Greetings from Detroit: Historic Postcards from the Motor City

By Dan Austin

Greetings from Detroit: Historic Postcards from the Motor City offers a glimpse into the past through more than two hundred historic postcards of Detroit from the early 1900s to the 1950s, compiled and presented in full color by Dan Austin of HistoricDetroit.org. From familiar sights to long lost landmarks, this book pairs vintage views with rich stories from the Motor City’s yesteryear.

In the era before cameras became commonplace, postcard shops were everywhere—allowing folks to send snapshots of their travels to friends and family, or to take home as mementos. Many of these old postcards are now sought after collectibles today, offering a rare look back at a time of tremendous growth and change across Detroit during the first half of the twentieth century. Divided into six sections, Greetings from Detroit showcases the changing times and interests of the city—highlighting some of the distinct neighborhoods, including Midtown, southwest Detroit, and the downtown area. A portion of the book is devoted to Detroit’s parks, with special interest in Belle Isle, Palmer Park, Clark Park, and Water Works Park. The book also shines a light on the majestic steamers that often dotted the Detroit River. Greetings from Detroit gathers some of the best, most illustrative postcards in one place and—for the first time, in full color—frames them alongside meticulously researched writing, offering context and stories behind each image. It is a history book. It is a picture book. It is a window into the history of Detroit.

As the city grows and changes, there is value in observing a Detroit that is frozen in time. This beautiful collection would make an excellent conversation piece in the home of any local history aficionado.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wayne State University Press
• Release date: Oct 2, 2017
• ISBN: 9780814344125

Dan Austin

Dan Austin is a former Detroit Free Press journalist who served as Mayor Mike Duggan’s deputy communications director before joining Van Dyke Horn public relations. He has been chronicling Detroit’s history for more than a decade and runs the online architectural resource HistoricDetroit.org. He is the author of Lost Detroit and Forgotten Landmarks of Detroit.

Book preview

Acknowledgments

INTRODUCTION

I remember the moment I became obsessed.

My colleague Peter Gavrilovich had brought a binder of these old postcards into work at the Detroit Free Press. Page after page of them, filled with images of horse-and-buggies clopping up and down Woodward Avenue, people milling about in Eastern Market, skyscrapers I never knew existed. They were images of a Detroit from a time few of us are still here to remember. I studied them like an envious kid ogling his buddy’s baseball card collection.

Just like that, I fell in love with my city all over again.

That’s the magic to be found in these little old paper rectangles. The colors may be a bit faded, but they still possess the magic that enchanted folks one hundred years ago. Indeed, in the early twentieth century, Americans were flat-out obsessed with collecting postcards. In 1913 alone, they sent nearly one billion of them through the US Postal Service. They were a quick way to keep in touch with friends and family, of course, but in the era before cameras became commonplace, they doubled as souvenirs and keepsakes offering snapshots of their travels.

Postcard collecting was so popular, they coined a term for people like me: deltiologists (with its charming origins in the Greek word deltion, meaning a small writing tablet). Believe it or not, deltiology is said to still be the third most popular collecting hobby in the world, trailing only stamps and coins.

These old postcards offer a fascinating look back at the Motor City, showing us not only how it has changed but also a glimpse into the way things were—a window into the lives of the people who once walked these same streets before us. I hope this book inspires a new generation of postcard collectors and sparks even more pride and love for our city and its beautiful architecture. Maybe you’ll find a card of Harper Hospital that was sent to loved ones with news on a child’s battle with typhoid. Or perhaps you’ll stumble upon a view of Henry Ford’s Highland Park Plant with a note from a young man to his parents back home, letting them know how things were going on the assembly line.

Of course, the buildings and landmarks themselves have stories to tell, too, which is why I spent more hours than I can count poring over old newspapers to track down accurate historical tidbits for each card. For Detroit architecture buffs, this deep dive has debunked some of the dates or facts that many of us had accepted as gospel. So, yes, this is a picture book, but it’s also more than that.

May this book be a window into seeing Detroit as those who sent these postcards saw it a century ago.

The postcard shop: Tourists and Detroiters alike would pack into stores such as A. C. Dietsche’s Souvenir Post Card and Remembrance Shop, located at Woodward Avenue and Larned Street. There they could pick up postcards, like those in this book, or catch a sightseeing bus that left the store every hour, making trips around the city and to Belle Isle.

