Your favorite historical photo of a city

[The North One]

God, too bad Denver and Chicago look nothing like that anymore.

Chicago actually looks a lot like old Cincy in that photo. Only Cincy lost it's incredible urban fabric to urban renewal and highways instead of a great fire.


http://www.urbancincy.com/2012/07/wh...ation-decline/

[mr1138]

Originally Posted by The North One

God, too bad Denver and Chicago look nothing like that anymore.

RyanD did a great thread on the changes that happened in Denver a few years back. All credit goes to him for researching and posting these photos. I highly encourage anybody interested to read his thread in depth.

Needless to say, Denver is one of the many cities in America that hollowed itself out during the mid-century. At the time, it was only roughly over 100 years old, and I guess people just didn't see the historic buildings as being all that special. The new Denver feels a bit like a phoenix rising from the ashes, but the old city can never be brought back in its former form. I'll re-post a few of my favorites here.

Pre-urban renewal demolition. You can clearly see the urban/industrial divide in the background of the photo and all the railyards down by the river.



The wreckage of the city's original main street (Larimer st) can be seen here. What we now call "Larimer Square" is a single city block of the original main street that was saved, on the right side of this photo. A similar urban fabric would have once extended for many city blocks and was all cleared to make way for 1970s-80s era apartment and office towers devoid of ground-floor activity. The buildings at the bottom of this photo are what we now call "LoDo," and was saved because the neighborhood was considered, ironically, to be such a bad area that it was not worth "renewing." It is now Downtown's very best historic neighborhood.



This one is from DenverInfill.com, one of our best local urban planning websites. It shows Denver in the 1970s looking over a working-class industrial neighborhood that was cleared to make way for a college campus. In this photo you can clearly see the way the dense urban core of the city was nestled right up in to the industry and railroad infrastructure that fueled the city's initial growth.


And to bring it full circle, here is Denver today. The railyards that used to sit behind Denver Union Station all the way down to the river are now a brand new, vibrant neighborhood. All photos are, again, courtesy of RyanD and DenverInfill.com (Ryan is their primary photographer, and a member of this forum).

[mr1138]

While I'm at it... a focused look at Denver's Union Station itself. The first and last photos are from the Denver Post, and another photo by Ryan D. As an aside, it's amazing how difficult it is to find photographs of the station as many of us remember it from only a few years ago. The two posted here are the only ones I could easily find after a little googling. It's as if we all just want to forget the disaster that was the station grounds in the mid-century.

Historic. Note the original central structure which burned down in a fire. Also the large trees in front of the building.


Mid-century: trees and pedestrian areas replaced parking lots.



And today:

[SpawnOfVulcan]

Birmingham, 43 - 44 years after its founding.

Source (for all images): nbirmingham.net







The old Terminal Station... was torn down to build an expressway...





Source: jeffcohistory.com

[The North One]

Fuck, I had no idea renewal was that bad in Denver, that might even be worse than Cincy. It got the regular Sunbelt gutting, insane how we just destroyed our cities in the US for the hell of it. Denver would be so much more appealing to me today if it still looked like that.

[mr1138]

Originally Posted by The North One

Fuck, I had no idea renewal was that bad in Denver, that might even be worse than Cincy. It got the regular Sunbelt gutting, insane how we just destroyed our cities in the US for the hell of it. Denver would be so much more appealing to me today if it still looked like that.

I completely agree. Denver remains quite appealing to me mostly because I love Colorado and couldn't stand to be away from our beautiful mountains and great weather. As somebody going into the planning profession, I also love all the potential the city has for the future and the fact that things are HAPPENING here. But I couldn't agree more that we would be better off if the city hadn't been gutted. It is a damn shame!!!

Funeral procession of General William Tecumseh Sherman turning from Pine Street onto Grand Avenue, St. Louis, 1891.

Go here to see a larger, higher-res, zoomable version:

http://collections.mohistory.org/resource/146039

Notice the Italianates stretching as far as the eye can see on both sides of the street.



Same view today. Spoiler: it's depressing.

https://goo.gl/maps/N4TVSGdWH7T2

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by IWant2BeInSTL

Funeral procession of General William Tecumseh Sherman turning from Pine Street onto Grand Avenue, St. Louis, 1891.

Go here to see a larger, higher-res, zoomable version:

http://collections.mohistory.org/resource/146039

Notice the Italianates stretching as far as the eye can see on both sides of the street.



Same view today. Spoiler: it's depressing.

https://goo.gl/maps/N4TVSGdWH7T2

good old slu (and her smashing hammer)...i know i've seen newer photos of those italianates right by the campus. i presume that the funeral procession photo was taken from the steps of the extant st. francis xavier looking east:


https://www.builtstlouis.net/

Originally Posted by Centropolis

good old slu (and her smashing hammer)...i know i've seen newer photos of those italianates right by the campus. i presume that this photo was taken from the steps of the extant st. francis xavier looking east:

yeah, i'm guessing Xavier was their destination. most of these were likely leveled during urban renewal long before SLU set out on its demolishing rampage. or maybe SLU had a hand in that renewal. either way, they're doing their damnedest to wipe the last two or three of them off the planet.

