Places / People Mover / Stop 3 of 13
Detroit People Mover stationFort/Cass
A small station at Fort Street and Cass Avenue that hides one of Detroit’s finest tile works and doubled its ridership in 2024.
- Code
- FC
- Opened
- July 31, 1987
- Boardings 2024
- 46,197 (11th)
- Growth 2023→24
- +104%
01 / Story
The station’s story
Named after the two streets at its corner, Fort/Cass sits at the western edge of the historic core. It is the nearest station to the Theodore Levin federal courthouse, the legendary John K. King Used & Rare Books, Fort Street Presbyterian Church, WDIV’s studios and the intercity bus terminal. Inside, Farley Tobin’s two murals of more than thirty thousand tiles, red and black X’s inspired by Islamic tilework in India, wrap the walls.
It was long the quietest station, last in 2014 with 61,826 boardings. It reopened after the pandemic on September 14, 2022, and has grown fast since: 5,025 boardings in the last three and a half months of 2022, 22,609 in 2023 and 46,197 in 2024, the first fare-free year.
Sandra Jo Osip’s six-foot bronzes “Progression II” arrived in 1993, and Nicole Macdonald’s mural “Slice of Life in Detroit: Homage to the Working Class” went up outside in 2024.
- Farley Tobin’s 30,000-tile mural
- Sandra Jo Osip’s bronzes (1993)
- Nicole Macdonald’s mural (2024)
- John K. King Books nearby
02 / From the window
What you see from the car
From the platform the guideway curves southeast toward Congress Street and the convention centre. You can see how tightly the concrete track hugs the cornices of old office buildings.
03 / Art in the Stations
Art at this station
Mx. Granger · CC0 Farley Tobin · 1987
Untitled
tile murals, 30,000 tiles
Two geometric murals of more than 30,000 tiles built from red and black X’s, inspired by Islamic tilework the artist studied in India. Some glazes contain ash from the Mount St. Helens eruption; installation took six weeks, seven days a week.
Sandra Jo Osip · 1993
Progression II
bronze sculptures
Six-foot (1.8 m) bronzes with flowing, organic lines, where natural forms meet an industrial setting.
04 / Timeline
Station timeline
Opens
With Farley Tobin’s murals.
“Progression II”
Sandra Jo Osip’s bronzes arrive.
Reopens
In the third wave of the post-pandemic restart.
Ridership doubles
46,197 boardings and Nicole Macdonald’s mural.
The station is part of the loop today; today’s departures are shown above, per timetable.
05 / Curiosities
Curiosities
Some of Tobin’s glazes contain ash from the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption.
Installing the mural took six weeks, seven days a week.
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 · 42 mThe Detroit ClubA historic private social club downtown at Cass and Fort, founded in 1882, with 21 contemporary hotel rooms open to overnight guests.- 1 min walk · 56 mAnchor BarDowntown bar on Fort Street since 1959, with pizza, cold beer and one of Detroit's wildest gambling-raid stories.
- 1 min walk · 85 mQue DeliDowntown deli on West Fort Street where hot corned beef sandwiches are the main event, open from 7 am.
- 1 min walk · 85 mSterling GroupDetroit real estate and investment firm founded by Gary Torgow in 1988, owning and managing apartments, offices, industrial and parking.
- 2 min walk · 127 mCass TheatreA Shubert-era playhouse on Lafayette Boulevard, across from the Free Press Building, that opened with an operetta in 1926 and later helped bring Cinerama to Detroit. It was torn down in 1977–78 for a parking lot.
2 min walk · 131 mDoubleTree Suites by Hilton Detroit Downtown – Fort ShelbyAn all-suite DoubleTree in a 1918 downtown hotel with a 1927 Albert Kahn tower, a short walk from Huntington Place. It's being turned into an Embassy Suites.
2 min walk · 131 mFort Shelby HotelThe hotel at Lafayette and First (1918–1974): it grew tall with Albert Kahn's 1927 tower, then sat empty for more than three decades before reopening in 2008.- 2 min walk · 150 mThe Trolley RoomHotel Indigo Detroit Downtown's bistro on Washington Boulevard, with shareable plates, craft cocktails and Michigan beer.
- 2 min walk · 152 mRound Bar at Motor City KitchenThe circular bar inside the Fort Shelby hotel: 18 rotating local drafts, cocktails and a 2 AM last call on downtown's west side.
Around the station
- John K. King Used & Rare Books 8–10 min
Nearly a million books on four floors of a former glove factory.
- Fort Street Presbyterian Church 3 min
An 1855 Gothic Revival church.
- Theodore Levin U.S. Courthouse 2 min
The 1934 federal courthouse.
- WDIV Local 4 3 min
Detroit’s NBC station studios.
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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