Why is Detroit a ghost town? Photos before and after

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:42

Even in the most developed country in the world (USA) there is a ghost town - Detroit. A few decades ago, it was a successful and dynamic metropolis with modern infrastructure - the world capital of the automotive industry. But what happened? Why is Detroit a ghost town? We have to deal with all this today.

Introducing "Hollywood City"

Do you want to buy real estate in America for just a couple of dollars? It is not joke. Due to the insolvent population, which is already small here, most of the houses (if not all) are listed at real estate auctions at extremely low prices.

There are no buyers here. A rare occurrence is the redemption of one's own housing from the municipality of the city. And it's cheaper than paying taxes. The latter is not a replenishment duty of local residents.

A ghost town in the US Detroit is also a Hollywood setting for shooting apocalyptic scenes for films. It's enough just to come here with a film crew - nodecorations are not needed. Everything here is as if the inhabitants hastily left the city, which turned into a ghost many years later.

What does a ghost town look like?

More than 80 thousand abandoned buildings turned into ruins, skyscrapers with broken windows, dilapidated and grassy houses. This is the most dangerous and criminal American city. However, the number of homicides has declined in recent years. At one of the conferences, the mayor of the city answered the question about the fall in crime, stating that there was simply no one else to kill.

Locals jokingly call their city, which turns into a wasteland - prairies, steppes of North America, emphasizing all the decadence and tragedy of the city.

Let's go back to history and find out why Detroit is a ghost town. A photo of this mystical city is presented below.

From the history of past centuries

The city was founded in 1701 by the French figure Antoine Lome, it was he who gave the name to this settlement. Translated from French, "detroit" ("detrois") means "strait". There was a fur trade with the Indians. For about a century, this city belonged to Canada, but in 1796 it became the property of the United States - Detroit is turning into a major American transport hub, thanks to the favorable location of the lakes and the interchange of transport routes. The city's economy at that time depended on shipbuilding.

Until the middle of the 19th century, Detroit was the capital of Michigan.

DevelopmentDetroit

Now many are wondering why Detroit is a ghost town? A century ago, this city experienced the heyday of its development. Stately buildings, skyscrapers, office buildings and luxurious mansions were built here. It was in Detroit that the first Ford automobile plant was opened, and then Cadillac, Dodge, Chrysler and Pontiac. Detroit became the seat of the world's automotive industry, it was called the West of Paris. It was here that the fashion for cars was created, new samples were produced, becoming the subject of admiration and imitation.

High employment and the rapid development of infrastructure contributed to the economic recovery. As a result, other areas of urban life have also grown. As the economy grows, so does the local population. Life in Detroit is in full swing.

Reasons for the devastation of the city

But the economic boom had a downside - cheap labor is starting to come here. The white American population mixes with blacks who offer their services for pennies, unlike the natives of the city.

Here lies the answer to why Detroit is a ghost town. Gradually, local residents, not wanting to live next to the settlers, move to the outskirts of the city. The middle class, accustomed to good cars and a beautiful life, uses the services of the city's shops less and less. Due to the decline in customer traffic, businessmen rushed to the places where their potential livebuyers.

Consequences of the outflow of the solvent class

When bankers, engineers, shopkeepers and doctors began to leave Detroit, the city began an economic crisis. The number of African Americans continued to grow, so the poor in the city became more and more.

Automotive factories, following the rest of the business, began to close. Immigrants who arrived began to lose their jobs. They did not have the money to move from the once rich Detroit, but now devastated and gloomy. Poverty and poverty enslaved the city, and the municipal treasury did not count taxes.

Below is the ghost town of Detroit - photos before and after the collapse of the economy.