[volguus zildrohar]

Center City Philadelphia looking northeast, early 1930s


cyburbia.org

Penn Square/City Hall, 1932. You'll note Broad Street Station on the lower right. The building was heavily damaged in a fire and demolished by the 50s to make way for Penn Center and the start of the modern office corridor on the western half of Center City.


Old Image of Philadelphia

The trackway from Broad Street Station


Old Image of Philadelphia

Building the Broad Street Subway near City Hall (1920s)


Old Image of Philadelphia

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by IWant2BeInSTL

yeah, i'm guessing Xavier was their destination. most of these were likely leveled during urban renewal long before SLU set out on its demolishing rampage. or maybe SLU had a hand in that renewal. either way, they're doing their damnedest to wipe the last two or three of them off the planet.

heres an early 50s view from the roof of dubourg looking across grand over to either laclede or pine. pretty sure slu wanted those houses out of there as they were almost certainly cut up into ramshackle apartments lafter the war like every other (once) middle class 19th century townhouse else from there to lafayette square.

http://cdm.slu.edu/cdm/ref/collectio...i/id/89/rec/57

[Centropolis]

edit: that looks like laclede...here is a proper shot of west pine just east of SLU:


st. louis university archives

[Pedestrian]

Washington, DC 1992

This is where I grew up . . . but I was growing up well before this. Still:


http://dcpast.com/post/90361039455/lincoln-park

This, while not as wide a view, is also an excellent photo and from well before my youth (more like my Mom's who also grew up in DC--1922):


For much larger version and original source see: http://cdn.ghostsofdc.org/wp-content...28u-aerial.jpg

The towered building in this image is Mr. Trump's new hotel when it was what it was built to be, a post office.

[Centropolis]

it would be interesting to hear your accent as a DC native. do you say "worshington" or "wershington?" do you say oyster (or know anyone) who said it in a funny way? the old school accents from dc/baltimore/cincinnati/st.louis are always fascinating and sometimes weird. in st. louis the old schoolers say like "ayester" for oyster.

i always thought that the american urban vernacular and feel of dc was about perfect.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by Centropolis

it would be interesting to hear your accent as a DC native. do you say "worshington" or "wershington?" do you say oyster (or know anyone) who said it in a funny way? the old school accents from dc/baltimore/cincinnati/st.louis are always fascinating and sometimes weird. in st. louis the old schoolers say like "ayester" for oyster.

i always thought that the american urban vernacular and feel of dc was about perfect.

I've spent too long away from DC for all that. I lived with a Brooklynite in school for 4 years and after that people thought I talked like I was from Queens (you know--not quite Flatbush like my roommate but getting there). Then I lived in the South (NC and FL) for 5 years or so and picked up a little of that. But after 35 years in SF, I suspect I'm mostly Californian now.

Growing up, though, everybody called it Warshingon ("War" as in "tar"). The first place I landed after high school in a DC suburb was Baltimore for college and, of course, oysters there were "ersters" and the city was something like "Baldimer" (we mimicked as "Ballmer" but that wasn't quite right). Got it, hon?

[chris08876]

That one of Philly in the 30's...

I wish I could go back in time and see what 1930's or 1940's Philly or NY or Chicago was like.

In this fantasy, I was part of crew. Worked my way up bringing drinks to the crew, became boss as I was a good earner... and ran a multi million dollar racketeering operation. Finally, I fled to Cuba in the 70's were I smoke cigars and in my old age, was featured in a Jay-Z video. I finally died at the ripe old age of 110, and a statue was built for me in Havana just as the embargo was lifted.

[chris08876]

This shot is epic. 1949 NY.

You can just see the economy in this shot. The industry, the jobs, the locomotive that is economic growth.


NEW YORK City / Midtown Manhattan, c.1949 by cobravictor, on Flickr


This one is nice. A unique angle.


New York City skyline / May 13, 1951. by cobravictor, on Flickr

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

I've spent too long away from DC for all that. I lived with a Brooklynite in school for 4 years and after that people thought I talked like I was from Queens (you know--not quite Flatbush like my roommate but getting there). Then I lived in the South (NC and FL) for 5 years or so and picked up a little of that. But after 35 years in SF, I suspect I'm mostly Californian now.

Growing up, though, everybody called it Warshingon ("War" as in "tar"). The first place I landed after high school in a DC suburb was Baltimore for college and, of course, oysters there were "ersters" and the city was something like "Baldimer" (we mimicked as "Ballmer" but that wasn't quite right). Got it, hon?

diane rehms of npr fame - a dc native - had a pretty solid old school dc accent i think but she also had severe vocal problems of course. the inflections and "mashing" of words sounded very familiar to me, however, being from an older city along the same latitude.

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by chris08876

That one of Philly in the 30's...

I wish I could go back in time and see what 1930's or 1940's Philly or NY or Chicago was like.

In this fantasy, I was part of crew. Worked my way up bringing drinks to the crew, became boss as I was a good earner... and ran a multi million dollar racketeering operation. Finally, I fled to Cuba in the 70's were I smoke cigars and in my old age, was featured in a Jay-Z video. I finally died at the ripe old age of 110, and a statue was built for me in Havana just as the embargo was lifted.

haha nice!

[dc_denizen]

'the cup is ooaaawwwwn the table'...that sounds like DC accent to me, but I could be wrong.