George Booth at the entrance to The Detroit News building, sometime prior to 1919. If Samuel Alexander hadn’t had bad luck, he would have had no luck at all. Although he had studied for a year at Michigan Agricultural College (later Michigan State) and had a dream of using the Rouge River for fish cultivation, … Continue Reading →
A Detroit police officer in 1910 on a Detroit Police Department motorcycle. Detroit’s department was an early pioneer in motorization. Throughout its long history, the Detroit Police Department has been a leader in adopting new technologies in the war against crime. It was among the first departments to put officers on bicycles, it had one … Continue Reading →
Lt. Thomas E. Selfridge sits left of famed aviator Orville Wright as they prepare to take off on the fatal flight. The mud flats bordering Lake St. Clair near Mt. Clemens have been on the cutting edge of history since the Joy Realty Company of Detroit first developed a crude landing field early in this … Continue Reading →
The Dossin Museum’s recreation of a ship’s bridge gives visitors the illusion of piloting their own Great Lakes vessel. Walter Dossin was a wealthy man who became obsessed with a wealthy man’s sport — powerboat racing. Walter and his brothers Russel and Roy made fortunes from running Dossin Food Products Co., one of the biggest … Continue Reading →
Detroit’s old City Hall, as it appeared in the 1890s. Woodward is at the front of the building, Fort St. at the left, and Michigan Ave. at right. The poet Henry W. Longfellow called 1876 the “Year of a Hundred Years” in the verses he wrote for America’s centennial. In Detroit the long-awaited celebration began … Continue Reading →
“Reading the Story of Oenone,” by the American painter Francis D. Millet (1846-1912), was the first acquisition for Detroit’s art collection and was selected by popular vote. In the second half of the 19th century, even before the birth of the automotive industry, Detroit was already widely known as a manufacturing center. The Pullman Car … Continue Reading →
On June ll, l805, a blaze touched off in a stable by a spark from the pipe of a baker’s helper, roared through the community of wooden buildings, leveling the century-old city of Detroit. The danger of fire was a constant concern for residents. An ordinance required every citizen to have a full water barrel … Continue Reading →
CCC members gather in the morning to take orders from their chief before heading off into the forest. The Great Depression caused so much trauma partly because it came so suddenly, quickly turning a period of unprecedented prosperity, optimism and confidence into a discouraging struggle to survive for many Americans. The seemingly invincible U.S. economy … Continue Reading →