This is an attractive building. If the Michigan Central Station at the other end of Roosevelt Park is restored to its original glory, it would be reasonable to assume that this building might be renovated also.
I do not know much about this attractive and now unused building. I believe that it was built in the 1920s for the Conductor’s Protective Association (CPA), an insurance firm chartered in Michigan in 1910. Railroading has always been a cyclical and seasonal industry with periods of full employment and other spans when many rail workers are laid off. Before the 1930s, there were few state and no federal programs that collected money from workers when they were employed and then paid them unemployment benefits where they did not have work. I think that the Conductors Protective Assurance firm may have sold such unemployment insurance to rail workers beginning early in the last century. It would not surprise me to learn that the CPA also sold life and health insurance to rail workers. That organization, I believe, evolved into the Locomotive Engineers and Conductors Mutual Protective Association. I believe that their primary product is still job interruption insurance for rail workers. Their offices are now located in Southfield.
I do not know when the CPA moved away from this appealing and very modern looking building. I believe that some parts of it were used early in the Twenty-first century as a dormitory for Mormon missionaries who worked in Detroit. Subsequently, I believe the Mormons built their own dormitories for their missionaries. In early 2010, this building was for sale for $1.4 million.
Architect: Unknown to me
Date of Construction: Unknown to me
City of Detroit Designated Historic District: Not listed
State of Michigan Registry of Historic Places: Not listed
National Register of Historic Sites: Not listed
Website for the Locomotive Engineers and Conductors Mutual Protective Association: https://www.lecmpa.org/LECMPA.html
Use in 2008: Attractive empty building awaiting redevelopment
Photograph: Ren Farley; September 20, 2008
Description prepared: September, 2008