Places / People Mover / Stop 6 of 13
Detroit People Mover stationFinancial District
The Financial District station, where the People Mover was dedicated in 1987 and where Joyce Kozloff’s three-storey ceramic mural greets you.
- Code
- FI
- Opened
- July 31, 1987 – the dedication was here
- Boardings 2024
- 81,048 (5th)
- Boardings 2019
- 102,927
01 / Story
The station’s story
On July 31, 1987 the dedication took place here: after speeches and awards, Mayor Coleman Young and businessman Max Fisher cut a five-foot cake shaped like a car and boarded the first train, which broke a green ribbon as ten thousand balloons rose. Below, Larned Street hosted a block party. The station is attached to the 150 West Jefferson office tower, with direct access from the platform to its lobby.
It is the nearest station to the Guardian Building, home since 2023 of the DTC offices on the 29th floor, and to Hart Plaza, Spirit Plaza, the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center, One Woodward and the Buhl, Ford and Penobscot buildings; the QLINE’s Congress Street stop is two blocks away. Eleventh in 2014 with 75,819 boardings, it grew steadily after the pandemic thanks to Hart Plaza festivals, hotels and offices, reaching fifth in 2024 with 81,048.
According to Historic Detroit, the station may be renamed for the 40th anniversary in 2027 after Coleman A. Young, the mayor who championed and dedicated the People Mover. Since 2024 colour-changing lights have lit the Larned Street columns; in the March 13, 2026 storm, an object dragged by a car wrecked nine of their ten conduits.
- Where the 1987 dedication took place
- Joyce Kozloff’s “D for Detroit” ceramic mural
- The Guardian Building and the DTC offices
- Coloured column lights on Larned Street
02 / From the window
What you see from the car
Above Larned Street the guideway winds through the Financial District canyon: the Guardian Building, Detroit’s “cathedral of finance”, with the Buhl and Penobscot buildings nearby. At night the columns below glow in colour.
03 / Art in the Stations
Art at this station
Joyce Kozloff · 1987
“D” for Detroit
hand-painted ceramic, 1,200 tiles
A three-storey mural of 1,200 hand-painted porcelain tiles fired at the Kohler factory in Wisconsin: Byzantine and Aztec patterns, peacocks and the stock market’s bulls and bears, which together trace a giant “D”. The peacocks recall Whistler’s Peacock Room, once in Charles Freer’s Detroit home.
04 / Timeline
Station timeline
The People Mover is dedicated here
Cake, green ribbon, ten thousand balloons, a block party.
Reopens
In the second wave, with Broadway.
Coloured columns
A light installation on Larned Street for the NFL Draft.
Coleman A. Young’s name?
A possible renaming for the 40th anniversary.
The station is part of the loop today; today’s departures are shown above, per timetable.
05 / Curiosities
Curiosities
Kozloff painted all 1,200 tiles at the Kohler factory in Wisconsin; her workroom was so small she first saw the whole mural only once it was installed.
The peacocks recall Whistler’s Peacock Room, which Charles Freer brought to Detroit and which is now at the Smithsonian in Washington.
A closer look
Sources & fact check · Checked: 2026-09-25
Every figure is compiled from the sources below, including the DTC’s official pages, board minutes and its 2025–2026 planning documents. Where sources differ, we give both. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, freely licensed and credited per author.
06 / Nearby
A short walk away
Places, restaurants and venues from our guide, with straight-line distance and an estimated walking time.
- 1 min walk · 74 mDetroit Queer History Walking TourHistorian-led walking tour of Detroit LGBTQ+ sites from the 1930s on, from Club Frontenac to the Palmer Park 'gayborhood.'
2 min walk · 136 mGuardian BuildingColorful tile, geometric patterns, and an Art Deco skyscraper with an extraordinary interior.
2 min walk · 144 mMotor City PrideMichigan's largest Pride festival: two June days of stages, drag and DJs at Hart Plaza, plus a Sunday parade downtown.
3 min walk · 177 mMonument to Joe Louis — The FistThe Fist: a monumental gesture connecting boxing history with wider struggles for equality.
3 min walk · 183 mThe Spirit of DetroitA city symbol: a green bronze figure holding a golden sphere and a family.
5 min walk · 285 mDetroit RiverwalkWater, skyline views, and room to move: one of Detroit’s best settings for an unhurried walk.
9 min walk · 575 mRenaissance CenterThe glass towers that define Detroit’s riverfront skyline, right beside the Riverwalk.
10 min walk · 587 mSaint Andrew’s HallAn intimate concert experience inside a historic Detroit community hall.- 10 min walk · 597 mThe Elephant RoomA bar and kitchen next to Saint Andrew's Hall in Bricktown, with an outdoor patio and a wide range of DJ nights.
Around the station
- Guardian Building 3 min
The 1929 art deco skyscraper with Pewabic tiles; home of the DTC offices.
- Hart Plaza 4 min
The riverfront festival plaza.
- Spirit of Detroit 4 min
Marshall Fredericks’s sculpture outside city hall.
- Penobscot and Buhl buildings 3 min
Downtown’s classic skyscrapers.
07 / Events
Events near this station
Upcoming events at nearby venues, from our event guide.
Oct 3, 2026, 11:00 AMGet Your Detroit Queer History Straight: LGBTQ History Walking Tour
Guardian Building · 2 min walkA guided downtown walk through Detroit’s LGBTQ history since the 1930s, from early gay bars to the Palmer Park scene.