St. Vincent de Paul Warehouse Fire, 1995

As a teenager, I remember watching news coverage of a fire at the St. Vincent de Paul warehouse on Gratiot. Now, I drive by that site everyday, and I often wonder what the warehouse looked like, when it was built, who was the architect, and the like. Unfortunately, information on that site and structure available online seems to be limited - can anyone shed light on the site, the building, or the fire, which has since been built over with the St. Vincent de Paul VanElselander Center?

Thanks,

1953

Older maps show that building as the Detroit Metallic Casket Co., later known as Kammer Casket Co.

Thanks, Al.

Apparently there is not a lot of interest in this subject!

1953

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 1953

As a teenager, I remember watching news coverage of a fire at the St. Vincent de Paul warehouse on Gratiot. Now, I drive by that site everyday, and I often wonder what the warehouse looked like, when it was built, who was the architect, and the like. Unfortunately, information on that site and structure available online seems to be limited - can anyone shed light on the site, the building, or the fire, which has since been built over with the St. Vincent de Paul VanElselander Center?

Thanks,

1953

---

'53, can you share why this is of interest? Did you see photos? Are you interested in St. Vincent de Paul history?

I remember St. Vincent de Paul on Gratiot and I remember that the fire was catastrophic to the organization. Fortunately, thanks to many angels, they recovered. But my memory does not trigger anything special about their space there. I don't think there was anything outstanding about it. Why not just call them up? They might have some pics and other info that you would find interesting and I'm sure they would be happy to share it with you.

I guess I am interested in the building and surrounding area for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, I seem to recall that it was a big fire, which suggests that it was a big building - and I love big old buildings.

Secondly, there was a fire at the building across the street [[a two story white commercial building) last year, and it has made me wonder what that area looked like in its hey-day.

Thirdly, the area is just outside of downtown, and we all know that we need the areas outside of downtown to catch the center city's resurgence if we are ever going to have a healthy and robust whole-city.

I guess I could call St. Vincent de Paul directly on this, but a) I didn't figure they would want to spend the time or energy dealing with me and b) I figured this forum would have more information about the building and surrounding area.

Anything anyone can offer on this would be great; if information is just plain sparse, or I am the only one interested in this, then I'll probably try to call St. Vincent de Paul soon.

Thanks,

1953