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Motor City Center: 1908

From June 1908 comes this third installment of Detroit Publishing's "general view" of the Motor City. Notable landmarks include Monroe Street at left (street cleaning in progress), the Hotel Pontchartrain, Cadillac Square, the Wayne County Building, and Congress Street and the Detroit River at right. Composite of two 8x10 inch glass negatives. View full size.

From June 1908 comes this third installment of Detroit Publishing's "general view" of the Motor City. Notable landmarks include Monroe Street at left (street cleaning in progress), the Hotel Pontchartrain, Cadillac Square, the Wayne County Building, and Congress Street and the Detroit River at right. Composite of two 8x10 inch glass negatives. View full size.

 

On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5

Where are the Moonlight Towers?

Beautiful trio of photo, but are we sure of the date?
Where are the Moonlight Towers?
Shouldn't we see at least one in the panorama/trio?

[We are, and we do. - Dave]

Polygon but not Forgotten

The comment by lesle about seven-sided structures made me realize the locals there were producing oddly configured things well before the auto designers there began doing it so often. Some truly strange things have originated in that town.

Septenary!

At least two seven-sided buildings in the foreground. Fascinating.

Before Pitney Bowes

had familiarized everyone with the initials "PB" , Pardridge and Blackwell was doing the same in Detroit

As can be seen, they used a heart in their advertising, ostensibly to point out they were in the "Heart of Detroit" -- personally I think it was a defensive move to counteract criticism they were a long block removed from Woodward -- but whatever the intended psychology, it wasn't enough to spare them from the Panic of 1907. By 1909, just a few years after opening the building seen here, the store had become Crowley, Milner -- the name Detroiters are more likely to recognize.

My Home Town, Pt. II

Just some more notes on what can be seen in this photo. On the left is the headquarters and warehouses of the D.M. Ferry Seed Co., founded in 1833 and at one time the world's largest retailer of seeds. They still exist as the Ferry-Morse Seed Co. in Massachusetts.

Of course, the Wayne County Building is most prominent in this shot. It still stands in downtown Detroit, but unused for many years. Hopefully, some large corporation with Detroit ties will buy it and rehab it as Ford did for our great railroad station.
https://historicdetroit.org/buildings/old-wayne-county-building

The real gem in this photo can be seen on the upper right in the Detroit River. You can see just the far eastern end of Belle Isle, as important to Detroit as Central Park is to New York. In fact, they were planned by the same landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted, a pioneer in the field. You can also see one of the early bridges connecting Belle Isle to the city. Unfortunately, it burned down just a few years after this photo was taken. In its place since the mid 1920s has been the MacArthur Bridge. Many a Detroiter has watched the hydroplane races on the river, like the Gold Cup, from this vantage point.
https://historicdetroit.org/buildings/belle-isle

And Dave, thanks for fixing my hyperlinks. I'm not that knowledgeable.

Watch the Fords Go By

A noteworthy slogan seen on rooftop billboard at far left. It was utilized pervasively for decades in billboard and print media, effectively reinforcing Ford's ubiquitous and empowering presence in a rapidly developing nation.

Let's put that slogan somewhere on the list with ...

  • Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet.
  • Have a Coke and a smile.
  • I can't believe I ate the whole thing.

Around the Globe

There's a 6 story brick building with a globe on the roof, to the left of the Wayne County building. That's the Globe Tobacco Building, built in 1888 as a factory for cigars. Globe Tobacco was founded by, among others, Detroiter Hiram Walker. Walker made Canadian Club whisky, so he must have been diversifying vices! The Globe Building was eventually converted to offices.

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