Detroit is the largest city in Michigan state. In the 20th century, Detroit boomed with an industrial powerhouse and automobile industry. Its population grew immensely, and in 1910 it became the 9th largest city in the United States. The “Great Migration brought large numbers of black Southerners into Detroit. The black population multiplied from 5700 in 1910 to 40,800 in the 1920s. Some other industries, including metal crafts, railcars, stove works, paints, iron, brass, and copper, progressed by leaps and bounds. Henry Ford built an assembly line at his Highland Park Plant in 1910. Later that decade, when World War I broke out, Detroiters fought valiantly.
Here below are some stunning historical photos that show Detroit city in the early 20th century from 1900 to 1910.
Ford and GM continued making record profits with military contracts and completely ruined the state, country, and planet in the process…
By no means on their own. Pthalates, PBB, asbestos, formaldehyde, perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), pesticide chemicals cause far more damage. Glyphosate. Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) and sewage carelessly allowed into waterways
It was all that dang world fair
Moreover, white suburbanites (since suburban home loans were offered only to white families by policy) still wanted easy private access to other parts of the city. Using phrases such as “it was for corporate profit” hides all the other things local voters did to block out certain other people with their housing policies.
I’d love to see the “now” pictures.
I would have loved to live closer to this era than the current one. It looked more beautiful then, when things were simpler. However, I would prefer to be in my 20s-40s in the 70s-90s.
If you were white, Christian, male, Anglo-Saxon, and rich, it was a great time. Blacks, Italians, Poles, illiterates, poor, or non-Christians had a hard time. The only social safety net was provided by benevolent societies and extended families. There was no “pure food movement” yet, sanitation was still in its infancy, and coal smoke was filthy and suffocating.
There are a lot of women escorted out and about in these photos, which I find interesting.
Detroit has never had a good mayor. They sucked Detroit dry until today