There pictures are actually about a year or 2 old but there was an article in today's Detroit Free Press about these 3 buildings so I thought you guys may want to see them.  "Highland Park buildings' decay marks city's decline": http://www.freep.com/article/20090226/NEWS05/902260340/1001/NEWS/Highland+Park+buildings++decay+marks+city+s+decline

 

Police Headquarters

 

Court

 

Fire station

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yikes.

Yikes.

 

I think you mean.

 

 

Especially in regard to the last picture!

 

Those buildings are gorgeous. I'm surprised and wonder why that haven't be rehabbed or converted into other uses.

Oof. Looks like it'd take a pretty penny to fix that up.

Ugh.

Just Sad.

I did a paper for a class last year that included these buildings.  I gathered historic photos of when these structures opened, and I took the pictures in 2008 in the exact same position, and by exact, I mean PERFECTLY lined up.  I had to get on the roof of the old police station I think.  When I exited, I was told by a police officer on patrol nearby, that the buildings are very dangerous and I should never go back inside.  He was right though, I've heard some awful stories.  It was bad enough I had to step over dead animals.

 

Excellent photos though Zach, it's just such a shame to see these once proud structures in such a state of disrepair.  Maybe someday they will get the attention they deserve.

Wow, this is a suburb of Detroit?  I know it was once big with Ford, but does anyone have any more info on this city?  Is the entire city in such a state of disrepair?  Would it be like Detroit's East Cleveland?  It looks worse than that from these pics.

It a city that is surrounded enitrely by Detroit.  It's almost right in the center.  Same with Hamtramck

 

Highland Park is the pink trapezoid left of Hamtramck.  All the orange is the city of Detroit.  Ever since HP went into receivership by the state, the CoD provides police and fire, thus requring the abandonment of all HP municipal facilities.  In other words, when one house catches fire, the whole block burns with it until another underfunded department comes to put it out.

 

 

yeah it's detroit's e cle

 

its library is in similar disrepair.

Ever since HP went into receivership by the state, the CoD provides police and fire, thus requring the abandonment of all HP municipal facilities.  In other words, when one house catches fire, the whole block burns with it until another underfunded department comes to put it out.

 

IIRC, the Highland Park police department has actually been reestablished, as has the FD.  No doubt heavily backed-up by the Detroit PD and FD.  For those that haven't seen it yet, Clint Eastwood's latest, "Gran Torino", features Highland Park.  It's a great, if non-specific,  commentary on HP and really the Rust Belt in general, with the interesting twist of the Asian immigrant population (and assorted problems) in the Highland Park area.

according to wiki gran torino is set in highland park but modeled after minneapolis. 

 

i don't think highland park is seeing any newcomers.  its intact neighbor hamtramck does, however, have a large south asian community. 

Thanks for the info everyone....I always heard that Hamtramck was nice...but never really heard much about this neighbor HP.  Very interesting stuff.

While it seems that "Gran Torino" was indeed originally planned for MSP, Michigan's motion picture tax credits (Hello, Ohio Statehouse!) attracted it to Detroit and Highland Park.  Detroit (and possibly HP?) does have an appreciable Hmong population, so it wasn't unreasonable.

 

I'd be interested in hearing more about Hamtramck though...it seems that it is unique (possibly in the US, along with Highland Park) in being a suburb completely enveloped by it's urban core. 

^how about bratenahl, bexley, whitehall, norwood

 

indianapolis surrounds(ed?) burbs not participating in unigov.  montreal has burbs inside it. 

 

there are a bunch of examples of cities annexing all the way around other cities

^ Well Bratenahl is of course bordered to the north by the Lake Erie Republic, so it didn't really enter my mind.  :wink:

 

But point very well taken; that's what I get for posting post-Tremont bar crawl.  Still, it is kinda interesting from a theoretical standpoint to have not inner-ring suburbs, but downright Lesotho-esqe municipalities!