58 Bagley Avenue

Any Ford enthusiast/historian worth his Ford script knows that 58 Bagley Avenue was the place where Henry Ford built his first car, the Quadricycle.

What happened to 58 Bagley Ave.? Did he have it moved to Greenfield Village like he did with his birthplace? Partially. Here's how it happened. The house was moved in the early 1920s to a new location around the corner from it's former lot to make room for the Michigan Theater that now covers the site in downtown Detroit. It's understood that the famous shed where he built the car was torn down.

The building once moved was treated to a new facade and encompassed a coffee/tea house.

Now the shed you see in Greenfield Village was actually new construction using brick from the old Bagley Ave. House. Photos of 58 Bagley are somewhat hard to find with the same 2 or 3 being used constantly in books & magazines. However on the Wayne State photo archives there is a photo of 58 Bagley with the new facade & tea house signs.


See the light color bricks on the side of the building? That's where Henry Ford has his bricklayer's remove some of the original bricks for his "new" Quadricycle shed.

In case you want to see what the Michgan Theatre looks like, here's a link. The building in & of itself has a unique history worth taking a look at. (For some reason I can't get a link to work here, but you can copy & paste) http://buildingsofdetroit.com/places/mi

As always comments are welcome.

Sources:
Young Henry Ford by Sidney Olson
The Last Billionaire by William C. Richards
The Public Image of Henry Ford by David L. Lewis
Old issues of the Detroit News