Hey Fellas, good read, from the guys over at Hemmings Motor News. This place was a monster, in more ways than one. The B&W photos kind of give me the creeps. Like the author states, looks as if all that is missing, is the automobiles and the workers. As a native Clevelander, can truly relate, to how the surrounding neighborhoods, suffer, when a major factory shuts down. Life and time marches on. https://www.hemmings.com/stories/20...aily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2020-10-04
Cool avatar. I used to watch the Ghoul. Still a lot of cool buildings around Detroit, so much history.
The story of the Dodge brothers is one of the most interesting there is. They were workaholics, sometimes worked 20 hours a day. They had cots in their offices and often stayed for days at a time. They knew how to party too, and often did it with the workers. They knew many of the employees names and families. They provided beer and sandwiches at least one day a week to all employees, but guys in the foundry had all the beer they wanted because of the heat. The best part is they never borrowed a dime from a bank. They worked and saved, THEN spent. Even Dodge Main was built that way. They and a few office employees owned all the stock when they died in 1920. Their reputation was so good when they announced they would be building their own car about 900 applications were received the first DAY. I have hand written notes from the number two guy, Fred Haynes. As late as Aug. they still had not decided on several features of the car, starter, carb, wheels, etc. and they built the first car on Nov. 15, 1914. By Jan 1 they had 370 cars hand built and went into production building about 45000 cars in 1915. There are several good books available with their history. And yes, I am prejudice.
At one time lived in Detroit area and was a big fan of the Detroit Red Wing hockey team. Ted Lindsay a former player (known for his hard work and toughness) was coach of a not very good team. Because of his work ethic he was making the team practice twice a day. The players were complaining about the extra work. One morning as players arrived for practice there was a bus outside the locker room And he instructed players to get on the bus. The bus drove to Dodge Main. After touring Dodge Main he told the players “ this is real work your playing a game” They drove back to Olympia and practiced.
Pirate, that's a good one. I actually played in a men's hockey league with Ted Lindsay, probably the late '80's. Helmets are required for amateur hockey. Nobody had the nerve to tell Ted.
Cool read , did not realize that the dodge brothers where such stout businessmen. SEE !!! Even the cool stories end up being about Dodges !!!
I also played hockey in the Detroit and Windsor. I’m 74 now and Ted Lindsay was one of my all time hero’s and favorites not because he was the greatest but because of how hard he worked at it. I’m not much on autographs but while Lindsay was coaching the Wings I took our young son to a game and he wanted to go down by the locker room to see the players after the game. The last one out was Lindsay and the crowd had thinned out to almost nothing. As he walked by I asked if he would autograph a program. He stopped turned around came back chit chatted a bit and signed the program. I told him”thank you” he looked me square in the eye and said “no thank you for asking” truly a class act but tough as nails.
The Jalopy Journal
