United Automobile Workers Union Hall, Local No. 7, 1551 Hart Street, Detroit, Wayne County, MI

Significance: The building was constructed in 1914 as a combined school and assembly hall for the German-speaking Messiah Evangelical Lutheran Church. Germans had concentrated in the East Side since the mid-19th century, and George W. Auch, the carpenter contractor for the structure, was a noted builder of Lutheran churches on the city's East Side. After Messiah Evangelical left in 1924, the building became a popular home for religious, veterans, and fraternal societies, particularly the International Order of Odd Fellows, the lodges of which often had among their members the kinds of skilled workers who led the unionization movement in the automobile industry in the 1930s. In 1934, Local No. 7 of the United Automobile Workers Unions (UAW) acquired ownership of the property and converted the building into a union hall.
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N279
Survey number: HABS MI-316