Detroit Skyline: 1929

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Detroit skyline circa 1929 as seen from Windsor, Canada. If you view the larger version you can see a Vernors sign, Boblo Island sign and boats, and the Hudson's department store sign on the old Hudson's building.

Detroit Gift Basket

Why The Great Lakes Are Great

I saw the below video shared on social media this week and it did a decent job of summing up why the Great Lakes are so great. Growing up in Michigan, I can remember studying HOMES (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior) back in elementary school geography lessons and how the glaciers formed the Great Lakes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBRcOLcEwF0

It seemed like every year around Michigan Week (does anyone remember Michigan Week?) we would focus on Michigan history and geography which inevitably lead to studying the Great Lakes. I believe it was in the 4th grade when we watched this 1968 film (yes, it was on a film reel!). Funny, how the image of the man in the midst of the polluted waters has stuck with me all these years later.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afs_A_Lz2w4

Just watched this again for the first time in over 30 years and it was a real nostalgic treat. Amidst the schmaltzy music and humor you do get a good overview of how The Great Lakes formed.

Probably around this same time period in elementary school, we also watched this Canadian classic - Paddle to the Sea. The possibility that you could send a little boat down a stream in the woods and it would flow all the way through the Great Lakes to the ocean always intrigued me as a child.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olXmGz4iCxM

Does anyone else remember watching these films back in the day? How about Michigan Week?

A contrast in Detroit women circa early 1900s

I was browsing through online photograph archives of old photographs from Detroit and came across these two contrasting images of women in Detroit from a relatively similar time period of the early 1900s.

These hard working ladies are shown in the welding department of the Lincoln Motor Company around 1914-1918. Obviously, this was during World War I and women were needed to work the factories in the absence of men.

Here we have a group of women enjoying a leisurely time on the veranda of the Detroit Boat Club between 1900 and 1910. Were any of these ladies thrust into service at the factories like those above? Or did a life of privilege exclude them from such duty?

I just wonder these things when looking at old photographs.

Photos of Michigan snow storms from the past

This winter is how I remember (incorrectly or not, I am not sure) winter when I was a kid. Snow that fell around the first of the year and stayed until March. Multiple days off of school. Playing outside until my feet were numb. I thought I would share some photos of snow storms from Michigan's past. I was just a young pup when the Blizzard of '78 hit so I only have the stories my folks told me. My dad using a tractor to try and plow out the rural road to the main highway, people trying to drive through the 3+ foot drifts and getting stuck by our house, and everything being shut down for days as everyone dug out of the snow.

Check out these photos of snow storms from Michigan's past.

Cadillac, 1943

Calumet

Detroit

Upper Peninsula

Calumet Bakery

Houghton County Snow Plow

The Great Storm of November 1913

100 years ago over a span from November 7th through November 10th, the deadliest storm to ever hit the Great Lakes killed over 250 people and caused 12 major shipwrecks. The storm's 90 mph winds created 35 foot waves on the Great Lakes and the accompanying blizzard conditions gave this storm it's name - The White Hurricane.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVzUuyGAq9Y

Read more about The Great Storm of 1913 -

November's Fury: The Deadly Great Lakes Hurricane of 1913

The White Hurricane Begins Brewing

100th Anniversary: Great Lakes Hurricane of 1913

100th Anniversary of Powerful Winter Storm

A Remembrance: The Great Lakes Storm of 1913