August 2023 site update

Sep. 12, 2023

August saw more photos, more buildings, more postcards and incredible engagement on social media.

All of this is made possible by our Patreon members' generosity.

There were six new locations added to the site: the Detroit Trust Co. Building, St. Paul's German Evangelical Lutheran Church, St. Boniface Catholic Church and the Polk Directory Building. St. Paul’s, more recently known as Assemble Sound, got a comprehensive photo documentation ahead of Michigan Central’s renovations of this 19th century Corktown church.

We also continued our effort to chronicle the beauty and histories of Detroit's schools, an effort that took on renewed urgency upon news that more than 20 have been slated for demolition. We added Marshall and Ruthruff schools last month.

We also added dozens - upon dozens and dozens - of photos of Music Hall, documenting darn near every nook and cranny. You can see all of those incredible images by Helmut on our site on the Music Hall page. Other photos have been added of the long-ago demolished Annex Theatre (it’s rare to come by images of these, so a big thanks to John Lauter for sharing them with us), and the recently renovated Book Depository, now known as Newlab at Michigan Central. The latter has undergone one of the most dramatic makeovers of any building in Detroit’s history.

Yours in documenting Detroit, - Dan Austin and Helmut Ziewers

Historical spotlight

Aug. 22, 2023

Before Detroit was the Motor City, it was the Stove City.

The Peninsular Stove Co. stood on the site of the downtown U.S. Post Office along West Fort Street and Trumbull. Now, the history of the building itself isn't remarkably interesting, but what IS interesting is the story of Detroit's title as "the Stove Capital of the World." Before it was known for pumping out cars, our town was known for baking stoves.

In the late 19th century, Detroit made more than 10 percent of all the stoves in the world, and some 15,000 Detroiters worked in the city’s stove factories. Even as late as 1928, Detroit was producing two to three ranges every minute and 250,000 a year.

It’s also worth noting that, though early stoves were black, blocky, bland boxes of iron, the stoves being produced in Detroit during this era were treated like decorative, ornate pieces of furniture. Where today, you might have a rather plain black-and-stainless-steel model named the Samsung NV51K7770SG, the Michigan Stove Co. produced “the Defiance.” The Detroit Vapor Stove Co. made the Blue Star. The Art Stove Co. made the Laurel. These stoves had elaborate designs with floral or scroll motifs and were plated in nickel and brass. The Detroit Stove Works catalog offered more than 800 models to choose from - and every other major manufacturer had hundreds of designs of their own.

We dig into the manufacturing process behind these hot pieces of art, the family that single-handedly turned Detroit into the stove-making hotbed it was, and more fascinating history than you possibly could have thought possible about stoves.

You can read all about it here.

July 2023 site update

Jul. 31, 2023

In addition to adding hundreds of more photos to galleries across the site, we added several more locations.

First, we have chronicled the history of the Hannan Memorial YMCA on East Jefferson, which is likely doomed to fall to the wrecking ball. We trace not only the story of the building, but of its namesake.

We also continued our effort to chronicle the beauty and histories of Detroit's schools, an effort that took on renewed urgency upon news that more than 20 have been slated for demolition. Other new additions to the site include Hanneman, Sampson and Stephens elementaries.

New photos were added to (the current) Detroit Opera House (81 images), St. Joseph Shrine (60 images), Fisher Building (21 images of details), and a few shots of the Detroit Institute of Arts, Theodore J. Levin U.S. Courthouse, First State Bank, Book-Cadillac Hotel, and Broadway Exchange Building. We also continued to document the demolition of the Detroit Harbor Terminal building (better known as the last home of the Boblo Boat dock) in Delray.

One of the more labor-intensive tasks we've undertaken is retouching and restoring dozens of historic images, including the State Savings Bank, Detroit Opera House (all 32 historic and pre-renovation images), Fisher Building (34 historic images), and Michigan Central Station (82 historic images).

June 2023 site update

Jun. 19, 2023

We continue to add hundreds of images to the site through the talented eye of HD photographer Helmut Ziewers. Among the additions: a dozen shots of the Detroit Institute of Arts, a handful more additions to the stunning renovation of the Book Tower, and we have been documenting the demolition of the Detroit Harbor Terminal Building (aka the Boblo Jefferson Dock). The biggest addition this month, however, is that we got access to the Bonstelle Theatre just ahead of its planned restoration. We’ve added a gallery of pre-renovation photos to its page.

