3745 Cass Avenue
E.B. Newton Auto Company, Cass Avenue Electric Garage, W. J. Doughty Dealership, Detroit Air-Cooled Car Company, Pursell Grapentien Motor Company, Franklin Automobile Company Service Station, Bonded Motor Sales, Arnold Motor Sales, Pittman’s, Selden Auto Service, Brown’s Motorcycles, Nash Detroit Company, Statewide Photographic & Plat Service, Detroit Plasma Corp, Cass Community Non-Profit Housing Corporation, Cass Community Social Services
This structure has seen the highs, lows, and oddities that are the history of the Cass Corridor. Despite the listing currently trying to lease the building calling the neighborhood Midtown, this structure has been a periphery staple of the community for decades, even if most of the businesses that called it home didn’t last long.
The E.B. Newton Auto Company was the first to call this structure home in 1913. The 1921 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map tells us that there was an auto repair shop, service station, and sales room. The map also shows us that there was Mackolite fireproofing between the interior walls.
Early adverts for E.B. Newton showcase a Havers Six, as the storefront was a Havers dealership, an automotive company based in Port Huron. The manufacturer suffered a fire in 1914, ceasing operations, so it’s assumed this showroom closed shortly after.
By 1917, it was known as the Cass Avenue Electric Garage. I’m unsure what this operation did; however, that name would make for a rad restaurant or music venue today.
By August 1917, the structure had new hopes. W. J. Doughty, formerly of the Keeler-Hupp Co. and manager of the Detroit Hupmobile Sales Company, opened a new Franklin Automobile Company showroom here. Doughty had previously sold Franklin cars at a location on Charlotte in the Cass Corridor.
In addition to being the Detroit showroom for the Syracuse, New York-based manufacturer, the operation sold used cars, too. Jack Montgomery ran the secondhand department.
In December 1918, the W. J. Doughty Dealership had a miniature automobile show at the showroom. The company had just received its first shipment of new cars from Syracuse post World War, so Doughty decided to treat it as a celebration. By 1921, Franklin Automobiles could get 20 miles to the gallon.
By 1922, Doughty had decided to try his hand at assembling automobiles. He founded the Detroit Air-Cooled Car Company, D.A.C. for short, an operation that started out of the structure pictured here, where the first handful of cars were produced. After showing the automobile at the 1922 Detroit Auto Show, Doughty opened a manufacturing facility in Wayne, a suburb less than 20 miles from his former home base. By 1923, the project was defunct. Before its closure, Detroit Air-Cooled Car Company engines had been shown at the Hotel Commodore in New York during the Auto Show.
At some point during the shuffle, the operations at 3745 Cass Avenue, pictured here, were discontinued. In April 1924, W. J. Doughty was named the president and general manager of the Detroit Mortgage Corporation. The announcement in the Detroit Free Press said that Doughty was known for his work in the automotive business and his real estate dealings.
Within a few days of the announcement, he sued Rev. S. N. Stitt, one of the corporation’s board members and secretary, for slander. Stitt had said that Doughty “Never had made a success of anything, and that all his property is in the name of his wife.” The suit was worth $10,000, and Stitt felt that Doughty was trying to choose his own board members so that he could have more control of the company. I’m unsure what became of the suit.
Back on Cass Avenue, Pursell Grapentien Motor Company, Inc. was using the structure as a showroom again to sell Stephens Motor Cars by 1923. Stephens, a division of the Moline Plow Company, went under around 1924, so the structure pictured here was empty again by that year and available for lease through the Oppenheimer Bros.
In 1924, a Franklin Automobile Company Service Station was at the address. Bonded Motor Sales occupied the space that same year, slinging used cars in the Corridor until at least 1925. In 1926, Arnold Motor Sales utilized the space despite ads looking to rent it out. There’s a chance that there were multiple occupants at once.
By April 1927, Bonnell Daly Tire Service was utilizing the structure, Detroit’s finest Seiberling dealer. The operation was there for at least a year.
