REO Motor Car Company / REO Clubhouse

Ransom Eli Olds founded the REO Motor Car Company in 1904 and built a factory on this site after organizing the Olds Motor Vehicle Company in 1897, the forerunner of Oldsmobile. REO soon became a leading automobile producer, formed the REO Motor Truck Company in 1910, and began producing the popular Speed Wagon. In 1933 REO offered the first practical automatic transmission, but the Depression-era economy ended car production in 1936, and the company turned to commercial and military vehicles as REO Motors. Diamond T Trucks merged with REO in 1967 to form Diamond REO Trucks, Inc., and the company, maker of "The World's Toughest Truck," closed in 1975. Although the plant had been designated a National Historic Landmark, it was razed in 1979 for new industry. Built in 1917, the REO Clubhouse became Lansing's cultural hub, hosting free movies, wedding receptions, basketball games, dress balls, and patriotic gatherings during the First and Second World Wars. It also housed Lansing's first radio station, WREO, which began broadcasting in 1921. Known as the "Temple of Leisure," the clubhouse included a two thousand-person dining room, an auditorium, a library, four bowling alleys, a fireproof movie booth, and smoking, lounging, and billiard rooms. Employee use of the clubhouse was one of REO's policies to cultivate worker loyalty, and years after the Diamond REO plant closed, former employees still recalled the sense of family the company had fostered. The clubhouse was razed in 1979.

Lansing, Michigan · United States