Tracing the Industrial Past of Southeast Michigan

    

    COVID has had an immense impact on individuals and corporations alike. During this recent bleak period, numerous businesses collapsed. In contrast, the pharmaceutical industry flourished. One of these pharmaceutical companies, Pfizer, was among the first to create vaccines fighting the coronavirus and ultimately, the pandemic. Even though pandemic-ending pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer have existed for decades, many never received the recognition they deserved. One such case is a pharmaceutical company that was based here in Southeast Michigan.

    Once the world’s biggest pharmaceutical company, Parke, Davis & Co. was founded in Detroit in 1871 by Dr. Samuel Duffield, Hervey Parke, and George Davis. While its headquarters and research buildings were rooted downtown, the production buildings were located 40 minutes outside Detroit, in Southfield, Michigan. The Parke-Davis research laboratory was built in 1873 along the Detroit River. The Southfield facility was located on Parkdale Road and primarily focused on producing the vaccines created in the Detroit research facility. 

    Parke-Davis held exclusive rights to produce the polio vaccine for the first six months before these rights were revoked and opened for public production. This initial success shot the company up to popularity and globalization. Parke-Davis also popularized many other products, including epilepsy treatments, anti-diabetic drugs, and the first bacterial vaccine. As business was booming in the first half of the 1900s, Parke-Davis moved its production abroad to the Philippines and Japan in 1952. However, in 1970, Warner-Lambert, a pharmaceutical company based in New Jersey, acquired Parke-Davis and subsequently sold some of its property along the Detroit River to local businesses.

    By the 2000s, the main research building had been renovated to be a hotel which still stands today. Pfizer also bought Warner-Lambert and absorbed all the subsidiary companies, including Parke-Davis. Around the same time, Parke-Davis also sold the Rochester production campus to King Pharmaceuticals. The plant was then handed over to JHP Pharmaceuticals for $90 million in 2007. While the original buildings have not been preserved, the land is still used for pharmaceutical production. While the Parke-Davis company has not been completely shut down and now exists as Pfizer’s subsidiary company, it seems its prominent historical mark both in Detroit and globally has dissipated. However, in the last three years, with the rise of Pfizer and other pharmaceutical companies helping to fight the pandemic, Parke-Davis could finally get its nod of recognition.

Woodward Avenue (then known as Pontiac Road) was the first highway connecting Pontiac and Detroit. The residential areas between these two major industrial Michigan cities, including my town, Bloomfield, were populated by workers and business owners. Thus, I knew it would be difficult to find an industrial plant near home. Although automotive was the obvious pick for industries in Detroit, I wanted to look into other businesses that were also prominent in Motor City. After looking into Detroit’s manufacturing history with my interests in healthcare in mind, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Parke-Davis company was not only the top pharmaceutical company in the world but also based in Southfield, 15 minutes from home. Ultimately, it makes me curious to explore the many other metro Detroit-based industries that may have been overshadowed by the globally recognized automotive boom.

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Notes:

Long time no see. This was quite an unconventional blog post, but one thing about me is that I'm always looking to expand my knowledge in diverse subjects. Ultimately, I'm hoping that my findings inspires other people to be curious about their surroundings and dig deep to uncover the rich history around them. That being said my comments section is always open for discussion! :) 

-- Chanel