Jams Member Username: Jams
Post Number: 9797 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Thursday, December 11, 2008 - 12:21 am: | |
While sorting my collection of postcards, I came across this one.
Curious about the Exposition, I started researching it on the web. Came across this:
quote:The first decade of the twentieth century represents a great divide in Detroit industrial history. In the second half of the nineteenth century, Detroit and its environs developed a substantial and diverse industrial base. Bulk product industries made iron and steel, copper ingots, salt, chemicals,and a bewildering variety of wood products. The city's industrialists achieved great success and national fame by manufacturing a wide spectrum of goods seldom remembered today as products of Detroit. The city was home to substantial manufacturers of consumer goods such as shoes, tobacco products, paint and varnish, packaged seeds for flowers and vegetables, beer, pharmaceuticals, healing and cooking stoves, and big-ticket capital goods including ships and railroad cars. The sudden emergence of automobile manufacturing after 1900 changed the city's industrial character nearly overnight. By 1915 Detroit was the automobile-manufacturing center of the United States, and the auto industry dominated Detroit's economy. For the rest of the twentieth century this single industry determined the city's fate and defined its character. For published scholarship on the history of Detroit industry, the first decade of the twentieth century forms a great divide as well. Numerous high-quality, scholarly studies document the emergence and maturation of the automobile industry. These works include broad automobile industry studies, detailed histories of the major companies, and biographies of most of the significant automotive leaders. In contrast, the collective body of works on Detroit industry from 1850 to 1900 is thin, and historians in search of information need to cast wide nets. much more: http://www.articlearchives.com/automotive/automotive-overview/950905-1.html |
Sumas Member Username: Sumas
Post Number: 413 Registered: 01-2008
| Posted on Thursday, December 11, 2008 - 7:47 pm: | |
Thank you for the link. |
Mikem Member Username: Mikem
Post Number: 1870 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Thursday, December 11, 2008 - 8:33 pm: | |
Thanks, also, for the link. quote:The city's industrialists achieved great success and national fame by manufacturing a wide spectrum of goods seldom remembered today as products of Detroit...The sudden emergence of automobile manufacturing after 1900 changed the city's industrial character nearly overnight. By 1915 Detroit was the automobile-manufacturing center of the United States, and the auto industry dominated Detroit's economy. For the rest of the twentieth century this single industry determined the city's fate and defined its character. What drove away the other industries? |
Noggin Member Username: Noggin
Post Number: 84 Registered: 09-2004
| Posted on Thursday, December 11, 2008 - 8:57 pm: | |
Simple. U.A.W. |
Mikem Member Username: Mikem
Post Number: 1871 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Thursday, December 11, 2008 - 9:07 pm: | |
Interesting. Explain. How did the UAW affect the fate of the railcar manufacturing industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the paint/varish industry, the shipbuilding industry, etc? |
Noggin Member Username: Noggin
Post Number: 85 Registered: 09-2004
| Posted on Thursday, December 11, 2008 - 9:16 pm: | |
It is simple. Businesses go to places where they feel welcome. This city is covered with the skeletons of buildings where the businesses were chased out by unions. They either went south or went bankrupt. For example there is good reason until the last few years many of the major stove manufactures are centered around Tennessee. It is a business friendly state. Does the term "right to work laws" seem familiar? Most of the states that have these laws have attracted more manufacturing business than up north. |
Lowell Moderator Username: Lowell
Post Number: 5101 Registered: 09-2003
| Posted on Thursday, December 11, 2008 - 9:42 pm: | |
You didn't answer Mikem's question. |
Jams Member Username: Jams
Post Number: 7264 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Thursday, December 11, 2008 - 9:44 pm: | |
The UAW was founded in May 1935. How did that affect the industries in Detroit that existed prior to the automotive industry that disappeared? Simple question, not a reason for a political rant. |
Noggin Member Username: Noggin
Post Number: 86 Registered: 09-2004
| Posted on Thursday, December 11, 2008 - 10:00 pm: | |
It is not a political rant, just the facts. Up through the 20's there still was a variety of manufacturing here. The automotive industry did put a strain on other industries for labor and capital but they managed to coexist for the most part. The depression afterwords killed a lot of businesses. Later the war put pressure to produce armaments. After the war the unions got so powerful a lot of businesses not in the car business left or went bankrupt. This was not a switch that went off in one day but happened over time. Nobody noticed the change because the auto industry was so prosperous. |
Turkeycall Member Username: Turkeycall
Post Number: 100 Registered: 09-2008
| Posted on Friday, December 12, 2008 - 6:38 am: | |
Quote: "Nobody noticed the change because the auto industry was so prosperous." I'll bet the people who worked in the affected industries noticed. |