Encyclopedia
Detroit is the largest city in the
U.S. state of
Michigan and the seat of Wayne County. Founded in 1701 by French
fur traders, it is a major port city north of
Windsor, Ontario located on the
Detroit River in the
Midwestern region of the
United States. Today, it is known as the world's traditional
automotive center and an important source of popular music—legacies celebrated by the city's two familiar nicknames,
Motor City and
Motown. The city's present name comes from the Detroit River, which in turn derives from the French
Rivière du Détroit, meaning "River of the Strait". The name alludes to the connection the river forms between Lake St. Clair and
Lake Erie, although it is not literally a
strait.
In 2005, Detroit ranked as the United States's 11th
most populous city with 886,675 residents; this is less than half of the peak population it had in 1950, and Detroit leads the nation in terms of declining urban population. It is the focus city of the nation's
tenth-largest metropolitan area, and the fourth-largest if Windsor and its environs are included.
Detroit's crime rate has brought it notoriety while the city continues to struggle with the burdens of racial disharmony between itself and its
suburban neighbors. The city has experienced budget shortfalls, leading to cuts in city services. Nevertheless, Detroit is currently experiencing a downtown revival with the construction of the Compuware headquarters, a recently renovated
Renaissance Center, three gambling
casinos, new stadiums, and a Riverwalk. The city serves as an entertainment hub for the metropolitan region.
Residents are generally known as "Detroiters." The name
Detroit is also sometimes used as shorthand for the entire Metro Detroit area, a sprawling region with a population of 4,488,335 as of the 2005 Census Bureau estimates. The metropolitan population well exceeds 5 million when bordering Canadian city Windsor and its suburbs are counted. Local colloquialisms for the city are
The D and
The 313 .
History
As of 2005, Detroit's population has dwindled to 886,675. A 6.8% loss from the 2000 Census population
Traveling up the Detroit River on the ship
Le Griffon is considered to have been the first...
, Father
Louis Hennepin noted the north bank of the river as an ideal location for a settlement. There, in 1701,
French officer
Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac founded a fort and settlement called
Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit, naming it after the
comte de Pontchartrain, minister of marine under
Louis XIV. The settlement prospered as a
fur-trading center, and its fort offered protection for French ships sailing the
Great Lakes.
In 1760, during the
French and Indian War,
British troops gained control of the area and shortened the name of the settlement to
Detroit. Local Native American tribes, many of whom had developed friendly relations with French colonists, became alarmed at this development. Led by
Chief Pontiac, an
Ottawa leader, in 1763 several tribes launched what became known as
Pontiac's Rebellion, which included a siege of Fort Detroit; they were ultimately defeated by the British. In 1796, Detroit passed to the
United States under the
Jay Treaty. In 1805, fire destroyed almost the entire town; a river warehouse and brick chimneys of the wooden homes were the sole structures to survive.
From 1805 to 1847, Detroit was the
capital of Michigan. Detroit fell to British troops during the
War of 1812 in the
Siege of Detroit, was recaptured by the United States in 1813 and incorporated as a city in 1815. Prior to the
American Civil War, the city's access to the Canadian border made it a key stop along the
underground railroad.
Strategically located along the
Great Lakes waterway, Detroit emerged as a transportation hub. The city grew steadily from the 1830s with the rise of shipping, shipbuilding, and manufacturing industries. A thriving carriage trade prompted
Henry Ford to build his first
automobile in 1896 in a rented workshop on Mack Avenue, and in 1904, the
Model T was produced. Ford's manufacturing—and those of automotive pioneers
William C. Durant, the
Dodge brothers, and Walter Chrysler reinforced Detroit's status as the world's automotive capital. The industry spurred the city's spectacular growth during the first half of the
20th century as it drew many new residents, particularly from the
Southern United States. Strained racial relations were evident in the trial of Ossian Sweet, a black Detroit physician acquitted of murder after he shot into a large mob when he moved from the all-black part of the city to an all-white area. With the introduction of
prohibition, the river was a major conduit for Canadian
spirits, organized in large part by the notorious
Purple Gang.
