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Step back in time with ‘Greetings from Detroit’

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So many streetcars!

All photos courtesy of HistoricDetroit.org

Admittedly, we can easily get caught up browsing through old photos of Detroit, wondering what it must have been like 100 or so years ago.

A new book from author and historian Dan Austin is here for us.

Greetings from Detroit: Historic Postcards of the Motor City contains over 200 postcards of famous Detroit streets and landmarks of yore that Austin has collected over the years. It’s being released through Wayne State University Press and can be ordered through HistoricDetroit.org, a site run by Austin that’s full of information of Detroit buildings past and present.

The book is available to order now. A book launch party will be held Sunday, September 17 from 1-4 p.m. at Pure Detroit in the Fisher Building.

The book contains detailed information on each of the locations featured in the postcards, many of which are no longer standing. Austin shared some of them with Curbed so we could get all nostalgic for the days of Detroit’s past. How many current buildings can you identify?

Notice all the streetcars in these postcards
Capitol Park!
When Grand Circus was full of buildings...
Look at all that density.
Could it look like this again?
This one has more lights now.
Can you imagine?

Over 200 more postcards (with information) are included in the new book. Austin is also the author of Forgotten Landmarks of Detroit and Lost Detroit.