Eastern Market Historic District
The Eastern Market Historic District has long been the center of Detroit's German communities, and is the last of the three public markets that once served the city. The land on which Eastern Market is located was originally the Russell Street Cemetery. By 1855, however, the land was becoming far too valuable for cemetery use, and its location along Gratiot Road, a main artery accessible to farmers and consumers alike, made it an ideal location for a market.
The first market buildings appeared in the 1880's, and by 1921 the city of Detroit filed a petition for enlarging Eastern Market. Serving the large German ethnic community, the Eastern Market remains utilized by the public, as farmers from southern Michigan, Ohio, and Ontario sell their produce there. The district includes eighty structures. Originally the district mixed residential and commercial quarters, with shop owners maintaining their businesses on the ground floor with living quarters on the second floor.
Among the noted buildings of the district is the Ciaramitaro Brothers Wholesale Produce Commission House, located at 2506 Market square. Originally built between 1885 and 1888 as a saloon with sleeping rooms on the second floor, it later became a wholesale produce commission house. Built in 1893, the Rudolph Hirt, Jr. Building at 2468 Market Street, rests on a brick foundation and is a three-story store with two central Romanesque-type arches and Tudor arched windows on the third floor. The architecture of the area ranges from late Victorian of the 1880s and 1890s to early 1920s commercial buildings, and forms the framework of a lively and interesting historic place.
The Eastern Market Historic District is located directly north of Gratiot Avenue (US 25) and east of Interstate 75. The district is roughly bounded by Gratiot Avenue, Riopelle St, Rivard St., and Division St. The buildings of the district are commercial and open to the public.
Information and photos courtesy of the National Register for Historic Places Detroit, MI Travel Itinerary, a subsidiary of the National Park Service.
