Photos- The 1940s, Detroit
January 16, 2015 9:51 PM Subscribe
Detroit in the '40s, thriving industry (note: some photos of racial conflict)
No, it was white people in Detroit who were being crappy about black people working in defence jobs and looking for places to live.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:44 PM on January 16, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:44 PM on January 16, 2015 [5 favorites]
The thing was, at that particular moment in history, there were plenty of well-paying industrial jobs to go around. More than the local population could actually take. And there were white people running around and beating the shit out of black people for showing up and taking jobs that would otherwise go unfilled. And that was at a time when women were allowed, en masse, into the industrial workforce not out of any commitment to equality, but out of "necessity." Where, of course, they proved themselves able workers.
The later decline of Detroit is a whole other issue. This was a point at which it was at its industrial zenith.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:04 PM on January 16, 2015 [9 favorites]
The later decline of Detroit is a whole other issue. This was a point at which it was at its industrial zenith.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:04 PM on January 16, 2015 [9 favorites]
My mother's side of the family was raised in Detroit, though they left in the 1950's, before the collapse really gained momentum. Most won't even talk about those days; I think the sadness at seeing their city disappear is too great. The only Detroit I ever knew was post-67, and it's always jarring to look at photo sets like this and to compare them, the city of my grandparents and great-grandparents, to the city I know.
posted by kanewai at 11:05 PM on January 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by kanewai at 11:05 PM on January 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
The John C. Lodge Freeway Surveillance Center.
(Picture at end.)
posted by clavdivs at 11:12 PM on January 16, 2015 [2 favorites]
(Picture at end.)
posted by clavdivs at 11:12 PM on January 16, 2015 [2 favorites]
1943 Detroit Race Riots: Mayor Edward Jeffries & Governor Harry Kelly's speeches, broadcast on all Detroit Radio stations 20 hours after the riots start
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:13 PM on January 16, 2015
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:13 PM on January 16, 2015
These are powerful images. Thanks for posting, HuronBob
posted by Klaxon Aoooogah at 11:22 PM on January 16, 2015
posted by Klaxon Aoooogah at 11:22 PM on January 16, 2015
Fuck. The Lodge. This is the kind of thinking that doomed Detroit from having any kind of feasible mass transit.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:24 PM on January 16, 2015
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:24 PM on January 16, 2015
Driving that thing is like prayer without meaning.
posted by clavdivs at 11:28 PM on January 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by clavdivs at 11:28 PM on January 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
Good thing for this young fellow there was no hood ornament involved.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:28 PM on January 16, 2015
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:28 PM on January 16, 2015
For those of us who are typophiles, there's some great typography in some of the pics as well.
posted by Klaxon Aoooogah at 11:28 PM on January 16, 2015
posted by Klaxon Aoooogah at 11:28 PM on January 16, 2015
Driving that thing is like prayer without meaning.
Testify.
I lived in Windsor for five years. I have lived the Lodge. Was once in a car with some friends, headed for a concert at the Palace in Auburn Hills, and the person who was driving was sure the Lodge was I-75, despite mass protestations from everyone else in the car. "DO NOT take THE LODGE!"
But, on topic, those freeways sliced up Detroit horrifically. A case of too little, too late.
This photo from Huronbob's post is from just before that happened.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:51 PM on January 16, 2015
Testify.
I lived in Windsor for five years. I have lived the Lodge. Was once in a car with some friends, headed for a concert at the Palace in Auburn Hills, and the person who was driving was sure the Lodge was I-75, despite mass protestations from everyone else in the car. "DO NOT take THE LODGE!"
But, on topic, those freeways sliced up Detroit horrifically. A case of too little, too late.
This photo from Huronbob's post is from just before that happened.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:51 PM on January 16, 2015
Chrysler made tanks? I bet they were crappy tanks.
Yep. The pictured tank, the M3 Lee, is a poorly-designed POS. It has crappy turrets that can't even turn properly, poor off-road handling and an overly tall shape that makes it an easy target. Early in WW2 it was pretty quickly taken from the front-lines, and replaced by the far superior M4.
(Yes I've been playing World of Tanks and I had to grind my way through the M3 for a while, why do you ask?)
posted by Green Winnebago at 12:48 AM on January 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
Yep. The pictured tank, the M3 Lee, is a poorly-designed POS. It has crappy turrets that can't even turn properly, poor off-road handling and an overly tall shape that makes it an easy target. Early in WW2 it was pretty quickly taken from the front-lines, and replaced by the far superior M4.
