El Moore Gardens

sustainable urban play

The El Moore Gardens is a publicly accessible neighborhood garden in Midtown Detroit that nurtures our relationship with nature to promote joy, wellness, and a sense of belonging. Filled with Michigan native plants, the Gardens provides an opportunity for quiet relaxation and playful learning. Its events and activities move with and celebrate the rhythm of the seasons and our connectedness to all living things.

The Gardens is also home to Seasons Market, a neighborhood good food store and cafe. Please come visit us, and be a part of creating Detroit’s sustainable future.

Visiting the Gardens

Location
4111 2nd Ave.
Detroit, MI 48201

Open Year Round
Sunday 8am – 8pm
Monday 8am – 8pm
Tuesday CLOSED
Wednesday 8am – 8pm
Thursday 8am – 8pm
Friday 8am – 8pm
Saturday 8am – 8pm

El Moore Tank Square

Community Guidelines

To ensure a peaceful experience for both our visitors and our immediate neighbors, we have a short list of guidelines we ask all visitors to follow. 

You are encouraged to…

  • Enjoy the park, when open
  • Place your recycling and trash in proper bins
  • Keep all animals on a 6′ leash
  • Clean up after your animal
  • Enjoy the flowers, without picking or cutting
  • Use provided tables and chairs within the park

Please refrain from…

  • Smoking, using alcohol or other drugs
  • Leashing your pet to any Gardens features
  • Using grills or open flames
  • Climbing on trees or structures
  • Loud music or noise that disturbs others
  • Organizing ballgames
  • Unapproved commercial activity

FAQs

Nope! The space is open to everyone. We prioritize having the space open to the public, which includes not renting it out for private events at this time.

Visitors are welcome to take photos for their own use. To maintain peace and accessibility in the Gardens, we ask that no professional photography, including wedding photos, take place. It’s a small park and, unfortunately, we just don’t have the space for photo shoots.

Not at this time. Our priority is to make the Gardens available to our neighbors and to the larger community, so we do not plan to rent it out for private events right now.

We love interacting with visitors and sharing our knowledge, but we also operate with a very small staff. If you are interested in a tour, please reach out to us at elmooregardens@gmail.com and we’ll respond back with any availability.

For organizations and large groups, please contact us at elmooregardens@gmail.com so that we can coordinate timing with you.

Sustainability

The El Moore Gardens was sustainably designed, built and operated. It includes:

  • Michigan native plant gardens
  • 26 solar PV panels
  • Extensive use of reclaimed materials throughout
  • Super-insulated retail building
  • Geothermal heating and cooling
  • Rainwater harvesting for landscape care
  • Active recycling and composting programs

Come visit a living example of our sustainable future and do your part to help make that future a reality.

El Moore Gardens Solar Panels Square

History

There is a rich history behind the land that the El Moore Gardens rests upon, as well as the materials that were used to create the garden and store. The story of the land stretches back from the Native Americans who originally called the area home to the North Cass Farms era of the early 19th century, and from Detroit’s Victorian “Paris of the West” / Piety Hill days to the Cass Corridor artist and activist years of the 1960s and ‘70s. Home for several decades to a gas station, the land became a brownfield site after the station’s demolition, and has now been remediated and transformed into a place where people can come together to enjoy nature.

Most of the materials used to build the gardens and retail building were carefully reclaimed and repurposed from buildings in Detroit and the surrounding region. These include:

  • Garden entrance created using the iconic Dalgleish Cadillac water tower
  • Garden benches made from the water tower’s steel legs
  • Main gates made from metal from Thomas Edison’s workshop gates
  • 30,000 locally reclaimed bricks from the nearby Marie Apartments building

Come see how we can build Detroit’s sustainable future from its past.

Art in the Gardens

With the Cass Corridor’s rich tradition of art, we felt that any space in the neighborhood wouldn’t be complete without contributions from local artists. We are deeply grateful to the following artists who have lent their talent and energy to create work for all to enjoy:

  • Carlos Nielbock, Main gates in the water tower
  • Albert Young, Hand-blown glass globes for lighting the round corner benches
  • Juan Angeles, Building and tower brick and stone work
El Moore Garden park