4743-4747 West Vernor Highway
Adler Flat, Eagle Candy Manufacturing Company, TV, Radio, and Photo Store, Tommy’s Country Western Bar
I can’t be certain when this structure was built, but there are a few hints as to when work started. In 1897, according to the Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, more than half the block it would later occupy was vacant. In 1903, according to the Detroit Free Press, R. W. & G. McIntyre filed a building permit for a two-story frame store and dwelling at 545 Dix Avenue, the same address that this structure would later occupy. The permit was worth $2,500.
However, according to the Detroit Free Press, in 1905, Fred Waldecker filed a building permit for a 2-story frame store and dwelling at 545 Dix worth $3,000. Which of these was for the structure pictured here I can’t be certain.
Regardless of who built it, the Adler family lived here in the early days. I’m not sure that the Adler’s had a grocery store here; however, in 1910, he was listed as one of the grocers who opposed a petition to change the city’s bread ordinance.
Henry Adler, the grocer’s son, was an accomplished cyclist with a knack for getting in trouble. There are some discrepancies about Henry’s age, so I can’t be sure at times if it was the son or the father who competed in cycling events. In 1904, Henry Adler came in 19th at a race, and because there was no race over the holiday weekend, he traveled to Buffalo for a race on the 4th of July.
In 1906, Henry Adler won the 25-mile bicycle road race on Belle Isle. According to the Detroit Free Press article, over 60 riders started, but only 31 finished the face, and “perhaps ten thousand lined up along the main stretch above and below the finish.” The article has some confusing verbiage, but Adler won by time or by placed finish.
In 1909, Henry Adler, listed as 16 and living on Ferdinand Street in the paper, threw a lighted firecracker into the road by his home. It took longer than expected to fire, so he went into the street to examine it. Shortly after picking it up, it went off, burning his eye badly.
In 1910, the apartment above the structure pictured here was available for rent. It had seven rooms and was advertised as having “all modern conveniences.” Shortly after this, H. Adler was listed here in the advert for the bread ordinance.
In May 1911, Henry Adler, listed as living in the flat on the second floor of the structure pictured here, was in hot water. Traffic Policeman Ora J. Tuttle was on his beat when he saw a car plated 5137-M. The M was the factory symbol for the Metzger Motor Car Company, but the car was a Chalmers. The driver was 21-year-old Henry Adler, and, according to the Detroit Free Press, he was jailed and charged with grand larceny. Initially, Adler said that the car had been sent to him by a rich uncle in Chicago.
Authorities called the Chalmers Motor Company to inform them, and they replied that the police must be mistaken—the car was certainly still in their warehouse. Eventually, they realized the car was gone and told the police that Adler had been a car tester for the company some time ago but wasn’t currently employed by them. The authorities secured a confession from Adler, but he wouldn’t say how he stole the auto. Though I haven’t been able to determine what happened to the case, the Detroit Free Press noted that he had been using the car for work and that his “well-to-do” parents were distressed over the case.
Thanks to the city-wide address change of 1921, 543-545 Dix Avenue became 4743-4747 Dix Avenue. In 1922, Professor B. Mann, a clairvoyant (fortune teller), held a developing class here. That same year, there was an advert in the paper selling goods like furniture, a dining room suite, and Victrola for cheap.
In 1925, Dix Avenue was renamed Vernor Highway to honor James Vernor, who served on Detroit’s City Council for a quarter century and invented Vernors Ginger Ale, giving the structure its current address: 4743-4747 West Vernor Highway.
In 1929, there was an advert in the newspaper hiring an experienced girl for a confectionary here.
In 1938, the Detroit Free Press listed the Eagle Candy Manufacturing Company at this address three times for National Candy Week. They made homemade candies, but I haven’t found any other mention of them at this address. In 1921, a business with the same name went bankrupt.
In 1967, there was an advert in the Detroit Free Press looking to hire TV, radio, and photo technicians. The advert was for full or part-time work, and the telephone number listed was TA 6-3777, which was listed in other advertisements without the West Vernor address but for similar work that same year.
Kevin Schoening says that his grandfather’s appliance shop was at this location and that he owned the building. He told me that his grandfather, Bill Zajac, purchased the structure on August 1st, 1960, for $7,500. The shop was called Ajax Appliance. He fixed and sold appliances, TVs, and other electronics. Kevin believes that there was a fire at the structure, perhaps in the early 1980s, so his grandfather moved to another location at 8623 West Vernor. Bill died in February 1994.
After that, information about this structure has become sparse. From Google Street View, we can see signage for Tommy’s Country Western Bar in the late 2000s and Miller Lite, Bud Light, and Busch beer advertisements on the facade. The bar appears to have been closed for some time.
In 2024, most of the block this structure calls home is vacant. The Stratford Theatre is for sale, the structure next door is vacant, and there’s an active barbershop next to that. The neighborhood around the block is healthy, so hopefully, we can see these structures fixed up soon.
A large portion of this structure had collapsed into itself by August 2024, so the future of this one might not be as bright as others nearby.
If you know more about this or adjacent properties, contact me or reach out to the Detroit Historic Designation Advisory Board’s Detroit LatinX History Project.
