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The Detroit News has been cataloguing the history of Metro Detroit in pictures for 132 years. Now you can purchase reprints from this historic collection.
Red Wings: 2008 Stanley Cup champions
On June 4, 2008, The Detroit Red Wings defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins on their own ice to win the Stanley Cup Championship for the 11th time! At a time when job cuts, soaring gasoline prices and City Hall scandals are weighing heavily on Metro Detroiters -- this team brought the city together, into the streets and gave them a reason to cheer.
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Detroit's Captain
Steve Yzerman -- The Captain -- capped a 22 year on-ice career with the Detroit Red Wings on Jan. 2, 2007, when his number 19 was retired and hoisted to the rafters of Joe Louis Arena. Far from an end, the event would turn out to be a new beginning for the modern face of Hockeytown.
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The original home to Detroit hockey
On Feb 21, 1980, The Red Wings both old and new threw a grand retirement party for Olympia Arena. It was a final farewell to the old red barn on Grand River, which served so long as the home of Detroit hockey.
The stadium had become the smallest arena in the NH. The team was moving to new quarters in the fall with the opening of the clean, well lite, air-conditioned Joe Louis Arena. It was time to say goodbye to another Detroit landmark.
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Opening Day
From traffic crowding the corner of Bagley and Michigan Ave. to the crowds of Tigers fans that pack the bleachers, Opening Day in Detroit has always brought the city together with the collective hope of a winning season.
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The '57 Lions
The 1950s were the glory days for the Detroit Lions, filled with nail-biting come-from-behind victories that led to exciting championship games. They dominated the National Football League with three NFL titles, a Western Conference crown, and two close runner-up finishes.
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Panic in Detroit
Four decades ago an early morning raid on a blind pig would spark a turning point in a city already smouldering with racial tension. Revisit 6 historic days in July when windows shattered, fires roared and chaos ruled the streets.
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Welcome aboard: The Bob-Lo Island boats
Joe Short known fondly to thousands of kids and their parents as Captain Bob-Lo plied the Detroit River aboard the Bob-Lo cruise boats Columbia and the St. Claire. A diminutive clown just 4 feet 1 inches tall, Joe entertained both children and adults riding the Bob-lo boats headed to and from the island amusement park.
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World War I: The "Great War"
World War I generally gets short shrift in American memories. The conflict often is relegated to a few pages in school textbooks and the occasional documentary film.
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Detroit: Paris of the Midwest
After the end of the First World War, Detroit's skyline underwent a dramatic facelift. The huge 1920s building program attracted the attention of architects throughout the country. Detroit ranked third in the nation, after New York and Chicago, in the number of major buildings erected during the Roaring Twenties. The boom proved dramatic and lasting. In 1919, General Motors began construction of its new headquarters, the largest office building in the world at the time, followed by the First National Bank Building in 1922.
The Penobscot Building, begun in 1928, the tallest in the city for nearly 50 years, highlighted the downtown skyline along with the new Buhl Building in 1925. The Book brothers transformed Washington Boulevard into a replica of New York's Fifth Avenue. The Book Cadillac Hotel at Michigan and Washington became the showstopper of the fashionably chic district. In 1928, the beautiful Fisher Building, across the street from the General Motors Building, complemented its business partner. The Masonic Temple, also completed that year, added ambiance to the bustling area.
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Michigan's greatest treasure -- its people
Ethnically speaking, Michigan is more than just one state -- it's a snapshot of America's ethnic whole. A 1993 article in The Detroit News listed 146 different languages spoken in Michigan homes. Topping the list are; Spanish, Polish, German, Arabic, French, Italian, Chinese, Greek, Dutch and Korean.
According to local historian Arthur Woodford, Detroit has "the largest multi-ethnic population of any city in the United States. Detroit has the largest Arabic-speaking population outside of the Middle East, the second largest Polish population in America (only Chicago has more), and the largest U.S. concentration of Belgians, Chaldeans and Maltese."
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Dr. Martin Luther King
On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated as he stood on a motel balcony in Memphis Tennessee where he had gone to lead a civil rights march.
The following day, Michigan Governor George Romney declared an official period of mourning for Dr. King. The period extended through Dr. King's funeral. Romney ordered all flags on public buildings to be flown at half staff and asked that the same be done on private buildings. Gov. Romney in an official statement said; "The assassination of Martin Luther King is a great national tragedy. At a time when we need aggressive nonviolent leadership to peacefully achieve equal rights, equal opportunities and equal responsibilities for all, his leadership will be grievously missed."
