Chronicling history around the Detroit and St. Clair Rivers, including the hotels such as Joe Bedore's, Clubs such as the Old Club, parks such as Bob-lo, excursion boats such as the Tashmoo and the early marine engine manufacturers that made Detroit the Motor City

LIFE AT THE FLATS,

The Golden Era of the St. Clair River Delta

This Collector Edition is an edited and revised compilation of the three volume history of the area first published in 1985. 

During the late 19th century Harsens Island and the St. Clair Flats were known worldwide as America�s Venice, one of the country�s most unique resort destinations.  The area became a resort destination shortly after the Civil War, an era before automobiles and telephones were dreamed of, and its fame peaked in the early 20th century.  For decades magnificent white passenger steamers arrived, almost one after another, to exchange passengers at the docks of palatial private clubs and public resorts as well as the popular Tashmoo Park.  They are all remembered with vivid text and lavishly illustrated.

8� x 11� hardbound cloth cover

192 pages, over 250 illustrations

ISBN: 0-9710-833-1-2

8� x 11� hardbound laminated cover

190 pages, over 190 b&w and color illustrations

ISBN: 0-9710-833-0-4

WHEN DETROIT RODE THE WAVES,

A Summer Cruise Along the Detroit and St. Clair Rivers aboard the Riverboats of the Early 20th Century.

In When Detroit Rode the Waves  the reader boards the palatial Steamer Tashmoo for a full day excursion from Toledo to Port Huron with stops in Detroit and many of the parks and resorts along the Detroit and St. Clair Rivers, in an era when Detroit was home to the nation�s largest fleet of excursion and passenger ships. 

Over 190 rare images, including 40 color pages with period post cards, vividly illustrates the historic cruise. 

The collection of images combined with descriptive text captures a rare glimpse of the early 20th century and allows us to enjoy a bit of a grand era that many of us never knew.

Contents include a history of postcards and two of their most important producers, Louis Pesha and The Detroit Publishing Company.

NEW!

Motormen & Yachting

The Waterfront Heritage of the Automobile Industry

The development of lightweight internal combustion engines suitable for personal transportation vehicles first took place on the lakes and rivers of Europe and North America.  Up to now most historians have dismissed the true importance of the marine engine�s role with comments such as, �one of the reasons Detroit became the automobile capital was due to that city having a number of marine gas engine manufacturers.�  Those Detroit marine engine manufacturers included Ransom Olds, David Buick, Henry Ford, Henry Leland (Cadillac & Lincoln), Charles B. King and Henry Joy (Packard), all manufacturers of marine engines before the existence of a Detroit automobile industry.  Also, in Europe, Gotlieb Daimler made popular marine engines for nearly a decade before he marketed a production model automobile.   

It was the market demand for engines to power small boats that supported the experimental era for small gas engines (at a time when engines commonly weighed as much as 100 pounds per horsepower). 

Motormen & Yachting traces the role of steam, other vapor, electric and internal combustion marine engines in pioneering owner operated, mechanically powered transportation vehicles.  Biographies of six important motormen from the marine engine era and two chapters about the technological contributions of early powerboat racing help recall the importance of the marine engine industry in creating the public acceptance of the �exploding� engines and the emergence of an automobile industry.  An illustrated appendix documents over 150 early Michigan marine engine manufacturers with brief company biographies.

8x11 hardbound laminated cover

234 pages, over 190 illustrations

ISBN: 0-97108-332-0

Click on picture for contents 

Standard Edition

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321 Moross, Grosse Pointe, MI 48236

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