Chimney Implosion on 12th and other vintage films

**Lowell** · March-30-09, 11:46 AM

and 400 vids of old films in teh Virtual Motor City collection...

http://www.lib.wayne.edu/resources/d...ews/videos.php

Just what I don't need to discover with my time crunch!

**cman710** · March-30-09, 04:20 PM

I really like this one, which shows the sites of various buildings before they had been built: http://www.lib.wayne.edu/resources/d...o.php?vid=2_04
In this area, demolition was certainly occurring to make way for development!

**cman710** · March-30-09, 04:26 PM

This one shows a six ton tank being lifted to the top of the "new" Penobscot Building in 1928. The views include a panorama in several directions. I noticed the Book Tower and Broderick building, though I bet that some of you will notice other, more interesting details. Here's the link: http://www.lib.wayne.edu/resources/d....php?vid=13_24

**Huggybear** · April-01-09, 07:41 AM

What's priceless in the Penobscot video is the men in the "skiff," who are all wearing their hats [[rather than holding on to them). The wind blows like crazy that high up.

**pffft** · April-01-09, 08:19 AM

Just to post my usual historian footnote...but these "videos" are newsreels shot by Detroit News photographers back in the teens and 1920s.

**buildingsofdetroit** · April-01-09, 09:49 AM

My favorite:
http://www.lib.wayne.edu/resources/d...php?vid=3R2_03

The construction of the Broderick Tower [[nee Eaton Tower). The flapper dancing at the end is priceless.

**One Shot** · April-01-09, 09:54 AM

Very cool! Was that Hudsons in the backround being built???

**old guy** · April-01-09, 10:24 AM

Wow, that's an incredible collection.

**cman710** · April-01-09, 10:48 AM

Thanks for posting that link of the Broderick being built. I love seeing how bustling the streets were with cars, even in the 1920s. Grand Circus Park was also pretty packed with people. I wonder if the footage was taken at lunch time, given the number of people on the streets.

**the rock** · April-01-09, 11:12 AM

I especially enjoyed seeing that old Detroit News pictorial of the Michigan- Illinois football game. Although the caption is correct as far as the score is concerned , the date posted is wrong. That game was played in 1924, not 1923. My shirt-tail relative ,Todd Rockwell, [[ qb for Michigan) is briefly shown in this film. He played two years on the Michigan varsity squad, and upon graduation, became a reporter for the Detroit Free Press.

Red Grange scored 5 touchdowns that day. Yes, 5 of 'em. He drove us nuts and did not even play in the second quarter.

**Lnfant** · April-01-09, 12:13 PM

very nice videos, thanks!
REQUEST: when referring to specific vids, please state the page #

**old guy** · April-01-09, 03:11 PM

Love the smoke screen car on P.10. Of course I like the Gar Wood films on P.8.

**the rock** · April-01-09, 03:42 PM

Good point, Lnfant. I was referring to Page 1 [[Illinois defeats Michigan) when I mentioned Red Grange and "Uncle Todd".Rockwell.

Another one that caught my eye was Page 3 [[Youngest Jurist takes Oath of Office). Although I was not around when Lila Neuenfelt took the oath as a municipal judge in Fordson [[ Dearborn), I did appear before her in the mid 60's when she was a Wayne County Circuit Court judge. I believe she was the first woman to sit on the Wayne County bench. She was a tough cookie, but I was able to get along with her! She was born in Lewiston ,we had a cabin up there and her brother ran the local Neuenfelt Hotel, so all that helped a rookie lawyer.

**hermousefriday** · May-21-11, 09:38 PM

Thanks for sharing this!!

**Whitehouse** · May-22-11, 06:04 AM

Originally Posted by cman710

This one shows a six ton tank being lifted to the top of the "new" Penobscot Building in 1928. The views include a panorama in several directions. I noticed the Book Tower and Broderick building, though I bet that some of you will notice other, more interesting details. Here's the link: http://www.lib.wayne.edu/resources/d....php?vid=13_24

Looks like the American flag is at half-mast that day.

**Zacha341** · May-22-11, 07:25 AM

Yeah it had to be windy that high up!!!!! The one guy looks like he is putting a phone up to his right ear in one instance! Of course there was no kind of 'portable' phone apparatus then --

-- !

Originally Posted by Huggybear

What's priceless in the Penobscot video is the men in the "skiff," who are all wearing their hats [[rather than holding on to them). The wind blows like crazy that high up.

**Zacha341** · May-22-11, 07:53 AM

Cool vids Lowell. It will take time to go thru them but I found this one [[6B-28) showing the unveiling of a statue for Belle Isle! I wonder if it still erected there?
http://www.lib.wayne.edu/resources/d....php?vid=6B_28

**Whitehouse** · May-22-11, 10:26 AM

Originally Posted by Zacha341

Cool vids Lowell. It will take time to go thru them but I found this one [[6B-28) showing the unveiling of a statue for Belle Isle! I wonder if it still erected there?
http://www.lib.wayne.edu/resources/d....php?vid=6B_28

It is.

Central Avenue between Picnic Way and Inselruhe on Belle Isle

Inselruhe. Nice name. Translated from German it means Island tranquility.

A bit weathered though, but still around.

Another great picture.

**Zacha341** · May-22-11, 11:40 AM

Wow! Thanks! I recall it now. The other photo you provide shows a small bronze plaque to the left of the installtion. Nice that is still there and has not suffered the fate of so many other bronze and copper items on the isle and elsewhere......

Originally Posted by Whitehouse

It is.

Central Avenue between Picnic Way and Inselruhe on Belle Isle

Inselruhe. Nice name. Translated from German it means Island tranquility.

A bit weathered though, but still around.

Another great picture.

**56packman** · May-22-11, 01:47 PM

We showed one reel of these at the Redford theatre in 2009, Detroit theatre organist John Lauter accompanied them live at the Redford's Barton organ, as they would have been viewed when they were first shot/filmed. Newsreels were the NBC nightly news of their time, you just saw the events a week after they occurred.

**Gistok** · May-22-11, 03:09 PM

I met John Lauter once playing the organ at the Fox for a Preservation Wayne Tour. Seems like a nice guy. A lot of the Cinema Treasures website images are from John.

**Fury13** · May-25-11, 12:05 PM

Originally Posted by cman710

Thanks for posting that link of the Broderick being built. I love seeing how bustling the streets were with cars, even in the 1920s. Grand Circus Park was also pretty packed with people. I wonder if the footage was taken at lunch time, given the number of people on the streets.

There were a lot of people on the streets simply because Detroit was booming in the '20s. The area would boom again postwar, but this was during Detroit's first huge growth period.