 
Mikeg
Member
Username: Mikeg
Post Number: 1985
Registered: 12-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, October 19, 2008 - 10:53 am: |    |
History of Assumption University
Here is a Google aerial showing that the photo was taken from the Ambassador Bridge, which runs alongside the campus; the church in the 1957 photo is at the lower right of this aerial:
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Mikeg
Member
Username: Mikeg
Post Number: 1988
Registered: 12-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, October 19, 2008 - 11:18 am: | |
The quality isn't the best, but here are some photos apparently taken from the roof of the Book-Cadillac Hotel at various time during the mid 1950s. There were no dates or other identification on these slide frames.
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Bulletmagnet
Member
Username: Bulletmagnet
Post Number: 1604
Registered: 01-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, October 19, 2008 - 10:34 pm: | |
Having been on the roof of the Book-Cadillac recently, I would have to say you're right on the money. These shots look to be taken on a very chilly day in early winter. A number of ships can be seen along the break wall, and the river hasn't frozen over yet. |
Scottr
Member
Username: Scottr
Post Number: 918
Registered: 07-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, October 19, 2008 - 11:26 pm: | |
I realized I had just been looking at that same view from the B-C in a very recent pic:
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll /gallery?Site=C4&Date=20081018 &Category=FEATURES&ArtNo=81018 0803&Ref=PH&Params=Itemnr=11 |
1kielsondrive
Member
Username: 1kielsondrive
Post Number: 367
Registered: 08-2008
| | Posted on Monday, October 20, 2008 - 3:59 pm: | |
The Windsor church in the photo was (or is) part of Assumption College, which used to sit next to University of Windsor and, I believe is now a part of the UW. |
Jimb
Member
Username: Jimb
Post Number: 18
Registered: 09-2008
| | Posted on Monday, October 20, 2008 - 6:50 pm: | |
Love seeing those old DSR buses. Used to ride those a bit back then with my parents, typically the Grand River bus going downtown and back. My dad took the bus to work from GR and Prevost to the end of the GR line (or close to it) all the years he worked downtown (late 1958 thru late 1981). He worked as a Federal Mediator in the Federal Building. Never had a drivers license, having been born and raised in NY city. Also very cool seeing some photos from September 1960 - that's when I was born. |
Wilus1mj
Member
Username: Wilus1mj
Post Number: 281
Registered: 05-2005
| | Posted on Monday, October 20, 2008 - 8:09 pm: | |
How big was the Hotel Wolverine...it looks huge in the picture looking down Wash. Blvd?? |
Mikeg
Member
Username: Mikeg
Post Number: 2001
Registered: 12-2005
| | Posted on Monday, October 20, 2008 - 8:35 pm: | |
The Hotel Wolverine was 17 stories tall, but that sign on the roof looked to be just as tall as the building itself! |
Mikeg
Member
Username: Mikeg
Post Number: 2035
Registered: 12-2005
| | Posted on Saturday, October 25, 2008 - 10:46 am: | |
Here is a circa 1920 b&w photo of the Hotel Wolverine [from the U of M Library's on-line collection of Early Detroit Images from the Burton Historical Collection]. Also in the photo are the YMCA and the "Joseph Mack Printing House" buildings. |
Mortalman
Member
Username: Mortalman
Post Number: 447
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, October 25, 2008 - 11:33 am: | |
Mikeg, were these Kodachromes you have been posting taken by a professional photographer that made his/her living doing this or was he/she a gifted amateur? In either case if he/she is still alive please thank him/her for allowing you to digitize and share these with the DY Forum. I think these photos are marvelous and they certainly take me back to a time when I was a young teenager just discovering the joys and wonders of the City of Detroit. Thank you and him/her for all of your effort and work! |
Mikeg
Member
Username: Mikeg
Post Number: 2036
Registered: 12-2005
| | Posted on Saturday, October 25, 2008 - 12:26 pm: | |
I don't know exactly how this person made their living but I'm told they had attended a private arts college and it's obvious they were a "gifted amateur" photographer. |
Switchmanjim
Member
Username: Switchmanjim
Post Number: 1
Registered: 10-2008
| | Posted on Saturday, October 25, 2008 - 1:26 pm: | |
Great pics Mikeg. The one of the rail yard brought back fond memories of when I worked there in the early 70's. |
Bulletmagnet
Member
Username: Bulletmagnet
Post Number: 1637
Registered: 01-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, October 25, 2008 - 4:14 pm: | |
Welcome to DY, Switchmanjim. We would love to here any of your rail road memories of see photos. |
Switchmanjim
Member
Username: Switchmanjim
Post Number: 2
Registered: 10-2008
| | Posted on Sunday, October 26, 2008 - 12:00 am: | |
Thanks Bullet, I regret not taking pictures while working at 17th street yard. I remember watching the RenCen bldg. go up. Another thing I do remember is how COLD it was in the winter, with the wind coming in off the river... |
Lizaanne
Member
Username: Lizaanne
Post Number: 113
Registered: 06-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 28, 2008 - 3:42 pm: | |
I remember it like it was yesterday - I was about 12 years old, and my uncle took me downtown for a shopping trip on Woodward. We would usually just take WW down - they (still) live at 7 Mile and Southfield, but this time for some reason we came up Jefferson.
