Famous people's places / Ypsilanti
Original Domino's building
Closed – archive entry
The Cross Street storefront in Ypsilanti where Tom Monaghan's small pizzeria took the Domino's name in 1965, now home to a different restaurant.
01 / The story of this place
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Tom Monaghan and his brother James bought a small pizza shop called DomiNick's in Ypsilanti in 1960, and after Tom bought out his brother's stake for a used Volkswagen, he kept building the business under new ownership. The growing pizzeria moved a few doors down Cross Street to this building, and in 1965 Monaghan renamed it Domino's Pizza, the start of what would become one of the biggest pizza chains in the world. From this small storefront near Eastern Michigan University's campus, Monaghan built a delivery-focused business model that eventually grew into thousands of locations worldwide, along with a fortune that let him buy the Detroit Tigers in 1983. The original storefront no longer serves Domino's pizza; the building on West Cross Street now houses a different restaurant.
- Tom Monaghan's pizzeria moved here and became Domino's in 1965
- Business started as DomiNick's, bought in 1960
- Near Eastern Michigan University's campus
- Building now houses a different restaurant
Famous Detroiters
Famous people tied to this place 1
Lexicon entries for the people who lived, worked, performed or liked to spend time here.
- Tom Monaghan born 1937 · entrepreneur, founder of Domino's Pizza, former Detroit Tigers owner
Founded
The pizzeria moved here from 507 W Cross St and took the Domino's name in 1965; the building now houses a burger restaurant.
Sources & fact check · Checked: 2026-09-25
An independently written bilingual guide. This collection is not an attendance-based ranking.
03 / Events
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