Abandoned Detroit Saturday Night Newspaper Building

WOW...here we go...another awesome (I try not to use that overused word but this time I can’t help it) abandoned building. This time it’s the Saturday Night News Building in Detroit.

That was the name of the newspaper - ‘Detroit Saturday Night’ - and it needed a home. In 1911, newsguys Harry Nimmo and William Orr asked architects for a blueprint of a proposed building to house the paper. They came up with a design, and three years later – 1914 – the building began producing the paper at 550 West Fort.

The Detroit Saturday Night plugged on for fifteen more years until 1929 when the operation moved to a larger location, on the corner of St. Aubin and Jefferson...but the original building was not abandoned yet. It continued to be used as offices for various businesses.

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The Detroit Saturday Night was published from 1907 to 1939, and beginning in the 1930s, different typesetting companies called 550 West Fort their home.

Sadly, the old Saturday Night Building was demolished in 2019. And to make way for what? Twelve parking spaces, that’s what.

Preservationists and historians were saddened by this lack of respect for Detroit history, and now the spot at 550 West Fort isn’t even a spot anymore...it’s a stain. A stain on local history.

Fortunately, the building they moved into back in 1929 is still standing...abandoned, but still there. The gallery below shows images (courtesy of Fred Maples) inside and out of their last stand on Jefferson...and see some images of the old original on West Fort as well.