September 2026
The towering Michigan Central Station been a landmark in the Corktown area of Detroit, Michigan since it was built in 1913 for the Michigan Central Railway. The station, which was the tallest rail station in the world at the time it was built. It was an architecturally stunning structure, designed in the Beaux-Arts style, consisting of a train depot and a thirteen story office tower, two mezzanine levels, and a roof height of 230 feet.
The grand waiting room on the main floor was done in the style of an ancient Roman Bathhouse, with marble and vaulted ceilings. A large hall was adorned with Doric columns that housed the ticket office and an arcade of shops. Other features of the building included antique chandeliers and lighting, tile, ornamental terra cotta and stone.
A growth in the ownership of cars and improvements in highways, saw a decline in passenger rail service. From 1967 until finally shutting down in 1988, the Michigan Central Station saw a gradual decline in passenger traffic and rail service, with the last Amtrak train leaving the station on 6 January 1988. It was sold to a developer the following year.
The abandoned building’s historic features and fixtures were removed or stolen by scavengers, including antique chandeliers and lighting, tile, fixtures, salvageable metals and ornamental terra cotta. All the windows in the office tower and many on the lower floors were removed or destroyed by trespassers.
Controlled Terminals, owned by Ambassador Bridge owner Manuel Moroun, bought the station in 1996, demolishing the train shed in 2000 and converting the remaining tracks into an intermodal freight operation, run by Canadian Pacific Railway until it closed in June 2004.
Various plans were proposed for the use of the station, including as the headquarters for the Detroit Police Department, the Michigan State Police, or Homeland Security offices, a Customs and international trade processing centre, a convention centre and casino, but nothing came to fruition. With the specter of demolition hovering over the building, Moroun’s company began making repairs to the deteriorating building in 2011. While the interior was in poor shape, the building was still structurally sound.
In June 2011, partial asbestos abatement on the first floor began, along with other work including demolition of deteriorated interior features, the removal of water and broken glass from first floor windows. By the following June, electricity was resorted to the interior. A new 9,000-pound capacity freight elevator was installed in 2015, which enabled the installation of new windows on the entire building and roof restoration.
By September 2017, the “Detroit Homecoming” event was held in the station, the first officially sanctioned event to occur in the building since its closure in 1988.
On 11 June 2018, the former Michigan Central Station was purchased by the Ford Motor Company in a surprise development that had only come to light three months earlier, when the Detroit News broke the story that Ford was in talks to buy the station, with its biggest proponent being Bill Ford, the great-grandson of Henry Ford.
A complete restoration of the building began shortly afterwards, with costs exceeding $900 million. The station re-opened to the public on 6 June 2024, delayed by two years due to the COVID pandemic.
Future plans call for the eventual restoration of Amtrak and Via Rail Canada passenger service. Most of the passenger train infrastructure was demolished and renovations to the station no longer allow access from the rear of the building, where the remaining active tracks are located, necessitating construction of a separate Amtrak building.
In June 2025, Ford announced that NoMad, a luxury brand within the Hilton Hotel chain, will build 180 guest rooms, including 30 suites, with a “wellness” area on the third floor. Plans call for the hotel to open sometime in 2027.
Michigan Central Station also hosts numerous community events throughout the year, including workshops, musical acts and “Fridays at The Station” when the station becomes a late-night dance club complete with a DJ spinning the tunes. The station lobby is also open seven days a week from 8 am to 5 pm. Visitors are welcome to come for guided or self-guided tours, or just relax in one of the public waiting areas with a book or a laptop computer.
Sources: Michigan Central Station – Wikipedia, Michigan Central.
