I had never been to Detroit before, and I have been so incredibly curious about it. The photos I saw of it emptied and abandoned, and then hearing the news stories of revitalization and gentrification… I wanted to see it with my own eyes. It was more stunningly beautiful than I expected, and – like Flint – hollowed out in a way that I hadn’t seen before. I am actually quite smitten with it. It feels proud and gritty, and I feel the beating heart of the past, the present and the future there.
All of the photos of text are from the Detroit Historical Museum.
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- I knew that “mainland” Michigan was shaped like a mitten, but it wasn’t until this trip that I understood that Michiganders use the term Lower Peninsula – and it really hit me that it IS a peninsula. Like everywhere, water determines where people settle and shapes the type of work that people do there. The Great Lakes – both historically and currently – are a major shipping corridor.
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- The Detroit-New Orleans connection I just learned! After a ten-years as commandant of Detroit, King Louis ordered Cadillac to Louisiana, where he would become Governor. Detroit’s Fort and New Orleans’ Lake were named for the Comte du Pontchartrain, Minister of the French colonies in North America.
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- Detroit River Windsor, Ontario, Canada on the left Ambassador Bridge, Detroit Riverwalk on the right
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- Note especially the locations of Grand Circus Park and Campus Martius Park Detroit River at the bottom of the map
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- Grand Circus Park
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- Grand Circus Park
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- Thomas Edison Memorial Fountain, Grand Circus Park
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- Campus Martius Park
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- Cadillac Square Park
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- Underground Railroad routes
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- Underground Railroad Memorial on the Detroit Riverwalk
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- Detroit’s first car
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- Wayne County Building
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- Downtown
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- Downtown
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- Despite the gorgeous architecture, many of the buildings downtown are in need of renovation, and many of those that appear to have been renovated have vacancies.
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- Downtown
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- Downtown
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- Residential buildings downtown, which have been sub-divided into apartments. These are so beautiful, and also actually are pretty run down.
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- Motown Museum
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- Motown Museum
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- An auto showcase in the Renaissance Center in downtown Detroit.
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- A fancy new Detroit Tigers stadium downtown, right next to Grand Circus Park
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- A beach in the middle of a big Midwest city! So different, yet in the same spirit of spectacle, as the original… Campus Martius Park
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- Since the river is the beginning of Detroit’s story, it seems fitting to end this post with an update!