In addition, we’ve added several locations to the site in the past month: Oakman and Monnier Elementary schools, St. Columba Episcopal Church and St. John Cantius Catholic Church in Delray. The latter is truly one of the most uniquely located churches in the city - but sadly, the church’s days could be numbered with it closed and the Gordie Howe International Bridge near.

Last month, I promised that we’d have some accessibility updates for you, and I am happy to say we delivered. The biggest update was improving the site on mobile, namely the location name search filter. We know that more than half of the 30,000+ site visitors we get each month are on mobile, improving the site’s performance for them is our top priority. We also instituted a temporary solution to identifying still-standing versus demolished buildings: If the building’s profile picture is black and white, it’s gone; if it’s in color, it still stands.

And it’s all made possible by the generous support of our Patreon supporters. Thank you!

May 2023 site update

May. 20, 2023

We’ve got a lot of updates for you this month, as the website continues to see more action this year than I can remember.

Since Helmut Ziewers joined the site as our director of photography in February, we’ve added 96 buildings, 232 new photo galleries, and nearly 1,700 new photos .

Among those new photos are some from a sneak peek we got at the recently renovated Book Tower. I’ve seen a lot of jaw-dropping interiors in Detroit, and in my opinion, the restored Book Tower is right up there with the best. You should definitely take a look.

We’ve also been working on site and accessibility improvements. The biggest is, sadly, still in progress. I had delayed the May update hoping it would be fixed, but we still need a few days. That big update is improving the site on mobile, namely the location filter. We know that more than half of the 30,000+ site visitors we get each month are on mobile, so improving the site’s performance for them is our top priority.

We also are working to implement better search filters across the board. As we inch closer to 1,000 total locations, we know we can’t have folks scrolling for days to find the buildings they want to learn more about. One of those updates will include filtering by whether a building is still standing versus those that were razed, as well as by physical location, whether downtown or in the neighborhoods, etc. In the interim, we are converting all the profile pictures of locations that no longer stand to black and white to differentiate on the main list.

Our rather ambitious project of documenting many of Detroit’s schools continues. The most in-depth addition last month was the S. James Herman School on Tireman. This stunning, unique-looking school was built to serve the kids of the since-razed Herman Gardens. We also dive, briefly, into the infamous public housing project - and the unbelievable scandal that involved the resignation of THREE corrupt Detroit councilmembers. Other significant additions include a history and photos of the since-demolished Scovel Memorial Presbyterian Church, where Henry Ford once prayed.

And it’s all made possible by the generous support of our Patreon supporters. Thank you!

Yours in documenting Detroit,

Dan Austin and Helmut Ziewers

April 2023 site update

Apr. 12, 2023

Last month, we told you about Helmut Ziewers joining the site as our director of photography and that big things were on the way.

Well, in the two months he’s been on board, Helmut has added an astonishing 1,600 images to the site’s galleries. He has single-handedly tripled the number of non-historic images that were on the site. That’s in addition to upgrading 191 building thumbnail images on their individual pages. But that’s not all. Since we last wrote, we have added - wait for it - 51 new locations to the site. That’s insane considering we were averaging only a couple a month for the last few years. It’s amazing what we have been up to. Now, a couple of those new sites have rather bare-bones pages, but not most of them, and we plan to add more info. We’ve begun a rather ambitious project of documenting many of Detroit’s schools. Burgess, Burt, Carstens and Holcomb are first up - with a LOT to go. Though there’s not space here to list all 51 new locations, highlights include St. Agnes Catholic Church, the second Pontchartrain Hotel, the Park Avenue House, the Iodent Building and a slew of buildings along the Woodward shopping corridor downtown.

On top of all that, we’re working on making the site more user-friendly. As we continue to add all these buildings, we know we have to help you find what you’re looking for faster. We hope to have an update on navigation updates for you next month. And as we’ve added individual pages for more buildings, we’re going back through older entries and linking them to these new locations. We’re also trying to make the mobile version of the site better because, well, it’s 2023.

Phew! And we’re not done yet. We’ve got more photos, more schools, more buildings and yes, more vintage postcards in store for you.

