industry

Piquette Plant sunset … or is that a sunrise?

Posted on November 18, 2008November 18, 2008 by Michigan in Pictures

Piquette Plant sunset, photo by LindaB..

Yesterday on Absolute Michigan we featured an article from Michigan History Magazine titled Where the Model T began and I found this photo while looking for a picture to pair with it. I decided to find another and feature this one here!

Jerald Mitchell calls the Ford Motor Company’s Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit “a fulcrum point of human history [where] the balance of history shifted.” It was at this factory in Detroit that Henry Ford and his cohorts conceived the Model T automobile. For nine months, these men labored through fifteen-hour days, scrawled rough diagrams on the blackboards, fiddled with auto parts and patterns, argued and probably repeated the words “what if” a thousand times. When they were done, they had created the design for one of the most revolutionary automobiles ever built.

Read the rest on Absolute Michigan and learn much more about the museum that Jerald and others have created at tplex.org – the Model T Automotive Heritage Complex.

Linda writes she and her husband took a tour of the Ford Model T Piquette plant where restoration is underway. She says that the plant has special meaning for them as her husband’s great great grandfather was the winning bid for the plumbing of the building with a bid of $2,035! She also notes that these are the original windows to the plant.

You can see her other photos from the Piquette Plant, check out these Piquette photos from Miz Jelly Bean and dive into the Piquette slideshow on Flickr.

There used to be blue skies at General Motors…

Posted on November 15, 2008November 17, 2008 by Michigan in Pictures

There used to be blue skies at General Motors…, photo by Derek Farr ( DetroitDerek ).

This photo is part of Derek’s great Detroit set of photos (slideshow). Derek writes:

A view out of General Motors World Headquarters, located in the Rencen Building in Downtown Detroit. There was a time that even thinking of General Motors running out of cash would be laughable … not anymore.

Indeed. This morning I’ve read editorials in the leading papers on both sides of the aisle that show a rising sentiment against the Detroit car companies. In Bailout to Nowhere in the New York Times, David Brooks suggests that it’s a bad idea to try and manage the economic jungle that claimed PanAm, ITT and Montgomery Ward and replaced them with Microsoft, Southwest Airlines and Target.

In the Wall Street Journal Robert Hahn and Peter Passell suggest that we should Stimulate Car Buyers, Not Car Makers:

Since a big fiscal-stimulus package for fighting the recession — some combination of tax cuts, extended unemployment compensation, infrastructure grants and assistance to states — is coming soon, why not stimulate consumers to buy cars? Why not offer eye-popping rebates — say, $3,000 — for a limited time to buyers of cars and light trucks? It would probably make sense to phase out rebates for the most expensive cars, and as a treaty obligation, it wouldn’t do to discriminate against foreign makes.

How much downstream benefit this would generate and for whom is hard to predict. Still, it is a fair bet that most of the money would be quickly recycled in the form of demand for everything from auto parts to car mechanics’ salaries — just what you want to happen in a recession.

What do you think? Are we watching the sunset of the Big Three … and will the sun rise for them and for the Michigan auto industry?

Ercy posted a link to GM Facts & Fiction. It’s by GM, but I think that GM has a part of the story to tell too. Found an interesting column in the Freep through their links by Susan Tompor titled Where’s the love? I never knew Detroit was a dirty word (please go read it). She makes a lot of great points including:

We’re watching one huge disconnect here.

We have the worst financial crisis that most of us have ever seen. Automakers sell big-ticket items that generally require financing. Michigan has been in a recession for years — not just a few months. We are on the edge. And somehow, still, no one here deserves any help.

General Wesley Clark suggests that aiding the American automobile industry is not only an economic imperative, but also a national security imperative in What’s Good for GM is Good for the Army.

Autumn in Alberta, Michigan

Posted on October 7, 2008October 7, 2008 by Michigan in Pictures

DSC_6567, photo by jsorbieus.

Jim took this photo in Alberta, Michigan, an unincorporated community in L’Anse Township of Baraga County:

The community was originally founded in 1936 after Henry Ford declared the banks of the Plumbago Creek to be an ideal spot for a sawmill. Ford named the town “Alberta” after the daughter of one of his top executives, Edward G. Kingsford.