DOWNTOWN

Bird’s-eye view of Detroit: Detroit was founded on July 24, 1701, when French explorer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac arrived on the shores of the Detroit River. He claimed the land for France and quickly set out building Fort Pontchartrain. At first it was a slow grow for the future Motor City. One hundred years later, Detroit had only about fifteen hundred people. But after the automobile arrived, the city’s population exploded, growing to 1.5 million by 1930, around when this card was made. After weathering half a century of decline, the city has demonstrated clear signs of a renaissance, with people and businesses streaming into the city again and long-abandoned skyscrapers finding new life.

Campus Martius: After Detroit was destroyed by fire in 1805, Judge Augustus B. Woodward began to lay out the city anew. Campus Martius contains its point of origin. Its name means military ground in Latin, but it has really been the center of life in Detroit. It is also the hub where Detroit’s main arterials meet and the point from which the Mile roads are measured. In 2004, Campus Martius was rededicated following a major makeover to once again re-energize this center of life in the city. Today, the park hums with activity year-round, from summertime concerts and folks eating lunch fountainside to ice-skating and holiday celebrations in winter.

Old City Hall: Detroit dedicated what was then its new city hall on the Fourth of July, 1871. This landmark, designed by architect James Anderson, stood on the west side of Campus Martius, on Woodward between Michigan Avenue and Fort Street. Detroit would see a lot of change during this building’s ninety years, growing from a sleepy riverfront town to a sprawling, booming industrial heavyweight. Decisions were made here on everything from buying Belle Isle to building Cobo Hall. But as Detroit entered the era of fluorescent lighting and drop ceilings, calls to replace it with something more modern grew louder.

On July 21, 1955, the city moved its offices into the new City-County Building, now known as the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center. What followed would become Detroit’s first major preservation battle—and also its biggest preservation loss: demolition of Old City Hall began Aug. 14, 1961. It was replaced with an underground parking garage and a concrete expanse called Kennedy Square Park. The building known as One Kennedy Square was erected on the site in 2005–6. Also shown in this stunning view are the Hotel Pontchartrain, left, and the city’s first skyscraper, the Hammond Building. Like Old City Hall, they both would have their dates with the wrecking ball, too.

Bagley Memorial Fountain: When former Michigan governor John Judson Bagley died in 1881, his will called for the construction of a drinking fountain for the people of Detroit that would provide water cold and pure as the coldest mountain stream. The monument was unveiled May 30, 1887, and is the only surviving work in Michigan of Henry Hobson Richardson, considered one of America’s most important architects. Today, the fountain stands in Cadillac Square, though it was first on Woodward Avenue at Fort Street and then moved to Woodward and Monroe Avenues in 1926. It then went into storage around 2000 during Campus Martius’s makeover and was reinstalled in 2007. Old City Hall stands behind it on the left in this view.

Michigan Avenue and Griswold Street: When automobiles first arrived on the scene, there was no such thing as driver’s training, traffic lights, or stop signs. From terrified horses to cars parked willy-nilly in the middle of the road, it was a free-for-all. The Motor City invented the auto industry, so it only made sense that it tamed it, too. These crow’s nests, an early form of traffic light, had only red and green lights, with an officer standing inside to manually change them. Instead of a yellow light, the officer blew a whistle to warn the light was about to change. In 1922, the first automated light was installed at John R Street and Grand Boulevard, and Detroit changed the game again.

Hammond Building: The ten-story Hammond Building stood on the southeast corner of Fort and Griswold Streets and was considered Detroit’s first skyscraper. George H. Edbrooke of Chicago was hired to design this monument to meat-packer George H. Hammond. When it opened in 1890, people came from all over to climb to the roof for the bird’s-eye views. Even at ten stories, it towered over the rest of downtown—for a little while. But by 1955, the Hammond was deemed old, short, and nothing special. The Hammond started coming down in 1956, so that the National Bank of Detroit could erect its new headquarters. Today, that building is known as the Qube.

Union Trust Building: The Union Trust Building was designed by Donaldson & Meier and opened on the northeast corner of Griswold and Congress Streets in May