Gallagher joined the Detroit Free Press newspaper in 1987, where he remained until 2019.[5][6] Gallagher documented Detroit's history for more than three decades, including the history of the auto industry.[6][7] He participated in the Detroit newspaper strike in 1995, as one of the members of the Newspaper Guild labor union.[8] In 2017, he was inducted into the Michigan Journalist Hall of Fame, awarded by Michigan State University School of Journalism.[8] After leaving his role at the Detroit Free Press in December 2019, Gallagher wrote an open letter to the people of Detroit. He wrote a 2022 article in Metromode about the history of discriminatory mortgage lending practices.
His book Reimagining Detroit: Opportunities for Redefining an American City (2010) posits ways for the shrinking city to improve.[5] Gallagher's bookYamasaki in Detroit: A Search for Serenity (2015), is a biography of architect Minoru Yamasaki who designed multiple buildings in Detroit.[9]Rust Belt Reporter: A Memoir (2024), is an autobiographicalmemoir in which Gallagher highlighted his hopeful ideas about Detroit's urban recovery, in light of the city's economic collapse and in an era which traditional newspaper publishing and journalism is in decline.[5]
Publications
Books authored
Hill, Eric J.; Gallagher, John (November 2002). AIA Detroit: The American Institute of Architects Guide to Detroit Architecture. Balthazar Korab (photography). Wayne State University Press. ISBN9780814331200.[4]
Gallagher, John (March 30, 2021). The Englishman and Detroit: A British Entrepreneur Helps Restore a City's Confidence. Parafine Press. ISBN9781950843381.[11][12]