Great glimpse into the past. Photo is just a tad blurry, but thought I'd pass this link along.
http://www.shorpy.com/node/21676?size=_original#caption
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Great glimpse into the past. Photo is just a tad blurry, but thought I'd pass this link along.
http://www.shorpy.com/node/21676?size=_original#caption
Who were these people? Their names? Where were they going? What did they do? Where did they live? Do their descendants still live in metro Detroit? What was Detroit to them?
I love these photos because you can really see the detail in just about everything. It's simply amazing.
Always wondered what the equivalent of not wearing a hat back then would be today. No pants?
No baseball hats then either, SammyS. From all the period photos I've seen from the 1800s to about the late 1950s, everyone wore a hat outside. I think about the late 1950s the trend toward hatless began. I remember when one day, about 1963, I was assigned to #2 cruiser [[the Big Four) for a couple of days, the three in civvies had fedoras. I didn't have one, so I went and bought a fishing hat to work those two days. The old timers gave me a dirty eye, and I was never assigned to the cruiser again. [[I didn't much care, all they did was park and drink coffee.) :)
The view is from the east side of Woodward just south of old Campus Martius. It appears to have been taken from a wagon [[note the horse's ears in the extreme foreground) parked next to the sidewalk. The old Merrill Fountain would have been to the photographer's right. Because of the reconfiguration of Campus Martius in 2003-4 this location would be in the middle of the street today.
The well-remembered B. Siegel building is visible on the left, at the corner of Woodward and State. A few other buildings that are still standing today [[although very altered in some cases) can be seen on the west side of Woodward. Most prominently the Elliott Building in the sunshine at the corner of Grand River [[with the large rounded windows on the top floor). And way back in the distance, just past Grand Circus Park, one of Detroit's then famous "moonlight" lighting towers can be seen looming over the scene.
From the sun and the people's clothing it looks a fall or spring day. I might question the year assigned as a little late, since there appear to be no automobiles at all in the shot [[or is that one parked at the curb on the left, just past the streetcar?). As someone pointed out on the Shorpy site, this may be one of the last shots of a car-less Detroit.
JFK was the death knell for mens' hats. When he regularly went hatless, that pretty much ended the style.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ray1936
Snopes disagrees: Hat Trick.Quote:
Originally Posted by jiminnm
I don't understand why we don't build beautiful buildings anymore, why is our current society so pathetic?
Horrible time to be alive in the US right now.
I wonder the same thing! I could spend hours looking for the elusive "Time Traveler"!Quote:
Originally Posted by dtowncitylover
OMG! I love these photos SO MUCH! I wish I lived in Detroit back then...as a man, of course. Couldn't tolerate the whale-bone corsets! Thank you, Ray and thank you Shorpy!
Happily surprised to see a pre-Great Migration African-American in this view. Just about 1 percent of the population at this time.
Attachment 32713
In 1900 there were 4,111 Black people in Detroit. In 1910, 5,741. As reported in David Katzman's Before the Ghetto, 1973.Quote:
Originally Posted by Detroitnerd
Yes, that roughly tracks with 1.2 to 1.4 percent. The percentage actually went down during the flood of European immigration and the growth of the nascent auto industry in the '00s. The Great Migration begins in earnest with the First World War.Quote:
Originally Posted by Neilr
In any event, I sometimes hear African-Americans disdain these views of old Detroit, because they don't see "anybody who looks like me." So it's kind of nice to see this detail "filling out the picture," so to speak.
I enjoy viewing the old pictures of Detroit. Yes, I do scan the images to see if there any African Americans.
Of course, you know that there were African-American freemen in Detroit during the British occupation, that is, at the time of the War of 1812. I'm sorry but no photographs survive. :oQuote:
Originally Posted by trstar
Great photo, but I'm not a fan of the SHORPY watermark blasted across it. Did he have to do that, it's not like it's his photo.
Another great Shorpy picture of our town. This time of the Monroe block, old City Hall, and other long-gone buildings. I think the date on this is also a couple of years late, from the evidence of the businesses on Monroe along with the complete lack of cars.
http://www.shorpy.com/node/21699
Me too. The mans smart dress suggest he was not poor.
Quote:
Originally Posted by trstar
Well, it's his web site, and I'm grateful for his efforts in posting these historic photos. If you want the original, you can always go to the Library of Congress.Quote:
Originally Posted by Király
And it's not really "blasted" across it. It's small and in the bottom cornerQuote:
Originally Posted by Zacha341
The watermark is across the entire photo, albeit faint. I hadn't noticed it before and now it's kind of annoying.
Where? If this were true, wouldn't it be on all Shorpy-marked photos? If so, where is it on this one other than in the corner?http://www.shorpy.com/node/21698?size=_original#captionQuote:
Originally Posted by EGrant
Here's a large watermark from the Woodward photo. Note the higher contrast indicated by the red arrows on parts of the "O" and "Y" of "SHORPY."
It's so faint it's no wonder it's hard to see.
What's curious is when I try to copy & paste just the "O" alone from a screenshot in MSPaint, I consistently get an "Error getting the clipboard data!" error. I can copy & paste other parts of the photo without error. I wonder if this is some kind of copyright protection feature?
