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Detroit

Population

885,198 in city and 5,425,588 in metro

Area

359 km

Edited by Dominax
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I've never been there, and I'm sure there are charming spots, but what comes to my mind is Black and poor, not a good combination, crime wise. So it's no surprise that the city has lost population over the years.

It's the #1 most dangerous metro area in the 2005 Morgan/Quitno City Crime Rankings. Here's an excerpt;

CITIES OF 500,000 OR MORE POPULATION: (32 cities)

Safest 10: Most Dangerous 10:

1 San Jose, CA 1 Detroit, MI

2 El Paso, TX 2 Baltimore, MD

3 Honolulu, HI 3 Washington, DC

4 New York, NY 4 Memphis, TN

5 Austin, TX 5 Dallas, TX

6 San Diego, CA 6 Philadelphia, PA

7 Louisville, KY 7 Columbus, OH

8 San Antonio, TX 8 Nashville, TN

9 Fort Worth, TX 9 Houston, TX

10 Jacksonville, FL 10 Charlotte, NC

The winter climate is harsh and I hear gentrification is very slow there so it will likely continue its drop in population rankings. The city has risen and fallen with the auto industry. A lot of production has shifted elsewhere and lots of market share has been lost over the past 30 years to the Japanese.

In the 20s it was one of the most modern US cities. Last I heard, a lot of the downtown area is abandoned.

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First off, the last link you gave to pics of how bad Detroit is, looks like the photos are hosted on a white supremacists site. Im white, and even I feel a little uncomfortable reading all of the pro-white text.

Detroit is an absolutely amazing.

It has stunning examples of late 1800's and early 1900's architecture, but sadly 85% of it all is in decline, empty, and falling apart.

I went to Detroit this year on business, but had time to take some photos, ill post some of the more interesting examples here:

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

These pictures are the most incredible to me.

Detroit train station

Detroit Train Station 2

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

Some of these examples posted above, are just amazing. Its just amazing to think that just 50 years ago, families were living in these houses, kids playing outside in the yard, beautiful lawns, etc.

Just amazing, simply, amazing. In Houston these houses and buildings would have been demolished decades ago.

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First off, the last link you gave to pics of how bad Detroit is, looks like the photos are hosted on a white supremacists site. Im white, and even I feel a little uncomfortable reading all of the pro-white text.

Detroit is an absolutely amazing.

It has stunning examples of late 1800's and early 1900's architecture, but sadly 85% of it all is in decline, empty, and falling apart.

Modern,

I agree-I had a problem with all that negative commentary and photography from just another lame, racist website.

But isn't that architecture just beautiful?

B)

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What I wouldn't give....[sigh]...

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Modern,

I agree-I had a problem with all that negative commentary and photography from just another lame, racist website.

But isn't that architecture just beautiful? What I wouldn't give....[sigh]...

B)

Yeah, it was a little too much. Even though there seems to be some good collections of facts on that site, its a little too biased for me to really read further.

Yeahp, the architecture is just amazing, and what makes it even more amazing is that so much of it is still intact. It may be one of the few cities in the USA with SO much period architecture still left standing.

Fyi, is your avatar picture FLW inspired ?

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What would make that house crumble so literally like that? The bricks are just falling off and it looks like someone's tried to hold it together with cables.

Yeah, the website looked like a white supremacist one. From that you'd believe that the building started falling down because it saw black people.

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What would make that house crumble so literally like that? The bricks are just falling off and it looks like someone's tried to hold it together with cables.

My guess would be some serious foundation issues.

Over 100-150 years, the ground can shift a good amount.

The cables are apparently holding all of the bricks together so that the building can be restored/rebuilt. The cables are keeping the building from completely collapsing, and making it so that it can be accurately rebuilt later.

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Fyi, if youd like to see more pictures of Detroit and its incredible buildings, check out this website :

Detroit

You beat me to it!

"Fabulous Ruins of Detroit" has been a favorite website for a long time (the original one - not the neonazi one :angry2: ).

I did read somewhere recently (wish I could remember the source) that there's an effort to restore one of the most prominant (and hopeless looking) Victorians - perhaps the one in nmainguy's photo?

Another city which has a huge stock of unrestored, but beautiful 19th century buildings is St. Louis, MO.

Check out a similar website: Built St. Louis

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This made me wonder about something. Do you think it is possible to see a city like Detroit to fall to a point where people no longer live in the city itself? Looking at these pictures was actually painful to a certain degree. Seeing the beautiful train station crumbling back to earth was moving. You would think that the people of Detroit would relish in their history and work together to bring the city back to life. I guess with a decreasing population and citizens that really don't care about their city, this should not be a suprise.

