Concert halls & amphitheaters / Downtown riverfront (Civic Center / Hart Plaza)
Ford Auditorium
Closed – archive entry · 1995
A former 2,920-seat concert hall on the downtown riverfront (1956–1995), home of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for more than 33 years.
01 / The story of this place
Make time for these
The 2,920-seat Henry and Edsel Ford Memorial Auditorium was dedicated in 1956 as part of Detroit's riverfront Civic Center, with marble and granite facades, and was the home of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for more than 33 years; Paul Paray's DSO recorded for Mercury Records there. It also hosted popular-music concerts and civic events, and Malcolm X gave his last speech outside New York there on February 14, 1965. Its acoustics were criticized from the start, the DSO moved back to Orchestra Hall in 1989, and by 1995 the hall had stopped accepting bookings.
- DSO home for more than 33 years
- Malcolm X speech, 1965
- Marble and granite facades
Famous Detroiters
Famous people tied to this place 2
Lexicon entries for the people who lived, worked, performed or liked to spend time here.
- Malcolm X 1925–1965 · Muslim minister, human rights activist
Performed here
Riverfront concert hall on Jefferson Avenue where he spoke on February 14, 1965; it was demolished in 2011.
- Florence Ballard 1943–1976 · singer
Performed here
Riverfront concert hall where she gave her first concert in more than five years on June 25, 1975; closed in 1989 and demolished in 2011.
Sources & fact check · Checked: 2026-09-25
An independently written bilingual guide. This collection is not an attendance-based ranking.
03 / Events
Events at this place
Published events automatically linked from our event guide. Times are local to the venue.
We have no published upcoming events linked to this place yet. That does not mean the venue has no events; check its official calendar too.
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