With the factories came high-profile labor strife, climaxing in the
1930s as the
United Auto Workers initiated bitter disputes with Detroit's auto manufacturers. The labor activism established during those years brought notoriety to hometown union leaders such as
Jimmy Hoffa and
Walter Reuther. The
1940s saw the construction of the world's first urban depressed freeway,
the Davison and the industrial growth during
World War II that led to Detroit's nickname as the
Arsenal of Democracy is one of the most famous of 30 fireside chats [i] broadcast on the radio b ...
.
Detroit endured a painful decline during the early
1970s, and was often held up as a symbol of Rust Belt
urban blight. The
12th Street Riot in 1967 and court-ordered busing accelerated white flight from the city. The percentage of black residents increased rapidly thereafter, since most of them remained and new black migrants from the south continued to come to the city. Large numbers of buildings and homes were abandoned on the southeast side of the city, with many remaining for years in a state of decay. In 1973 the city elected its first black mayor,
Coleman Young. Young's style during his record five terms in office was not well received by many whites.
The
1970s and
1980s saw the rise of the
heroin and
crack cocaine epidemics, which spread to big cities across the United States, including Detroit. Drug-related property crimes and violence among competing drug dealers rose, and urban renewal efforts led to the razing of abandoned homes. Sizeable tracts have reverted to nature, to become a form of urban prairie with wild animals spotted migrating into the city.
"Renaissance" has been a perennial buzzword among leaders since the 12th Street riot, reinforced by the construction of the
Renaissance Center in the early 1970s. It was not until the
1990s that Detroit enjoyed a revival, much of it centered downtown. From 1996 onwards, three casinos opened: MGM Grand Detroit, Motor City Casino, and Greektown Casino. In 2000,
Comerica Park replaced historic
Tiger Stadium as the home of the
Detroit Tigers, and in 2002,
Ford Field brought the
NFL's
Detroit Lions back into Detroit, from
Pontiac. The 2004 opening of the Compuware Center gave downtown Detroit its first significant new office building in a decade. The city hosted
Super Bowl XL, and saw the arrival of many improvements to the downtown area. Additionally, the first portions of the Detroit River Walk were laid down. In the summer of 2006, announcements came for the redevelopment of the abandoned Fort Shelby and Book-Cadillac Hotels.
Geography and climate
According to the
United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 142.9 square miles ; of this, 138.8 square miles is land and 4.2 square miles is water. The highest elevation in Detroit is in the University District neighborhood in northwestern Detroit, just west of Palmer Park sitting at a height of 670 feet . Detroit's lowest elevation is along its riverfront, of course, sitting at a height of 579 feet . Detroit completely encircles the cities of
Hamtramck and
Highland Park. On its northeast border are the wealthy communities of Grosse Pointe. Oakland and Macomb counties lie to the north. Alter Road divides Detroit and Grosse Pointe Park. It divides one of the poorest and most crime-ridden communities in the United States to one of the most affluent, with multi-million dollar mansions on Lake Shore Drive in the Grosse Pointes.
The city is crossed by three road systems: the original French template, radial roads from a Washington, D.C.-inspired system, and true north–south roads from the Northwest Ordinance township system. It sits atop a large salt mine and is north of
Windsor, Ontario. Detroit is the only major city along the U.S.-Canadian border in which one travels south in order to cross into Canada. Detroit has four border crossings: the
Ambassador Bridge and the
Detroit-Windsor Tunnel provides motor vehicle thoroughfare and the
Michigan Central Railway Tunnel railroad access to and from Canada. The fourth border crossing is the
Detroit-Windsor Truck Ferry, located near the Windsor Salt Mine and Zug Island.
