4150 Trumbull Avenue
Phillips Brothers Meat Market, C. F. Smith Store, Trumbull-Willis Market, ServiCeramics
I believe that this structure was built around 1913. For the first few decades, the structure had two stores on the main floor. I believe that the first two occupants were a meat market and a bakery.
In June 1913, Phillips Brothers Meat Market was hiring. Over the next few decades, there were ads for the market hiring and for a grocery hiring a meat cutter, so there was some kind of meat business here for ages. Phillips Brothers specialized in home-dressed chickens.
In September 1913, the other storefront advertised a bakery for sale. The advertisement said that it had the best location, no competition and that the owner was willing to sacrifice on price to sell it. Sounds too good to be true, eh? A later advertisement listed a china cabinet, serving table, and other items for sale at the address. In December, the bakery was still open, as they were hiring.
In December 1913, William Wilcox held up Frank Callan in his drug store at the address of the meat market. The paper either got the address or the kind of store wrong, or they had both kinds of items in the store. Either way, the address was said to have been robbed, and the suspect was sentenced to three years in jail at the minimum after Callan identified him.
In 1915, ads placed the meat market at the location still, and in July, John Claus filed permits for an addition to the structure. The permits were worth $1,800.
In March 1916, Phillips Bros Meat Market was still listed at the address.
In January 1918, a C. F. Smith grocery at the former bakery was robbed at gunpoint by a man with a revolver. I’m unsure if the perpetrator was ever caught.
In 1939, Kenneth Winegarner, 24, manager of C. F. Smith Store at 4150 Trumbull, was walking home with his wife, Helen, 21. Two men at Selden and Lincoln accosted them while walking home after closing the shop. One of the bandits had a sawed-off shotgun, and they forced the couple into their car and drove them back to the store. The men stole $23 from the store, $3 from Winegarner’s pocket, and 75 cents from Helen. The men sped off after the altercation.
In 1943, the store was hiring a grocery clerk and a meat cutter.
In August 1915, the store was given a liquor violation for employing someone under the age of 18. The company was listed as Baxos Co. Saad and fined $50.
At some point after 1950, the back portion of the modern structure was added onto the backside of the building, as it wasn’t included in the 1950 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map.
By 1955, the corner store was known as Trumbull-Willis Market. An advertisement for the store said that it accepted welfare checks.
In 1970, two good samaritans helped apprehend a man who held up the market. Donald Harper, 30, and Jennifer Sellars, 20, were both working at Trumbull-Willis Market when a gunman came inside. Harper gave the man $200, Sellars coughed up $65, and the robber ran out the door and got into his car. Harper ran out the door shouting that he had been robbed, and two men, Michael Rossini, 21, and Carl Foster, 30, tailed the gunman all the way to his home and accosted him there. They performed a citizen’s arrest on Arthur Cooke, 42, and a brown paper bag fell out of his pocket during the altercation containing $35. No other money was found, and Cooke was charged with armed robbery.
After that, I’m not sure what happened to the market. I’d assume it stayed open a while longer and eventually closed or moved. Online records show that the current owner purchased it in 1996.
Caroline Courth, born in 1946, is an artist who works in many mediums but focuses on fired brick and other ceramics. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Wayne State University and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. The front of the structure has unique, home-like ceramics and a small brick that says ServiCeramics on it, denoting the home of the organization. In the newer addition to the structure, you can tell there is newer venting in the ceiling, perhaps for a kiln.
According to City of Detroit records, though this property is currently vacant, it’s well-maintained and in good condition. Considering the neighborhood’s health, I hope to see new life here soon.