And it’s all made possible by the generous support of our Patreon supporters. Thank you! If you're interested in helping us do what we do and keep this progress going, you can become a backer at www.patreon.com/historicdetroit. We'll also be adding some cool new donation incentives soon. More on that later.

Yours in documenting Detroit,

Dan Austin and Helmut Ziewers

March 2023 site update

Mar. 10, 2023

Last month, I shared the incredible news that Helmut Ziewers has joined the site. He has already added more than ONE THOUSAND images in the past month, in addition to some great suggestions to improve the site. We have added new subjects to filter your building searches by, including theaters and churches, and have begun documenting Detroit’s schools – especially those that are closed but still standing. More than 14 locations have been added in the past month. Some are short blurbs with photo galleries; others, like the L.B. King/Annis Fur Building and the Art Stove Building, are full histories.

To sum it up, the past month has seen more updates than almost all of last year. I’m beyond excited and reinvigorated. Thank you, especially, to our Patreon patrons for sticking with us, and stay tuned for more updates and a much better site.

February 2023 site update

Mar. 1, 2023

Exciting news today: The staff of HistoricDetroit.org has doubled in size - to two. Helmut Ziewers, pictured here doing his thing, has agreed to become the site’s director of photography. When I founded this site in June 2011, it was with the idea that the many talented photographers who document Detroit would be bending over backward to share their work on the site. That didn’t happen - and I am not, most would agree, a photographer. For the past decade, the lack of images on the site has been a major source of disappointment and frustration - not to mention a disservice to the 35,000 visitors the site averages each month who come looking for not just history, but images. At the end of the day, it’s a LOT of work researching, writing, maintaining the site and crafting daily social media posts, not to mention updating older entries with news updates, for just one person who already works an incredibly demanding job. And as that job has grown more all-consuming, I have simply struggled to keep up. Helmut and I met in person a few months back while documenting the tragic demolition of the AMC Headquarters. Since then, he has been sharing his work on the site, and has already done so much to further illustrate the stories behind the bricks and share the beauty of our city’s architecture. Everyone is still more than welcome to submit their photography to the website. But in the meantime, Helmut has already added more than 350 images in the last week, in addition to some great suggestions to improve the site. I’m embarrassed to admit, that’s about three times in one week what I have averaged in a year. I would also be remiss not to thank our Patreon patrons for sticking with us during our relatively unproductive stretch. Stay tuned for big updates and a much better site. In closing, I am incredibly excited about the future of the site - reinvigorated in fact. So join me in welcoming Helmut aboard, and look forward to a bigger, better and more illustrative HistoricDetroit.org.

December 2022 site update

Dec. 30, 2022

November was a bit busy with the holiday, but we still added several new locations to the site, including the recently renovated Wilshire Apartments in Southwest Detroit, the largely forgotten passenger steamer Ariel and the unknown-to-even-me-until-recently New Detroit Baths in Corktown, in the shadow of Tiger Stadium.

We added a slew of photos of the interior of the Kresge Administration Building, an oft-overlooked Albert Kahn-designed gem, as well as The Whitney, the iconic restaurant housed in the mansion of a Detroit lumber baron. We also finished documenting the demolition of the United Artists Theatre (pictured here), which has now been erased from the skyline. We’ve also added more postcards, as always.

None of it would be possible if it weren’t for our Patreon donors' financial support and generosity, making HistoricDetroit.org a free resource available to everyone. If you're interested in helping support this website, and get some cool donation incentives for it, go to patreon.com/historicdetroit

November 2022 site update

Nov. 8, 2022

October was a busy one. Last month, we promised you we'd give you two new sites, and we gave you FIVE. We spent a lot of time unfurling the story of the Edelweiss Café, a beautiful Bohemian biergarten that saw the early days of the Kiwanis and even Ty Cobb fisting wienerschnitzel and mugs of bier. We added three churches: Goodwill Community Chapel, Assumption Greek Orthodox Cathedral and Assumption Greek Orthodox. For good measure, we added the Hudson Hotel, a small but stately place that once was home to many of the autoworkers who toiled away in the factories of the east side. We’ve actively been documenting the demolition of the United Artists Theatre. We’ve also added more postcards and photos to our galleries, as always.

None of it would be possible if it weren’t for the financial support and generosity of our Patreon members, who make HistoricDetroit.org a free resource available to everyone. If you'd like to join and get donation incentives, go to www.patreon.com/historicdetroit.