  Little_buddy Member Username: Little_buddy Post Number: 49 Registered: 03-2006 |
A good friend growing up, his dad worked at some place on the river that had seven smokestacks that they called sisters. went to a company picnic there once. He showed us how they take water or something from the river and how their filters cleaned out whatever was floating in. Interesting stuff | ||
Stinger4me Member Username: Stinger4me Post Number: 135 Registered: 08-2007 |
I believe they were on the Conner Creek generating station. The plant burned coal, made steam and used the steam to generate electricity. It was part of the Detroit Edison company. | ||
Eaglelv Member Username: Eaglelv Post Number: 25 Registered: 03-2007 |
I grew up with the view of the Seven Sisters and Two brothers out my bedroom window when I lived on the first block of Chalmers down by the canals. They were the exhaust chimney's of the Edison plant and were a fixture on the east side for decades. Not sure who gave them the moniker but it was gospel. | ||
Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 1421 Registered: 12-2005 |
Here is a photo, courtesy of the WSU Virtual Motor City Collection. | ||
Dtroit Member Username: Dtroit Post Number: 15 Registered: 03-2007 |
They were also used by pilots ( during WWII I believe)to help them line themselves up with the runways at Detroit City Airport. They were a well known landmark for airplanes back in the day, much like "9 mile Marker" (the high rise on 9 mile near the lake) is to ships on Lake St. Clair. | ||
Norwalk Member Username: Norwalk Post Number: 176 Registered: 11-2006 |
They also left an impression on Frida Kahlo during her stay Here in Detroit. | ||
Andylinn Member Username: Andylinn Post Number: 681 Registered: 04-2006 |
i always heard it as two brother + seven sister... maybe that was just my family's thing, though... (there were 9 smokestacks originally... but some were torn down a few years ago...) | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 6187 Registered: 08-2004 |
Most of the east side folks I have ever known have referred it as "the 7 sisters and 2 brothers". It was reminiscent of the great smoke stacks of a giant ocean liner... Sadly the older 7 sisters were torn down about 2 decades ago. | ||
Raptor56 Member Username: Raptor56 Post Number: 246 Registered: 05-2007 |
I thought they demolished them in the mid 90's | ||
Douglasm Member Username: Douglasm Post Number: 1002 Registered: 10-2003 |
http://aerialpics.com/C/edison .html Raptor56 is correct. August 10, 1996 was the implosion date.... | ||
Kathleen Member Username: Kathleen Post Number: 2721 Registered: 10-2003 |
Here's a link to Lowell's webisode on this subject: https://www.detroityes.com/industry /01sevensis.htm | ||
Iddude313 Member Username: Iddude313 Post Number: 136 Registered: 07-2005 |
What were they ? They were beautiful! | ||
Charlottepaul Member Username: Charlottepaul Post Number: 2262 Registered: 10-2006 |
HA! Just like the soon to be built Cadillac Centre--nobody really likes the look of smoke stacks, but you learn to love them and they grow on you... | ||
Skylark Member Username: Skylark Post Number: 19 Registered: 08-2007 |
My dad used to call the stacks "The 7 sisters and the 2 sister-in-laws. | ||
Busterwmu Member Username: Busterwmu Post Number: 419 Registered: 09-2004 |
In the days pre-radar, mariners used to use the 7 sisters (and later their two brothers, or two ugly step-sisters) to get a bearing when crossing Lake Saint Clair and lining up with the entrance to the Detroit River. As built, the 7 (and later 9) stacks sat directly on a north-south line, which probably helped those City Airport pilots. I believe the Conners Creek generating station, as it is today, is used as a peaker plant, coming on-line during the summer when demand is at its peak. It can also be used in the event that another generation plant needs to be shut down. | ||
Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 1423 Registered: 12-2005 |
The link I provided above is to a 1938 photo of the original power plant. Here is an aerial view from the DTE/WSU collection that was taken in 1981 showing the original power plant with the seven stacks plus the newer plant with the two stacks:  Here is a recent aerial from Google Maps showing the remaining plant with the two stacks:  | ||
Edziu Member Username: Edziu Post Number: 22 Registered: 07-2007 |
Anyone hear of a pastry called 7 sisters? A seven layered, dry, chocolate covered cake. | ||
Scout Member Username: Scout Post Number: 3 Registered: 12-2007 |
Also called simply 7 layer cake...and it's delicious. My favorite comes from the Star Bakery, but it can be easily found in Hamtramck. | ||
Norwalk Member Username: Norwalk Post Number: 178 Registered: 11-2006 |
And the 7 bothers can be found there as well | ||
Dhugger Member Username: Dhugger Post Number: 386 Registered: 03-2005 |
My dead father used to manage Conners Creek in the 60's. He took me on a tour in the massive loud plant. He ended up carrying me on his shoulders. As an exercise, for Detroit Edison, my father was asked if he could develop a method for bringing the plant up from a cold start. They shut down the whole system. My father then had his team load up the boilers with tons of kerosene soaked railroad ties. (I think it was in the boilers...it may have been in another section) The whole process took 18 hours. Dad was really proud of this accomplishment. Detroit Edison recorded this process for emergency use. | ||
Silas Member Username: Silas Post Number: 119 Registered: 12-2007 |
My father told me that my grandfather worked on digging the foundation for the Seven Sisters power station. He said that it took two guys on a shovel, one to hold it in place while the other pounded it in to the hard clay with a sludge hammer. | ||
Reddog289 Member Username: Reddog289 Post Number: 230 Registered: 08-2007 |
even as a westsider i remember them, silas got me thinking of all the hard work that went into building all them old factories,power plants , etc. | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 3562 Registered: 10-2003 |
The Conners Creek power plant was built during 1913-1915, but its construction and the installation of boilers and generators was delayed by the war, with the final generator installation in 1920. Upon its completion, it had doubled the generating capacity of the Detroit Edison company. There were 14 steam boilers, two per stack. The stacks were 352 feet tall, 17 feet in diameter. Not only were they the tallest structures in Detroit at the time, but the tallest smokestacks in the world. The plant went through a major rebuild during the 1930s, and the expansion which added the two extra stacks took place from 1949-1951. For Silas, this description of the foundation preparation is from Raymond Miller's "Kilowatts at Work", an early history of the Detroit Edison company: quote:  | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 3563 Registered: 10-2003 |
The Seven Sisters, flood-lighted for Light's Golden Jubilee, honoring Thomas Edison and 50 years of electric lighting, October 1929:  | ||
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise Post Number: 1422 Registered: 09-2007 |
To make it short and sweet, the Seven Sisters were around Conner and Jefferson. | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 3564 Registered: 10-2003 |
Here are two photos of the new boiler house (the one that still remains, with the two brothers on top) while under construction in 1950. The two generators to be installed will triple the capacity of the existing plant.   |
