"Michigan Central: Open"
For thirty years, Detroit’s grandest building loomed windowless over a crumbling neighborhood. Closed and forgotten, the city called Michigan Central Station “The Tombstone.” It was a symbol of neglect and decline.
So when Ford spent a billion dollars bringing her back to life, she needed a grand opening worthy of her grandeur. “Michigan Central: Open” reintroduced Detroit to their iconic train station, telling the story of how it came to be, how it fell, and how the strength and determination of their city brought it back from the brink.
Michigan Central Station opened in 1913, and was the gateway to the midwest for millions of Americans fleeing racism in the South or looking for a new beginning on an automotive factory floor.
But after a series of civic failures, The Station was closed in 1988 and left to rot. It became a graffiti mecca and a “ruin porn” destination for photographers from around the world.
In 2018 Ford announced its acquisition of The Station, and its plans to bring it back to its former glory.
After five long years and an unprecedented restoration effort, The Station was finally ready to stand tall as a symbol of Detroit’s next chapter on the world stage.
Walk down the
history of The Station
Detroiters’ first step into the remade Station leads them into a blockbuster view of The Grand Hall. We complemented its natural majesty with a low-lying sculpture that told the story of the The Station from 1913 to now.
Working closely with the Detroit Historical Society, we contextualized over a hundred years of The Station’s history with the city it helped build.
Meet the Faces of Michigan Central
Step further in, and you’ll find a more personal side of The Station. Faces of Michigan Central is a portrait exhibit accompanied by an audio experience, with individuals from every generation recounting their special connection to The Station.
You see, everyone in Detroit has a Michigan Central story. Many immigrated through The Station long ago, others threw raves here in the 90s. This cross-section of human connection reminds us that it's the people that fill The Station’s halls that give it meaning.
Activists and welders, rave promoters and child coders, Michigan Central couldn’t ask for finer representatives of Detroit’s creativity, excellence, and pure force of will. Below you’ll find a small sample of the many stories we surfaced for the activation. Hover your cursor to read their story or press play and listen to them tell it.
Dan Kurt
“Michigan Central Station holds a lot of memories for me. And now, it's going to hold even more memories for the people of Detroit.”
We drove by Michigan Central a million times as a kid. It was always the same story: that's where Mom met her Dad for the first time when he came back from World War II. The Detroit Times did a story on their meeting.
My grandfather was drafted just before my mother was born, and he came back in December of 1945 when his tour of duty was over. And that's when the two of them met. He came off the train, my mother saw him, and apparently she wasn’t too enthralled with this stranger. She didn't know who this guy was! He bribed her with a teddy bear, and by the end, they were good buddies.
My mom, my grandpa, my grandma, if they came to this train station today, they would remember it just the way it was back in the 40s. It’s back that way now, still holding their memories.
Adrienne & AK Bennett
“Usually you have the blueprints. You have the specifications, you know exactly what you're doing. The Station was a completely different ball game.”
I'm the president and CEO of Benkari, a union plumbing and vac contractor headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, which we founded in 2007. It's an honor to be a part of this from the very beginning, and to share this experience with my business partner, who is also my son.
There was somewhere in the neighborhood of three million gallons of rainwater and melted snow in the basement. The first time seeing it was chilling and eerie, like gazing into the abyss. This building took everything: all the weather, the abuse. But it stood the test.
And now look at how she's just glowing. Who knows what people are going to be able to accomplish here. And the building is going to stand the test of time and be here for the next generations to see.
Jeanette Hassan
“My 15-year-old brother arrived at The Station in the 1920s, having immigrated alone from Palestine to join our family in Detroit.”
The agreement was that my father would be waiting for him. "What will you look like?" my father asked, as he hadn't seen his son since his birth. My brother said he’d be wearing a tarboosh, a Turkish fez. “And that way you'll know who I am.”
When he arrived, no one approached him. And he walked around looking to see if anyone recognized him. He had never seen his father before. My father was on a bench reading a newspaper, but his eyes were on my brother, watching him.