At the time Ford established Alberta, wood was used extensively in automobiles. Mr. Ford envisioned the town as a model sawmill community; consisting of twelve houses, two schools, and a steam driven mill built to the most modern standards of the day. The Plumbago Creek was dammed to provide a reservoir to serve the town and mill’s water supply needs. The mill was a two-story white clapboard wood frame structure and still stands, now housing a portion of the Alberta Village Museum. The saw mill had a capacity of 14,000 board feet per day for hardwood and 20,000 board feet per day for softwood. This was a small capacity even by 1936 standards, with Mr. Ford’s other three mills in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan producing twenty to twenty-five times as much.

In 1954, Ford Motor Company donated the town of Alberta, Michigan and 1700 acres of land to what is now the School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science at Michigan Technological University.

Alberta buildings still standing on the property are used as a museum, support research and teaching programs for forestry and ecology majors, and are used by numerous universities from around the United States for forestry education.

Read more about The Ford Center from MTU.

Jim has a whole lot more big, background sized photos of fall’s glory in his U.P. set (slideshow). You can see more photos from the area on the Flickr map for Alberta.

More autumn wallpapery fresh in the Michigan in Picturesfall wallpaper collection!

Creating Cities in Michigan

Posted on October 4, 2008October 5, 2008 by farlane

Lansing, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Flint, Traverse City, Marquette and Kalamazoo are by no means all of Michigan’s cities (or even the largest). Each, however, seems to be an anchor for its region – a center to which people look to for culture, entertainment and commerce.

October 13-15, 2008, lovers of cities large & small from Michigan and all over the country will head to Detroit for the Creative Cities Summit 2.0 (CCS2), an exploration of what our cities could become and how we can work to make them. Organizers have chosen Detroit, a city so deeply forged in America’s industrial fires that it’s been devastated by the flickering of that flame. I’m headed down there and will try to bring some of the ideas back to you through Absolute Michigan – I hope that some of you can join me there.

The Photos (left to right)

Downtown View – Lansing, Michigan by Mario.Q
Motor Within a City by SNWEB.ORG Photography, LLC.
Partly Cloudy by GR58
Old Flint (HDR) by Hemicuda82
Traverse City, Michigan by farlane
View from Mt. Marquette by fastbird232
The Kalamazoo Radisson by bill.d

Creative Cities Summit 2.0 in Detroit on Oct. 13-15, 2008

CCS2 will present a dynamic and engaging conversation about how communities around the world are integrating innovation, social entrepreneurship, sustainability, arts & culture and business to create vibrant economies. Full conference registration is $300 for the two and half day event, and there’s also a “no frills” registration that is only $100. There’s also a free “Unconference” at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD) on the 12th for designers, urban planners, civic leaders, entrepreneurs, artists, students, community leaders to explore and discuss what’s possible for Detroit.
Keynote speakers include:

Bill Strickland, MCG-Bidwell Corp.
Richard Florida, Author Who’s Your City
Charles Landry, Author The Art of City Making
John Howkins, Author The Creative Economy
Dean Kamen, Inventor, DEKA
Majora Carter, Sustainable South Bronx
Doug Farr, Architect and Author Sustainable Urbanism
Ben Hecht, Pres. & CEO Living Cities
Tom Wujec, Fellow, Autodesk
Carol Coletta, CEOs for Cities
Giorgio Di Cicco, Poet Laureate, City of Toronto and Author, The Municipal Mind
Diana Lind, Editor, Next American City magazine

Breakout sessions on topics such as:

Race and the Creative City
Cities, Universities & Talent
Marketing, Media and the Creative City
Measuring New Things – ROI in the Creative Economy
Creative (Small) Cities
New Ideas in Urban Amenities
Community Vitality: The Role of Artists, Gays, Lesbians & Immigrants
Midwest Mega-region: How the Midwest Can Compete
Transportation Innovation for Cities
Making the Scene: Music & Economic Development

Much (much) more at creativecitiessummit.com.

Fall Color Tours: Marquette, Negaunee, Au Train

Posted on September 27, 2008August 31, 2016 by farlane

The start of Autumn, photo by I am Jacques Strappe

You can get 100+ more photos of the Upper Peninsula in autumn from Marjorie (slideshow).

Last fall through Absolute Michigan/Michigan in Pictures we started using the great information compiled in Travel Michigan’s Fall Color Tours as a starting point to point you to some great fall color touring (and fall color photos) around the state. We’re trying to add to what they’ve put together – not rip them off! As always, if you have links to information or photos that we missed, comments or reports, post them in the comments below!

