Somerset Collection owner buys former Kmart headquarters

[Det_ard]

Based on the layout of the place, I can see why Studebaker abandoned it. It had a truly horrible layout for an assembly line. The building was a big doughnut with multiple floors connected by freight elevators. Handling and rehandling must have been brutal..

Some old factories I've seen had conveyors running through floors and ceilings. The multi-floor method of factory layout became obsolete and there simply wasn't any way to make a 2 million ft^2 single-story factory where the old 2 million ft^2 five-story factory was. Hello, farmland.

[MikeM]

I don't doubt city taxes were part of the reason, just not a primary one as compared to later decades. I don't think those plants could have been built within the city limits at the time anyway.

Ford's desire to build in Dearborn was mostly a result of the need to expand more than the Highland Park plant would allow.

[Hermod]

The Army built the Chrysler Tank Plant out on Van Dyke because land acquisition was so easy plus it was near the Michigan Central RR line for easy shipping. The industrial facilities along Van Dyke, Sherwood, and Mound were encouraged by the presence of that line [[the Detroit-Saginaw line of the NYC).

[Hermod]

I don't doubt city taxes were part of the reason, just not a primary one as compared to later decades. I don't think those plants could have been built within the city limits at the time anyway.

Ford's desire to build in Dearborn was mostly a result of the need to expand more than the Highland Park plant would allow.

Plus Henry's desire to build a "integrated facility" from making steel through finished product.

[Detroitnerd]

Did your research turn up any hard numbers on the relative tax rates?

No, but I wonder if there were any taxes at all outside the city line. Most of the 10,000-acre tract was farmland in 1900. Even in the 1880s, Detroiters laughed at the idea of building Grand Boulevard "out there in the middle of nothing."

[Hermod]

Industries moved outward to sites that met their needs at the time. Eventually this meant moving beyond the city limits, and they couldn't help it that the city boundaries couldn't expand. I don't think it was a strategy to escape the expenses of the city probably until the next generation of expansion.

Most states do not allow cities to annex across county lines. 8-mile was as far north as Detroit could go. The western cities did hem Detroit in by pre-emptive incorporation.

[MikeM]

Plus Henry's desire to build a "integrated facility" from making steel through finished product.

Yes, driven by the desire to control costs. Also, Ford estimated the maximum annual capacity of the HP plant was 500,000 units and they wanted to build a minimum of 1,000,000 per year.

[Detroitnerd]

Most states do not allow cities to annex across county lines. 8-mile was as far north as Detroit could go. The western cities did hem Detroit in by pre-emptive incorporation.

Plenty of supercities are made up of more than one county. New York City is the best example, with five counties.

But, more to the point, Michigan didn't forbid cities from annexing across county lines.

[Hermod]

Plenty of supercities are made up of more than one county. New York City is the best example, with five counties.

But, more to the point, Michigan didn't forbid cities from annexing across county lines.

I didn't know that. Most of the annexation battles I have been close to have been in other states. What city in Michigan crosses county lines?

[Detroitnerd]

I didn't know that. Most of the annexation battles I have been close to have been in other states. What city in Michigan crosses county lines?

Milan does. Actually, map-lovers can go to the Detroit Public Library's map division and see a map of Detroit from the mid-1920s, with an inset showing Detroit's likely land area by 1930, bleeding across Eight Mile Road.

[Det_ard]

No, but I wonder if there were any taxes at all outside the city line. Most of the 10,000-acre tract was farmland in 1900. Even in the 1880s, Detroiters laughed at the idea of building Grand Boulevard "out there in the middle of nothing."

Quite possibly zero for the outlying areas. What were Detroit's tax rates? I wonder what size savings were involved.

[Detroitnerd]

Quite possibly zero for the outlying areas. What were Detroit's tax rates? I wonder what size savings were involved.

I wonder too. But it's also true that they had a hell of a time trying to assemble big enough parcels in the city, and that ribbon farms deeded by the King of France were a real snarl. They must have thought "win-win."

[Hermod]

No, but I wonder if there were any taxes at all outside the city line.

In a rural county [[Oakland and Macomb at the time), you need to run a small county infrastructure at the county seat as well as the sheriff for patrol and law enforcement and a court system to include a prosecutor. You need to collect taxes [[assessor and treasurer) and at least grade the major section line dirt roads in the county. There are school districts in the county. Each county township, [[six miles by six miles) needs a township supervisor, treasurer, and clerk. Taxes aren't much [[at 1920s salary levels), but you do have property taxes and various "usage fees".

[MikeM]

Detroit's 1920 tax rate, per $1,000: $20.66

[Hermod]

Detroit's 1920 tax rate, per $1,000: $20.66

That hurts. More than 2%.

[MikeM]

1940 = $28.08
1950 = $33.09
1960 = $43.60

[Detroitnerd]

1940 = $28.08
1950 = $33.09
1960 = $43.60

I think that what you see there is rising service costs, a shrinking tax base, and an inability to harness the tremendous growth that was going on all around the city [[and at the expense of it).