We came out of the tunnel under Cobo Hall, and it just took my breath away!!!!!!!!!! I was so overwhelmed by the RenCen I burst into tears, nearly sobbing!! It was so AMAZING! :-)
Now - when I drive that way into downtown to work in one of the towers there, I just have to smile with that memory. Who would have thought, way back when, that I would be working there.
Well - I think it's pretty cool anyway. ;-)
~Liza |
Eastsideal
Member
Username: Eastsideal
Post Number: 26
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 28, 2008 - 4:51 pm: | |
I remember the Wolverine in its dying days. It was an old man's hotel, way down on its luck. Eventually it was taken over by I believe the state or the city, given an ugly cheapie renovation, and turned into a senior citizens residence. My mother was working at the YWCA at the time, which was just up Witherell from the hotel (it had the best pool in Detroit - 4th floor with views of downtown and Pewabic tile - which my sister and I used to swim in regularly in the wintertime). Some of the old folks from the hotel would spend a lot of time in the then very dive-y Elwood Bar, in its original location. Mom and I and my sister used to eat a late lunch there quite often on Saturdays, when we were all at the YW. More than once we had to help some infirm, and now rather drunk, elderly person back through the winter weather to their room at the Wolverine. |
Douglasm
Member
Username: Douglasm
Post Number: 1154
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 29, 2008 - 7:11 am: | |
Mikeg.....
.....you said that series of photos are undated but from sometime in the mid 50's. This is just a guess here, but are those the D&C liners that were tied up at the foot of 2nd St. at the old NYC freighthouse after the steamship line folded? I forget when they were scrapped (1954?) but you could date the picture from that, couldn't you? |
Mikeg
Member
Username: Mikeg
Post Number: 2058
Registered: 12-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 29, 2008 - 8:20 am: | |
I think you're right about those being the old D&C liners. Here's the higher resolution of the second photo in that group.
To back up that identification, here's a short history of the D&C's "night boats", a postcard illustration of the D&C's "City of Detroit III" and a circa 1932 D&C stock certificate with an engraved illustration of the same ship.
The text accompanying the stock certificate indicates the D&C steamers were idled in 1950, sold for scrap in 1956 and dismantled in Detroit during the winter of 1956-1957. |
Bulletmagnet
Member
Username: Bulletmagnet
Post Number: 1676
Registered: 01-2007
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 29, 2008 - 9:33 am: | |
Douglasm, damn keen eye my friend! I was hoping someone would come up with information on the ships seen in the photos above. This also helps to date the photos to pre '57 as Mikeg stated the ships were scrapped during that time.
Good job on the additional information and enlargement, Mikeg. This adds to the historical perspective of the photos. |
Douglasm
Member
Username: Douglasm
Post Number: 1155
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 29, 2008 - 3:35 pm: | |
I'm wondering if this shot might be pre-1942. Comparing the picture with ship photos in the two volumes of Great Lakes Ships We Remember, they appear to be (left to right) the City of Detroit III, Greater Detroit and Greater Buffalo, although the last two may be reversed. I'm counting the ventilation shafts between the funnels, and the funnel spacing for identifying marks.
The reason I'm questioning the date is my memory from 50+ years ago is that there were only 2 ex D&C liners tied up at the foot of 2nd by the freighthouse, and they were tied up next to each other, not end to end.
I believe the two boats (again based on information from the books) were the Greater Detroit and the Eastern States, which had their upper works burned off on Lake St. Clair in 1956. All three liners in the picture are bigger than the Eastern States.
Now, assuming one of the liners IS the Greater Buffalo, it was converted into the training aircraft carrier U.S.S. Sable in 1942, decommissioned in 1945 and scrapped in 1948, thus the picture would have to be pre 1942.
http://www.navsource.org/archi ves/09/46/46081.htm
The Sable's companion aircraft carrier was the U.S.S. Wolverine, converted from Cleveland And Buffalo Transit's 4 piper the Seeandbee.
I won a bar bet once. The question was "Were there any paddle wheel air craft carriers commissioned by the U.S. Navy...." |
Douglasm
Member
Username: Douglasm
Post Number: 1156
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 29, 2008 - 3:58 pm: | |
OK, now I have completely confused myself. Are there 5 boats in the picture? If you look to the rear of the second and third 3 stacker, there appear to me 2 more boats, possibly the Western States and Eastern States (both single stack ships), although it's difficult to tell. Could this be a picture taken during winter layup?
