Skip to content
Rebuild Detroit

Popular in Metro Detroit

Call (888) 471-3135

Historic district, Detroit, since 1877

Capitol Park Historic District

Still standing, photographed 2015

Capitol Park Detroit MI, from the north Photo: Andrew Jameson, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Opened
1877
Standing
149 years

Capitol Park Historic District has stood on Roughly bounded by Grand River Ave. in Detroit since 1877, 149 years and counting. Who built it, what makes it special and how to see it for yourself.

On the map

More photos of Capitol Park Historic District

Capitol Park Historic DIstrict, Detroit MI--Griswold at State Looking south Photo: Andrew Jameson, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The first Michigan Capitol Building, which was located in Detroit, Michigan, in an 1847 photo Photo: capitolunionschool.jpg via http://www.senate.michigan.gov/history/capitolhistory.html (was a smaller version from http://www.senate.michigan, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Photograph of Capitol Park, Detroit, Michigan, in July 1942 Photo: Arthur S. Siegel, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

What is there now

Standing

We checked building permits, sales, listings and the city's blight and demolition files on October 25, 2026. Nothing new at this address in the last two years.

The story

By Victoria Jackson, Editor in Chief Updated

In 1877, as Detroit's lumber, stove and shipbuilding money went into brick and stone, Capitol Park Historic District opened.

The National Register of Historic Places listed it in 1999.

Go see it at Roughly bounded by Grand River Ave., Woodward Ave., Michigan Ave., and Washington Blvd. Photos never get the scale right.

The Capitol Park Historic District is a historic district located in downtown Detroit, Michigan. It is roughly bounded by Grand River, Woodward and Michigan Avenues, and Washington Boulevard. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Timeline

  1. 1877 Built
  2. 1999 Listed on the National Register March 18, 1999
  3. 2026 Today 149 years and still standing

Where it is

Roughly bounded by Grand River Ave., Woodward Ave., Michigan Ave., and Washington Blvd.

On this map

  1. Capitol Park Historic District This place
  2. Stevens T. Mason Monument 80 ft
  3. Michigan State Capitol 90 ft
  4. Capitol Park Building 110 ft
  5. United Savings Bank Building 140 ft
  6. Brown Brothers Building 160 ft
  7. Miles Theatre 180 ft
  8. Malcomson Building 190 ft
  9. The Albert 200 ft

Street map from OpenStreetMap contributors

More from Detroit in the 1870s

Around the block

Photo credits

Every photo on this page is used under its license, named here with its author and a link to the original.

  1. Capitol Park Detroit MI, from the north Photo: Andrew Jameson, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
  2. Capitol Park Historic DIstrict, Detroit MI--Griswold at State Looking south Photo: Andrew Jameson, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
  3. The first Michigan Capitol Building, which was located in Detroit, Michigan, in an 1847 photo Photo: capitolunionschool.jpg via http://www.senate.michigan.gov/history/capitolhistory.html (was a smaller version from http://www.senate.michigan, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
  4. Photograph of Capitol Park, Detroit, Michigan, in July 1942 Photo: Arthur S. Siegel, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
  5. Farwell Building, in Downtown Detroit, Michigan Photo: Andrew Jameson, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
  6. The Detroit Institute of Music Education at 1265 Griswold St, 2015 Photo: Bmor07102016, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Sources

Facts only, gathered from these sources. The story above is written by Rebuild Detroit. Every photo names its author and license where it appears.