5900 Chene Street
Commonwealth Savings Bank, Bank of the Commonwealth, Comerica Bank, Cadillac Coney Island
There has been a structure at the corner of Chene and Medbury in Poletown East since at least 1928. Whether it’s the one I photographed on my way home from work yesterday, I can’t be sure.
In 1928, the structure was a Commonwealth Savings Bank. The teller, Bernard J. Kulwicki, was kidnapped by a bandit. He was walked from the bank to a garage on Joseph Campau and had his hands bound. He escaped 20 minutes later and notified authorities of what had happened.
Three decades later, a man pointed a gun at the then Bank of the Commonwealth Branch manager at that exact location. At the time, that was Bernard J. Kulwicki. The manager shouted, ‘holdup!’ and had his workers hit the alarm. The robber was shocked and ran out the door. It was later determined that the bandit was Marmion S. Pollard, a Detroit Police Department Patrolman out of the Bethune Station.
A year later, in 1959, the bank was robbed of $600. The thief hit another bank at 1415 Farmer downtown on the same day.
In the 1980s, the Bank of the Commonwealth was part of a merger that formed Comerica Bank. Some branches were closed, but many remained open, including this one. I think it received a large-scale upgrade (or potentially was demolished and rebuilt) in 1970, so it wasn’t that old then. Eventually, this branch closed, but I’m not certain when.
At some point, Cadillac Coney Island opened in the old bank building. The financial institution had ample parking, a drive-through, and enough space for the kitchen and dining areas, so it made sense. A DBA was filed in March 2003 for Free Kosovo, Inc to operate as Cadillac Coney Island, so it may have opened then. Josef Milicaj operated it.
Considering the name of the LLC that operated the coney, Milicaj was probably Albanian. Detroit has never had a notably sizeable Albanian population; however, it’s a common stereotype that many coney islands are owned by Albanian immigrants. Whether that’s true, I have no idea.
The coney wouldn’t last long enough to see the financial crisis that sent shockwaves through an already struggling Motor City. In the time since the restaurant closed, the sign has fallen, the covered drive-through was removed, and the glass entryway was destroyed.
The structure is currently owned by TOCKO, LLC, which purchased it from the Land Bank. The roof has nearly collapsed completely, and this structure will undoubtedly be demolished at some point.
Although not architecturally significant, I enjoyed photographing this structure, especially on a sunny day like yesterday.