(Message edited by douglasm on October 30, 2008) |
Douglasm
Member
Username: Douglasm
Post Number: 1159
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, October 30, 2008 - 5:37 pm: | |
Is there a real boatnerd on board who can look at the picture and give an opinion? |
Bulletmagnet
Member
Username: Bulletmagnet
Post Number: 1686
Registered: 01-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, October 30, 2008 - 5:39 pm: | |
A real Salty Dog...? |
Douglasm
Member
Username: Douglasm
Post Number: 1160
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, October 30, 2008 - 6:48 pm: | |
No, not Procol Harum. This picture thing has got me going and now I'm curious about the date..... |
The_rock
Member
Username: The_rock
Post Number: 2460
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, October 30, 2008 - 7:03 pm: | |
3 of those vessels have 3 stacks and so the City of Detroit lll, the Greater Detroit and the Greater Buffalo all come to mind. Rule out the SeandBee as she had 4 funnels.
When I was secretary of GLMI, we sold those (cancelled) D and C stock certificates at the Dossin Museum to raise funds so we could purchase the Gothic Room from the City of Detroit lll. The woodwork of the Room had been disassembled and was in a barn outside of Cleveland, but we finally raised the necessary money, the transfer was made and the Gothic Room continues to be a big attraction at the museum.
I was one of the several thousand witnesses who saw the demise of the Greater Detroit and the Eastern States when Capt. Becker (a river rat if there ever was one) put the torch to their superstructures back in June of 1956.
The authority on the history of the D and C line, it's officers and its vessels is the late Gordan Bugbee, an architect and Great Lakes historian who lived in Corktown and who knew anything and everything about this important part of Detroit maritime history. I was honored to serve with him on the Dossin Board. |
Mikeg
Member
Username: Mikeg
Post Number: 2065
Registered: 12-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, October 30, 2008 - 7:08 pm: | |
Here are cropped images of the four vessels, one with two stacks and three with three stacks each, which are shown laid up along the riverfront in two of those photos above.
(Message edited by Mikeg on October 30, 2008) |
Douglasm
Member
Username: Douglasm
Post Number: 1164
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, October 30, 2008 - 8:58 pm: | |
Rock.....
.....so if one of the three stackers is the Greater Buffalo, the shot is pre 1942, right? That's when the Greater Buffalo was converted into the aircraft carrier.
doug |
Mikeg
Member
Username: Mikeg
Post Number: 2068
Registered: 12-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, October 30, 2008 - 9:14 pm: | |
Based on the type of cardboard frames on these slides, these photos were taken sometime after May 1949. [source] |
Bulletmagnet
Member
Username: Bulletmagnet
Post Number: 1690
Registered: 01-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, October 30, 2008 - 10:08 pm: | |
Mikeg, thanks for posting the linkage to the dating guide site (again). It helps to date when the various incarnations of the mounts were minted. Do you know what year the sign came down on the Free Press building? |
The_rock
Member
Username: The_rock
Post Number: 2461
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Friday, October 31, 2008 - 7:32 am: | |
Yes, Dougm, that's my guess. I don't recall any more "3 stackers" in the D and C fleet than the ones I have named. The City of Cleveland lll was a two stacker ( I remember her being tied up in Windsor in the early 50's following her collision ).
However, Mikeg's post regarding cardboard slides throws a monkey wrench into the works.
I will see if I can find Gordan Bugbee's article from our old Dossin (GLMI ) Journal that has several shots of the D and C boats, and maybe that will help. |
Mackenzie68
Member
Username: Mackenzie68
Post Number: 43
Registered: 03-2008
| | Posted on Friday, October 31, 2008 - 11:20 am: | |
Just a thought: Some of dad's slides went wonky and had to be remounted, which will throw off any later attempts at dating by mounting information. |
Douglasm
Member
Username: Douglasm
Post Number: 1165
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Friday, October 31, 2008 - 7:45 pm: | |
I'll bet that's the problem, Mackenzie68. I blew those pictures up and can say with a resonable feeling I'm correct that those are City of Detroit III and the two Greater's. Given that the Greater Buffalo was converted in the winter of 1942 (requisitioned by the Navy on Aug. 7th, commissioned the U.S.S. Sable, IX-81 on Sept. 19th), I'd be willing to bet the picture is no later than winter layup, 1941/1942. |
Douglasm
Member
Username: Douglasm
Post Number: 1166
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Friday, October 31, 2008 - 7:55 pm: | |
Rock....
....do you know if Dossin's has a copy of "The History Of The Detroit And Cleveland Navigation Company, 1860-1951"? It appears to be a Doctor's dissertation by Francis Duncan at the University of Chicago given in 1954.
Looks like it would be an interesting read.....
(Message edited by douglasm on October 31, 2008) |
The_rock
Member
Username: The_rock
Post Number: 2462
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Monday, November 03, 2008 - 5:20 pm: | |
You got me on that one, Doug. When he was curator, John Polacek maintained a very nice collection of Great Lakes history books, and I can only assume that they are still on the shelves. You could probably check with the museum on a weekend as to that particular publication.
Unless someone stole a funnel from the SeaandBee, those are the two Greaters and the D III pictured. |
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