What Will Happen With the Marx Brewing Company Site?

Isaac Kremer/ November 20, 2005/ Writing/ 0 comments

What is today a parking lot between Oak and Elm streets, and between the backs of buildings that line Biddle Ave and the Detroit River, was once the heart of our busy waterfront in Wyandotte.

What is today a parking lot between Oak and Elm streets, and between the backs of buildings that line Biddle Ave and the Detroit River, was once the heart of our busy waterfront in Wyandotte.

George Marx founded the City Brewery here in 1863. The riverfront location was essential, because water would be pulled in from the nearby Detroit River to be distilled, bottled, and then shipped as delicious malt brews (much of which was consumed locally). Competition came from the Eureka Brewing Company in 1890, but this was subsequently merged with the City Brewery to create the Marx Brewing Company in 1910.

Now, how did Wyandotte end up with nothing but a parking lot on this prime riverfront location? The original company that occupied the site since 1863 became adversely affected by a law. This constitutional amendment for Prohibition was passed in 1918, making it difficult for a brewery in the center of the city to continue operating as such.

Quick destruction of the plant followed. From 1926 to 1928, Hess aircraft were manufactured on the second floor of the brewery. Then there was the Great Depression. The company was liquidated in 1938. A map from that year shows only one building occupying the center of the block with other buildings demolished.

Had historic preservation been a part of the discussion of what to do with our historic and beautiful Marx Brewing Company in the 1920s and 1930s, then we might benefit from having this handsome building on our riverfront today – connecting us with an important part of our heritage, as has been done with the former Stroh’s brewery in Detroit and numerous other places around the country.

What happened instead? Popularization of the automobile and the need for parking, caused city fathers to level half of our downtown to save the other half of it. The Marx Brewing Company building – without a clear or apparent use – was vulnerable and subsequently demolished.

Often I tell people that preservationists are not historians. We look to the past for a pattern and plan to determine our future. What might such a plan look like for this riverfront site?

Currently, a new building and parking garage are being planned. While I have not seen the plans, here are a few recommendations for those people making and approving them:

1) The river is a public amenity and well-designed public access should be provided.

2) Wyandotte and this site have a rich heritage, and reference should be made to this in the architecture, choice of materials, and some sort of commemoration of the sites heritage.

3) Linkages should be created between the new building and downtown, rather than cutting the two off from one another by a parking garage. People are most comfortable walking along streets lined with buildings that have shops below and residences above. This would be a good model for Elm St but also for Oak St as well.

4) Restore the footprint of the blocks and streets, creating well-defined blocks that people can walk between and improving circulation downtown.

A well-designed project on the Marx Brewing Company site could contribute to a rising wave of interest and investment in our downtown that has occurred in recent years. To do this equal consideration must be given to Wyandotte’s historic past; successful efforts in other cities like Dearborn and Royal Oak; and insistence on excellence with whatever is done in Wyandotte. 

And, it may not need to be said, but how perfect would it be to have a micro-brewery on the former Marx Brewing Company site!

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About Isaac Kremer

Isaac is a nationally acclaimed downtown revitalization leader, speaker, and author. Districts Isaac managed have achieved over $850 million of investment, more than1,645 jobs created, and were 2X Great American Main Street Award Semifinalists and a 1X GAMSA winner in 2023. His work has been featured in Newsday, NJBIZ, ROI-NJ, Patch, TapInto, and USA Today. Isaac is a Main Street America Revitalization Professional (MSARP), with additional certifications from the National Parks Service, Project for Public Spaces, Grow America (formerly the National Development Council), and the Strategic Doing Institute. He currently serves as Executive Director for Experience Princeton in Princeton, New Jersey.

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