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FarCenter

(19,429 posts) Sat Jul 20, 2013, 05:13 PM Jul 2013

These Photos Of Detroit's Golden Age Show The Dramatic Decline Of One Of America's Greatest Cities [View all]

Detroit filed the largest municipal bankruptcy in history this week before a Michigan judge declared it unconstitutional.

The city has long been in decline and rapidly losing population, but it hasn't always been that way.

The automobile industry had its home base in Detroit and the population spiked from just over 285,000 in 1900 to over 1.5 million by 1930. Downtown was bustling with large industrial buildings, hotels, trolleys and street cars. There were also numerous parks, theaters and opera houses for recreation.

These photos from the Library of Congress and Wikimedia Commons show what Detroit looked like in its prime.

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These Photos Of Detroit's Golden Age Show The Dramatic Decline Of One Of America's Greatest Cities [View all] FarCenter Jul 2013 OP

Globalization at work, right there. nt bemildred Jul 2013 #1

It would have been really powerful to juxtapose that with pics of those locations today. SunSeeker Jul 2013 #2

Overview of New York City�s Fiscal Crisis FarCenter Jul 2013 #4

Future tax revenue can be generated by making it the site of future industries. SunSeeker Jul 2013 #9

There are much better places to locate those industries than Detroit FarCenter Jul 2013 #13

Maybe not those specific buildings, but here's a site... Wednesdays Jul 2013 #5

East Side Public Library... awoke_in_2003 Jul 2013 #6

Thanks. Beautiful...and heartbreaking. nt SunSeeker Jul 2013 #8

There was a short lived Cop Show based on Detroit. WCGreen Jul 2013 #11

Detroit 1-8-7 FarCenter Jul 2013 #14

Saw all of them when Broadcasted... WCGreen Jul 2013 #21

the added site (lzismile) is full of bigots PowerToThePeople Jul 2013 #22

5 of the photos showed street cars; you can be sure that they are gone! FarCenter Jul 2013 #3

I wished they hadn't ripped out L.A.'s red cars (street cars). nt SunSeeker Jul 2013 #7

I hope the saying: "As goes Detroit, so goes the nation." is incorrect. Downwinder Jul 2013 #10

Crazy idea. ZX86 Jul 2013 #12

Mexicantown in Southwest Detroit is one of the few brighter spots in the city. FarCenter Jul 2013 #15

Detroit's problem isn't a lack of workers brooklynite Jul 2013 #20

why go back to the turn of the century? detroit 1960s: HiPointDem Jul 2013 #16

Nice pics. ZX86 Jul 2013 #17

+1 HiPointDem Jul 2013 #18

1967 was the turning point -- Detroit never recovered. FarCenter Jul 2013 #19

Michael Moore wrote about Detroit . . . Brigid Jul 2013 #23