08/17/2026
It's ! Today: A peek inside the McMillan Mausoleum. This is the final resting place of industrialist, philanthropist, and U.S. Senator James McMillan, a titan of Detroit's Gilded Age.
Born in Hamilton, Ontario in 1838, McMillan moved to Detroit in 1855 and found work as a clerk in a hardware store. In 1864, McMillan and business partner John S. Newberry founded the Michigan Car Company to manufacture rail cars for the Union Army during the Civil War. The company became one of the city's largest manufacturers and employed thousands of workers.
McMillan branched out into almost every major industry in town, serving as president of the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway, majority owner of the Detroit Dry Dock Company and the Detroit & Cleveland Steam Navigation Company, and on the boards of several banks. McMillan and Newberry jointly donated $100,000 to establish Grace Hospital, named after McMillan's daughter Grace McMillan Jarvis, who died from complications after childbirth in 1888.
McMillan, a Republican, was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1889 and served until his death in 1902. He led the Senate Park Commission, which in 1902 published a plan for redesigning the National Mall. The so-called "McMillan plan" helped restore and reinterpret Pierre L’Enfant’s original vision for the nation's capital, shaping the monumental core of Washington, D.C. While never fully implemented, the McMillan Plan still influences planning decisions in D.C. today; the location of the Lincoln Memorial, the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial and Union Station are all due to the McMillan Plan.
Construction on the McMillan mausoleum began in 1888 and was described by the Free Press as "a costly piece of burial architecture" although its cost was not reported. The 308-square-foot vault contains 24 crypts. Inside the mausoleum is a serene marble vestibule once used for visitation by family members. As one paper reported from Sen. McMillan's funeral: "The casket will remain in the corridor of the vault for a few days before being sealed away forever. During the time the family will be given the privilege of once more gazing into the face of the late senator. The casket now stands surrounded with roses and other flowers, in plain view of the outer door, and it was gazed at by thousands of people yesterday and today." Carved marble pillars and pediment and an original wooden door and transom still separate the vestibule from the burial vault.
You can find the McMillan mausoleum along the valley road at the foot of Hazel Dell. Grace McMillan is buried in Jarvis mausoleum just next door.
