Places / People Mover / Stop 6 of 13
Detroit People Mover stationFinancial District
The Financial District station, where the People Mover was dedicated in 1987 and where Joyce Kozloff’s three-storey ceramic mural greets you.
- Code
- FI
- Opened
- July 31, 1987 – the dedication was here
- Boardings 2024
- 81,048 (5th)
- Boardings 2019
- 102,927
01 / Story
The station’s story
On July 31, 1987 the dedication took place here: after speeches and awards, Mayor Coleman Young and businessman Max Fisher cut a five-foot cake shaped like a car and boarded the first train, which broke a green ribbon as ten thousand balloons rose. Below, Larned Street hosted a block party. The station is attached to the 150 West Jefferson office tower, with direct access from the platform to its lobby.
It is the nearest station to the Guardian Building, home since 2023 of the DTC offices on the 29th floor, and to Hart Plaza, Spirit Plaza, the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center, One Woodward and the Buhl, Ford and Penobscot buildings; the QLINE’s Congress Street stop is two blocks away. Eleventh in 2014 with 75,819 boardings, it grew steadily after the pandemic thanks to Hart Plaza festivals, hotels and offices, reaching fifth in 2024 with 81,048.
For the 40th anniversary in 2027 the DTC plans, together with his family, to rename the station after Coleman A. Young, the mayor who championed and dedicated the People Mover. Since 2024 colour-changing lights have lit the Larned Street columns; in the March 13, 2026 storm, an object dragged by a car wrecked nine of their ten conduits.
- Where the 1987 dedication took place
- Joyce Kozloff’s “D for Detroit” ceramic mural
- The Guardian Building and the DTC offices
- Coloured column lights on Larned Street
02 / From the window
What you see from the car
Above Larned Street the guideway winds through the Financial District canyon: the Guardian Building, Detroit’s “cathedral of finance”, with the Buhl and Penobscot buildings nearby. At night the columns below glow in colour.
03 / Art in the Stations
Art at this station
Joyce Kozloff · 1987
“D” for Detroit
hand-painted ceramic, 1,200 tiles
A three-storey mural of 1,200 hand-painted porcelain tiles fired at the Kohler factory in Wisconsin: Byzantine and Aztec patterns, peacocks and the stock market’s bulls and bears, which together trace a giant “D”. The peacocks recall Whistler’s Peacock Room, once in Charles Freer’s Detroit home.
04 / Timeline
Station timeline
The People Mover is dedicated here
Cake, green ribbon, ten thousand balloons, a block party.
Reopens
In the second wave, with Broadway.
Coloured columns
A light installation on Larned Street for the NFL Draft.
Coleman A. Young’s name
The DTC’s planned renaming for the 40th anniversary.
The station is part of the loop today; today’s departures are shown above, per timetable.
05 / Curiosities
Curiosities
Kozloff painted all 1,200 tiles at the Kohler factory in Wisconsin; her workroom was so small she first saw the whole mural only once it was installed.
The peacocks recall Whistler’s Peacock Room, which Charles Freer brought to Detroit and which is now at the Smithsonian in Washington.
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 · 62 mSugah Please Breakfast Brunch BarCreole-inspired Southern brunch, fresh pies and cakes in the Financial District, with a dog-friendly patio.- 1 min walk · 66 mHotel NortonA 14-story, 250-room hotel on Griswold Street (1918–1959) with rooms looking over the Detroit River to Canada; Yamasaki's One Woodward Avenue stands on the site.
- 1 min walk · 74 mDetroit Queer History Walking TourHistorian-led walking tour of Detroit LGBTQ+ sites from the 1930s on, from Club Frontenac to the Palmer Park 'gayborhood.'
- 1 min walk · 74 mWayne CountyMichigan's most populous county, seated in Detroit, with county offices in the gorgeous Art Deco Guardian Building.
- 1 min walk · 76 mMilk & FrothDetroit-made scratch ice cream on Griswold: dairy and vegan flavors, each built from its own recipe instead of a base.
- 1 min walk · 76 mSMART (Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation)Metro Detroit's suburban bus system since 1967: 47 routes across Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties, $2 fares.
2 min walk · 111 mFort Pontchartrain Detroit, a Wyndham Hotel'The Pontch': a 25-story riverfront hotel since 1965, on the site of the French fort and right next to Huntington Place. Every room's angled bay window faces the river and Canada.
2 min walk · 136 mGuardian BuildingColorful tile, geometric patterns, and an Art Deco skyscraper with an extraordinary interior.- 2 min walk · 143 mThe W Buchanan GroupDetroit corporate wellness crew that brings chair massage, yoga, breathwork and healthy food demos to offices, conferences and events.
Around the station
- Guardian Building 3 min
The 1929 art deco skyscraper with Pewabic tiles; home of the DTC offices.
- Hart Plaza 4 min
The riverfront festival plaza.
- Spirit of Detroit 4 min
Marshall Fredericks’s sculpture outside city hall.
- Penobscot and Buhl buildings 3 min
Downtown’s classic skyscrapers.
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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