Abandoned Businesses in Detroit, Michigan

The depopulation of Detroit makes the news from time to time.  In the 1950s the population of Detroit peaked at 1,849,568. The 2012 population was an estimated  701,475.  Sixty-two percent of the population of Detroit has left this city over a span of sixty years.  With fewer people, business close.  Here's just a few photos of discarded business buildings.

Michigan Central Station

The last train left the station
on January 5, 1988.

Since then it has changed
hands & it remains empty.

The smudge is a bird dropping.

A large building near

Michigan Central Station.




Detroit is a large city.  It covers 138.75 square miles.  Eric and I are from the Capital Region in Upstate New York, where cities are much smaller.  Albany covers 21.4 square miles.  Schenectady covers 10.8 square miles.  Troy is a mere 10.4 miles square.  Combined these three upstate cities are 42 square miles... barely a third of the land mass of Detroit.  

All that remains is 

the street number.

This check cashing
store has gone out
of business.

The building has a

great shape.

I wonder about the type

of business operated here.

8 Mile Road

Eric reminisces about
the movie.

A former
liquor store

Abandoned & unused,

this building has

been tagged.

Like so many abandoned

store fronts, there's no

way of knowing what

 the building was used for.

I wonder what
DEMS means...

When people leave a city, businesses shut down.  With the population declining 62 percent, it makes sense that businesses close.  With fewer people and business opportunities, empty buildings sit, for years.

Debts have been piling up.  Currently, Detroit is 18 billion dollars in debt.  On July 18, 2013 Detroit filed for bankruptcy.  It is the largest city to do so.