Motown and the Empire on West Grand Boulevard, by Rod Arroyo, FAICP
The story of the Motown Record Company and its empire on West Grand Boulevard is complex and rooted in Detroit history, planning history, jazz history, and entrepreneurial spirit. To tell the full story, it is critical to understand the boulevard, the neighborhood, and the origins of the company that became known worldwide as Motown.
The Boulevard
The original Hitsville U.S.A. is located on West Grand Boulevard in Detroit—a street whose very existence reflects Detroit’s grand urban ambitions. Grand Boulevard was the result of a vision inspired by Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann’s transformation of Paris. Between 1854 and 1870, Napoleon III appointed Haussmann to direct the rebuilding of Paris, creating a series of grand boulevards, a new street system, public works projects to improve sanitation, and design regulations requiring six-story buildings so that building heights were proportional to the width of the boulevards. The look and feel of the heart of Paris today is a reflection of Haussmann’s work.
This Parisian vision came to Detroit through Bela Hubbard, who moved from Hamilton, New York to Detroit in 1835. A man of many interests and accomplishments—geologist, attorney, lumber baron, historian, abolitionist, author, developer, and community leader—Hubbard was inspired by Haussmann’s Paris and wanted to bring a grand boulevard to Detroit. Initially proposed as a U-shaped box around the city, Grand Boulevard was expected to be the final boundary of city expansion at the time. It took 15 years for the project to gain momentum; after Mayor Hazen Pingree added his support in 1891 and funding was secured, construction began. The boulevard was completed around 1913.
This Parisian influence, combined with influences from Antoine Cadillac—Detroit’s first European settler—and the Parisian (and Washington, DC) inspired Plan of Detroit by Augustus Woodward (1806), led to Detroit earning the moniker “The Paris of the Midwest.”
Yet this grand vision came with human costs, both in Paris and Detroit. Haussmann’s plans for Paris displaced over 300,000 people, including over 10,000 people in the medieval “slum” area of Île de la Cité. A century later, Detroit would repeat this pattern of displacement. In the 1950s and 1960s, the city displaced thousands of residents through urban renewal and freeway construction projects, including approximately 7,900 people living in Black Bottom, also designated by the city as a “slum” neighborhood. These massive projects forced many African Americans to relocate elsewhere. The neighborhoods of Northwest Goldberg, Virginia Park, and Dexter-Linwood provided options for those who could afford to move there, while others—particularly lower-income Black Bottom residents—had little or no relocation assistance. Many were absorbed into existing housing units, exacerbating already overcrowded conditions.
The Neighborhood
The Neighborhood Name
When it comes to naming neighborhoods in Detroit, there is much debate, covering both names and neighborhood boundaries. Many refer to the general neighborhood along West Grand Boulevard, west of the Henry Ford campus, as Northwest Goldberg, located west of New Center and south of Virginia Park. Some argue it should be called Northwestern Goldberg because it honors both Northwestern High School and Goldberg Elementary, named after Louis Goldberg, the first Jewish person to serve as President Pro Tempore of the Detroit School District.
Others contend that Northwest Goldberg is west of 14th Street, and the stretch of West Grand Boulevard where Motown started belongs to the Elijah McCoy neighborhood. Elijah McCoy was an African-American inventor and mechanical engineer educated in Edinburgh, Scotland. Booker T. Washington claimed that Elijah McCoy produced more patents than any other African American inventor of his time. The term “the real McCoy” is attributed to his lubricating cup for steam engines of locomotives and ships. Still others place the Motown property along West Grand Boulevard in the Henry Ford District, with the Elijah McCoy neighborhood bordering south of Holden Street.
The Neighborhood History
Whatever its name, the neighborhood’s history tells a story of demographic transformation tied to Detroit’s broader patterns of migration and settlement. The construction of Grand Boulevard opened up property to a variety of new developments, including new housing subdivisions. Original buyers were mostly middle-upper-class citizens—homeowners who included people from the automotive trades, manufacturing, real estate, school principals, bank managers, and merchants.
By the 1920s, this general area of Northwest Goldberg and Virginia Park, along with Dexter-Linwood to the north, became areas to which Jewish Detroiters relocated from Paradise Valley and Black Bottom. This Jewish enclave soon opened to African American homeowners, as Jews were among the few who would sell property to Black buyers. This shift was accelerated by Henry Ford’s decision to hire Black workers in substantial numbers starting in 1919. Limited by segregationist laws and practices, Black auto workers and other Black business owners and professionals looked to this area to escape overcrowding in near-eastside neighborhoods.
The neighborhood continued to evolve through the mid-twentieth century. During the 1940s to 1960s, many homes on West Grand Boulevard were converted to two-family (duplex) units, which were more affordable. Group homes also emerged along this corridor, and some homes were converted to office or other non-residential uses. It was in this context of transformation and opportunity that Berry Gordy would establish his musical empire.
The Company
Berry Gordy didn’t arrive at West Grand Boulevard without preparation. Following in the footsteps of his sisters Anna and Gwen, who, along with musician Billy Davis, started Anna Records in 1958, Berry established Tamla Records in 1959, followed by Motown Records in 1960. He used an $800 family loan and profits from his songwriting success as the foundation for business growth.
Berry had spent years working in the music business, building the expertise and connections that would prove essential. He co-wrote songs for Jackie Wilson, studied the recording craft at Detroit’s United Sound Systems Studios, and formed connections with musicians at jazz clubs, including the Flame Show Bar at John R and Canfield. Many of the core members of the Funk Brothers—the backing studio band for many Motown hits—were first jazz musicians at the Flame. This included Thomas “Beans” Bowles, Earl Van Dyke, James Jamerson, and bandleader Maurice King. These incredible musicians went from being the backing band for jazz legends at the Flame to being part of the featured studio band on virtually every Motown Records hit from the late 1950s to the 1970s.
In 1959, Berry Gordy, Jr. purchased a two-story home at 2648 West Grand Boulevard. He lived upstairs and established his new record company on the floors below, including the basement Studio A (known as the Snakepit). This humble beginning would soon expand into an empire.
As the Motown Record Company grew, so did the West Grand Boulevard holdings. In 1961, Gordy purchased 2644/46, the building next door, to serve as the home of Jobete Publishing and more. In 1962, he purchased 2650/52, which served as offices for Berry Gordy, Jr. and his sister Esther Gordy Edwards and International offices (International Talent Management, Inc.). This building was destroyed by fire in 1971. In 1965, he purchased 2656, the Money House, where Motown’s finance department offices were located.
The expansion continued in 1966 when Gordy purchased 2657, located on the north side of West Grand Boulevard, for artist professional development, rehearsal hall, and other functions. That same year, he completed the rest of his West Grand Boulevard acquisitions, including 2622/64 and 2666/68 for sales and marketing and 2670/72 for the new home of International Talent Management, Inc. A series of two-family flats helped to build the Motown empire.
By 1968, the Motown empire had outgrown even this extensive footprint. Gordy moved operations to the Donovan Building at 2457 Woodward for about three years, and then moved the company to Los Angeles starting in 1971. The sound of young America, born on a historic boulevard in a transforming neighborhood, was ready for its next chapter on the world stage.