Detroit's Thanksgiving Day Parade

In 1924, Charles F. Wendel, display manager at the J.L. Hudson Company, conceived the idea of a grand Thanksgiving parade down Woodward Avenue, with Santa alighting from his sleigh at Hudson's to take up residence at the 12th floor Toyland. Michael Wiley, 2, and sister Pamela, 5, of Redford Township sit impatiently on the curb waiting for Santa in 1977. His idea would become one of Detroit's longest-running and most beloved traditions.
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Detroit's dance hall days

There was a time when glittering palaces were vibrated by thousands of dancing feet, making Detroit one of the busiest of ballroom cities. The big ballrooms and the big bands that played the cool, bouncy music of the age of 'swing' remain alive now only in the memories of old Detroit jitterbugs.
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The Detroit Lions' glory days

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 . Stars of those glittering teams included future Pro Football Hall of Famers quarterback Bobby Layne, running back Doak Walker, safety Jack Christian, tackle-guard Lou Creekmur, middle linebacker Joe Schmidt and Coach Buddy Parker.
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The roots of the Labor Movement

In the late 1800's support for the feisty American labor movement emerged in worker dominated cities like Detroit, where thousands of men and women struck the plants and shops and marched the streets demanding a fair shake.Today, most Detroiters think of Labor Day as a last summer fling, they've forgotten the holiday's roots in unionism. Relaxing at the beach or barbeque, it's easy to forget our grandparents who marched in the streets in huge parades celebrating the working man's efforts with a show of solidarity. Without union intervention, overtime pay, vacations and sick leave policies might not exist, nor workplace safety rules protect us. The long legacy of labor history surrounds us not only in our city's auto industry, but in our architecture and art work, and most important in the job benefits and quality of life we all enjoy from the labor victories.
View gallery | or Read more: The battle of the Overpass | How labor won its day | Up in smoke: Cigar making in Detroit | Mr. Ford, blacks and the UAW | Richard Frankensteen, the UAW's 'other guy' | The day Jimmy Hoffa didn't come home

The Civil Rights movement

Standing on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963 Dr. Martin Luther King delivered his 'I Have a Dream Speech'.
The speech which would become a landmark speech of the civil right movement can be traced back to Detroit. Several months earlier on June 23, more 200,000 people gathered in downtown, to march with Dr. Martin Luther King down Woodward Ave. to Cobo Hall in the city's mammoth March for Freedom.
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Belle Isle, an oasis in the heart of Detroit

After the city of Detroit aquired the 600 acre Hog Island in 1879 its name was changed to Belle Isle. Enlisting the famous landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted the city set about creating a grand metropolitan park.
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The Brown Bomber -- The man behind The Fist

Joe Louis won his first 27 pro fights with 23 knockouts. At the age of 21, he had knocked out Primo Carnera, Kingfish Levinsky, Max Baer and Paolino Uzcudum in a total of 12 rounds. In December 1935, Detroit News Sports Editor H.G. Salsinger wrote: "Louis is generally regarded as the greatest fighter of all time."
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The Golden Age of the Motown Sound

In 1957 a singing group called the Matadors, fronted by a young Smokey Robinson, auditioned unsuccessfully for Jackie Wilson's manager. Another young man by the name of Berry Gordy Jr. watched the audition and saw something Wilson's manager had obviously missed. He persuaded the group to change their name to the Miracles and work with him instead. The rest is history.
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The city of champions

It was the middle of the Great Depression and Detroit was particularly hard hit, with more than 220,000 out of work. But despite the hardships, it was a time for celebration like no other, a time for Detroit to revel in its newly won reputation as "The City of Champions."
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Christmas Past

For the better part of the 20th Century the holiday season in Detroit was marked by the arrival of Santa and his reindeer at the annual Thanksgiving Day Parade on Woodward Avenue. Crowds would line the streets to watch the festivities while others flooded downtown Detroit, shopping store to store, in search of the perfect gift. Visits to the toy store filled many children with dreams of Christmas morning.
The weeks leading up to Christmas often involved a pilgrimage to the Christmas Toyland on the 12^th floor of J.L. Hudson's department store or Dearborn's Ford Rotunda exposition hall where long lines were always filled with the anticipation of seeing St. Nick. Declarations of good behavior on Santa's lap were almost as exciting as Christmas morning!
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The origins of the Goodfellows: 'No kiddie without a Christmas'

More than half a century ago a Detroit cartoonist sat down at his drawing board intending to "spoil Christmas for every man and woman in Detroit who had remembered only themselves." The artist was Thomas May. Whether his 1906 drawing of a little girl sobbing in a grimly furnished garret accomplished its purpose is not recorded.
But since 1923, the cartoon had been the official emblem of the Old Newsboys' Goodfellow Fund. The Old Newsboys take to the streets every holiday season to carry on their message: "No Child Without a Christmas."
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This week's Rearview Mirror: The toy train that rules Christmas

No toy is more closely identified with Christmas than the toy train. There was a time when nearly every boy wanted a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas, but even a mother convinced her son would shoot an eye out had no objection to a toy locomotive chugging around the tree.
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From Albert Kahn to The Detroit Zoo, rediscover Metro Detroit's past in The Detroit News' Rearview Mirror.