Another Detroit shot on Shorpy, 1903

[Vox]

Mikefmich, you're right, there is plenty not to like today that was nearly nonexistent in 1903. But I look at it as which negatives are you willing to live with? when you look back with nostalgia at a different era and think how it must have been better to live then. Sure, you didn't have a lot of what you list above, but I wouldn't trade any of that for what was socially acceptable in this country in 1903, including lynching and all forms of racial inequality, gender inequality with no voting rights for women, children working long hours in factories, etc. Some may think negatives from 1903 are worth what was good back then, but some don't, including me. That idyllic scene in the photo is lovely, but we can't forget what societal ills were common back then. Yes, we've got plenty of societal ills today that we didn't have back then, but to me there's nothing worth trading for Jim Crow, lynching, child labor, minorities and women generally excluded from all levels of power in large numbers, disease and illnesses that are treatable now, etc..

I agree 100%. The whole "good old days" scenario is very selective at best. My great-great grandfather died at 43 from being a varnish rubber at Packard. Others died from the influenza epidemics. Architecturally, it was a great time to be alive, but the price of living was rather high.

[Cincinnati_Kid]

I agree 100%. The whole "good old days" scenario is very selective at best. My great-great grandfather died at 43 from being a varnish rubber at Packard. Others died from the influenza epidemics. Architecturally, it was a great time to be alive, but the price of living was rather high.

It wasn't the "good ole days" for black people, while it's marginally better now it's still a lot of B.S. Blacks are dealing with on a daily basis.