6058 Van Dyke Avenue
Private home with first-floor retail
This building has always intrigued me. I think it's because it looks like a barn—the red paint makes it stand out on a lonely stretch of road often plagued by fast-paced traffic.
6058 Van Dyke Avenue was built around 1900. I'm not sure what its original purpose was, but I found an Absopure Ice Cream advert listing the location as a retailer in 1922. This led me to believe that it was a corner market.
In 1965 there was a walk-in ice box for sale at the property, indicating that it was still or had been, until recently, an establishment that needed to store cold items.
At least twice throughout its history, this building witnessed vehicles hitting pedestrians. Van Dyke has always been a major thoroughfare, and its intersection with Lambert is no different.
On one occasion, a 7-year-old boy was struck; on another, a 69-year-old woman. The older woman survived, but the boy died from his injuries.
If you've ever ridden your bike in Detroit, you know how hectic it can sometimes feel. This stretch of Van Dyke is particularly precarious. Folks in cars getting on and off the highway appear to be in a race all the time, and there isn't much shoulder to work with. On multiple occasions, I've turned onto Lambert to avoid riding here and, in doing so, passed this structure.
Across the mini-highway from 6058 Van Dyke is Charles F. Kettering High School, which opened in 1965. The school would close its doors in 2012. In 2019, Dakkota Integrated Systems purchased the property and built a factory on the former athletic fields to supply parts to the Crysler Plant a few miles away.
A puff piece written by the Detroit Free Press in May of 2022 states, "Dakkota Integrated Systems now stands on this site that had been abandoned for a decade. It is now employing more than 500 people in good UAW jobs." The problem is that Kettering High School is still there. It's right next door, sitting vacant and tattered. What had essentially become a city park was demolished to build the plant next to an abandoned school.
Governor Whitmer and Mayor Duggan attended the plant's grand opening. Dakkota Integrated Systems is a Native American-owned and led company.
Back across the street, 6058 Van Dyke sits vacant. Around 2020, an odd street car-looking trailer arrived in the backyard. On the back, I could faintly decipher 'Vern's Delicious Carmel Crisp.'
The property does not appear to be used in any way but is maintained.
