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Detroit Landmark

MarkB_MI

MarkB_MI

Well-known Member
Location
Motown USA
Here's a couple of pictures I took today of the Michigan Central Depot. It's probably the most-photographed building in Detroit, and is among the most-photographed buildings in the country.

The last passenger passed through its doors and 1988. After it was closed looters immediately stripped it of everything of value. Wikipedia covers the sad story of this Detroit Landmark at the link below.

If you look carefully, you can see the words "SAVE THE DEPOT" spelled out near the top of the building.

<a href="http://s804.photobucket.com/albums/yy327/mark_in_michigan/Detroit%20Architecture/?action=view&current=michigan_central_depot1.jpg" target="_blank">
michigan_central_depot1.jpg" border="0" alt="Michigan Central Depot
</a>

<a href="http://s804.photobucket.com/albums/yy327/mark_in_michigan/Detroit%20Architecture/?action=view&current=michigan_central_depot3.jpg" target="_blank">
michigan_central_depot3.jpg" border="0" alt="Michigan Central Depot
</a>
Michigan Central Station Wikipedia
 
I have went by that building a few times. Figured by the size and the architecture it was something nice before it got run down. Now I know.

Too bad, there are a lot of buildings like that around Detroit that will probably meet the wrecking ball.

Rick
 
Same story with Buffalo NY's Central Terminal.Beautiful building attacked by vandals,stripped by looters rotting away.Bill m.
 
If this building were in Atlanta, it would be revitalized and turned into classy condominiums. It's amazing how many of the old warehouses and mills around here have become condos.

Click to see the huge old Sears building (in the background), vacant except for the city using about 20% of it. A local developer wants to purchase it and convert it to condos.
Click here
 
What a tragedy.

The iconic art deco Union Central Terminal in Cincinnati was saved from the wrecking ball 35 or 40 years ago and renovated into a museum.

As a small child of 4 or 5, I remember riding in my Fathers 1947 Pontiac to Union Central to pick up my Grandmother who came in on the train from Iowa to visit.

Knowing that the era of steam was ending, a kind hearted official allowed my Mother to take my two brothers and I down to the tracks beneath the station to see the trains.

I can still remember the engineer who lifted me into the cab of his NYC 4-6-4 Hudson building up steam in preparation to blast the James Whitcomb Riley across Indiana to Chicago. He stepped on the air switch to open the firebox door so that my older brother and I could look inside. To a small child it looked like the gates of hell.

Dean
 
Dave - I lived in the re-done Sears building here in Dallas - looks a lot like the one in the picture - it was neat - 14' ceilings, hardwood floors. Built in 1912 and after re-hab has 450 apartments.
 
On the bright side,there's a fella in Novi that has a plan to start farming all of that vacant land in Detroit. Plans to put up 30 million to get it started.
 
The government is talking about spending billions on high speed rail service. With the great expanse of the U.S. how will that be economically feasible? Won't all the crossings (and maybe all the track) have to be elevated? Thinking about it the cost seems astronomical. Who will be able to afford to ride- will it be like the (out of service) jet SST's crossing the ocean? Seems like it would make more sense to upgrade what we already have- like this depot- and have trains that run at the speed of the old steam trains, fast, but still practical.
 
Both Atlanta and Toronto have rail systems that move huge volumes of people per hour.

A rail system would remove a lot of congestion around metro Detroit. Without the rail system Toronto the city would be a giant parking lot. It would be impossible to handle that many people on the 401. It stretches roughly 20 miles out from downtown, if I remember.

Rick
 
Most if not all big cities have metro train systems, like Chicago's "L". Those systems have a lot of stations, unfortunately don't need a large central station like the one shown here at Detroit. Too bad we don't have good economical cross country passenger rail systems that would allow you to bring along your car to unload and drive around for a vacation far from home, then load it again for the ride home.
 
This building was the victim of my first auto accident. My dad's 50 Ford was parked on a hill by the dock. I was maybe 11 and decided to practice shifting gears. My dad never used the parking brake on any car. Do I need to say as soon as I pushed down the clutch, that ford was going 90 miles and hour(or less)until the dock ran into me. Never did that again. Now about the depot. If you or I owned this abandoned ruin, we would be in jail. It was elegant in its time. In 1965 I went through here on my way to Great Lakes, Ill. for Naval training and got the biggest and longest hug and kiss from my girl friend who has been my wife for 44 years. We still drive by there once in a while.
 
Speak,

What you're proposing is pretty much the business model that Amtrak has followed for the past 30 years. So far, they haven't made a profit. Whether or not high-speed rail can be profitable is debatable, of course.
 
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