  Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 1965 Registered: 12-2005 |
Ambassador Bridge Tower, July 6, 1957. (full size)  Detroit's skyline, visible through the bridge railing, July 6, 1957. (full size)  Detroit's skyline and railyards, July 6, 1957. (full size)  The old makes way for the new. The new City-County Building as seen from the old Vernor's site at the foot of Woodward, July 1955. (full size)  The new City-County Building as seen from Jefferson Avenue, July 1955. (full size)  The new Ford Auditorium, July 1955. (full size)  | ||
Danny Member Username: Danny Post Number: 7843 Registered: 02-2004 |
Where did you get those Kodachrome pictures? | ||
Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 1966 Registered: 12-2005 |
From their owner, who gave me permission to digitize and post them. Is that OK with you? | ||
Danny Member Username: Danny Post Number: 7845 Registered: 02-2004 |
Yes. Detroit was so beautiful back then. It's like walking through paradise without end. | ||
Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 1967 Registered: 12-2005 |
More to come...... | ||
Bulletmagnet Member Username: Bulletmagnet Post Number: 1585 Registered: 01-2007 |
The view of the rail marshaling yards as seen from the Ambassador Bridge is fantastic, Mikeg. Is that smoke seen rising above Belle Isle (In the large view) coming from the St. Clair River, in Canada? | ||
Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 1968 Registered: 12-2005 |
I noticed those two smoke plumes when I first digitized this image. Looking on a map, they could have been either from freighters in the lower Lake St. Clair ship channel or from grass fires in the southern portions of Walpole Island. | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 3704 Registered: 10-2003 |
Definitely smoke from freighters. As a kid I remember it being a constant sight on Lake St Clair. Also, you could never drive along the shoreline without seeing at least one freighter in the lake, anytime of day. Now it seems you can go days without seeing one. | ||
Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 1970 Registered: 12-2005 |
Two photos of the newly-built Cobo Hall, both taken from the present-day location of Joe Louis Arena: The west side of Cobo Hall, Sept. 1960 (full size)  The circular ramp leading to the parking lot on the roof of Cobo Hall, Sept. 1960. (full size)  This May 30, 1961 aerial photo shows the original configuration of Cobo Hall:  This shot of the Penobscot, Buhl, Guardian and Veteran's Memorial Buildings was taken from the waterfront, just east of Cobo Arena, Sept. 1960. (full size)  | ||
Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 1972 Registered: 12-2005 |
Penobscot and National Bank of Detroit buildings, June 1968. (full size)  Two views looking north down Woodward past the J.L. Hudson Department Store building, June 1968. (full size)  (full size)  Looking north down Washington Blvd. from Michigan Ave., July 1968. (full size)  Two views of the Michigan Ave. side of the Sheraton (Book)-Cadillac Hotel, July 1968. (full size)  (full size)  | ||
Gibran Member Username: Gibran Post Number: 4101 Registered: 02-2007 |
thanks Mikeg those are so very cool | ||
Bulletmagnet Member Username: Bulletmagnet Post Number: 1586 Registered: 01-2007 |
Again, a fantastic job on this series of photographs, Mikeg. One really gets the feel for downtown Detroit at a pivotal time in our history. So much was changing in the city at that time, like the squeaky clean and newly minted Cobo Hall. Do you know what that small building with the ladder leaning on it is? | ||
Detroit_signal Member Username: Detroit_signal Post Number: 63 Registered: 02-2007 |
These are just awesome photos!! It is important for those of us who weren't around back then to get a grasp of how great the city was and the landmarks/streetscapes of the day. Lovin' the classic signals!! | ||
Xd_brklyn Member Username: Xd_brklyn Post Number: 446 Registered: 10-2003 |
In the first shot of Michigan Avenue, you can see the Brass Rail Bar just behind Peoples. Looks as if the large relief of the two drinkers is still on the facade of the Rail Bar at that time. Thanks again. | ||
Bulletmagnet Member Username: Bulletmagnet Post Number: 1587 Registered: 01-2007 |
Good of you to notice the small details, Detroit_signal. I am sure many of those signals pictured above survived till recent days before they were replaced. I have not seen any of the prized green models however. | ||
Detroit313 Member Username: Detroit313 Post Number: 740 Registered: 02-2006 |
AMAZING!! Thank you M- I have a new desktop image- <313> | ||
Goat Member Username: Goat Post Number: 10451 Registered: 10-2003 |
So many people on the streets...too bad it will never be that way again. | ||
Bulletmagnet Member Username: Bulletmagnet Post Number: 1591 Registered: 01-2007 |
<313>, image number 3 (from the top down) is my new desk top. Yours? | ||
Mayor_sekou Member Username: Mayor_sekou Post Number: 2667 Registered: 09-2006 |
