United3dArtists Archive

A circa 1950 aerial photograph compared to a modern day view using Virtual Earth

Sorry in advance for the giant block of text!.

I ran across this incredible old aerial photograph of part of Detroit that depicts the construction of part of the interstate highway system.
You can see how it's just being punched right through existing neighborhoods.
This image almost captured the neighborhood my mom spent her teenage years in- it's barely offscreen to the left.
Somewhere in the upper left is where the infamous 1967 riots would begin.

In the mid left about where the freeway construction ends/begins, you can see Henry Ford Hospital, with the circular drive.
Decades later, an operation here would spare my mom's life.
In the old photo, I can see the windows of the waiting room where we waited during the operation.

Down the street to the right of the hospital you can see the Fisher Building -a 1928 Art Deco skyscraper.
Barely onscreen across the street is part of the GM Building, General Motors world headquarters from 1923 until 1996.

Some other things to note, are the tremendous number of trees lining each street.
These would later be all but wiped out by Dutch Elm Disease.

Fast Forward to the Internet Age... I fired up Virtual Earth and tried to recreate the historical viewpoint shown in the photograph.
I couldn't find a 'Bird's Eye View' quite the same or covering as much area as the orginal, but using the 3D view I got pretty close.

Lots of changes!

The hospital remains and is greatly expanded, but some of the older structure remains.
The Fisher Building still stands, but GM has moved it's HQ downtown to the riverfront.
The elms are all gone.
Lots of houses gone as well, their owners long since moved to the suburbs, drawn by the easy commute on a brand new freeway.

Enough history lesson, lets get to the goods:

Here is the old photo. For the brave there is a giant 7550 X 4800 version (recommended for maximun detail)
Here is the Virtual Earth view.

Enjoy the flight!