A Brief Look Inside the Horace Dodge Mansion: Detroit, Michigan

It's kinda like something either The Munsters or Addams Family would choose for a home..but it's actually the brick house of Horace Dodge, who, along with his brother John, began their Dodge Brothers empire in the early 1900s.

Before we take a look inside, here's a little background.

In 1902, Horace and John began as transmission builders for Oldsmobile. Their work was successful enough that soon they had the money and prestige to build their own plant in Hamtramck.

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For many years, the Dodge boys made supplies for the Ford Motor Company until they cut off their contract in 1913 and put their efforts into manufacturing their own Dodge automobile. World War I was in full swing and they supplied many vehicles for that effort including ambulances and trucks.

The Dodges were from Niles and weren't really prepared for the snobbery they would encounter in the big city. The “wealthy Detroit elite” found the Dodges crass and socially unacceptable. Their small-town manners didn't fit in with the hoidy-toidyness of the big city hotshots...but the Dodge boys didn't care.

As for the house you are about to see, Horace and his family lived here until their new plant and estate in Grosse Pointe were being constructed. They moved into their new palatial mansion in 1911.

Horace was born in Niles in 1868 and passed away in 1920 at age 52 while getting some sun in Florida. He is buried in Detroit's Woodlawn Cemetery.

Photos of the interior are scarce, but here's what we could find...

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