Another SHORPY Gem! Cadillac Square 1903

**Ray1936** · September-09-14, 05:20 PM

http://www.shorpy.com/node/18511?size=_original#caption

**MikeM** · September-09-14, 06:23 PM

I like that steam shovel and clam bucket working on the riverfront. And the schooner anchored in the river. And the circular telegraph wire distribution rings.

**Danny** · September-09-14, 06:43 PM

Overlooking the skyline of Cadillac Square before the age of the automobile.

Detroit was in iron stove making business at the time.

**Zacha341** · September-09-14, 07:11 PM

Awesome. I love to study these photos to see all the little nuggets of history like that steam shovel!

**EastsideAl** · September-09-14, 08:45 PM

What a wonderful photo. Thanks for calling our attention to it Ray!

I like to play my usual game with any old Detroit pictures: which buildings are still standing?

Obviously, the Old County Building is still there. I can also see the Reid Building [[triangle-shaped building where Greenwich Time bar is today) in the foreground. Plainly visible behind the County Building are Sts. Peter and Paul church, and the then brand-new [[completed 1903) Palms Apartments.

I believe we can also just see the steeple of Christ Church peeking out to the left of the County Bldg. tower, and the cupola of what's now the U of D Law School building next to Sts. Peter & Paul [[also the bigger towers of the now long-gone Detroit Museum of Art, precursor to the DIA). And is that the Hiram Walker Distillery over there across the river?

Love the Belle Isle ferry [[right?) and the 3 masted ship in the river. And at least one "moonlight" lighting tower is clearly visible too.

Anyone see anything else in this picture that is still standing today?

**cjd** · September-09-14, 09:22 PM

I was trying to make out what the ad immediately to the right of the base of the County Bldg [[or from the other direction, at street level to the left of the building listing "Space for Rent Hannan") says...

Looks like it says "Trans Atlantic" but I can't make out anything else. Any ideas what they might have been advertising as Trans Atlantic in Detroit? Wouldn't think it was the relatively old TA telegraph and TA telephone was still years away. Could it be for something that was being built out in that apparently empty lot?

Somebody with a better monitor might be able to make something out.

**gnome** · September-09-14, 10:15 PM

The bronze statues are M.I.A.

Ray, so what was it like back then?

**Brock7** · September-10-14, 12:24 AM

According to HistoricDetroit, the statues weren't contracted for until March 14, 1904:
http://historicdetroit.org/building/...unty-building/

There's another moonlight tower in front of the smoke-stacks.

The sign looks to me like it could read "The Trans-Atlantic American".

**gnome** · September-10-14, 04:32 AM

Originally Posted by EastsideAl

What a wonderful photo. Thanks for calling our attention to it Ray!

I like to play my usual game with any old Detroit pictures: which buildings are still standing?

Anyone see anything else in this picture that is still standing today?

i believe The Palms can be seen to the top left of the Wayne County Building.

i like to speculate as to the time of day and season ... From the lack of leaf cover I will guess the photo was taken in mid-May and close to noon based on how short the shadows are.

also I find it strange the lack of activity...is it Sunday?

**Scottathew** · September-10-14, 07:57 AM

For those of you wondering where the picture was taken from: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Tower1890s.jpg

It's where the 1001 Woodward building stands today.

**Lowell** · September-10-14, 09:18 AM

I would have thought that by 1903 there would be at least one car visible. Oh how that was about to change portended by a readable William Metzger Automobiles sign. The industrial smoke stack pollution is miserable.

Also the man-made [Scott Fountain and beyond] western point of Belle Isle has not yet been added.

**DetroitPlanner** · September-10-14, 09:44 AM

Hey there is the DIA!

**Ray1936** · September-10-14, 11:00 AM

Originally Posted by gnome

Ray, so what was it like back then?

Kinda boring. No TV or radio, and the movies only had a piano player for sound. Plus you had to wear a suit and tie and hat wherever you went. Dang uncomfortable in August.

**MikeM** · September-10-14, 11:16 AM

Name: SHORPY-4a22150a~2.jpg
Views: 836
Size: 14.4 KB

Early semi.

**Honky Tonk** · September-10-14, 12:51 PM

Originally Posted by Ray1936

Kinda boring. No TV or radio, and the movies only had a piano player for sound. Plus you had to wear a suit and tie and hat wherever you went. Dang uncomfortable in August.

Did you ever catch a glimpse of any ankles? [[hubba-hubba)

**p69rrh51** · September-10-14, 04:43 PM

The image is between 1902 and 1904. Most likely 1903 as advertised. The Metzger sign would be 409 E. Jefferson. 409 E. Jefferson was originally built as a 2 story building. Designed by Albert Kahn for Henry Joy and built in 1902. Metzger had his dealership on the first floor until he helped form E-M-F Motor Car Company around 1907. The Automobile Club of Michigan was started on the 2nd floor. Henry Joy was first secretary if I remember correctly. During 1904 Joy commissioned Kahn to design the 4 story addition to the building. This building along with the Detroit Racquet Club were Joy's first encounters with Kahn.

**downtownguy** · September-11-14, 11:29 AM

Originally Posted by p69rrh51

Henry Joy was first secretary if I remember correctly. During 1904 Joy commissioned Kahn to design the 4 story addition to the building. This building along with the Detroit Racquet Club were Joy's first encounters with Kahn.

Good for you if you do you remember. I can't remember a thing from 1904.

**p69rrh51** · September-11-14, 02:50 PM

Originally Posted by downtownguy

Good for you if you do you remember. I can't remember a thing from 1904.

Thx downtownguy, but I found an article from a 1902 issue of the Detroit Free Press on the building.

**Ray1936** · September-11-14, 09:44 PM

Here's another one today! http://www.shorpy.com/node/18521?size=_original#caption

**EastsideAl** · September-12-14, 09:27 AM

Originally Posted by Ray1936

Here's another one today! http://www.shorpy.com/node/18521?size=_original#caption

And there are your cars. All over the place only about 15 years after the previous photo [[the big sign seems to make it pretty obvious that this is from the couple of years of U.S. involvement in WWI).

Precious little left today from this photo, including the picture's main subject. Although the building it was taken from is still standing and in use.

Oh, and doesn't "Cheating the Public" seem like a mighty strange advertisement for a theater?

**EastsideAl** · September-12-14, 09:33 AM

The WWI-era Detroit Patriotic Fund was apparently the beginning of what became The United Way.

**gumby** · September-12-14, 01:18 PM

Originally Posted by EastsideAl

And there are your cars. All over the place only about 15 years after the previous photo [[the big sign seems to make it pretty obvious that this is from the couple of years of U.S. involvement in WWI).

Precious little left today from this photo, including the picture's main subject. Although the building it was taken from is still standing and in use.

Oh, and doesn't "Cheating the Public" seem like a mighty strange advertisement for a theater?

"Cheating the Public" from 1918
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0008956/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

**EastsideAl** · September-12-14, 09:47 PM

Originally Posted by gumby

"Cheating the Public" from 1918
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0008956/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

That Enid Markey sure was something else in that one.

And here's the New York Times review, which characterizes it as a "capital-versus-labor melodrama."
http://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/...ublic/overview