Ronald Ahrens
Carve-outs
A hundred years ago, architect Albert Kahn made one of his regular visits to New York City to meet with architectural sculptors. Kahn had big commissions from the University of Michigan and General Motors,...
Ms. Koch Goes to Washington
Suffering from nerves one morning last July, Cathy Koch ordered breakfast but couldn’t eat. So the president and CEO of K-Tec Systems Inc. in Ferndale fasted enroute to the United States Capitol.Koch (pronounced “Cook”)...
End of the Line
In the early 20th century, people reviled the Detroit United Railway, the streetcar system that one historian called “an outlaw corporation.” Mayoral campaigns focused on street rail over a long period, while in 1913...
Room for a Lady
During the Cranbrook Educational Community’s initial development nearly a century ago, founder George Booth suggested to Loja Saarinen that she should create textiles to complement her husband Eliel’s architectural designs.Eliel became president of Cranbrook...
DBusiness Billionaire Playbook
Name another city in the world that has a multibillionaire — in this case, Dan Gilbert, founder and chairman of Rocket Cos. — who has acquired some 100 major properties in the central business...
Pull of Gravity
With support from Chevrolet, the All-American Soap Box Derby became an enduring national pastime
Let’s Make a Dill
Through the mists of time, pickles have been a tangy condiment served with meals as well as a bracing snack between them.During 40 years in the wilderness, the Israelites survived on manna and wistfully...
Retail is Detail
Belle Tire Distributors Inc.
Headquarters: Allen Park
Founded: 1922
CEO: Jack Lawless
President and Owner: Donald Barnes III
Stores: 130+
Employees: 2,300
Revenue: $700M (projected 2023)Sermonizing by Belle Tire Corp. was unusual. Its typical newspaper ad referred to value days or...
Flivver Talk
Harry Brooks was rushing to an engagement in Berkley, so the young test pilot showed his derring-do (and showed up on time) by landing the prototype Ford Flivver airplane on Woodward Avenue near the...
Photo Finish
Even as a novice photographer in the 1930s, Saul Leiter enjoyed the smooth precision and bold design of the Detrola camera his mother had given him. He went on to shoot photos for Life...