(Yes I've been playing World of Tanks and I had to grind my way through the M3 for a while, why do you ask?)
posted by Green Winnebago at 12:48 AM on January 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
Chrysler designed the M1 Abrams tank and built the first 1,000 or so, one of the finest tanks the world has ever seen. In 1982 they sold Chrysler Defense to General Dynamics.
posted by Daddy-O at 1:22 AM on January 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Daddy-O at 1:22 AM on January 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
Driving that thing is like prayer without meaning.
and then your prayers are "answered" if you have to take 696 westbound from there
"YOU CANNOT PETITION THE LORD WITH PRAYER!!!!"
posted by pyramid termite at 3:40 AM on January 17, 2015
and then your prayers are "answered" if you have to take 696 westbound from there
"YOU CANNOT PETITION THE LORD WITH PRAYER!!!!"
posted by pyramid termite at 3:40 AM on January 17, 2015
Fuck. The Lodge. This is the kind of thinking that doomed Detroit from having any kind of feasible mass transit.
The "Freeway Surveilance Center" link in a comment above has scans from an early Detroit transportation plan that, among other things, was proposing to run light rail down the center of the expressways. (They were also proposing to turn the right of ways into playgrounds, which back in the days of leaded gas was perhaps not a perfectly thought-through idea, but the intentions were good.)
posted by Dip Flash at 5:51 AM on January 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
The "Freeway Surveilance Center" link in a comment above has scans from an early Detroit transportation plan that, among other things, was proposing to run light rail down the center of the expressways. (They were also proposing to turn the right of ways into playgrounds, which back in the days of leaded gas was perhaps not a perfectly thought-through idea, but the intentions were good.)
posted by Dip Flash at 5:51 AM on January 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
#6 shows how cars used to be recycled. They'd burn them in open pits until nothing was left but the bare metal which could then be recycled. It was too costly to remove by hand all the stuff in a car that wasn't metal.
The problem was, the burning created so much small particulate pollution this practice was responsible for a large percentage of air pollution in US cities. It also was described as the most foul smelling odor imaginable and it would spread over entire cities. As a result many cars were never recycled and just stacked up on the sides of roads etc.. not until the 1960s (?) did someone invent a car shredder, the small pieces could then be sorted by various automation techniques (vibration beds, magnets, water baths, etc.).
The interesting this is, in the years prior to the invention of the car shredder, the stockpile of junked cars built-up unrecycled across the American landscape. It wasn't until around 2008 that it is estimated most of them had finally been found, dug up and recycled. It took that long. That was when scrap metal prices peaked and the demand was such that people would do anything to get old metal, but scrap dealers reported few old cars being recycled for the first time since the 1960s.
posted by stbalbach at 7:42 AM on January 17, 2015 [4 favorites]
The problem was, the burning created so much small particulate pollution this practice was responsible for a large percentage of air pollution in US cities. It also was described as the most foul smelling odor imaginable and it would spread over entire cities. As a result many cars were never recycled and just stacked up on the sides of roads etc.. not until the 1960s (?) did someone invent a car shredder, the small pieces could then be sorted by various automation techniques (vibration beds, magnets, water baths, etc.).
The interesting this is, in the years prior to the invention of the car shredder, the stockpile of junked cars built-up unrecycled across the American landscape. It wasn't until around 2008 that it is estimated most of them had finally been found, dug up and recycled. It took that long. That was when scrap metal prices peaked and the demand was such that people would do anything to get old metal, but scrap dealers reported few old cars being recycled for the first time since the 1960s.
posted by stbalbach at 7:42 AM on January 17, 2015 [4 favorites]
The interesting this is, in the years prior to the invention of the car shredder, the stockpile of junked cars built-up unrecycled across the American landscape. It wasn't until around 2008 that it is estimated most of them had finally been found, dug up and recycled. I
For many decades old cars were used as "Detroit riprap" along rivers and streams as cheap erosion control. The article I just linked says that engines were removed, but many of the ones I have seen still had the engine and transmission in the car, and it is a certainty that they didn't bother to drain the oil and coolant before placing the cars.
posted by Dip Flash at 8:04 AM on January 17, 2015 [4 favorites]
For many decades old cars were used as "Detroit riprap" along rivers and streams as cheap erosion control. The article I just linked says that engines were removed, but many of the ones I have seen still had the engine and transmission in the car, and it is a certainty that they didn't bother to drain the oil and coolant before placing the cars.
posted by Dip Flash at 8:04 AM on January 17, 2015 [4 favorites]
Holy, context is everything in pictures, eh?
I thought this photo (warning: severely beaten, bleeding man) was of a very different situation than what the caption claims.
posted by chococat at 12:06 PM on January 17, 2015
I thought this photo (warning: severely beaten, bleeding man) was of a very different situation than what the caption claims.
posted by chococat at 12:06 PM on January 17, 2015
Whoa, that torpedo boat thing is just surreal. 300 mph? Call me skeptical.
