Another what was it factory question in SW [Ternstedt Manufacturing / McLouth Steel]

[Bcscott]

At Fort and S. Livernois there's a big old factory right behind where the Ternstedt factory/office stood. Evans Distribution occupies it now but I assumed due to its close proximity to Ternstedt it was originally a Fisher plant, is that correct? Due east of this facility are some ruins. They are bounded by Livernois, Dragoon, the RR tracks to the south and Hussar to the north. What was this place? It is/was connected to the Evans Dist. building over Livernois as well as connected to a smaller facility to the east spanning Dragoon. What went on here? I'm not having any luck.

[PlymouthRes]

Bcscott-

I asked the very same question on the old forum and got a pretty conscise answer back based on the addresses. I can't find that thread now, as I don't know how to access the old forum threads.

I, too, was interested in who currently owns title to the property and who would be held responsible for the clean-up of the sites in question. As southbound Livernois is the "gateway" so to speak to Fort Wayne, I was hoping to find out who owned the property so that we could perhaps create a joint effort [[Historic Fort Wayne Coalition, Hubbard Farms, Southwestern Business Association, Motor City Blight Busters AND THE BUSINESS OWNERS THEMSELVES!, etc.) to rid the area of it's current blight.

Although we try very hard to make the area in and around the Fort presentable to the public, there is no greater deterrent to coming to Fort Wayne than the trip from Fort Street southbound on Livernois to Jefferson and into the front gate of the Fort.

In regard to it's purpose, I have no idea what the property was used for but I have heard that it was used by Fisher Body. Also, as I remember, the addresses to the south of Fort along the western side of the street begin with 100 and go "up" from there to Jefferson, making the west side of the street the even side.

Let me know what you find out in your search as I would like to explore the possiblilty of getting the clean-up I mentioned together in the coming year. The sooner the better.

Perhaps MikeM could also be of some help to you-I know he is really good at the property tracking stuff and this seems right up his alley.

Of course, if the DRIC project goes through, that street will REALLY get cleaned-up!

[Kathleen]

Maybe this link to the Old Car Factories thread, and this page in particular which seems to discuss some of the old Fisher Body buildings in the location noted above will lead you to the info previously posted.

http://atdetroit.net/forum/messages/6790/67413.html

[MikeM]

If the first factory you are asking about "behind" Ternstedt is south of the railroad, on the west side of Livernois, that was McLouth Steel. They rolled strip steel there.

Going back to the north side of the tracks, east side of Livernois, was part of the Ternstedt complex.

I'm not sure what was east of that, across Dragoon. It looks to me like a small power plant. I think most of GM's larger facilites had their own plant to save on power costs and to generate steam for heating and industrial processes. I feel fairly confident that's what this building was.

Later, the property was used by Sybill Oil to reprocess industrial oil wastes. References I've found claim it was used by GM for the same purpose:

http://www.umich.edu/~snre492/Jones/delray.htm
http://brnation.d2sector.net/detroit...y_detroit.html

Remember if you are searching for addresses in that area, the railroad tracks divide the north-south streets between North and South: Livernois vs S Livernois, Dragoon vs S Dragoon, etc., with address numbering increasing away from the tracks.

[Bcscott]

By "behind Ternstedt" I meant that smaller facility right on the NW corner of Fort/S. Livernois, it used to have Fisher Body on the front and was recently razed. Was the building that's still there and used by the distribution company also a Ternstedt facility? I figured the JL Specialty Steel building south of the railroad tracks on Livernois was the old McLouth Steel.

So the ruins were part of Ternstedt as well. That makes a little more sense now if that factory [[distribution co.) was also Ternstedt. Thanks again, happy new year.

[Hornwrecker]

Some more info on the Ternstedt factory:

http://www.internationalmetropolis.com/?p=176

[MikeM]

By "behind Ternstedt" I meant that smaller facility right on the NW corner of Fort/S. Livernois, it used to have Fisher Body on the front and was recently razed. Was the building that's still there and used by the distribution company also a Ternstedt facility?

Everything on the west side of Livernois between Fort and the tracks was Ternstedt. I think the building that was razed was just the offices. Maybe it was used for production very early in its history.

[Bcscott]

Okay. In that link that Hornwrecker posted it looks like the building that was razed was offices and garage if I'm reading it correctly. Here's a pic from the site. And the large factory building is Ternstedt #8. Wish that map was a little bigger, I'd like to see a little more to the south and east.

[MikeM]

The demolished building still appears in Bing or Atlas bird's eye views.

[jgavrile]

Seems like I saw a post and a picture of some Ternsted property can someone tell me what the thread was?

[MikeM]

http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthr...ight=ternstedt

[Mikeg]

From the DetroitYes forums:
Another what was it factory question in SW [Ternstedt Manufacturing / McLouth Steel]


From the GM Next wiki:
Ternstedt Division
"Old Ternstedt Division at Fort and Livernois - I Was There"