The Detroit Wheelmen’s clubhouse at 53 E. Adams was built for $40,000 in 1896. For a club of only 450 members, that sounds quite an investment.

Can you imagine a bicycle club building and owning such a facility today? This grand building was certainly an indicator of just how “gold” the golden age (1890s) of bicycling was in Detroit.

This clubhouse contained an auditorium, bowling alley, billiard and whist (card game) tables, baths, library, kitchen, dining room, and more.

The building has some really interesting gargoyles above the first floor windows. They look like fish, which wouldn’t seem to make much sense for a bicycle club.

The Detroit Wheelmen logo is on the balcony about the entrance. It’s a ‘W’ intertwined with a ‘D’.

One interesting feature is the long bike rack along the front of the building. It’s integrated with the metal grills covering the basement windows and also has the DW logo.

Unfortunately the clubhouse is no longer standing. It was located where Comerica Park currently stands. I do not know if it was demolished for the park or many years earlier. The 1928-1929 Polk Directory for Detroit does list the Wheelmen at this location.

A photo of the club interior was included in an earlier m-bike post.

UPDATE, 11/27/2012: We’ve seen a photo from 1960 that shows the building is still standing.

UPDATE, 2/18/2018, A Free Press column from August 26, 1969: “When they tore down a building behind the Metropolitan YMCA, they found in the cornerstone several copies of Detroit newspapers, plus some editions of The Detroit Phonograph, publication of the cycling club that headquartered in the building.” Though still to be confirmed, it seems the clubhouse was transferred to the YMCA at some point. The Detroit Institute of Technology began leasing space at the YMCA including the clubhouse.

Photos from the Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library

Tags: Detroit, Detroit Wheelmen, History

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 26th, 2008 at 10:28 pm and is filed under Detroit. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.