In 1927, Lewis Bruce, 18, was arrested outside the structure for possessing a firearm in connection with a string of holdups that had been haunting the Corridor. In December 1930, Steve Charlevoix was robbed of $18 while working at an unnamed shop located here. In February 1932, Thomas George’s Buick Checkered Cab was stolen from out front of the garage.
In 1934, Pittman’s operated a shop here, salvaging cars in “any condition.” By 1940, Selden Auto Service had opened, offering 24/7 service in the Cass Corridor. Their ads were frequent but gone by August 1941. By April 1950, Brown’s Motorcycles was having sales on their motorbikes here. Like many businesses that occupied the structure, it was short-lived, and the Nash Detroit Company was selling Nash Motors automobiles here by the following year.
After Nash left, there are a few decades unaccounted for.
In October 1970, the Detroit Board of Zoning Appeals was set to have a hearing on the alterations and use of this structure as a lithographing shop by the Statewide Photographic & Plat Service. This part of the building was zoned B4 or general business, so they needed to apply to change that. I’m not sure if it was successful. Either way, they weren’t there much longer.
By October 1978, Detroit Plasma Corp had moved into the space. Detroiters could donate plasma twice a week for $10 a pop. Plus, if you took the newspaper ad in, you got an extra $5 on your first go. The business was popular because of its location near Wayne State and the number of artists and low-income families in the Cass Corridor.
A piece in the Detroit Free Press in 1985 stated that only four plasma donation centers in the Detroit area were licensed by the FDA. Ypsi Plasma Center in Ypsilanti was one, and the other three were in Detroit and operated by North American Biological, Inc., a company based out of Florida. In addition to the location pictured here, West Detroit Plasma Corp worked out of 17670 Joy, and Michigan Plasma Corp was at 4501 Michigan. By 1988, there were locations on Gratiot and Grand River, too.
In the late 1980s, donors were still making the same amount per donation despite the changing dollar value. In 1988, the same $25 you would have gotten for your services in 1978 was worth nearly double that. Despite this, payment had not gone up. I’m not sure why this is; however, I could guess it was because of more competition in the plasma market or that there were more desperate people as the economy shifted. Having a resource to get paid with no skills is an excellent asset to a neighborhood, but similar to any job, cost of living rate changes will determine whether or not it’s worth people’s time. Eventually, prices did go up.
Detroit Plasma Corp closed around 1994. Despite the condition of the Cass Corridor, there was hope for this structure from a neighbor.
The Cass Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church’s history dates back to the 1880s, before many Americans had seen a car. Since day one, the church was involved in the surrounding community, no matter who lived in that community. As the Cass Corridor became more politicized, so did the church.
The congregation began helping the homeless in the late 1970s, as it was becoming a more significant issue in the Corridor. Their programs solidified and expanded in the 1980s, and the Cass Community Non-Profit Housing Corporation was incorporated on the state level in 1982. The parish fought against Governor Engler’s cuts to General Assistance, a fight I highlighted in my post about the Billinghurst Hotel.
The non-profit purchased the structure pictured here in 1995. On their website, they say that it used to be a ‘blood bank.’ The building, only a minute’s walk from the church, held community events, church functions, and other aspects of the church’s nonprofit arm, which changed its name to Cass Community Social Services in 2002.
An annual haunted house in the building raised money for homeless women and children. In the 2000s, the nonprofit hosted a Miss Cass Pageant, an event for people with developmental disabilities to work on their confidence.
I’m unsure when the nonprofit left this space, but they’ve moved on to bigger and better things. Their home is now the massive former Cadillac Storage Company Building at the corner of Rosa Parks and Tuxedo, in addition to utilizing other spaces they own across the city.
As of when I wrote this, the structure is available for lease through Vincent Mazzola of O’Connor Realty. The church/non-profit still owns it, but the interior has been gutted, or as the listing says, it’s a ‘shell space.’ The main floor is 7,500 square feet, with an additional 2,500 available on the second floor.
The coolest remnant of its original use is the ramp in the back of the structure. It’s pretty steep; I can’t imagine driving a 1910s car in and out of it. That said, back then, space was a hot commodity.
Hopefully, this structure can be utilized again soon.
