Detroit's automobile plants, retooled for the war effort, built everything from tanks to bombs to guns. In just the first 18 months after Pearl Harbor, 350,000 people came to Detroit to work in defense plants. Automakers and their suppliers produced $30 billion worth of military equipment from 1942 to 1945. This image was taken a Chrysler Motor Car Company tank plant in April 1941. The Detroit News archives
By RC and Nicholas Stix
Interior fittings, plumbing and wiring were added to Liberator B24 bombers at a twin assembly line at the Ford Motor Company's Willow Run plant on Feb. 24, 1943. Detroit's role in the war, when the auto factories turned out tanks and warplanes, earned it a place in history as the Arsenal of Democracy. The Detroit News archives
The washroom at Willow Run's West Lodge offered facilities for washing and ironing clothes. The women came from varied backgrounds: They were teachers, waitresses, housewives. They worked on the line doing riveting, light assembly or as inspectors or trainers. The Detroit News archives
Women, such as machinist Janet Kinsman of Detroit, shown here March 11, 1943, became an important part of the Willow Run work force. The war office sped up the hiring of women by ordering Ford to hire 12,000 at Willow Run. By October 1943, there were 140,000 women in the defense industry. Willow Run hired 117 in one week. They received the same wage rates as men, from 95 cents to $1.60 an hour. The Detroit News archives
That was then.
The Michigan Central Depot railroad station
This is now: Ruin Porn.
Packard Automotive Plant, built in 1911, in full use until 1958, and partially used during the 2000s, as seen on September 4, 2013
Brush Park: Dilapidated, 19th century mansions amid empty expanses
Frozen dead guy:
“Life goes on around body found frozen in vacant Detroit warehouse.”
Our downfall in manufacturing can be directly traced back to American management. I was just looking at a package of Energizer batteries and they are made in China. Plumbing fixtures at Home Depot are made in China. Can American management tell me that we are incapable of making batteries and pipe fixtures? We have very little to trade in return for the Chinese making the stuff we used to make. No wonder the Chinese are buying up American real estate; it's all we have to sell them before the economy collapses. What are Blacks going to do when there is not enough white people to leach off of and the Mexican tax leaches are also drawing as much welfare, EBT and free cell phones?
ReplyDeleteChurning out tanks in April of '41. Hmm.
ReplyDeleteThose were tanks being sold and sent to the British. The Lee/Grant tank as shown in the photo.
ReplyDeleteGo and see the Arthur Kemp March of the Titans. They have the appendix "Ruins of Detroit."
ReplyDeleteGreat but very sad images. As Arthur said, these images are what you would have seen in ancient Rome after the barbarians have moved through.
For decades now the city of Detroit has been studied by satellite to observe the process by which an industrial city reverts back to nature. About half of Detroit has gone "green" as they call it.
ReplyDeleteMaybe 1,000 years from now some person ins some part of the world will be writing a learned dissertation on the "Ruins of Detroit" and everyone will puzzle as to what happened to the city and why it was destroyed. After all, in 1950 Detroit had the highest per capita income of any major city in the United States.
ReplyDelete