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Ford Reacquires, Displays Key Michigan Central Station Artifacts

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Michigan Central Station Artifacts

Since Ford acquired the old Michigan Central Station for a cool $90 million in 2018, folks from across Detroit have been making an effort to give back to the city’s stalwart landmark — quite literally — by returning items that were pilfered from the depot while it lay abandoned and dilapidated for 30 years. Artifacts ranging from mail chutes to light fixtures to cast-iron elevator buttons were recently put on display at the Michigan Central Station Winter Festival in an exhibition curated by the Detroit Historical Society.


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The trend began in June of last year, not long after Ford announced its acquisition of the long-abandoned station, when Ford archivist Jamie Myler was contacted by an individual in possession of and looking to return the depot’s iconic cast-iron clock face. This individual was nervous about being in some trouble for having taken the clock in the first place, so there was hesitation on his part to meet with someone to return the item. He eventually got it back to Ford by leaving it at a burned-out building by Michigan Central Station, which sounds very much like a plot point from an episode of True Detective. Remarkably, the clock face was surprisingly well-preserved.

“It sounds like he really did care for the clock,” Myler said. “One of his texts to us said to make sure that whoever picked up it lay it a certain way in the truck because the paint is really brittle.”

More recently, Bryan J. Brincat, owner of Brincat Construction and J & B Development, turned in his own collection of MCS paraphernalia, including cast-iron wall sconces, elevator buttons, and pineapple railing toppers.

“By the time I walked through the station in 1989 or 1990, it had been pretty much stripped of everything,” said Brincat. “How grand that building was before they took everything. There were beautiful, monstrous chandeliers in the main entrance. I went in one day and they were gone. Pickers were going after copper, brass, aluminum, and wiring. I thought there was no value in the cast iron objects I took.”

To avoid the hesitation of the first anonymous individual, Ford is instituting a no-questions-asked policy on any future items returned. Its wish list includes key items and pieces like ticket window grills, elevator transom panels, and more clocks.


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Photos: Reacquired Michigan Central Station Artifacts