Comments on: City of Destiny

By: Detroit 1701 – 1976: The commemorative bookmark | The Night Train

Detroit 1701 – 1976: The commemorative bookmark | The Night Train — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 22:31:43 +0000

[...] sounds like a metaphor but it’s not. I mean physically, like that time I bought a book by Detroit historian George Washington Stark and found a trove of articles about George Washington Stark inside of it. (As well as George [...]

By: Detroit turns 309 | The Night Train

Detroit turns 309 | The Night Train — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 20:32:58 +0000

[...] George Washington Stark [...]

By: And change had oft succeeded change. | The Night Train

And change had oft succeeded change. | The Night Train — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 04:23:56 +0000

[...] just in from George Washington Stark! An astonishing poem about the poignancy of tearing down a neglected old property — in this [...]

By: amy

amy — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 23:58:14 +0000

Dominique, I agree! It’s not like the city didn’t change until the riots, only to be utterly transformed in a Biblical firestorm in those five days. In a way I think he was positioned to see it all, from the quiet pre-industrial gentility to the automotive (and Arsenal) boom years to the slow erosion of that prosperity and the outward sprawl after the War.

I am also so glad I went back to get this book.

By: Dominique

Dominique — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 15:07:10 +0000

This sounds like a great find! I’m so glad you went back to get it.
Even though Stark died in 1966, he really lived through many of the most significant changes in the city’s history–even just considering the rise of the automobile industry and the changing demographics as many immigrated and migrated to Detroit for good-paying jobs, there was so much for Stark to document.

By: amy

amy — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 02:47:54 +0000

“What he remembers with greatest pride is that he helped Henry Ford push that first automobile out of the shed into the alley, which was paved with cobblestones. The hour was 4 a.m., and one wonders why these automotive pioneers selected the hours just prior to dawn for their first roadwork. The answer is comparatively simple if you realize that traffic is at a low ebb at that time and most horses were enjoying their beauty sleep in their stalls. Unless your memory goes back to those early-century days, you have no idea what terror the horseless carriage spread among the horses.”

-George W. Stark

By: Todd

Todd — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 02:30:16 +0000

Excellent post! “…pre-automotive Detroit, a muddy place full of spooked horses and barn fires” Love it!