave the company the right to expand its operation—but I’d guess the answer was no. There aren’t any modern structures in sight.
Topor’s Pickle Company moved into the building by 1978. Harry Topor founded the company, and they produced 3,000 barrels of pickles (250 pounds each) and tomatoes a year from their plant at 2800 Standish.
Topor said when speaking with the Detroit Free Press, “If I had started sooner I’d be Vlasic now, but I’m content…It’s a good living. It’s not a million dollar business, but it is a good living. Pickles were good to me the last 18-20 years.” The company still exists, is owned by E. W. Grobbel, and is located in Eastern Market.
Harry Topor died at 82 in 2000. In his obituary, it said he was the owner of the pickle company for 40 years.
At some point, Harry, or a relative named Larry, owned the structure pictured here through an LLC called K & JJJ, which was formed in 2008. The last annual statement for the LLC was in 2017.
I explored this building ages ago and found the interior to be extraordinarily strange. Clearly, someone had been cleaning it out. However, it appeared to be random what had been done and what hadn’t. As you can see from the exterior, some windows have been replaced, others are covered by plywood, and random doors are wide open.
Hmm, let’s think. What Detroit-based developers would do completely haphazardous work—almost as if they were trying to pretend they would renovate a structure to get the city off their backs? If you guessed Dennis Kefallinos, you were correct!
Harmonie Plaza, Inc. has owned the building since around 2015. The corporation’s registered address is 1600 Clay Street, and the registered agent is Mr. Kefallinos.
In 2017, there was a small fire inside the structure.
It’s tough to wrap my head around what the future might hold for 2800 Standish Street. The building’s design won’t lend itself to apartments or trendy-styled lofts. There are hardly any windows—it was built for slaughtering animals, not housing folks for a few grand a month. With everything going on in the greater Corktown neighborhood, I’m sure there’s a way it can be salvaged to become useful for the citizens that call southwest Detroit home.
One thing is for sure—it won’t happen under its current ownership.
