Detroit Pictures - Pix of the Motor City

The former Detroit Dry Docks Engine Works complex and Globe Trading Company building, parts of which date back to 1892, will begin its transformation into an adventure and discovery center as part of an expansion of the William G. Milliken State Park & Harbor, Michigan's only urban state park. The Globe Trading Company, once housed Detroit Dry Docks and Detroit Dry Dock Engine Works. Back in 2001 when this picture was taken, its future was uncertain and the need arose for it to be restored or demolished to make way for future development. Click all pics for a larger wallpaper view. Please scroll down for some history!
Across the street from the Globe, in what is now St. Aubin Park, is this memorial, which reads "On this site, under the waters of St. Aubin Park's visiting ship dock, remains the 1892 Detroit Dry Dock's, Detroit Dry Dock no. 2. One of the largest on the Great Lakes. It measured 378 feet in length. The Detroit Dry Dock Company constructed and repaired freighters and passenger steamers. This model shows the freighter, The Pioneer, that was completed in 1892...
During construction, the steel hull was manufactured in Wyandotte, Michigan and was towed into the drydock. a "Caisson Gate" was sunk into place at the river's edge. Water was then pumped out of the area while workers labored to install decks, cabins, masts and the engine. The company's foundry and machine shop was located across Atwater Street to the north."
Dry Dock Engine Works did not originate in this building - it was located in a long gone site on Atwater for 20 years before moving into the Globe. Henry Ford trained as a machinist at Dry Dock, where he worked as a young apprentice from 1880 to 1892. According to book "The Ford Century," he saw his first combustion engine built here. This shaped his life as an engineer, and eventually led him to production of internal cumbustion engines in automobiles.
All that remains of the former Dry Docks is St. Aubin Park's visiting ship dock.