There is Detroit riprap locally up Canyon Creek on private property. I've always wondered why the rancher doesn't remove it, especially as he has heavy equipment and lots of huge boulders on the property. It's hideous, leaks oil in the spring floods, and can't be good for his cattle.
posted by BlueHorse at 1:53 PM on January 17, 2015
There is Detroit riprap locally up Canyon Creek on private property. I've always wondered why the rancher doesn't remove it, especially as he has heavy equipment and lots of huge boulders on the property. It's hideous, leaks oil in the spring floods, and can't be good for his cattle.
posted by BlueHorse at 1:53 PM on January 17, 2015
There is Detroit riprap locally up Canyon Creek on private property. I've always wondered why the rancher doesn't remove it, especially as he has heavy equipment and lots of huge boulders on the property. It's hideous, leaks oil in the spring floods, and can't be good for his cattle.
It varies by what state you are in and whether or not the stream supports listed fish, among other factors, but to legally remove the car bodies would take a certain amount of permitting and oversight, and the rancher might not be allowed to replace the old car bodies with the actual riprap that it would take to provide an equivalent amount of bank protection. And all of that costs money and time and has a certain amount of risk (and requires allowing environmental regulators onto the property, which is a total no-go for some landowners), whereas just leaving the car bodies in place is free and is apparently working acceptably for his current land management approach.
To remove car bodies (again, assuming you are doing it legally) takes larger equipment than most landowners have, and you would need to comply with a bunch of best management practices in terms of water diversion and fish removal during construction which also takes equipment, as well as requirements for the condition in which you leave the site afterwards. And on top of that, you would have to haul off the scrap; it has some value but probably not enough to be worth the effort.
There are a gazillion miles of streams lined with old cars across the US. There were even federal subsidies to put them in under the supervision of engineers from the Soil Conservation Service and the Corps of Engineers as well as state programs, because it solved the problem described above of what to do with the ridiculous excess of old cars. Detroit could produce new cars so cheaply and recycling old ones wasn't often cost-effective, and meanwhile poor land management practices of that era were producing excessive rates of erosion and stream instability, so using tax dollars to install old car bodies along waterways was seen as a win-win. (And compared to the environmental impact of burning the cars as showing in the photo, I'm not sure that it wasn't a reasonable trade-off for the time.)
posted by Dip Flash at 2:49 PM on January 17, 2015 [3 favorites]
It varies by what state you are in and whether or not the stream supports listed fish, among other factors, but to legally remove the car bodies would take a certain amount of permitting and oversight, and the rancher might not be allowed to replace the old car bodies with the actual riprap that it would take to provide an equivalent amount of bank protection. And all of that costs money and time and has a certain amount of risk (and requires allowing environmental regulators onto the property, which is a total no-go for some landowners), whereas just leaving the car bodies in place is free and is apparently working acceptably for his current land management approach.
To remove car bodies (again, assuming you are doing it legally) takes larger equipment than most landowners have, and you would need to comply with a bunch of best management practices in terms of water diversion and fish removal during construction which also takes equipment, as well as requirements for the condition in which you leave the site afterwards. And on top of that, you would have to haul off the scrap; it has some value but probably not enough to be worth the effort.
There are a gazillion miles of streams lined with old cars across the US. There were even federal subsidies to put them in under the supervision of engineers from the Soil Conservation Service and the Corps of Engineers as well as state programs, because it solved the problem described above of what to do with the ridiculous excess of old cars. Detroit could produce new cars so cheaply and recycling old ones wasn't often cost-effective, and meanwhile poor land management practices of that era were producing excessive rates of erosion and stream instability, so using tax dollars to install old car bodies along waterways was seen as a win-win. (And compared to the environmental impact of burning the cars as showing in the photo, I'm not sure that it wasn't a reasonable trade-off for the time.)
posted by Dip Flash at 2:49 PM on January 17, 2015 [3 favorites]
chococat: I've gazed on that for long minutes trying to gauge what is really going on, whether there is any menace from those young men. It's interesting that the photo was taken outside a movie theater ("Comfortably COOL") showing the film Chetniks The Fighting Guerrillas! (1943)^ -- about the Serbian resistance leader Draža Mihailović.^ I'm wondering if they're communists (unlikely, a communist would have avoided military service); I'm wondering if that's a gun in the guy's suit pocket.
Interesting to compare the downtown then and now, not to mention the view down Woodward.
At that gas station, is that a rail tanker? It looks impossibly huge, and it would have to be at the very end of a track, but I can see a conveniently located rail line as a supply route. And I wonder where that Cunningham's (local chain) was, and about the Romanesque pile behind it -- chances are both are long gone.
posted by dhartung at 3:08 PM on January 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
Interesting to compare the downtown then and now, not to mention the view down Woodward.
At that gas station, is that a rail tanker? It looks impossibly huge, and it would have to be at the very end of a track, but I can see a conveniently located rail line as a supply route. And I wonder where that Cunningham's (local chain) was, and about the Romanesque pile behind it -- chances are both are long gone.
posted by dhartung at 3:08 PM on January 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
Stolen 5,000-Pound Bridge Returned To Owners.
posted by clavdivs at 8:12 PM on January 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by clavdivs at 8:12 PM on January 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
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