For over a century, the J.L. Hudson’s Department Store on Woodward Avenue was more than just a store―it was a Detroit icon and a world-class cultural treasure. At 25 stories, it was the world’s tallest department store, and was at one time home to the most exceptional offerings in shopping, dining, services, and entertainment. The store prided itself on stocking everything from grand pianos to spools of thread. In addition to departments offering fashionable clothing and home furnishings, the original Hudson’s store featured an auditorium, a circulating library, dining rooms, barber shops, a photo studio, holiday exhibits, a magnificent place called Toytown, and the world’s largest American flag. As a legendary symbol of urban and entrepreneurial American history, the J.L. Hudson’s Department Store earned a permanent place in Detroit’s collective memory. Although “the big store” no longer graces Woodward Avenue, its legacy lives on in the hearts and minds of generations, and in the remarkable photographs that preserve its reign.

Hudson's: Detroit's Legendary Department Store (MI) (Images of America)

Biographies & Memoirs

Hauser, Michael

Weldon, Marianne

Community & Culture

Arcadia Publishing

Hudson’s Department Store boasts a rich history. These images illustrate the people, the events, and the everyday scenes that make up the Hudson’s story.

Hudson's:: Detroit's Legendary Department Store (Postcards of America)

History

Americas

As Detroit developed northward from the riverfront, Woodward Avenue became a mecca for retail, restaurants, and services. The 1870s and 1880s saw many independent merchants open their doors. By 1890, a new type of one-stop shopping had developed: the department store. Detroit’s venerable Newcomb Endicott and Company was closely followed by other trailblazers: J. L. Hudson Company, Crowley Milner and Company, and the Ernst Kern Company. At its peak in the 1950s, the Woodward Avenue area boasted over four million square feet of retail, making it one of America’s preferred retail destinations. Other Detroit emporiums such as the homegrown S. S. Kresge Company set trends in consumer culture. Generations made the trek downtown for back-to-school events, Easter shows, holiday windows, and family luncheons. Then, with the advent of suburban shopping centers, downtown stores began competing with their own branch locations. By the 1970s and 1980s, the dominoes began to fall as both chain and independent stores abandoned the once prosperous Woodward Avenue.

20th-Century Retailing in Downtown Detroit (Images of America)

Arts & Photography

Photography & Video

The J. L. Hudson Company redefined the way Detroiters shopped and enjoyed leisure time. Many Detroiters share memories of times spent shopping and enjoying spectacular events sponsored by Hudson’s. A solid and lofty icon built by businesspeople who believed in their passion, Hudson’s defined Detroit’s downtown, creating trends and traditions in consumer culture that still resonate with us today. Now and in the future, as Hudson’s boxes, shopping bags, and artifacts are discovered in closets, attics, basements, and flea markets, many will remember that it was once as solid a civic fixture as the City-County Building or the Detroit Public Library.

Remembering Hudson's: The Grand Dame of Detroit Retailing (Images of America)

Arts & Literature

Detroit Opera House (Images of America)

Utilizing remarkable images from the Manning Brothers Historical Collection, the Michigan Opera Theatre Archives, and several additional collections, Michael Hauser and Marianne Weldon have captured the excitement of the shared entertainment experience in Detroit Opera House. 
The theater known today as the Detroit Opera House has been an integral part of the city's culture and history as well as the live entertainment industry. Its existence has been threatened in the past, but it has survived wars, the Great Depression, civil unrest, economic meltdowns, the abandonment of downtown, and, most recently, a pandemic. Generations of patrons have fond, vivid memories of attending films, stage presentations, or events with family and friends as it transitioned from the Broadway Capitol to the Paramount to the Grand Circus to the Detroit Opera House. The reason for building these "temples of amusement" was to literally transport a guest into another world, and the Detroit Opera House has valiantly fulfilled that task. What began as an idea by David DiChiera, founder of Michigan Opera Theatre, the owner and operator of today's Detroit Opera House, blossomed into a magnificent performing arts center with its formal opening in 1996. 
Hauser is marketing manager for the Detroit Opera House, and Weldon is the collections manager for art and artifacts at Bryn Mawr College.

History & Criticism

For decades, downtown Grand Rapids enjoyed a long run in the limelight as the epicenter of shopping in western Michigan. The vibrant Monroe Avenue corridor included three homegrown department stores, several chain department stores, five-and-dime stores, and scores of clothing and specialty retailers. It weathered mother nature, wars, the Great Depression, the advent of neighborhood shopping centers, and civil disturbances―but the one change it could not overcome was the regional shopping mall.

20th-Century Retailing in Downtown Grand Rapids (Images of America)

The spokelike grid of wide grand avenues radiating out from downtown Detroit allowed for a concentration of theaters initially along Monroe Street near Campus Martius and, after the second decade of the 20th century, clustered around Grand Circus Park, all easily accessible by a vast network of streetcars. In its heyday, Grand Circus Park boasted a dozen palatial movie palaces containing an astonishing total of 26,000 seats. Of these theaters, five remain today, fully restored and operational for live entertainment. Detroit, more so than any other North American city, illustrates how demographic and economic forces dramatically changed the landscape of film exhibition in an urban setting.

Detroit's Downtown Movie Palaces

Humor & Entertainment

Movies

Arcadia Publishing Library Editions

The theater known today as the Detroit Opera House has been an integral part of the city's culture and history as well as the live entertainment industry. Its existence has been threatened in the past, but it has survived wars, the Great Depression, civil unrest, economic meltdowns, the abandonment of downtown, and, most recently, a pandemic. Generations of patrons have fond, vivid memories of attending films, stage presentations, or events with family and friends as it transitioned from the Broadway Capitol to the Paramount to the Grand Circus to the Detroit Opera House. The reason for building these temples of amusement was to literally transport a guest into another world, and the Detroit Opera House has valiantly fulfilled that task. What began as an idea by David DiChiera, founder of Michigan Opera Theatre, the owner and operator of today's Detroit Opera House, blossomed into a magnificent performing arts center with its formal opening in 1996.

Arcadia Pub (Sc)

1914 Das Regulaere Frontschwein: Aus dem Leben des Gaspioniers Otto Christian Koufen (German Edition)

Hauser, Doris

Hauser Fang, Annette

Military

Doris Hauser

Metapopulistická Demokracie: Politika Doby Přechodu

Filosofia

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Hauser, Michael. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Hauser, Michael

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Hauser, Michael. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Hudson's: Detroit's Legendary Department Store (MI) (Images of America)

Hudson's:: Detroit's Legendary Department Store (Postcards of America)

20th-Century Retailing in Downtown Detroit (Images of America)

Remembering Hudson's: The Grand Dame of Detroit Retailing (Images of America)

Detroit Opera House (Images of America)

20th-Century Retailing in Downtown Grand Rapids (Images of America)

Detroit's Downtown Movie Palaces

Detroit Opera House (Images of America)

1914 Das Regulaere Frontschwein: Aus dem Leben des Gaspioniers Otto Christian Koufen (German Edition)

Metapopulistická Demokracie: Politika Doby Přechodu