The C. F Smith Co building was built in 1923-1924. C.F Smith was a grocery chain that operated in the Detroit area from 1910 till the early 1950’s. Most of the site served as a storage facility and the office section was the only part of the area that had external evidence of major fire damage. Carved reliefs of winged horses above the front office entrance caught my attention.
A vintage ghost sign on the west side hinted that the site may have been used for something related with the auto industry in the past. Next to the C. F Smith building was a large wharehouse building with a bridge spanning between 2 blocks over the street so cars and trucks could pass underneath. A brick and stone bridge (circa 1913) had railway tracks running across and a train overhead made a thunderous racket as it went on it’s way north.
After doing some research, references from Ernest Baker and John B. Kirkwood verified that C. F Smith was indeed a grocery company in Detroit. As Ernest Baker stated while discussing their marketing techniques “(* 1) In the early 1950s there were more than 300 C. F Smith food markets in Southwestern Michigan”. John B. Kirkwood also mentioned the C. F Smith stores in his article discussing antitrust law “(*2) This group also includes C. F Smith Co, a grocery chain headquartered in Detroit.”
References
(* 1)
Ernest W. Baker
A 50 Year Adventure in the Advertising Business
Wayne State University Press, February 2000, p 10-12
(*2)
John B. Kirkwood
Antitrust Law And Economics
Elsevier Science & Tech, July 1, 2004, p.226
A46-4 archive
Related posts:
- Lafayette Building (Detroit, MI) The Italian Renaissance style Lafayette Building, was built in...
- Packard Plant (Detroit, MI). Part 2 The Packard Plant is a large automotive plant designed...
- David Broderick and David Whitney Towers (Detroit, MI) David Whitney Building The David Whitney Building is located...
- Cass Techincal School (Detroit, MI) (*1) Cass Technical School was built in 1917 by...
- Park Avenue Building (Detroit, MI) Grand Circus Park was a crowded district in the...
Tags: 35mm film, abandoned buildings, abandoned factories, abandoned hospitals, abandoned places, abandoned silos, analog photography, B&W, Black and White photography, C. F Smith Co. Office, Canon t70 camera, Detroit abandoned buildings, Detroit architecture, Detroit Industrial buildings, industrial ruins, infiltration, manual photography, ruins, silent buildings, silent buildings.com, silentbuildings, silentbuildings.com, UE, urban decay, urban exploration, urban infiltration, urban ruins, Urbex, w roland hamilton
comment on the C. F. Harris Co. (storage buildings)
The name on the top of building states C. F. Smith Co. not C. F. Harris Co.
The C. F. Smith Co. operated a chain of grocery stores from 1910 to the early 1950s until the company merge with another grocery company and moved from that location.
This site was the main office and warehouse of the grocery chain.
the buildings was until a rash of fires as a storage buildings.
the building on West Grand Blvd (according to Detroit records) was built in 1924
the buildings on vinewood (with bridges connecting them) was built about 1923
the other three buildings unknown
the rail road is the heading north, Toledo rd is south, West Grand Blvd. is east and Vinewood is west
thank you
james
James,
Thanks for the information, it will be included in the description. Any links to books, articles or references regarding this site would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
W. Roland Hamilton