Plum Street “Detroit’s Art Community”. See Streets . See Plum

View Item Record

Description:

View of buildings on the corner of Fifth and Plum streets in Detroit, Michigan. "[Robert] Cobb discovered Elton Park downtown between Michigan Avenue.,the Lodge and the Fisher Freeways, upon seeing the old buildings on Plum St. he envisioned an Artist Community with shops, theaters and restaurants, slowly he began buying buildings, he met Sherman Shapiro, then a 57-year-old real estate developer, and they became partners, they ended up owning most of the buildings on Plum St. between Fourth and Fifth ... Cobb and Shapiro knew they were taking a gamble with the location of Plum St. they'd have to draw primarily on the Central Business District and tourists for customers, the people who were attracted to Plum Street were loitering college kids from Wayne State and the University of Michigan, at first the businesses welcomed the hippies hanging out, to help create an image, the merchants became upset after realizing the hippies were harassing customers for money and not spending it in the shops, the area became known for drug dealing and later motorcycle gangs, which scared away customers ... at one time there were 43 shops in the Plum St. district, in 1969, three years after the opening, only 6 to 8 shops remained," from Detroit News article.

Notes:

Collection located at the Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan. To schedule an appointment to view the original image, order high resolution copies, or seek permission to use an image, contact the Walter P. Reuther Library Audiovisual Department at reutherreference@wayne.edu., Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University, and This metadata was created by Wayne State University Library system based on original description by the Walter P. Reuther Library

Date Issued:

1966-06-30T00:00:00Z

Data Provider:

Wayne State University. Libraries and Walter P. Reuther Library

Collection:

Virtual Motor City

Place:

Michigan, Detroit, Michigan, and Detroit

Subject Topic:

Artist colonies and Culture and tourism

Subject Name:

Detroit (Michigan)

Format:

photographs

Rights:

Copyright Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University

URL:

http://digital.library.wayne.edu/item/wayne:vmc50589_1