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.
I used Ancestry DNA and traced my family tree, and discovered that my great-great-grandfather died in 1900 after being hit by a streetcar at Fort Street and Rivard. According to his death certificate, he was at fault for the accident. I came across a few articles in the Free Press and a sketch that was used to identify his body. I’m curious about what kind of identification people carried during that time period.
I understand that some of you may be envisioning a utopian scenario,but I assure there were some truly appalling situations happening in that city during that period.
The city was beautiful and wealthy. It also had racism, and a lot of it. The Big 3 Car Companies also had a stranglehold on it. Building freeways and ripping through the city.
You’re a bit off on your timing. In 1900, there were no Big 3, plenty of racism, but very few African Americans. Migration did not begin en masse for another decade.
During World War II, freeways were built to facilitate transportation of people and material. In the 1950s, during the Eisenhower administration, the system really expanded.
Not exactly 1900. Specifically, I am talking about the period before the 1950s
Don’t forget about mobs. Various gangs, etc. My great great grandma also told me a story about how she had to fight every day to stop her sons from joining the mob, since it was their only option. Back then, Detroit wasn’t exactly a haven of peace.
In Detroit, the Purple Gang was a real menace. My dad grew up there, and they were notorious, almost mythical.
What a magnificent city back than
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.