The
Crescent Brass & Pin Company Building housed what was for much of its
career the only firm in Detroit, and one of few in the nation, that specialized
in the manufacture of chaplets, which were essential tools in the manufacturing
process for radiators, boilers, engines, and other foundry products used
by General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, and other automobile companies and
a who’s who of important manufacturers of such products as stoves and
ranges, plumbing and heating equipment, and agricultural machinery throughout
the United States. The Crescent Brass and Pin plant was also the place
where Simplex roofing nails, an innovation in roofing shingle fastening
technology because of their very broad heads, were first manufactured.
Finally, the Crescent Brass & Pin Company Building was built in stages
from 1905 to 1956 and, in its use of heavy timber mill construction and
of reinforced-concrete framing systems, it illustrates the evolution of
standard factory construction technology in Detroit and Michigan in the
early twentieth century.
The Company
The
Crescent Brass & Pin Company Building was constructed for a Detroit enterprise
that dated back to the 1880s. In 1886 Alvin W. Needham designed and built
a cigar box nail manufacturing machine at his home at 5748 Lincoln Avenue
in Detroit. Once the machine was running successfully, Needham needed
investors to help finance his nail manufacturing business. Needham approached
his neighbor, John Allen Gray, and John’s brother, William Allen Gray.
John Gray, a blacksmith by trade but also a woodworker, carpenter, and
machinist, and his brother operated a carriage building business located
at Cass and Adams Avenues that John had founded in 1879, at a time when
carriage and wagon companies were among Detroit’s “busiest enterprises.”1
William Gray joined the business in 1882, and the company name became
J. A. Gray and Brother.
In
1886 the company was incorporated as the Gray Brothers Carriage Works.
The firm produced carriages, wagons, buggies and sleighs and employed
up to forty people. The Gray Brothers Carriage Works are credited as the
first company to begin using rubber tires and roller bearings on their
rigs.2 One of their more prominent clients was the Detroit Creamery, with
whom they had a contract to maintain their wagons.
The
Crescent Brass & Pin Company Building housed what was for much of its
career the only firm in Detroit, and one of few in the nation, that specialized
in the manufacture of chaplets, which were essential tools in the manufacturing
process for radiators, boilers, engines, and other foundry products used
by General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, and other automobile companies and
a who’s who of important manufacturers of such products as stoves and
ranges, plumbing and heating equipment, and agricultural machinery throughout
the United States. The Crescent Brass and Pin plant was also the place
where Simplex roofing nails, an innovation in roofing shingle fastening
technology because of their very broad heads, were first manufactured.
Finally, the Crescent Brass & Pin Company Building was built in stages
from 1905 to 1956 and, in its use of heavy timber mill construction and
of reinforced-concrete framing systems, it illustrates the evolution of
standard factory construction technology in Detroit and Michigan in the
early twentieth century.
The
Crescent Brass & Pin Company Building was constructed for a Detroit enterprise
that dated back to the 1880s. In 1886 Alvin W. Needham designed and built
a cigar box nail manufacturing machine at his home at 5748 Lincoln Avenue
in Detroit. Once the machine was running successfully, Needham needed
investors to help finance his nail manufacturing business. Needham approached
his neighbor, John Allen Gray, and John’s brother, William Allen Gray.
John Gray, a blacksmith by trade but also a woodworker, carpenter, and
machinist, and his brother operated a carriage building business located
at Cass and Adams Avenues that John had founded in 1879, at a time when
carriage and wagon companies were among Detroit’s “busiest enterprises.”1
William Gray joined the business in 1882, and the company name became
J. A. Gray and Brother.
In
1886 the company was incorporated as the Gray Brothers Carriage Works.
The firm produced carriages, wagons, buggies and sleighs and employed
up to forty people. The Gray Brothers Carriage Works are credited as the
first company to begin using rubber tires and roller bearings on their
rigs.2 One of their more prominent clients was the Detroit Creamery, with
whom they had a contract to maintain their wagons.