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The Heart of Detroit: 1907

Detroit circa 1907. "The Campus Martius." Landmarks include the Detroit Opera House, Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, Cadillac Square, Wayne County Building, Hotel Pontchartrain. Panorama of three 8x10 glass negatives. View full size.

Detroit circa 1907. "The Campus Martius." Landmarks include the Detroit Opera House, Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, Cadillac Square, Wayne County Building, Hotel Pontchartrain. Panorama of three 8x10 glass negatives. View full size.

 

On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5

True Crime

Another fantastic pic of the Campus Martius area, giving the rare view up Monroe Street where Gies's European Hotel operated (the attached building to the left of the Hotel Fowler, center of pic). In 1894, the infamous H. H. Holmes lodged Mrs. Pitezel there for a few days, the poor woman never knowing her daughters Alice and Nellie were but five blocks away.

D.M. Ferry and U of Michigan sports

Dexter M. Ferry, the man behind the seed company in this picture, donated the land in south Ann Arbor on which today's U of M athletic venues stand. One of which, the outdoor track and field venue, is named Ferry Field. Before today's Michigan Stadium, Ferry Field was the home of the football Wolverines, and the iron gate with the "FERRY FIELD" name remains in place on south State Street.

"Man of the Hour," again

Also playing on Shorpy at https://www.shorpy.com/node/11486

The NYT called it a "Virile Melodrama," and said: "A youthful Mayor who cannot be bribed or intimidated, a financier who wants to get control of a street railway franchise in perpetuity, and a pair of political bosses, who are at odds with each other and who are fighting to gain supremacy in their organization -- these are the chief characters in George Broadhurst's play "The Man of the Hour.""

Women downtown

I have noticed over and over on Shorpy that almost every city street scene in the northern states features women bustling about, presumably doing their shopping, having lunch with their friends, walking with their daughters, etc. In the photos of southern cities, you almost never see women on the streets. Nearly every southern city street scene comprises pretty much entirely men. Why is this? Heat? No place for "a lady" to be seen? Has anyone else noticed this?

re: Seedy

The Ferry Seed Warehouse seen in the background is at the western end of what is now Greektown. It's now an office building.

Moonlight Tower

I believe that the structure in the center foreground of the photo is a moonlight tower. It was an early form of street lighting where there would be one tall tower with bright, probably carbon-arc, lights instead of multiple smaller lights closer to the ground. Austin, Texas is the only city that still has these in operation, although they have been updated to use a modern light source.

[A Shorpy favorite, seen in many of our Detroit photos, for example, here, here and here.]

High speed photography

No Shorpy spirits, except the sprinters already mentioned.

Concerning those lights, how much illumination did they actually cast?

A calamity?

Something big must be going on behind the Pontchartrain! A fire engine speeding left to right and dozens of men appear to be running toward the same destination. Or is it happy hour at the establishment proclaiming Kentucky Whiskey available here? Even the group of folks standing at the corner of the Hotel have their attention turned in that direction! So much going on here!

Seedy

Rajah Coffee

Can Starbucks be far behind?

Horse Sense

The Motor City with more horses than motors! In back, the classic sign of economic progress -- smokin' chimneys.

Is a radio tower

in the center of the picture? It appears to be a large tower.

[It's a street light. -Dave]

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