Business & brands / Sports / Music
Frederick K. Stearns
1854–1924 · pharmaceutical manufacturer, owner of the Detroit Wolverines, DSO founder
President of Detroit's Frederick Stearns & Company who owned the 1887 champion Detroit Wolverines and organized what became the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
- Born
Buffalo, New York- Died
aged 69- Birth name
- Frederick Kimball Stearns
- Also known as
- Frederick Kimball Stearns
- Detroit years
- 1850s–1920s
- Field
- Business & brands, Sports, Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Stearns came to Detroit as a child when his father founded the pharmaceutical firm Frederick Stearns & Company in 1855. He played second base and captained the baseball team at the University of Michigan, then joined the family business and became its president in 1887. He commissioned the architect William B. Stratton to design the company's plant on East Jefferson Avenue, finished in 1899, with a later addition by Albert Kahn; it was converted to lofts in 1989. As owner of the National League's Detroit Wolverines from 1885, he spent heavily to build a winner, and the 1887 team took the pennant and beat St. Louis in a postseason World Series. He organized the Detroit Orchestral Association, the forerunner of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and was a trustee of the Detroit Museum of Art. His Elizabethan-style Jefferson Avenue home, Red Gables, is a registered historic site. He later moved to California.
Highlights
- President of Frederick Stearns & Company, 1887–1921
- Owner of the Detroit Wolverines; 1887 National League and World Series champions
- Organized the Detroit Orchestral Association (forerunner of the DSO)
- Built the Stearns plant on East Jefferson (1899), now the Lofts at Rivertown
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Worked here · 1899–1921
Frederick Stearns Building (Lofts at Rivertown)
Closed
The company plant he commissioned from William B. Stratton; a National Register site converted to condominiums in 1989.
Lived here · 1900s–1920s
Red Gables (Frederick K. Stearns House)
Status being checked
His Elizabethan-style family home on Jefferson Avenue, a registered historic site.