Detroit's crumbling 'palace of transportation' is about to rise again

For years, Detroit's Michigan Central train station has been a symbol of decline. Now, some hope it will becoming a sign of city's rebirth.

This week, Ford Motor Company announced plans to completely repair and reopen the iconic station. This time, instead of trains, it will house the company's centre for work on autonomous cars.

First opened in 1913, the station was one of Detroit's foremost architectural achievements. However, since the last train left the station in 1988, Detroiters have watched the ornate building slowly deteriorate.

Some Detroiters hope that the train station will be the first step toward more revitalization projects in the city. 

Dan Austin is a historian who lived near the station for decades. He spoke with As It Happens host Carol Off. Here is part of their conversation.

What was it like to hear that Michigan Central station was going to be saved?

I think I was running around town, asking everybody to pinch me.

When you live next to the depot, in its rundown state for decades, you kind of lose faith a little bit. Everyone says it couldn't be done, and you kind of start to believe it.

You saw a lot of other buildings in Detroit be renovated, new buildings being constructed, but all along no one was paying any attention to the depot.

We didn't think it was going to happen...we were waiting until it was official. A little bit of cautious optimism.

How close did it come to getting the wrecker's ball?

So many times.

Most recently was just a couple of years ago. Detroit City Council ordered that the depot be demolished.

Luckily, for the depot and all of Detroit and the Ford Motor Company, they were not able to do so because of some rules that barred federal money being used to tear down anything on the National Register of Historic Places.

The word depot doesn't do it justice, does it? Can you describe this extraordinary structure?

It's really a palace of transportation.

When you go back in time to 1913, when the depot opened, Detroit was a city on the rise and when most people arrive in your city by train, the first thing they saw, their first impression of your town was your depot.

Detroit's depot was just incredible. It was the tallest train station in the world at the time it opened. It was filled with all sorts of amazing marbles, woodworks, and soaring ceilings.

It really made a statement not only about how Detroit saw itself but how Detroiters saw themselves on the world stage.

The station had shut down in the 1980s. Is that right?

Yeah, 1988.

I was eight years old when the last train rolled out of the depot. So, I've known it as nothing but a gorgeous abandoned building.

The last couple of years we've seen lights thrown on it temporarily and events held there. I think it helped change the way Detroiters think of it.

There are two camps in Detroit, either the people who wanted to see it torn down and thought it was an eyesore and a relic from a bygone era, that the city couldn't possibly obtain again.

The others viewed it as a coliseum or a Parthenon, a great ruin of Detroit, but also a giant piece of untapped potential that Detroit has risen from the ashes so many times.

Our city motto talks about rising from the ashes and hoping for better things. Detroit has done that time and time again.

To take a building that has come to symbolize the decay and the decline of our city and turn it into a symbol of the rebirth, renaissance, and this renewed sense of optimism, it's just an incredible feeling.

It's more than just the renovation of a building.

In so many ways it changes the way that Detroiters and how the world thinks of our city.

People go to places like Egypt to see ruins, but tourists would go to Detroit to see the ruins of the city. It's often called ruin porn. That's what the train station has come to symbolize, didn't it — the Pantheon of ruin porn?

We like to refer to her as the perennial centrefold of ruined porn.

We got to a point in Detroit where, when people thought of Detroit they think of three things: motown, music, automobiles and the train stations.

It's just a testament to how important it is that we didn't knock this building down ... this is going to be a key piece to not only Detroit's renaissance but also as Bill Ford mentioned, Ford's plan to once again make Detroit the place that changes the way human beings get around.

What is the vision that Ford Motor Company has for this station?

[Ford] is trying to establish a new campus in Detroit.

They are planning on having 5,000 people in the depot building [and] working — half of which will be Ford employees.

Then, the grand waiting room, that will be open to the public. There will be restaurants and shops.

What does happen if this station creates gentrification in the city?

I think there is some going on here. When you are at rock bottom, any step forward is going to cause some level of gentrification.  

That said, unlike many cities in the United States and even in the world ... Detroit is a really big city.

I like to think that there's plenty of Detroit for everybody. But that's not to think that people won't be adversely affected. I used to live half a mile from the train station, and I was priced out a couple of years ago. I couldn't afford it.

Written by Earvin Solitario with files from Associated Press. Interview with Dan Austin produced by Chris Harbord. Q&A edited for length and clarity.