Michigan Box - Spanger Wire Wheel (Detroit, Michigan)

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The Spranger Wire Wheel Company was founded by Nicholas M Spanger, a successful Detroit physician. The choice of factory location placed the facility adjacent to the railroad and, to the west,the Prest-O-Light Company’s automotive headlamp factory, which was built in 1916. Also involved in the venture were Jacob M Schaefer, John Reinke and William Finzel. The wheel featured a demountable rim designed for Ford and Chevrolet vehicles. Initial production was 300-500 sets of wheels per day. In 1919, it was re-designated as the Detroit Wire Wheel Company. This latter organization went defunct by the next year, when the building became vacant. This situation remained unchanged through 1924.

The building was constructed in 1917 of brick in a basilica form, common to factory and exhibition hall designs of the period, with a central two-story core paralleled by two side-flanking one-story wings. Decorative embellishments included four pressed concrete, or carved limestone, symbolic wire wheels with Gothic letter “S” hubs affixed at the two-story pier mid-sections.

The building is currently occupied by Fontana Forest Products which produces wooden pallets and containers