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How the egg came to symbolize Easter
The joy and hope of Easter Resurrection has been symbolized for centuries by lambs, rabbits, lilies and crosses. The simple egg, however is perhaps the oldest and most universal symbol of rebirth and new life.
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Detroit's passion for wrestling
On March 29, 1987, the third annual WrestleMania event was held at the Pontiac Silverdome Stadium.
Billed as "Bigger, Better, Badder" the WWF invaded the Motor City and boasted a record attendance of 93,173. The crowd numbers though sometimes disputed, are still widely considered to be the largest paid crowd in the history of professional wrestling.
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Detroiters and their beers
European immigrants who landed in Detroit brought with them a taste for beer and ale.
Because of its easy access to fresh water, excellent shipping, plentiful grain and its large German immigrant population, Detroit became a center for beer production and consumption. A German brewer, Frederick Ams, arrived in Detroit in 1848 and introduced lager to the thirsty citizens. Another German immigrant, Bernhard Stroh, established himself in Detroit and by the mid 1800s Detroit had four brewers.
But there was growing opposition to beer drinking, which was viewed culturally as a man's vice. In 1916 Billy Sunday spent two months in Detroit preaching against Demon Rum and beer drinking just prior to the vote on the 18th Amendment. As a result, Michigan became the first state to ratify Prohibition.
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Arsenal of Democracy
Even before the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 Michigan was producing weapons and supplies for the countries fighting against Germany and Japan. In March 1941, under government contract, the Ford Motor Company began building the Willow Run factory near Ypsilanti, Michigan
President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered auto manufacturers to stop producing cars for domestic use. The last cars for civilian use rolled off the assembly lines in February 1942. The automobile capital of the world switched to the production of aircraft and other war materials.
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Lucky Lindy and his ties to Detroit
On May 20, 1927, a tiny monoplane arose from the mist hanging over a Long Island, N.Y., airfield and headed east out over the Altantic. By the time it landed near Paris more than 33 hours later, Chester Augustus Lindbergh had assured himself of a world-wide fame that would be nearly as difficult for him to deal with as the tragedy that accompanied it. "Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy."
-- F. Scott Fitzgerald
The world went wild with emotion and turned the Detroit-born Minnesota farm boy into a national hero.
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The Execution of Private Slovik
On Jan. 31, 1945, Hamtramck-born Eddie Slovik was executed by firing a squad near the village of Ste-Marie aux Mines for the crime of desertion. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, supreme allied commander, personally ordered the execution during the closing days of World War II in order to deter other potential deserters.
During World War II, 21,049 American military personnel were convicted of desertion, 49 were sentenced to death, but only Pvt. Slovik paid the ultimate price. In fact, he was the only American soldier to be executed for desertion since the American Civil War.
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Detroit hosts Super Bowl XVI
On January 24, 1982 the National Football League held the first Super Bowl to be played in a northern city, at the Pontiac Silverdome. More than 81,000 fans attended the Super Bowl XVI championship and a television audience of more than 85 million watched as the San Francisco 49ers beat the Cincinnati Bengals 26-21. This was the first Super Bowl to be broadcast by the teaming of Pat Summerall and John Madden. The game gave the CBS network a 49.1 ratings share and remains one of the most watched TV shows in American history.
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The Detroit auto shows
Since the first Detroit auto show in 1899, the exhibit over the years has been held in every type of venue ranging from dance halls to a beer garden to a church tabernacle.
Credit for the beginning of the Detroit auto shows belongs to the energy and enthusiasm of one man -- William E. Metzger, who dealt in bicycles before becoming an important figure in the development of the auto industry. In 1895, Metzger traveled to England to attend the world's first auto exhibit and shortly after became Detroit's first auto dealer, representing several lines of cars.
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Disbelief sweeps city with JFK's Death
On Nov. 22, 1963 Detroiters stared at televisions and listened to radios in shocked silence as the news spread that President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated.
Disbelief, sorrow and anger rose in those who loved the charming, youthful president. Flags fell to half-staff on buildings as the word spread in downtown Detroit on that rainy Friday afternoon.
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