MICHIGAN AVE & COCHRANE ST / THE OLD TIGER STADIUM

HISTORICAL NOTES AND COMMON QUESTIONS:

This brick flatiron building was built in 1870 in Corktown, Detroit - the city’s oldest neighborhood.

Before transforming into Eldorado General Store in 2013, it was a number of things throughout its history including a saloon, pharmacy, grocery store, and furniture upholstery workshop. Most recently, it served as the souvenir store directly next to Tigers Stadium until its closure in 1999. Located on Michigan Avenue (US Highway 12 ) and Cochrane, the building lives directly next to the Briggs Field and the old Tiger Stadium site (now home to the Police Athletic League Headquarters).

For 14 years it sat vacant and unused until Eldorado General Store opened in 2013. It needed a lot of love and lots of imagination (we’re still patching this old gal back up), but it’s the perfect little slice of pie in the middle of Corktown.

Henry Ford’s Historical Greenfield Village has a neighboring building from the same time period - The Engelbert Grimm's jewelry store, which once stood at 2031-33 Michigan Avenue (about a block closer to the train station and across the street from Eldorado). When Michigan Avenue was widened in the 1940s, Henry Ford had the building preserved and moved to Greenfield Village.

Our general store counter was found in Romeo, Michigan but it originally came from a pharmacy in Detroit in the late 1800s/early 1900s called Ferrand, Clark and Williams.

The shop has original tin ceilings, exposed brick walls, and a hand painted advertisement from the 1860s reading “Hay & Straw” on the wall it shared with its once neighboring building. Our crystal chandelier is from a vintage banquet hall and is from the 1950s.