Images of Detroit circa 1910

[p69rrh51]

With the popularity of vintage images of the city I am posting a few I found awhile back.

[p69rrh51]

Second group

[Detroitnerd]

What an attractive city this was before "progress" had its way with it!

[p69rrh51]

Third group

[p69rrh51]

Last group

[Ray1936]

Beautiful! Thanks for sharing. I'll not spoil it by saying anything contemporary.

[Smirnoff]

Thanks for posting - makes you want to have lived during that era.....

[marshamusic]

Wow...thank you for posting!

By the time I came along [[in the fifties) much, of not most of this was gone. But I do remember this general "look" of Detroit, and some of the structures I clearly remember. Thanks again, I'll bookmark this.

[[doesn't make me want to have lived back then, things being the way they were, but I surely can appreciate the beauty)

[EastsideAl]

That's a wonderful group of pictures! Thanks for posting them p69rrh51. Where are they from?

It's amazing to me just how many beautiful turn-of-the-20th-century Richardsonian buildings Detroit once had [[although the only thing actually designed BY Richardson was the little Bagley Fountain).

Like Marsha, I remember some of these buildings that are now gone. Others I'm familiar with through my parents and grandparents who remembered them, or my historical studies.

But now I'm going to do something rather depressing and go through these pictures to see which ones are still standing.

[detroittrader]

In group 2, the Harper Hospital pic, there is the base of a Moonlght Tower lurking in the trees and telephone poles at right. Very cool!

[casscorridor]

In the history of DetroitYes! has there ever been a thread on small buildings of Detroit? Landmarks are great and all, but I am much more interested in the small buildings that made up the true urban fabric of the city. Yes, landmarks make a great city, but without those smaller buildings can it even be called a city? There are few of these small scale buildings left downtown. Parking lots now sit where buildings once stood, the most epic example being the Monroe Block... low-rise buildings [[5 stories or so) predating the auto boom. Many more less prominent examples now lost in time... or waiting to be rediscovered by the archivists of DetroitYes!

[marshamusic]

The "House of Providence" on West Grand Boulevard,in the second group, looks just like Alden Park Towers.

It is amazing how many mansions were on Jefferson and on Woodward.

I do remember when West Grand Blvd. [[on the way to Belle Isle) was very grand.

[p69rrh51]

In the history of DetroitYes! has there ever been a thread on small buildings of Detroit? Landmarks are great and all, but I am much more interested in the small buildings that made up the true urban fabric of the city. Yes, landmarks make a great city, but without those smaller buildings can it even be called a city? There are few of these small scale buildings left downtown. Parking lots now sit where buildings once stood, the most epic example being the Monroe Block... low-rise buildings [[5 stories or so) predating the auto boom. Many more less prominent examples now lost in time... or waiting to be rediscovered by the archivists of DetroitYes!

Images of Smalls for the most part do not exist. I you give me some time I will post images from the Inland Architect and News Record circa 1900. The are some smalls, some dupes, but mostly residential.

[p69rrh51]

Inland Group 2

[p69rrh51]

Inland Group 3

[p69rrh51]

Inland Group 4

[p69rrh51]

Inland Group 5

[p69rrh51]

Inland Group 6

[p69rrh51]

Inland Group 7

[p69rrh51]

Inland Group 8

[Neilr]

A comparison of your picture of the Church of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary with a current Google Maps image shows few real changes. The gold statue of the BVM was moved to the peak of a new pyramid roof atop of the campanile tower. Then in the 1920s when Woodward Avenue was widened and so many other churches had to be greatly altered, all that happened here was that the church lost its front lawn. I guess the vines were lost at the same time [[no dirt, no vines). That's about all I can notice.

I first remember seeing the church with its distinctive gold BVM statue in the 1950s. The stonework was a very dark gray. Then at some point, the church was cleaned and the original beautiful pink color was restored. What a difference!

Thank you, p69rrh51, for sharing these pictures with us.

[p69rrh51]

Inland Group 9

[p69rrh51]

This will give everyone a good idea why I remain very quiet when buildings that no longer exist are discussed.

[Neilr]

Alas, the apartment building on Temple and Park has not fared as well. An old building without its cornice is like a church lady on Sunday morning without her beautiful hat: something is just not right with the picture.

[p69rrh51]

Alas, the apartment building on Temple and Park has not fared as well. An old building without its cornice is like a church lady on Sunday morning without her beautiful hat: something is just not right with the picture.

Neilr its still standing and as we have learned can be restored.