As he walked around, my brother approached the gentleman on the bench and asked, “Excuse me, have you seen a man looking for someone here?” My father, who had been observing how his son handled himself, asked who he was looking for. “I'm looking for my father. He was supposed to meet me here,” my brother said.
“I'm your father.” And of course, they embraced.
Tiffany & Rob Younk
“It’s been a blessing and an honor to have my daughter want to follow in my trade.”
(Tiffany Younk)
My welding origin story started when I was about three years old in our welding shop at home in Harrisville, Michigan. Dad would come home from working on the weekends and I always wanted to be around him. So I started learning how to weld right there in the shop.
Throughout the three years that my dad and I worked to restore Michigan Central, I went from being so new to who I am now. I learned a lot of what I know today from this train station.
(Rob Younk)
Back in the day when I worked in the city, The Station was just a lonely, dark old building. It sat all by itself. And you’d think, there's no way that building's ever gonna be salvaged again. It's gonna get demoed, knocked down. And, it wasn’t. It sits all by itself now.
We went back a piece at a time to save the original construction, and we brought it back to its original glory. Wrapping up my career at Michigan Central, I don’t know how to put it in words actually. It’s probably one of the best endings a guy can have.
Tiara Fullilove
“Michigan Central's commitment to the community is, I would say, vital. They've done a lot in terms of creating opportunities for us.”
I'm currently in a cohort at ChargerHelp!, a program that provides training to become an EV technician here at Michigan Central. Soon I’ll be qualified to service electric vehicle charging stations.
I worked in the medical field for a little over 10 years. When Covid hit, you know, things kind of changed. I came across this new program, and I was inspired by the two women who started the company, seeing someone similar to me. Growing up on the east side of Detroit, it's very rare that you see peers being able to be an entrepreneur. To actually see that coming to fruition here, it makes me want to pursue the things that I want to do.
Being in this program, I've been able to access training opportunities, many different partnerships with other organizations around the city, and that's opened up a lot of doors for people like myself that don't often have access. It gives me hope.
Rhys Fuciarelli
“My family makes sure that I follow my own dreams and carve my own path.”
The reason I come to Michigan Central is for a drone class with CODE313. They help a lot of kids use their abilities in different ways, and make new friends who are curious like me. That’s where I learned how to build and program drones.
When I saw a drone for the first time, it was super cool. I didn't know how it worked, but I wanted to. So I did a super duper amount of research to figure it out. It builds my confidence, because when I'm learning new things, I feel like I can do more. I feel like I can jump in and understand new stuff immediately.
Michigan Central has a lot of history that I love and I'm very proud to be a part of. I would love to come back and maybe even be an instructor of drones one day.
Step into the past
in the Open Archive
The Station stands today thanks to over 3,000 tradespeople who transformed it across five years of restoration. Open Archive tells the story of that process through the artifacts they found along the way.
Some were hunted down to be scanned and recreated, others returned covertly under cover of night. This museum of historical elements and photographs shows how far The Station has come and the techniques used to resurrect it.
Modular, battery powered stands showcased ephemera from The Station’s past as well as media explaining the process of its restoration.
Get lost in the Poster Vault
Across the storied past of Michigan Central is a rich history of graphic design spanning many decades. The Poster Vault puts this story on display in a striking, floor to ceiling takeover.
Beautiful vintage ephemera like postcards and news clippings were up-res’d with artificial intelligence to fill the walls of the Poster Vault. Hundreds of square feet were meticulously curated to take visitors on a visual journey.
Here are some of the fan favorite graphics from the room for your viewing pleasure. Click to expand and dive into each one:
Don’t forget the Kids’ Corner
As a major city event bringing in 7,000 visitors a day, we wanted to make sure families had a place their kids could have some space to enjoy The Station their way.
Turned out pretty popular with the adults too…
What was slated to last a week ended up extending throughout the whole summer as people traveled from across the country to see the newly unveiled Station. In all, over 100,000 people visited: crying together, creating memories, and even a surprise engagement story.
And one particularly exciting piece of fan mail:
