While on an expedition to the upper peninsula of Michigan, namely to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, I stumbled across two abandoned railroads. As a slight background to the region, the upper peninsula was home to extensive cooper and iron ore deposits, along with hardwoods. Much of the development in the area occurred during the late [...]
Tag Archives: Michigan
Photograph of the Week: Deerton, Michigan
Deerton, Michigan is an unincorporated community in Alger County that was founded in 1882 when the Detroit, Mackinac & Marquette Railroad constructed a station for a lumbering camp. A post office opened in 1922, and in 1926, a small school was constructed at the junction of Deerton-Onota Road. Today, not much is left in the [...]
Photograph of the Week: Packard Motors
The Packard Motor Company on East Grand Boulevard in Detroit, Michigan was constructed in 1903 and closed in 1958. With just the exception of a brief reuse in several locations, the entire complex – 3.5 million square feet over 35 acres, produced 1.5 million vehicles. Designed by Albert Kahn, the industrial complex used reinforced concrete [...]
Rightsizing in Saginaw, Michigan
The streets of West Saginaw are bleak this time of year. This is partially the effect of the season: indifferent gray skies, cutting Michigan winds, trees still and bare. However, the austerity of Saginaw is not just a trick of the climate. It also arises from the built landscape. The streets are lined with monumental [...]
Detroit plans on downsizing for the future
It’s a pretty sad situation when a city plans on downsizing to embody the future. But that is what Detroit Mayor Dave Bing plans on doing in the near future. Plagued with neighborhoods almost entirely vacant, thousands of vacant and abandoned properties, unmaintained infrastructure and services spread too thin for a city that was designed [...]
One Detroit landmark saved, another one to go
In a surprising reversal of attitude towards Michigan Central Depot in Detroit, Michigan, the historic train station and adjoining Roosevelt Warehouse will stand if for a bit longer after a Detroit City Council Public Health and Safety Committee decided to delay a decision on demolishing the properties. The announcement was a reversal of some April [...]
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