John K King Used and Rare Books – A Legendary Building in Detroit
The place is massive. I have never been in a book store even half the size of John K King Used and Rare Books in Detroit. John K King and…
Rockin’ Road Trips stops in at the legendary John K King Used and Rare Books in Detroit for a history lesson.
Donielle FlynnThe place is massive. I have never been in a book store even half the size of John K King Used and Rare Books in Detroit. John K King and the building both have an incredible history. In our Rockin' Road Trip we learned about both, but first, let's take a look at the building's history.
The History of the John K King Building
The history is long and amazing. You can find out its story in full detail on DetroitHistoric.org. We will be giving you the thumbnail version of the events. In 1905 the four-story, 30,000+ square-foot building was constructed by the Edson, Moore & Company to be a "shirt-waist" (women's blouses) factory on the corner of Lafayette and Fourth, however, they were only there three years before they vacated.
The next occupants were Crown Hat Manufacturing Co. and National Color Co. Crown Hat got taken out by the Great Depression, leaving the building vacant for several years until is was bought by Advance Glove Manufacturing.
The John C. Lodge Expressway was one of Detroit's first freeways, however there was a price. Thousands of homes and buildings were demolished to make a path for the expressway. The Advanced Glove Factory chose to move rather than be demolished and by moved, I mean the building was physically moved 250 feet in 1948.
Donielle Flynnin 2014 John K King Used and Rare Books was named #2 in the world.
How Do You Move a 30,000 Square-Foot 4-Story Building?
Carefully. The people of the past were straight-up ballers. "Let's move a huge building." OK. According to one of the people who worked on the project, the building was jacked up and using "log-like rollers made of Alabama gum wood" the building was rolled 250 feet and barely out of the path of the future Lodge.
Get this, no one missed a day of work. After the building let out on one afternoon, they jacked the building up, rolled it from Fourth to Fifth, set it down and the next day everyone went to work one block over. Zero production time was lost.
It was a good run, but it ended in 1981. Advance Glove filed for bankruptcy. John K King Used and Rare Books opened in 1965. After out-growing several locations, Mr. King purchased the Advance Glove Factory in 1983 and and opened his store on Lafayette and Fifth on January 1st, 1984. They still have a giant glove on the building and a few signs from the glove factory still hang in the book store.
Pictures from John K King Used and Rare Book Store
Donielle FlynnThe building deserves its own book in the history sectrion.
In our next article, Rockin' Road Trips explores the history of John K King and his book story. For now, please enjoy Doni and Joel looking for rock-related things at John K King Used and Rare Book Store.
Donielle FlynnIt's not a coincidence! Steppenwolf, the band, took their name from THIS NOVEL... no joke. We looked it up. AI says, "The band Steppenwolf took their name from the 1927 novel "Steppenwolf" by German author Hermann Hesse." BOOM. Knowledge dropped.
Donielle FlynnJohn K King Used and Rare Books is so massive, they even have a section of books for "Noise Pollution." No AC/DC was found in this section because, as we all know, rock and roll ain't noise pollution.
Donielle FlynnA champion of rock and roll in Detroit for decades, I can only assume that Joel Morgan is in this book. - Doni
