Another Detroit shot on Shorpy, 1903

[blackmath]

......and all the horse pollution in the streets and the open windows letting all that "fresh" air into the buildings.

Imagine on the really hot summer days when the air is so thick you can cut it with a knife... The smells must have made your eyes water.

[EastsideAl]

I've seen this great shot before at the Burton Historical Collection when researching Detroit's "moonlight" lighting towers. This is, I believe, part of a panoramic set taken in 1903. You can see several towers in this picture, and the next shot over to the northeast shows literally dozens of them all over the east side.

Whenever I look at one of these old pictures I always try to spot any structures in it that are still standing in our very changed city. Here you can see the Old County Building, of course, along with the Globe Trading Company behind it [[helpfully labeled with a little globe-shaped sign on the top), and the "Greenwich Time" building at the point of Cadillac Sq. and Congress, but I believe that every other building visible downtown is either long-gone or disappeared during my lifetime [[like the Monroe block).

Further out you can clearly see the sun glinting off of the then-brand new Palms Apartments on Jefferson, Sts. Peter and Paul church just to the right of the County Bldg. tower, the spire of Christ Church just peeking out from behind that tower, and way off in the distance on Belle Isle just past the bridge glowing brightly in the sunshine the proud new clubhouse of the Detroit Boat Club.

But that's it, I think. Does anyone spot anything else?

Of course, there are other great details, like the wagons lined up in front of the food market businesses that still lined the north of Cadillac Square [[only a few years then after it had been the site of the city's Central Market), the big white ferry out in the river near Belle Isle, another ferry that looks to be leaving Windsor, and the ruralness then of that area east of Windsor out to the Hiram Walker Distillery [[another still-standing building?). Also, is that a masted sailing ship I see just off the coast of the east side?