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This made me wonder about something. Do you think it is possible to see a city like Detroit to fall to a point where people no longer live in the city itself? Looking at these pictures was actually painful to a certain degree. Seeing the beautiful train station crumbling back to earth was moving. You would think that the people of Detroit would relish in their history and work together to bring the city back to life. I guess with a decreasing population and citizens that really don't care about their city, this should not be a suprise.

They ARE working to bring their city back. It is a slow and painful process, especially when much of the population does not have enough income to pay for needed improvements. I'm sure, during the Super Bowl week, you will see many of the areas where Detroit is clawing it's way back. However, when over half of the population leaves, half of the infrastructure is no longer needed. It is natural that much of the housing stock and buildings would fall into disrepair from disuse.

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the detroit ruins site is awesome! i wish i had more time to take picures during demolitions :(

"Detroit developer Jim Wickenheiser has purchased the vacant Hotel Eddystone on Park, near Interstate 75. The 14-story building will be renovated into 60 condominiums and ground-floor retail space, Wickenheiser said."

this was from 2003

and this was taken in 2005, correct? if so, i wonder how many redevelopments there are, and how many are successful

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the detroit ruins site is awesome! i wish i had more time to take picures during demolitions :(

"Detroit developer Jim Wickenheiser has purchased the vacant Hotel Eddystone on Park, near Interstate 75. The 14-story building will be renovated into 60 condominiums and ground-floor retail space, Wickenheiser said."

this was from 2003

and this was taken in 2005, correct? if so, i wonder how many redevelopments there are, and how many are successful

Yup yup, that photo was taken around July of 2005.

That website that ModernCeo left has to be THE most depressing site ever. I cannot believe the amount of neglect and abandonment that has gone on in that town. This website has truly ruined my day. Thanks Modern. :(

Sorry, didnt mean to ruin your day.

Thats the way that Detroit is, a beautiful city thats not too far from a wasteland.

Ill be in Detroit Thursday/Friday of this week, Ill try to take some more photos to share when im there.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thought these color photograps from the 1930s and '40s would make a nice contrast. The city actually looks new and clean in the pictures of that era.

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/f?fsaa...mp/~ammem_FOUF:

Very sad. Makes one wonder about Houston's own future...

Update: I can't seem to get the old link to work anymore, so go here instead if you are having problems:

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?amme...D(COLLID+fsac))

Edited by mike1
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There are still quite a few areas in Detroit that have remarkable urban neighborhoods.

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Thought these color photograps from the 1930s and '40s would make a nice contrast. The city actually looks new and clean in the pictures of that era.

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/f?fsaa...mp/~ammem_FOUF:

Very sad. Makes one wonder about Houston's own future...

As long as we keep using Fossil Fuels, Houston will be just fine .

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I'm sure they'll clean it up so that it looks pretty for the Super Bowl, but that entire region's problems go much deeper than the aesthetic. I grew up in the Great Lakes and it's sad to see the decline of great industrial cities such as Detroit, Cleveland, and Buffalo.

Houston kind of reminds me of some of those places in its dependence on a single industry. Just like Detroit once depended on autos, we depend on petroleum. I hope we can avoid their fate.

I also really love the historic architecture of those areas and I hope it doesn't all fall victim to "urban renewal."

Edited by mike1
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I'm sure they'll clean it up so that it looks pretty for the Super Bowl, but that entire region's problems go much deeper than the aesthetic. I grew up in the Great Lakes and it's sad to see the decline of great industrial cities such as Detroit, Cleveland, and Buffalo.

Houston kind of reminds me of some of those places in its dependence on a single industry. Just like Detroit once depended on autos, we depend on petroleum. I hope we can avoid their fate.

I also really love the historic architecture of those areas and I hope it doesn't all fall victim to "urban renewal."

I agree.

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Thought these color photograps from the 1930s and '40s would make a nice contrast. The city actually looks new and clean in the pictures of that era.

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/f?fsaa...mp/~ammem_FOUF:

Very sad. Makes one wonder about Houston's own future...

Update: I can't seem to get the old link to work anymore, so go here instead if you are having problems:

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?amme...D(COLLID+fsac))

Don't know what the problem is with these photos. Let's try again!

According to the site, these were taken in 1944:

1a35404v.jpg

1a35407v.jpg

1a35403v.jpg

1a35406v.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

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