When did they narrow Woodward? | ||
Jcole Member Username: Jcole Post Number: 4224 Registered: 04-2005 |
If I remember correctly, there was a period of time when Woodward was not only narrowed, but they tried to mall it off, so that there was no traffic on it. I think that was in the late 80's or so. | ||
Burnsie Member Username: Burnsie Post Number: 1521 Registered: 11-2003 |
There used to be signs saying "Woodward Mall." That narrowing project had been done by the time Hudson's closed. IIRC, buses only were allowed from Grand Circus Park to Gratiot/State. Like similar well-intentioned schemes across the country, it only further contributed to the decline of the shopping district. | ||
Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 1973 Registered: 12-2005 |
quote: I believe it was the equivalent of today's construction trailers that general and sub contractors place on job sites. This shed or utility building has a sign on it saying "Harlan Electric Co." and they probably had the contract for all of the electrical work on Cobo Hall and Arena. | ||
1kielsondrive Member Username: 1kielsondrive Post Number: 357 Registered: 08-2008 |
I can't say this enough times - 'thank you','thank you', for posting these fabulous photos. I remember, first hand, a lot of what's in these pictures. They bring back the things that made me love Detroit. Hopefully, others here will see that Detroit was a large, vibrant and growing city. It was sooooo exciting to get on the bus and go downtown. | ||
Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 1974 Registered: 12-2005 |
A photo of Gutzon Borglum's bust of Abraham Lincoln, front lawn of the Detroit Institute of Arts, June 23, 1957. (full size)  The McGregor Memorial Conference Center on the Wayne State campus was designed by famed architect Minoru Yamasaki and opened in 1958. These three photos of the building and its details were all taken in October of that year. (full size)  (full size)  (full size)  Flower Day at Eastern Market, May 22, 1977. (full size)  (full size)  | ||
Bulletmagnet Member Username: Bulletmagnet Post Number: 1595 Registered: 01-2007 |
Mikeg, thanks for posting the photos above. Is the Gutzon Borglum's bust of Abraham Lincoln still at the DIA? I don’t recall seeing it, but we arrive by way of Brush. Minoru Yamasaki is probably best known for the World Trade Center, but also designed the American Concrete Institute, here in Detroit. I always found that prefab concrete shed at Eastern Market a bit sterile. It seems like an orphan in its stark contrast to the original shed works that make up the greater market. | ||
Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 1977 Registered: 12-2005 |
From what I can find on the Internet, the Lincoln bust is now located on the grounds of the Ford/UAW (Veteran's Memorial) Building on Jefferson next to Hart Plaza. | ||
Bearinabox Member Username: Bearinabox Post Number: 956 Registered: 04-2006 |
I love those gaudy-ass gold streetlights down the middle of Washington Boulevard. | ||
Mortalman Member Username: Mortalman Post Number: 424 Registered: 03-2007 |
I remember all that you posted, Mikeg. And, as someone so aptly said, “It was sooooo exciting to get on the bus and go downtown.” I was just a young, early teenager when many of the photos from Oct. 1958 were taken that you posted. I had a Detroit News paper route that had swapped for my Detroit Times paper route and I had money in my pocket that was “burning a whole in it.” Sundays would come and I’d catch the Chene bus right at its start at Davison and Jos. Campau and I never missed anything along the bus route down to Cadillac Square. My foot never hit the pavement in downtown Detroit without the song of joy in my heart. I knew I had arrived and I had arrived in the heart of someplace that was teeming with excitement. I have all those good and great memories of a city that was alive and that I loved – DETROIT! Thank God I have my memories. It’s hard for me to believe that in my lifetime which is nothing more than the opening and closing of a door that this vibrant, exciting city has turned into what it is today. I made my teeny-tinny contribution to the wonder of Detroit. The current generation who are the stewards of the city can take responsibility for what it is, now. | ||
Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 1982 Registered: 12-2005 |
Views of the Detroit Skyline, 1953-1976 July 4, 1953 (full size)  Sept. 5, 1956 (full size)  July 6, 1957 (full size)  July 6, 1957 (full size)  Nov. 1976 (full size)  | ||
Bulletmagnet Member Username: Bulletmagnet Post Number: 1599 Registered: 01-2007 |
Mikeg, how cool is it to see Detroit with new construction in progress?! A city that is building is a city with hope for its future. I love this series of skyline shots. What is the name of the church in that bridge view taken from Windsor in July of '57? Do you have any history on it? I know we have many ship experts here at DetroitYes; do any of you care to take a stab at naming the northbound freighter(s)? |
