Places / People Mover / Stop 11 of 13
Detroit People Mover stationCadillac Center
The station for Campus Martius and Hudson’s Detroit, home to Pewabic’s greatest historic tile hoard; its ridership grew nearly fivefold in 2024.
- Code
- CC
- Opened
- July 31, 1987
- Boardings 2023
- 14,653
- Boardings 2024
- 68,391 (+367%)
01 / Story
The station’s story
It is named for the Cadillac Center shopping mall planned nearby in the 1980s but never built. The station sits at Gratiot Avenue and Library Street beneath the One Campus Martius parking garage; when that garage was built for Compuware’s headquarters, the station closed temporarily and the structure literally rose around it. It survived almost untouched, gaining only a larger entrance and a walkway to the garage.
The platform and stairwell are lined with Diana Pancioli’s mosaic “In Honor of Mary Chase Stratton”. Its 26,000 tiles were made by Pewabic in the 1930s for a Stroh Brewery building never built; they spent fifty years in storage until Peter Stroh donated them to the People Mover art commission. On the stair wall hangs Italian sculptor Carlo Romanelli’s bronze tablet of about 1903 to Madame Cadillac, wife of Detroit’s founder, on permanent loan from the Detroit Institute of Arts.
The Campus Martius QLINE stop is a block away. It was the penultimate station to reopen after the pandemic, on May 23, 2023, and with free rides and a reviving downtown its ridership leapt from 14,653 in 2023 to 68,391 in 2024, one of the biggest jumps on the system.
- A Pewabic mosaic of 26,000 1930s tiles
- Romanelli’s bronze of about 1903 from the DIA
- Campus Martius and Hudson’s Detroit
- One of 2024’s biggest ridership gains
02 / From the window
What you see from the car
The station is enclosed in the garage’s concrete, but through the openings you catch Campus Martius and the Hudson’s Detroit tower on the old store’s site.
03 / Art in the Stations
Art at this station
Mx. Granger · CC0 Diana Kulisek Pancioli / Pewabic Pottery · 1987
In Honor of Mary Chase Stratton
tile mosaic, 26,000 1930s tiles
This tribute to Pewabic’s founder uses 26,000 tiles Pewabic made in the 1930s for a Stroh Brewery building that was never built; the Stroh family kept them for fifty years before donating them to the commission.
Carlo Romanelli · 1903
Madame de la Mothe Cadillac Memorial Tablet
bronze tablet (on permanent loan from the DIA)
The Italian sculptor’s bronze tablet of about 1903 honouring the wife of Detroit’s founder, given to the Detroit Institute of Arts by the Woman’s Bicentenary Committee of Detroit and on long-term loan to the station.
04 / Timeline
Station timeline
Opens
With Pancioli’s mosaic and the Romanelli tablet.
A derailment
After a manhole cover fell onto the track.
A garage rises around it
Temporary closure while One Campus Martius is built.
Reopens
Second to last after the pandemic.
Nearly five times the riders
From 14,653 (open from May 23, 2023) to 68,391 boardings.
The station is part of the loop today; today’s departures are shown above, per timetable.
05 / Curiosities
Curiosities
It is the nearest station to the Skillman Branch Library; the DTC also lists Capitol Park and the water department offices.
The 2025 assessment sometimes calls it “Cadillac Square” station.
A closer look
Sources & fact check · Checked: 2026-09-25
Every figure is compiled from the sources below, including the DTC’s official pages, board minutes and its 2025–2026 planning documents. Where sources differ, we give both. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, freely licensed and credited per author.
06 / Nearby
A short walk away
Places, restaurants and venues from our guide, with straight-line distance and an estimated walking time.
- 1 min walk · 48 m7 Greens Detroit Salad Co.Made-to-order salads, warm bowls, wraps and cold-pressed juices on Library Street, a quick healthy downtown lunch.
- 1 min walk · 49 mCitizen Yoga Studio DetroitAn alignment-based yoga studio on downtown's Library Street, with showers, free validated parking and a free first class for locals.
- 1 min walk · 53 mLe Labo DetroitThe New York perfume house's Detroit shop on downtown Library Street, home of cult scents like Santal 33 and Thé Noir 29.
- 1 min walk · 61 mLibrary Park HotelA dry downtown hotel across from the old public library (1896–1941): 75 rooms, a mirrored dining room, and Carrie Nation as a guest in 1908.
- 1 min walk · 77 mGucci DetroitThe Florentine luxury house's Detroit boutique on Library Street, steps from The Belt's mural-filled alley.
1 min walk · 77 mHot Sam's DetroitDowntown Detroit haberdashery since 1921: sharp suits, hats and true Detroit style, with an in-house tailor.
1 min walk · 77 mLibrary Street CollectiveOne of Detroit's leading contemporary art galleries, tucked into the Library Street alley next to The Belt.- 1 min walk · 78 mRed Rose FloristFamily-owned downtown florist on Monroe Street for bouquets, wedding and sympathy flowers and gift baskets, with local delivery.
- 1 min walk · 87 mPalace Theatre (Monroe Avenue)The last and largest vaudeville house built on Monroe Avenue, opened in 1914: C. Howard Crane called it the acme of his work so far, and with 23 exits it was billed as the safest theater in the world.
Around the station
- Campus Martius Park 3 min
Downtown’s living room: ice rink, beach, concerts.
- Hudson’s Detroit 3 min
The tower on the site of the old department store.
- One Campus Martius the station’s building
Former Compuware headquarters, now Rocket offices.
- Skillman Branch Library 2 min
The downtown branch library.
07 / Events
Events near this station
Upcoming events at nearby venues, from our event guide.
No events at nearby venues in our guide right now.
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