We’ll start with a driving tour of the Central Upper Peninsula that’s best from mid-September to early October and about 185 miles long. The tour starts in the UP’s largest city, Marquette. Marquette features some amazing architecture. You can read about and see pictures of it courtesy of Marjorie’s blog, Michigan Architecture, especially the beautiful red sandstone.

I recommend wandering around downtown for a while to check out the buildings and maybe grab a muffin from Babycakes and some coffee at Dead River Coffee. Travel Michigan (TM) recommends a visit the Marquette Harbor Lighthouse, home of the Marquette Maritime Museum. The lighthouse (pictured right by n. weaver, part of his UP slideshow) was constructed in 1866 and is the oldest significant structure in the city and more importantly, the lighthouse is one of the most historic navigation beacons on Lake Superior. There’s a nice little park behind it where you can swim if you are totally insensitive to temperature.

TM suggests that Presque Isle Park is also worth a visit and it is, offering a slow, brief jaunt along the rugged Superior shore and lots of nice little trails. It’s also a great bike ride along the shore on an excellent bike path from the lighthouse.

Now’s probably a good time for a map – click TM’s map to see larger. Heading north on County Road 550 to Big Bay takes you on a half hour cruise through some beautiful country rich in trees and views. You can stop and do the 20 minute or so climb of Sugarloaf Mountain (see some pics from Lake Superior Photo). In Big Bay is the Thunder Bay Inn where you are required by travel writer code to mention “Anatomy of a Murder” which was filmed there. Unfortunately the Thunder Bay Inn has been shuttered. You can stop in at some of the other businesses and stay at the Big Bay Point Lighthouse Bed and Breakfast (if you call, they sometimes offer tours).

From Big Bay, head back on County Road 510 through the Huron Mountains and trees that arch over the roadway to form a tunnel of color. At US-41 head right and south into Negaunee (Chippewa word for pioneer) where you can visit the Michigan Iron Industry Museum, site of the first iron forge in the Lake Superior region. Negaunee’s Union Station Depot looks like a neat place to stay. From Negaunee, continue to Ishpeming, home of the U.S. National Ski & Snowboarding Hall of Fame and the Cliff’s Shaft Mine Museum.

The route takes you down County Road 476 to Palmer and from there on M-35 south to Gwinn. You can enjoy hiking and mountain biking at Anderson Lake West State Forest Campground or continue south on M-35 to Little Lake where you take County Road 456 east to US-41. A left US-41 takes you north to M-94 where you turn right on M-94 to Chatham and can ask “Honey – are you sure we’re not lost?” 3 miles north off M-94 at Sundell are the about 100′ high Laughing Whitefish Falls (photo right by Church of One).

From there it’s east until you reach H-03 located between Chatham and Forest Lake, north on H-03 along the AuTrain River and past AuTrain Lake until you reach the junction of M-28. You can go east 12 miles along the Lake Superior shoreline on 28 to Tyoga Pathway or go west back to Marquette.

Check out more Michigan Fall Color Tours on Michigan in Pictures and also our fall wallpaper collection!

The Power of Green

Posted on September 25, 2008September 25, 2008 by farlane

We’ve Got the Power, photo by Ann Teliczan

I was just working on a simple post about Green Jobs Now, who have designated this Saturday (Sep 27) as a national day of action in support of jobs in renewable energy and other green industries so I could link to their list of Green Jobs Now Events in Michigan.

It got kind of out hand though, and ended up being a Renewable Energy linkfest of epic proportions that is now on Absolute Michigan.

As a side note, this lonely windmill just outside of Traverse City was the first utility windmill in Michigan and the largest machine in North America. As another side note, Ann has more great photos from the Leelanau/Traverse area right here!

Exposure Detroit in Ann Arbor – June – July 2008

Posted on June 2, 2008June 2, 2008 by Michigan in Pictures

Fly by, photo by blind lemon larry.

The Exposure.Detroit in Ann Arbor show opens this Friday (June 6) from 7-9 PM at Sweetwaters Cafe in Ann Arbor and continues through July and the Ann Arbor Art Fair. The theme of the show is “Michigan means ______ to me” and you can see the photos submitted right here.

