Views from the People Mover: Downtown Detroit then and now

Junfu Han, Detroit Free Press
Updated ·2 min read
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LEFT: The Detroit People Mover leaves the Huntington Place station in downtown Detroit on Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023. RIGHT: View from the 1980s.
LEFT: The Detroit People Mover leaves the Huntington Place station in downtown Detroit on Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023. RIGHT: View from the 1980s.

Construction began on the Detroit People Mover in 1983, 40 years ago, and the downtown elevated rail opened for service in 1987. There are only three automated downtown people mover systems in the U.S.: in Detroit, Miami and Jacksonville, all built thanks to the funding from the federal government's Urban Mass Transportation Administration, which was created in the early 1960s.

LEFT: A Detroit People Mover approaches the Fort/Cass station in downtown Detroit on Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023. CENTER: A Detroit People Mover approaches the Huntington Place station. RIGHT: In honor of W. Hawkins Ferry made by Tom Phardel and Pewabic Pottery in 1987 at Detroit People Mover Times Square station.
LEFT: A Detroit People Mover approaches the Fort/Cass station in downtown Detroit on Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023. CENTER: A Detroit People Mover approaches the Huntington Place station. RIGHT: In honor of W. Hawkins Ferry made by Tom Phardel and Pewabic Pottery in 1987 at Detroit People Mover Times Square station.

While the People Mover was under construction, Free Press photojournalist and Pulitzer Prize winner Manny Crisostomo spent four years photographing the downtown landscape, people in downtown from the train's elevated rails, and test train cars. Crisostomo published his work in the 1987 book "Moving Pictures." While covering the Detroit Grand Prix this summer — back downtown after years on Belle Isle — I thought about Crisostomo's project, and conceived a project of my own: finding angles similar to Crisostomo's, and shooting images that would show the changes in downtown Detroit.

LEFT: View of the pedestrian tube above the Lodge Freeway from Detroit People Mover in downtown Detroit in the 1980s. RIGHT: View from Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023.
LEFT: View of the pedestrian tube above the Lodge Freeway from Detroit People Mover in downtown Detroit in the 1980s. RIGHT: View from Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023.
LEFT: The reflection of the Detroit People Mover on the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan building in downtown Detroit on Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023. RIGHT: View from the 1980s.
LEFT: The reflection of the Detroit People Mover on the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan building in downtown Detroit on Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023. RIGHT: View from the 1980s.
LEFT: View of the murals on the side of Serman's Clothes Shop seen from the Detroit People Mover in downtown Detroit in the 1980s. Serman's closed its business 10 years ago. RIGHT: View from Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023.
LEFT: View of the murals on the side of Serman's Clothes Shop seen from the Detroit People Mover in downtown Detroit in the 1980s. Serman's closed its business 10 years ago. RIGHT: View from Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023.

The 2.9-mile loop of the People Mover connects 13 downtown Detroit stations. It takes riders from Detroit's tallest building — Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center by the Detroit River — to site of the former Hudson's department store in the heart of downtown, where Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert is building what will become Detroit's second-tallest skyscraper; from Huntington Place, formerly known as Cobo Center, where events like the Detroit Auto Show, Yumacon and Autorama are held, to the Detroit Opera House and Comerica Park.

LEFT: View of the Renaissance Center from Detroit People Mover rear window in downtown Detroit in the 1980s. RIGHT: View from Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023.
LEFT: View of the Renaissance Center from Detroit People Mover rear window in downtown Detroit in the 1980s. RIGHT: View from Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023.
LEFT: Looking straight down from the guideway onto construction workers on the Cobo Hall Expansion in the 1980s. RIGHT: View of workers at the Hudson's site from Detroit People Mover in downtown Detroit on Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023.
LEFT: Looking straight down from the guideway onto construction workers on the Cobo Hall Expansion in the 1980s. RIGHT: View of workers at the Hudson's site from Detroit People Mover in downtown Detroit on Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023.
LEFT: View of Greektown from the Detroit People Mover in downtown Detroit in the 1980s. RIGHT: View from Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023.
LEFT: View of Greektown from the Detroit People Mover in downtown Detroit in the 1980s. RIGHT: View from Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023.

The view of downtown Detroit from the train cars is an amazing architectural tour of the city’s past, present and future, but the public art inside of each of the 13 stations is in a league of its own. Irene Walt, a local public art advocate, formed the Downtown Detroit People Mover Art Commission in 1984 while the elevated rail stations were under construction. Walt raised more than $2 million to fund the art projects.

View of the Ambassador Bridge and Huntington Place from Detroit People Mover rear window in downtown Detroit on Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023.
View of the Ambassador Bridge and Huntington Place from Detroit People Mover rear window in downtown Detroit on Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023.
TOP LEFT: "Untitled," by Jun Kaneko, of Detroit, installed in 1987 at Detroit People Mover Broadway station in downtown Detroit on Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023. TOP RIGHT: "Progressions II," by Sandra Jo Osip, of New York, installed in 1992 at Detroit People Mover Fort/Cass station. BOTTOM RIGHT: "Untitled," by Farley Tobin, of New York, installed by Southeastern Tile and Marble Company in 1987 at Detroit People Mover Fort/Cass station. BOTTOM LEFT: "In Honour of Mary Chase Stratton," by Diana Kulisek, of Detroit, and Pewabic Pottery, installed in 1987 at Detroit People Mover Cadillac Center station.
"Neon Lights," made in 1988 by Stephen Antonakos, a Greek American sculptor at the Detroit People Mover Greektown station on Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023.
"Neon Lights," made in 1988 by Stephen Antonakos, a Greek American sculptor at the Detroit People Mover Greektown station on Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023.

A couple of favorites to mention here: "In Honour of Mary Chase Stratton," an installation named for the co-founder of Pewabic Pottery, made by Diana Kulisek Pancioli at the Cadillac Center station near the Hudson's site; "Neon Lights," at the Greektown station, by Greek American sculptor Stephen Antonakos; "Detroit New Morning" at the Millender Center station by Detroit-born artist Alvin Loving Jr., and "The Blue Nile," by renowned Detroit artist Charles McGee.

Self portrait at Detroit People Mover when approaching Huntington Place station in downtown Detroit on Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023.
Self portrait at Detroit People Mover when approaching Huntington Place station in downtown Detroit on Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Views from the Detroit People Mover: How downtown has changed after decades