Frigidaire (Detroit, Michigan)

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In 1915, the Menzies Shoe Company built a four story 180' x 47', Albert Kahn designed factory which shortly thereafter became the home of Frigidaire. Frigidaire was originally established as Guardian Frigerator Company in Fort Wayne Indiana, after company founders Nathaniel B. Wales and Andrew Mellowes developed the first self-contained refrigerator in 1916. The company struggled selling only 40 units in its first two years of existence. In 1918, General Motors founder William Durant purchased the company with his own funds and later transferred ownership to General Motors. In 1919, operations were moved to Detroit and the former Menzies Shoe Company building and mass production techniques were applied to produce a $775, nine cubic foot refrigerator. Sales of the expensive refrigerators were unremarkable. By 1921, General Motors decided to transfer the responsibility for the enterprise to GM's Delco Light subsidiary and concentrate production in Dayton, Ohio and the plant was put up for sale.

By 1923 the property was taken over by Standard Tool & Manufacturing which remained until 1931 when it moved to Ferndale. Following a short occupancy by American Grain Distillers, McAleer Manufacturing move into the factory in 1936 and produced rubbing and finishing compounds for the automotive industry.