Selected photographers for the show are: vonhaupt, rhonda marie, mike glinski, joejoesmoe , orlowski photography, kevin ridge , buckshotjones, tedguy49, paulhitz, radiospike, bobby alcott, maya fardoun, caterpillars, A2 Kathy , ledio/shqipo, ryan southen, bashas04, david sr. – lapeer photography, 1manwithacamera , keith burgess photography, kathy4, blind lemon larry , urban picasso , living in red, Rich S , Katthor , amy palomar, senecacreek/, ralph ckrawczyk jr/, alanna st laurent.

This photo is part of Larry’s Michigan set (slideshow).

50th anniversary of the launch of the S. S. Edmund Fitzgerald

Posted on May 28, 2008November 18, 2015 by farlane

Hull 301 Launch 3, photo courtesy The Open Lake Group, LLC

I was initially going to use another photo of the Edmund Fitzgerald for this post, but when I asked about that one, Wade showed me this one from the launch of “Hull 301”. How cool is it that I would happen to contact someone who had an unpublished photo of the launch? You can see a couple more photos from the launch (including one that shows the huge crowd) in his Edmund Fitzgerald set.

Saturday June 7th marks the 50th anniversary of the launch of what’s probably the most well known Great Lakes ship. Over on Absolute Michigan, SSEdmundFitzgerald.com posted “Celebrating the launch of the S. S. Edmund Fitzgerald”. Reading it made me realize that our remembrance of what was once the largest ship ever to ply the Great Lakes ignores almost two decades of service and countless hours of hard work and craftsmanship.

It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon on June 7th, 1958, as more than 10,000 people lined the banks of the Detroit River. They had come to witness the launching of Hull 301 at the Great Lakes Engineering Works of River Rouge, Michigan. Mrs. Edmund Fitzgerald, wife of the president of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company for which the ship was named, christened the brand new ship and at 12:34 p.m. the 729 ft. “Edmund Fitzgerald” slid gracefully into the basin amid cheers, salutes, and well wishers.

For many of those in attendance, it was a spectacle that they would never forget.

The shipyard workers who constructed “Big Fitz” felt a deep sense of satisfaction as they anxiously watched the launch of this marvelous vessel. Being a prideful lot, they often endured long hours and harsh conditions. This was their “crowning achievement” and the beauty of their craftsmanship was truly evident to all those present.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of that memorable event. It is an opportunity to reflect on and celebrate a joyous time in our lives. It is also a chance to recall the great pride and cherished memories experienced by the ship workers, the community, and all who had the opportunity to witness the launching of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

On this historic occasion, let us joyously share our personal stories, renew old friendships, and fondly remember the day when the “Queen Of The Lakes” was born.
June 7, 2008 Detroit MI

Great Lakes Ship Builders (Detroit Area) host the 50th Anniversary of the Edmund Fitzgerald Launch and Down River Celebration from 11 AM – 4 PM on Saturday, June 7 2008. The celebration will include a chance to meet the designers and others who worked on the Fitz, workshops on shipbuilders, and ships built in the downriver during the last 200 years. There will also be a Salute to Excellence Award, launch commemoration, and lots of art and artists. For more information, call Roscoe at 810 955-4305 (and poke around SSEdmundFitzgerald.com).

As often, there’s a Wikipedia entry for the SS Edmund Fitzgerald and you can see a gallery of photos from the building of the Fitz and this Zapruder-class video of the launch of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

The Enrico Fermi Nuclear Power Plant

Posted on May 6, 2008January 20, 2011 by Michigan in Pictures

Nuclear Wetlands, photo by mandj98.

James writes that the Enrico Fermi Nuclear Power plant is located on Lake Erie about six miles from Point Mouillee.

The Department of Energy’s page on the Enrico Fermi plant says that it was named for the first physicist to split the atom. The prototype Fermi 1 unit operated at the site from 1963 to 1972 and is now mothballed. The current 1,111 MW Fermi 2 unit is operated by Detroit Edison Company. It’s a boiling water reactor that ranks as Michigan’s 9th largest nuclear reactor.

Wikipedia’s entry for Fermi notes that plant suffered a partial meltdown on October 5, 1966, an event that inspired the Gil Scott-Heron song We Almost Lost Detroit. There was no reported release of radiation or injury.

Here’s an aerial view of Fermi Nuclear Power plant and you can also check out this satellite view of the Enrico Fermi Nuclear Power plant on the Absolute Michigan map of Michigan.