Grand Circus Park | |||||||||||||||||||||
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 Grand Circus Park station, with elevated People Mover platform in background, and a QLine train in the foreground. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| General information | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | 1 Park Avenue Detroit,Michigan 48226 United States | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 42°20′09″N83°03′02″W / 42.33578°N 83.05052°W /42.33578; -83.05052 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Owned by | Detroit Transportation Corporation (People Mover) M-1 Rail (QLINE) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Platforms | 3side platforms | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Tracks | 1 (People Mover) 2 (QLINE) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Connections |  DDOT 4SMART FAST Michigan & WoodwardD2A2 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Opened | September 20, 1976 (1976-09-20) (Detroit Citizens' Railway) July 31, 1987 (DPM) May 12, 2017 (2017-05-12) (QLINE)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Closed | June 2003 (2003-06) (Detroit Downtown Trolley) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Rebuilt | 2015 (DPM) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Services | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Grand Circus Park station is a public transit station indowntownDetroit,Michigan, served by theDetroit People Mover and theQLine.[2] The station takes its name from the adjacentGrand Circus Park. It is also the terminus of theD2A2 commuter bus to Ann Arbor, and serves as a transfer point toSMART's FAST Michigan and Woodward express bus lines.
A station has existed since September 20, 1976 with the opening of the Detroit Citizens' Railway, later the Detroit Downtown Trolley, aheritage streetcar line operating until 2003. The People Mover station opened July 31, 1987. Streetcar service returned with the opening of the QLine on May 12, 2017.
The People Mover station occupies the first two floors of a structure attached to the historicDavid Whitney Building. It is located at the intersection of Park Street andWoodward Avenue near Washington Boulevard, in theGrand Circus Park Historic District.[2] Grand Circus Park is the nearest People Mover station toComerica Park,[a] theFox Theatre,The Fillmore Detroit,Little Caesars headquarters,Little Caesars Arena, and the Hockeytown Cafe.
The station was reachable only by an external stairway from 1999 to 2015, when the David Whitney Building was closed. A new station lobby was constructed from August 2014 to June 2015 alongside the building's restoration, with a new elevator added to restore accessibility.[3][4]
On the platform standsCatching Up, a bronze sculpture byJohn Seward Johnson II, depicting a man reading a newspaper while waiting for a train. The newspaper depicted is the actual May 21, 1987 issue ofThe Detroit News, with a headline breaking the news of that year's merger ofChrysler andAmerican Motors, and advertisements for defunct Detroit-area retail chainsCrowley's andFarmer Jack.[5][6] TheNews is said to have chosen over the competingDetroit Free Press by a coin toss; theFree Press is instead featured folded atop the man's briefcase.[7]
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The QLine serves two street-level side platforms on Woodward Avenue north of Park Avenue and Witherell Street.[8] The QLine portion of the station is sponsored byGeneral Motors'Chevrolet brand.[9]
The station was the northern terminus of theDetroit Downtown Trolley, having a double-track boarding area just south of thecarhouse near Park Avenue. The east half of Washington Boulevard was converted into apedestrian mall, and later the Detroit People Mover included an exit-only staircase near the trolley stop.
In June 2003 the Detroit Downtown Trolley abruptly ended service. In February 2004 the carhouse was demolished, with mall sculptures removed that year, the pedestrian mall was fully displaced by vehicle traffic in 2005.[10][11]
