Detroit was near its peak in population and employment in 1951, when this film begins. Let’s look in on some priceless Motor City history.
Note: Since this post was published, for reasons unknown the owner of the video has removed it and it is no longer available. All apologies.
This newly restored and colorized film came to us courtesy of NASS without a specific date, but it was no trick at all identifying the year it opens. Just a few seconds in, there’s a shot of the old City Hall in Downtown Detroit with huge banners declaring the city’s 250th birthday in 1951. (Founded in 1701 by Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, Detroit is one of the oldest cities in the Midwest.) In the next eight minutes we see countless more Motor City landmarks, including the Penobscot Building, once the city’s tallest structure, and the Tuller, Detroit’s finest luxury hotel.
The tour then proceeds down Grand River Avenue, where we discover the Stark Hickey Ford dealership, its building designed by Alfred Kahn. With multiple locations, Stark Hickey (that was his name) was Detroit’s largest Ford dealer and sponsored a number of racers over the years, including Dick Brannan. And then, surprise, the camera homes in on the Hot Rod Shop, one of Detroit’s first speed shops, on Grand River a bit North of West Grand Boulevard. Founded by Bill Toia, the business grew into Gratiot Auto Supply.
Of course, the main attraction for us in these old street films is car spotting, and there are plenty to find here as Detroit then featured the largest percentage of personal auto ownership in the USA (naturally). Fords of ’49-51 vintage seem to predominate, but we also saw plenty of Chevrolets and Buicks, a Henry J, and a Step-Down Hudson Club Coupe. We also spotted a Willys Aero and a 1952 Ford Mainline, indicating that the filming stretched into the following year.
In 1950-51, Detroit reached its maximum population and peacetime employment with around 1.8 million residents. But over the coming years, as the freeways were built and the auto plants moved out to the suburbs or away from Michigan altogether, the city fell into steady decline. Today, the population is around 650,000. Here we see Detroit at its peak as the fourth largest city in the United States and one of the wealthiest. Enjoy the video.
Oh, just love these, clearly chronicling a day in the life of the “Schwartzs”, possibly after a Bar Mitzvah, in from Joisey. A bit skimpy on the trucks, in fact the only one I saw, was at 5:27, where a bobtail 48-50 Ford F8 rolled by. I read Detroit used Twin Coach, GM and Checker buses then. Couple new Willys pickups and an Aero(?) at 3:27 at a dealer. For being the Motor City, the cars sure look forlorn. More please!!!
I never visited Detroit in the 1950s but it certainly was a noisy city. I enjoyed the tour very much and wish that it could have gone on longer. This seems like a home movie of some sort as the same people and the 4755 address appeared in several shots. On the whole, the colorization did make it easier to engage in what was happening but when the Coca-Cola and A&P signs are blue instead of red then that’s a clue that you need to tweak something. The introduction says that the colorization is not historically accurate, so they acknowledged that it was not perfectly rendered.
I grew up in NW Detroit, Livernois & 7 Mile. There were great cars to see in the fall when the new models debuted. Down the block from us lived Marion Mallory, owner of Mallory Electric. His son, “Boots” had a great new car every couple years and I would run down the block chasing the car.
I grew up in NW Detroit, Plymouth and Schaefer Rds., and vividly remember many of the scenes in this “1951 Detroit” video. Of particular interest are the cars of which I can positively identify the make and model year. I can remember going with my dad to pick up his new Ford sedan delivery at Stark Hickey’s showroom on Grand River and Maplewood. The ’40s and ’50s were a special time in Detroit’s history. Hudson’s, Sam’s, Detroit City Hall, the Wayne County Building, Woodward Avenue with pedestrians and traffic, busses, the Annex and Riviera theaters. I have many fond memories of that period of time in Detroit’s history. After watching this video, I’m having a severe attack of nostalgia…
Hi Don, regarding your NW D:
My grandmother lived near there, on Appoline north of Joy Rd. My granddad built a substantial home for them around 1916, one of the first in what was ‘way out in the country’ back then.
They later separated about the time I was born in the late ’40s. I vaguely remember some of the area, and going downtown sometimes. My grandmother had about a 1941 gray Ford that she kept into the 1960s.
It was a far different world than we’re in today.
My ex hates it, but I like to watch the old movies on the Movies! channel, to see the many old vehicles that appear in them, spanning many decades.
Makes me appreciate the luxury and reliability of the vehicles that I have today.
Watching the other Detroit clip reminded me that when I was little (early’50s), another, older form of transportation was still in use in Detroit.
I remember sitting on my grandmother’s porch steps waiting for the milkman. He was still using a horse drawn wagon to deliver the dairy products to the neighborhood!
Is the Hot Rod Shop beside the Victory Theater where Grand River Auto Parts was? Looks like a full house flatty on display in the window. Not a metric bolt to be found within 25 years of here. I believe this area is just an empty lot now. There are more than a few Detroit adventures in my curriculum vita..
I just wish that all the black men and women look at all of these pictures back in the 40s and 50s and through mid-70s to see all the black Unity the power the people had the love all the black men and women show up for each other and to one another they didn’t kill they didn’t run to guns guns they didn’t turn to God we stood up man and man nose to nose toe the toe nose to know we fought it out like men real men and what no punks back then screws the way I’m saying it all men and women we were real we protected each other one another from others others will always down on us but we had the h rap Browns the Huey P Newton’s Martin Luther King please please wake up this is our CD it was our CD but they took it away from us with the Big C because they knew it would bring our people against one another wake up wake up is my story for today and forever think of unity love with one another not good and taking each other’s lives for Unnecessary no reason that don’t make sense why harm and kill the next door neighbor we want a multiply everybody else multiplying but we won’t stand tall with each other long enough to multiply because of jealousy Envy we don’t have to be that away it’s enough for everyone to live a decent life you just have to learn a pie yourself back when I was a kid we had what you called alleys and in the alleys it’s where we said our garbage can took the garbage out in the backyard for the garbage man to come and collect the garbage out the alleys anybody remember those times wake up wake up brothers and sisters it don’t matter what race Creed of color just wake up we need each other we need to multiply we need Unity because like I said we had alleys and in each alley we have multiple tool and die shops all kind of Machinery shops you can get up and go to work 345 o’clock in the morning walking through the alley because that’s where your job was at a shop in the alley it it was safe people wasn’t getting killed or found in the alley dead they went to work and earned the paycheck and a tool and die shop wake up anybody remember anything well anyways may God bless everyone continue a great life do the right things and remember there’s enough for everybody you just have to have the courage as a man and woman to get up go to work earn a decent paycheck come home we used to have dinner with the family said the table at 5:00 together and pray over the food our mother cooked my grandmother’s cooked and we all had to be in the house no lady and sister Park they have family dinner anybody remember that let’s bring that back let’s have family dinners at 5:00 okay God bless everybody thank you may lord always be in your favor just trust and believe in him as he doing you amen and Jesus name just remember life is good but you have to apply yourself to make it that way don’t take some others don’t kill because someone went to work and earned a decent paycheck to buy a loaf of bread for his sons and daughters his wife that’s not the way it goes I guess that’s the way people make it okay thanks wake up I saw that takes they want us locked up in jail and institutions look around just look around go to the clubs go shopping go anywhere there’s nothing but women women where’s all our men come on man our women need us come on come on man our women need us they want you to be a man to them they don’t want to be a man and woman they want a man so they can be a woman okay thanks