42°21′ N   83°04′ WINDEPENDENT CITY GUIDE · HU / ENDETROIT + MICHIGAN
QUARTER
DETROIT
Car 291 in Midtown among Wayne State University banners (2018)
Michael Barera · CC BY-SA 4.0

QLINE / Stop 8 of 12

QLINE stopWarren Avenue

Southbound just south of Warren Avenue · northbound just north of it

Wayne State University’s stop in Midtown: the Maccabees Building, the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Detroit Public Library and the Michigan Science Center within walking distance.

↑ north: 8:18
↓ south: 7:36
Platforms
two curbside platforms
District
Midtown, Wayne State
From Congress Street
18 min
From Grand Boulevard
6 min
Sponsor in 2017
Wayne State University

01 / Story

The stop’s story

Warren Avenue is Wayne State University’s front door: the university itself sponsored the stop in 2017. To the west stand the campus buildings, among them Old Main, begun in 1894 as Detroit’s Central High School before it became the university’s main building. To the east the Cultural Center’s museums begin: the Michigan Science Center and the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, home to the world’s largest permanent collection of African American culture.

The Maccabees Building went up in 1926 and 1927 for the Knights of the Maccabees, a fraternal society, and its tower carried the antenna of WXYZ radio and television until 1959. Wayne State owns it today. In July 1942 Arthur S. Siegel photographed Woodward looking north from the Maccabees Building, with the Fisher Building in the distance; streetcars still ran on it then.

DDOT’s route 8 runs along Warren Avenue, crossing the city east to west around the clock. The two platforms sit on opposite sides of the intersection: southbound you board on the west side just south of Warren, northbound on the east side just north of it.

  1. The gateway to Wayne State University
  2. The Maccabees Building and the Cathedral Church of St. Paul
  3. The Detroit Institute of Arts and the Main Library three minutes away
  4. Transfer to the round-the-clock Warren Avenue bus

02 / From the window

What you see from here

On your left, the university: the Maccabees Building’s tower, and a block west on Cass Avenue the clock tower of Old Main. On your right, the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, designed by Ralph Adams Cram and built in 1907; its congregation, formed in 1824, was the first Protestant church in the Michigan Territory. Ahead, the Detroit Institute of Arts faces the marble palace of the Detroit Public Library.

03 / Timeline

The stop’s timeline

  1. Michigan’s first Protestant congregation

    St. Paul’s congregation is formed.

  2. Central High School rises

    Construction of today’s Old Main begins.

  3. The Cathedral Church of St. Paul

    Ralph Adams Cram’s church on Woodward.

  4. The Maccabees Building

    The tower later used by WXYZ for broadcasting is finished.

  5. Streetcars from above

    Arthur S. Siegel photographs Woodward from the Maccabees Building.

  6. The stop opens

    The stop is sponsored by Wayne State University.

  7. The streetcar stops here every fifteen minutes, free of charge.

04 / Did you know?

Did you know?

  • Wayne State was founded in 1868; today it is Michigan’s third-largest university, with nearly 24,000 students.

  • Old Main was built of brick and limestone quarried from the land directly in front of it.

  • A 701-meter wired section runs from Hancock Street to Ferry Street, and the Warren Avenue stop falls within it.

The Maccabees Building’s tower from Woodward, with trees in blossom (2009)
JasonParis from Toronto, Canada · CC BY 2.0
Old Main, Wayne State University’s clock-towered landmark
Del arte at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0
The Cathedral Church of St. Paul on Woodward (2008)
Andrew Jameson ( talk ) · CC BY-SA 3.0
The entrance and dome of the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History (2012)
Quick fix · CC BY-SA 2.0
Woodward Avenue looking north from the Maccabees Building, the Fisher Building in the distance, July 1942 (Arthur S. Siegel, Office of War Information)
Arthur S. Siegel · Public domain
Sources & fact check · Checked: 2026-09-26

Every fact is sourced. Where sources disagree (the number of stops, the weight of the cars or the construction cost, for example) we follow the primary, official source and say so in the text. The timetable comes from the QLINE’s official GTFS data and live positions from the RTA’s feed.

05 / Nearby

Places within walking distance

Quarter Detroit places around the stop, with straight-line distances.

Around the stop, from the official QLINE list and the map

  • Cathedral Church of St. Paul 1 min

    The cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan, Ralph Adams Cram’s church of 1907.

  • Maccabees Building 1 min

    A 1927 tower, once WXYZ’s transmitter, now owned by Wayne State.

  • Detroit Institute of Arts 3 min

    One of the country’s great art museums, with Diego Rivera’s Detroit Industry frescoes.

  • Detroit Public Library 3 min

    Cass Gilbert’s Italian Renaissance marble palace, the city’s Main Library.

  • Michigan Science Center 4 min

    A science museum with an IMAX dome and a planetarium.

  • Old Main 4 min

    Wayne State’s clock-towered landmark, once Central High School.

  • Charles H. Wright Museum 5 min

    One of the world’s oldest and largest independent African American museums.

06 / Events

Events near the stop

Upcoming events at venues around the stop.

All events ↗