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Detroit's population grew rapidly after the beginning of the 20th century due to the growth of the automobile and other industries, and the city became a tourist and convention center. Detroit was in its heyday in the 1920s when it was the fourth-largest city in the United States. Some of Detroit's larger hotels were architectural masterpieces, nationally known, and were the center of social
activities. Others were lesser-known second-class hotels now largely forgotten. Detroit restaurants ranged from the self-serve to the elegant. These hotels and restaurants, many of which are gone now, are preserved in nearly 200 vintage postcards, allowing the reader to take a trip down memory lane.

From the Straits of Mackinac to the Detroit River, Images of America: Lighthouses of Eastern Michigan reveals intriguing stories of lighthouses and the people who depended on them. Readers will enjoy discovering what happened when a large ship fell 20 feet over one of the Soo Locks and the captain commented, "Good-bye Old World," as well as of a persistent ghost that caused havoc with the Coast Guard. Which lighthouse was a construction miracle in 1874? And whatever happened to the lost lighthouses of the Detroit River? A collection of the mysteries, storms, fires, and heroics surrounding the lighthouses of eastern Michigan are waiting within.

Join author Susan Roark Hoyt as she explores the history of these remarkable structures, the courageous people who maintained them, and the harbors they safeguarded.

After the first settlers reached northwestern Michigan, the region's immense pine forests were quickly cultivated into a thriving lumber industry. Coastal towns sprang up to support sawmills, and soon lumber schooners arrived to carry large loads of timber to ports across Lake Michigan. Their journeys were not without dangers, however. Rudimentary harbors made docking and loading hazardous while shoals and reefs, hidden beneath the water's surface, threatened to ravage the unsuspecting vessels. The need for lighthouses to mark these dangerous waters and harbor entrances was crucial to prevent the loss of lives and valuable cargo. Through a unique collection of archival images, Lighthouses of Northwest Michigan takes readers on a stirring journey through the development of 27 lighthouses that secured the waters from Little Point Sable to the Straits of Mackinac.

Michigan, the Great Lakes State, is full of rich maritime traditions and with these traditions comes the danger and risk of shipwreck. Author William D. Peterson has compiled in this new book a photographic history of the United States Life-Saving Service in the Great Lakes region, and immortalizes in it the men who paved the way for the U.S. Coast Guard in 1915. In 1854, the U.S. Government provided funds for lighthouses, boats, and life-saving equipment along the Atlantic seaboard to alleviate shipping disasters. These early efforts greatly reduced the number of lives and property lost to shipwrecks. In the heart of the Midwest, however, the Great Lakes alone claimed 4,500 vessels, 1,300 people, and more than 27 million dollars in monetary damages between 1855 and 1876. These staggering losses prompted Congress to pass legislation putting the United States Life-Saving Service (USLSS) into operation in Michigan and other Great Lakes States. Pictured here in almost 200 images and detailed captions are Michigan's 38 USLSS stations and their crews along the Great Lakes, including Ottawa Point, Grand Haven, Holland, and South Manitou Island.