Milwaukee Junction

01 / The story of this place

Make time for these

Before Detroit was the Motor City, it was Milwaukee Junction. Two rail lines crossed here in the 1890s, and carriage makers, body plants and carmakers like Cadillac, Packard, Studebaker and Ford crowded in beside the tracks. In a third-floor room of the Piquette Avenue Plant, Henry Ford and his team, including Hungarian-born designer József Galamb, began designing the Model T in 1907. At its 1940s peak about 33,000 people worked here in 33 heavy plants; today the brick shells hold artist studios, lofts, cocktail bars and some of the city's most talked-about kitchens. Come for car history by day and stay for dinner, drinks and warehouse parties at night.

1. Stand in the room where the Model T was designed at the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant, now a museum full of early cars.
2. Wander the Russell Industrial Center, Albert Kahn's vast factory complex turned artist studios.
3. Grab shawarma at Bucharest Grill on Piquette, then cocktails at Kiesling or Dragonfly.
4. Book dinner at Freya or Oak & Reel on East Grand Boulevard.
5. Check Tangent Gallery's calendar for techno and house that runs toward sunrise.
6. Over on Woodward, try Burundian cooking at Baobab Fare and Afro-Caribbean plates at Yum Village.