Dearborn Before the Arsenal March 3, 7 p.m.
Mason Christensen will share how the arrival of Europeans 400 years ago shaped the city and forced out Native Americans
Stories From the Sidewalk
Book Features History of Arsenal and Riverbend Neighborhoods
Stories From the Sidewalk, a hefty hardcover book at nearly 380 pages published by the Museum Guild of Dearborn, is on sale now at the Dearborn Historical Museum gift shop or available online at https://thedhm.org/books.
To say the least it is an oversized stocking stuffer for the holiday season that every fan of architecture and devotee of history will treasure.
Three years in the making, it is the work of a passionate group of history buffs and researchers. This coffee table book documents over 360 houses and buildings in Dearborn’s Arsenal and Riverbend neighborhoods. With the belief that every house and building has a story to tell, the editors organized the book by neighborhood and street address along with a full-color photograph and details on the history and architecture of each historic resource.
Subtitled, A Walk Through 137 Years That Shaped Dearborn (1833 – 1970) the book is designed as a walking tour of these two charming and historic west Dearborn neighborhoods. It surveys and preserves for future generations the story of Dearborn’s growth from a village on the Chicago Road (Michigan Avenue) to a bustling and thriving city as the area became the automotive capital of the world and the manufacturing epicenter of the Ford Motor Company.
Co-authors and editors Christopher Merlo and L. Glenn O’Kray undertook this project with a sense of urgency to document and preserve the stories of these historically significant houses and buildings before they are either razed or drastically renovated – a fate that has befallen several houses and buildings in the Arsenal and Riverbend neighborhoods.
All income from the sale of the book will go to the Museum Guild of Dearborn.
Historic Highlight
Salina Hotel Celebrates 100 Years - 1925
When the Salina Hotel was built in 1925, it would have been one of multiple boarding houses for workers flocking to the massive Rouge Assembly Plant in the South End. Construction of the massive 2,000-acre industrial complex designed by Albert Kahn began in 1917, finishing in 1928 to become the largest integrated factory in the world. Dearborn’s South End would draw hundreds of workers – many of them from Central and Eastern Europe – and all needed a place to live. Hotels Edsel, Fordson, Tuxedo and Marvin are all listed in the early city directories, yet only the Salina Hotel has stood the test of time (although the Fordson survives today under the name “Hotel Chataura” on Michigan Avenue).
Rumors swirled around the Salina Hotel – the Purple Gang was hanging out there, it operated as a bordello or “sporting house”, a man was seen to be sitting at the upper staircase with a pistol in his lap.
Florence Konstantos put the building up for sale in the mid-seventies as demolition of many South End homes continued when Dearborn wanted to claim the land for industrial use. As evidenced by the gaps around the hotel, much was indeed torn down. Initially, the City of Dearborn wanted to buy the building but when a young anthropology PhD student at Wayne State University contested the sale, it went into federal court. Finally, after approaching multiple banks for a loan, he was able to secure a balloon mortgage from River Rouge Savings which had to be paid off in five years and he bought the building.
Fifty years later, this same owner would like to refresh the signage on the Salina Hotel (now an apartment building) and repaint the letter reading “Salina Hotel & Rooms. $10 per month and up”.
Research by Mariya Fogarasi, Photos courtesy of Dearborn Historical Museum
Visit Preservation Dearborn on Facebook or Instagram for all our features on historic homes and buildings!