Life has stopped in Detroit

Due to poverty and lack of jobs, the city has become the most criminal and criminal place in the United States. The remaining residents clashed with immigrants from Africa. Interracial clashes were constantly taking place, crime was gaining momentum. The culmination of events - 1967, which entered the textbooks of American history - "Unrest on 12th Street." In July of that year, serious confrontations took place, which resulted in the most violent riots and lasted five days. The rebels set fire to cars, shops, houses, devastated and robbed everything that came across their way. All of Detroit was engulfed in fire and chaos.

During these riots, the police took everyone in a row. National federal troops also took part in the suppression of the rebellion. At the end of the uprising, losses were calculated:2.5 thousand shops were burned and robbed, about 400 families were left without homes, more than 7 thousand were arrested, about 500 people were injured and 43 were killed. The economic damage amounted to 40 to 80 million dollars (or 250-500 million dollars at today's prices). A photo of the ghost town of Detroit (one of the houses) is below.

This has become a point in the life of the city. Small and medium businesses have completely left the city. The oil crisis in the country, which erupted in 1973 and lasted six years, finally shook the automotive business of the American auto industry. Gluttonous American cars were bought less and less. It was decided to close the last factories in the city. The workers moved out of the city with their families. And who could not - stayed here.

The Detroit administration announced financial problems that it was not possible to cope with on its own. All of the above reasons were the answer to why Detroit became a ghost town.

Car residents' hopes

The reason was not only the influx of African emigrants, but also the discrepancy between the hopes of the highways that the residents had. The stated requirements for comfortable movement on Detroit roads have become difficult to fulfill. There came a moment when everyone simply did not have enough space on the roads for everyone to break in their vehicles.

By the way, public transport here was very poorly developed, because the original motto for the townspeople sounded like this: "Each family - a separatecar". This is another reason why Detroit is a ghost town. The exodus of the population began earlier, and immigrants accelerated its process and deepened the problem.

Detroit today

Today, less than 700,000 people live in the city. Of these, less than 20% of the population are Americans, 80% are African Americans. According to statistics, only 7% of school-age children can read and write fluently.

Many people try to sell their houses, but there are no buyers here. And there is no money to leave the ghost town either. The population lives in such a vicious circle. If you look at the empty downtown with apocalyptic landscapes today, it becomes clear why Detroit is called a "ghost city".

The city administration has no funds to restore it, the US government has repeatedly been taken for the revival of Detroit, but all attempts have been in vain. Some building owners do not give up hope that someday life will return to Detroit, and land and real estate here will rise in price.

Thousands of abandoned buildings and offices are being targeted by local vandals. Since the beginning of the 80s of the last century, local residents have a tradition of setting fire to houses. On Halloween, mass arsons begin in the city. Why the sign from the ghost town of Detroit (photo below) was picked up by other residents of the states remains unclear. But the fact remains.

An artistic take on Detroit

Not only Hollywood directors are interested in this gloomy place, but artists also draw hereinspiration. Needless to say, the place is very unusual, it is possible to build the trajectory of the development of the modern post-apocalyptic period. For example, the American artist Tyree Gaton began to attract tourists to the city with his work on the Detroit ruins. He has created objects that are at the same time a painting, a sculpture, a design object, and an original installation. Abandoned houses, rusty cars and household appliances he laid out in bizarre compositions and decorated them with bright colors. Heidelberg Street, where the artist worked, attracted not only American but also foreign tourists, and Gaton himself received several international awards for his creative achievements.

How is the US government planning to rebuild Detroit?

As mentioned earlier, the American authorities have repeatedly attempted to restore the city. But due to many reasons, this has not yet been done. One of the local government's ideas was to open two casinos in the city. But they did not justify the hopes for the economic recovery of Detroit.

The bankruptcy process in Detroit lasted from 2013 to 2014. During this period of time, it was not possible to demolish the dilapidated buildings that were planned by the government of the country for the restoration of the city. When the process was documented, the authorities decided to demolish almost one-quarter of the buildings in the city. According to the authorities, this would help to attract new investors and in the future to close old debt obligations, which at that timeamounted to over $20 billion.