I can't find a visible watermark on jcole's photo.
Jimaz,I do it now; I still don't see it in the other one though. I wonder if he only does it to ones he posts to Facebook or something.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimaz
I don't know why he would have a copyright; these belong to the Library of Congress
Going back to the OP's photo, it's not actually library of Congress so maybe Dave did buy it.
Here it is on the other photo. I think this is a new thing, as some of the older photos only have the corner watermark.
Attachment 32724
Where? If this were true, wouldn't it be on all Shorpy-marked photos? If so, where is it on this one other than in the corner?http://www.shorpy.com/node/21698?size=_original#caption
I see two parts of the water mark just left of the ramp that goes down to the water on the right side of the photo. It's on the water just above the last boat on the dock.
I wish I could offer a time machine into this era but I can't. The closest I can approximate is the film Kafka. It runs 94 minutes and has nothing to do with Detroit but matches the atmosphere of the period very closely.Quote:
Originally Posted by dtowncitylover
Bookmark it if you don't have the time right now. It's well worth watching.
Dave puts the Shorpy watermark on each photo, as a way to show where the photo came from. Although many of the photos start at the LoC, the Shorpy folks 'adjust, restore and rework' the photos to clear them up. The process is described in the left column near the bottom of the site, under 'About the photos'. They've had people resell the restored photo as their own. Thus they watermark, often in odd or unexpected places.Quote:
Originally Posted by jcole
From back in the days when people used their legs to get around instead of cars....
The odd-looking building at the corner was built as First Baptist Church [[congregation still exists, now on Southfield just north of 8 Mile), but had been converted to commercial use long before the time of this picture. It would soon be torn down and replaced by the Dime Building.Quote:
Originally Posted by 3d123
I think the congregation was still there when the photo was taken. Their new First Baptist Church building on Woodward wouldn't get built until 1909. They did have retail shops around the outside of the church. They could rent those out to raise money. Mariners church had the same setup.Quote:
Originally Posted by EastsideAl
The fine detail on these photos is the result of using big negatives, probably at least 8 by 10. Cell phone photos are convenient, but they don't even begin to approach the detail and subtle contrast gradations provided by large format film cameras.
Yes, the caption on the Woodward photo says "8x10 inch dry plate glass negative."Quote:
Originally Posted by Burnsie
The small grain size of the silver nitrate used is another factor. Years ago I recall reading that this is why black & white was preferred over color film for astrophotography. Silver nitrate gave much better detail.
Of course everything's changed now with digital photography.
The church was in a building at Cass and Temple [[then called Bagg) from 1875 to 1912 [[when they merged with the congregation that was in the building on Woodward). That location was later the site of the Ft. Wayne/American Hotel. The old church at Fort and Griswold was converted to commercial use and the former sanctuary used as an auditorium for lectures, etc. It was known as the Walker Block during that time.Quote:
Originally Posted by archfan
Here is an old thread on the Cass church:
http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthr...rch-located-at
So that must be the church completed in 1863, and it was converted in 1875 when they moved to Cass?Quote:
Originally Posted by EastsideAl
Yes, I believe that is correct.Quote:
Originally Posted by archfan
How interesting that another African American gentleman shows up at the right time! Bottom left, standing on the corner. It even appears he's gazing towards the camera.Quote:
Originally Posted by 3d123
For those too young to remember it, Shorpy shows us a beautiful 1909 picture of another one of Detroit's great architectural losses, the Fort St. Union Depot, demolished in 1974.
http://www.shorpy.com/node/21802?size=_original#caption
That could have been a signature building in the city if it was still standing. What a shame it was torn down.Quote:
Originally Posted by EastsideAl
The same photo is on Union Depot's Wikipedia page.
http://www.shorpy.com/node/21902?size=_original#caption
This is Detroit [[circa 1907) as winter fantasia, complete with poetic captioning. And though Woodward is in the picture, as per the title of this thread, it is not the street that is the main focus of this view. Can you name the street seen here crossing Woodward? [[No peeking at the Shorpy comments where the answer is posted.)
Extra strong scouts' honor: I have not peeked.Quote:
Originally Posted by EastsideAl
My my guess is Woodward and Sprout or Temple as I think that is the first Unitarian on the left. The church that mysteriously combusted maybe two or three years back. It is also before the widening of Woodward removed the front porch thing.
Wrong. So wrong.
I thought so too at first, but First Unitarian had a triple mullioned window, this one doesn't.Quote:
Originally Posted by gnome
That's what I thought at first glance too. The style and look are very similar. Something to keep in mind here is that you are not looking at the front facade of the building.Quote:
Originally Posted by gnome
So, the answer is that it's Forest, looking east across Woodward. Today the view wouldn't have sou much depth, because you'd be looking at the front of the VA hospital a block away on John R. But, the building on the left is still there and still looks very much the same way today. That is the south side of First Congregational church.
Attachment 33039
Here is another great shot of Woodward. This one is looking north from Fort St. around 1911, which is just long enough after the 1907 photo that started this thread that there are suddenly cars everywhere. In fact, this picture is probably pretty great for the old car spotters among us [[and old streetcar spotters too).
http://www.shorpy.com/node/21915?size=_original#caption