11 Most Endangered

Submitted by tigerlover at: June 22, 2009
june22 2009 its now just a memory of what was its makes really sad to know thats now gone forever what is wrong with us to feel the need to destroy our history i dont get it rip tiger staduim we will miss you !

Submitted by JERRY at: June 13, 2009
Another very sad note. I just returned from a week and a half's visit to my sister, brother, and other family members in Grosse Pointe, on Grosse Ile, etc and this gloomy news was much talked about. How well I recall going with my father and his friends to Tiger games, listening in the summer to Ty Tyson on the radio, and so on. I speak of the 1930s and '40s and the '50s and '60s. Good old, devastated old Detroit, my hometown. Can't someone put a stop to its terrifying decay, physical and moral? It's the saddest story of any American metropolis on record. Though I left for New England many years ago, I return annually at least and I see very few real signs of hope -- there must be some. Speaking frankly, the whole slide began in the 1950s and has proven unstoppable. Leadership has been sensationally corrupt, cynical, and racially polarized for far too long. Let decent people of all races, backgrounds, histories and persuasions come to a forward-looking consensus. For what it's worth, maybe nothing to most of you, but something to me, I was proud of Detroit. Our family came to America in the 1650s (mother's side) and the 1830s (dad's side) and got together in Detroit. I had a maternal grandfather who was a great local success, personally and commercially a leader there. My father was born in the 1890s in Ohio, my mother on the first day of the 20th century in Detroit. I came along in 1926 and my siblings later. We were a J.L.Hudson family with the Webber Brothers since before World War I. And that was really fine; really lucky. I happily admit it. But all good things must be punished, I guess. Hudson's. There we locate another typical Detroit story, ending with the demolition in 1998 of the world's greatest department store -- bigger and certainly better that Mr. Macy's NY emporium. What wonderful things could have been done with that way-over-two-million-square-foot place! NYC turned their 2nd greatest store into NY University space. Detroit, out of rancor, bitterness, a weird sort of misguided revenge arranged for the biggest, and for some people "thrilling," building implosion in history -- saying "there was nothing we could do with such a white elephant; we tried but no solution could be found." What moronic or devious minds were behind that decision? The subject is too touchy, I know. Are those devious minds at work now behind the unshakable, unspeakable determination to obliterate all memory of Tiger Stadium? I simply don't get it. Or maybe I do. Is there an unspoken agreement among the current powerful in Detroit that anything preservationist, anything environmentalist, anything historically and socially sound, anything humane and sane is automatically suspect and that the great city itself must first be obliterated, root and branch, and reconceived and rededicated in a spirit of vengeance and vitriol? Well, back to the topic at hand: Tiger Stadium. There goes another major segment of what was once one of the loveliest (and incidentally the very oldest) mid-western cities of America. Founded on the shores of what was once a glorious river. Look at most of it now. Are there sparks of hope? Is Detroit so envious of its great neighbor Chicago that it would rather go out into the garden and eat worms, or drink itself senseless in the bars of Gratiot Ave than get together and say, "Hey, Chicago, we're as good as you are, much older, much wiser, much more baptized in the fires of experience, and w e a r e c o m i n g b a c k. We are going to honor our splendid past, our incredible uniqueness. Watch us!" Can that happen? It's pretty clear by now that I am skeptical. But miracles happen. Meantime, the stadium is relegated to perdition. What's next on the docket. How about that magnificent Michigan Central Station. Yeah, it's fantastic architecture; but it's too old, too useless; no one can restore that. Let's party and bomb the hell out of it. Then we can get our friends into building some great cheap housing that will begin to rot before the sun goes down. And we'll all line our pockets a little more and party on!

Submitted by Teymur at: June 6, 2009
am writing to express my distress over the fate of historic Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Less than one year ago, Detroit's economic development agency reached an agreement with local preservationists over the future of Tiger Stadium. By agreeing to allow the City to partly demolish less historic parts of the stadium, the Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy received assurances from the City that a portion of the historic stadium--including the playing field, and seating immediately adjacent to the infield--would be preserved for, among other things, youth baseball leagues. There has been great progress in plans for redevelopment of the remaining historic portion of the stadium. Federal funding in the amount of $3.8 million has been secured along with significant additional commitments in tax credits and other grants needed to ensure the plan would become a reality. On June 2nd the City broke faith on their end of the deal when they voted for complete demolition of Tiger Stadium. Complete demolition at this time will result only in another empty parcel in a city filled with vacant land awaiting new construction since no alternative plan for the site with any real viability currently exists. I ask you to reconsider demolition of the stadium and to extend the deadline for meeting fundraising targets for redevelopment. Preserving this iconic historic place could transform it back into the thriving center of community activity that it once was.

Submitted by MAB at: June 5, 2009
My Grampa, Dad and our family must have gone to some of the same games as DJM. I remember the same Tiger names. It was a great ball field where you could be a part of the excitement of the game (not like the "too fancy" new ones. Corktown has once again become a thriving place. Tiger Stadium should have the same chance. Detroit was once a beautiful place, full of history and grandeur - and could be again!

Submitted by just me at: June 5, 2009
Oh come ON guys, let's do SOMETHING with this!!! Let's build around it, turn the property into a sports museum but KEEP WHAT'S LEFT as part of the new building. Make it one of the exhibits ... Make it into a touristy place that will attract people to actually come visit and maybe help out our ailing city! Encourage new business like restaurants to open around it, extending the sprawl of the already revitalized part of Detroit ... I hate that this stupid city just tears everything down like it means nothing! I have so many childhood memories from Tiger Stadium ...

Submitted by preserve this... at: June 5, 2009
The National Trust dropped the ball on this one as they are doing with Yankee Stadium, which is far more historically significant and an even greater loss. You won't even hear the National Trust mention the travesty occurring in the Bronx right now.

Submitted by Shirley at: June 5, 2009
great stadium and my dad trained in the US Navy Reserves at Detroit, and routed for the Tigers Good Luck!

Submitted by AZJIM at: June 5, 2009
Jesus, is nothing sacred if not Tiger Stadium, Fenway Park, and Wrigley Field?

Submitted by Ginny at: June 5, 2009
I lived in that area for 17 years. Detroit can't save anything, the 'new Detroit' has kept all the buildings of value from being destroyed for years. Perhaps this is one building that can come down. It would be nice for the coyotes that now roam in that part of town.

Submitted by DJM at: June 5, 2009
My dad and I used to go to Tiger Stadium when I was a child. He was a big-time baseball fan, and had kept a scrapbook of Tigers since the 1920s. It was a location of such joy and pride in the late 60s...watching Gates Brown, Al Kaline, Norm Cash, McAulliff, Northrup, Lolitch, McClain, Stanley, and even Fidrytch later on... nothing like it. Sorry to see it go, My dad would cry, if he were still watching.