A short history of the rise, fall and return of Detroit’s Michigan Central Station

Detroit celebrated the reopening of its iconic railway station Michigan Central in June 2024 with a grand outdoor gala featuring an extravaganza of Detroit musical royalty – Diana Ross, Big Sean, Patti Smith, Jack White and Eminem – in the adjoining Roosevelt Park. For years, the decaying structure had been a sore reminder of Detroit’s economic rise and fall. Now, after three decades of dormancy, an extensive restoration, spearheaded by the Ford Motor Company, has breathed life into the building again. Eminem closed out the Concert at Michigan Central with accompaniment from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. We are urban planners at Wayne State University in Detroit interested in the socioeconomic impact of urban policy. Like most Detroiters, we are curious about the station’s history and buoyed by the new investment in it, and as urban planners, we are watching to see how its development will impact residents of the Motor City. When it first opened, the station’s grand interior spaces were accessible to all. Millions of immigrants seeking a better life arrived in Detroit by entering Michigan Central – which was sometimes referred to as Detroit’s Ellis Island. The Beaux-Arts gem completed in 1913 served as a monument to Detroit’s...