Climate
Detroit and the rest of southeastern Michigan have a typically
Midwestern temperate seasonal climate, which is influenced by the
Great Lakes. Winters are cold with moderate
snowfall; summers are warm and are humid. The average high and low temperatures in July are 85°F and 65°F respectively, and in January 33°F and 20°F. Summer temperatures can typically exceed 90°F . Winters are often cold but temperatures very rarely drop below 0°F . Average monthly precipitation ranges from about two to five
inches , being heaviest in the summer months. Snowfall, which typically occurs from November to early April, ranges from 1 to 10 inches a month. The highest recorded temperature was 103.0°F on June 25, 1988, while the lowest recorded temperature was –17.0°F on January 19, 1994.
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
|---|
| Avg high °F | 31 | 33 | 44 | 58 | 70 | 79 | 83 | 81 | 74 | 62 | 48 | 35 | 58 |
|---|
| Avg low °F | 16 | 18 | 27 | 37 | 48 | 57 | 62 | 60 | 53 | 41 | 32 | 22 | 39 |
|---|
| Rainfall in inches | 1.9 | 1.7 | 2.4 | 3.0 | 2.9 | 3.6 | 3.1 | 3.4 | 2.8 | 2.2 | 2.7 | 2.5 | 32.3 |
|---|
| Source: Weatherbase |
Cityscape
The Detroit skyline shows a variety of architectural styles. The city has one of America's largest surviving collections of 1920's and 1930's skyscrapers and historic structures. The
Art Deco style from this period is exemplified by the
Guardian Building downtown as well as the
Fisher Building and
Cadillac Place in the
New Center adjacent to
Wayne State University. Among the city's prominent structures are the nation's first Fox Theatre, the Detroit Opera House, and the
Detroit Institute of Arts. These and other historic buildings mingle with the post modern neo-gothic
Comerica Tower and the gleaming towers of the
Renaissance Center downtown near the
Detroit River.
While the downtown and New Center areas contain high-rise buildings, the majority of the surrounding city consists of low-rise structures and single-family homes. The city's southeast side contains many abandoned buildings and large tracts of empty land, to the north and west several neighborhoods are prosperous and show few signs of urban blight. In 2005, Detroit's architecture was heralded as some of America's finest; many of the city's architecturally significant buildings are listed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as among America's most endangered landmarks.
A number of downtown redevelopment projects — of which
Campus Martius Park is one of the most notable — have revitalized parts of the city. in 2006, a state of the art cruise ship dock was added to Hart Plaza.
Grand Circus Park stands near the theater district and
Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers. Since the 1990s, there have been plans to redevelop the riverfront area from the Ambassador Bridge to Belle Isle with a combination of parks, residential buildings, and commercial areas. Other major parks include Palmer , River Rouge , and Chene Park .
Detroit is constructing a riverfront promenade park similiar to the one directly across the river in
Windsor, Ontario. Windsor replaced acres of train tracks and some abandoned buildings with what is now 3 miles of uninterrupted parkland. The Detroit Riverfront Conservancy is spearheading most of this development. A project includes the new Tri-Centennial State Park and Harbor, Michigan's first urban state park. Civic planners envision that the newly reclaimed riverfront with pedestrian parks will spur more residential development.
Demographics
| Population and rank among US cities, 1840–2000 censuses |
|---|
|
Detroit's population increased more than sixfold during the first half of the 20th century, fed largely by an influx of Eastern European and
Southern migrants — both white and black — who came to work in the burgeoning automobile industry. As of the 2000
census2, there were 951,270 people, 336,428 households, and 218,341 families residing in the city. The
population density was 6,855.1 people per square mile . There were 375,096 housing units at an average density of 2,703.0 people per square mile .
As of 2001, the city was 81.55%
Black or
African American. Metro Detroit has a higher percentage of blacks than any other northern U.S. metropolitan area — roughly one quarter of the area population. More than one million African-Americans live in the metropolitan area, with about 80% living within the Detroit city limits. With the suburban outflux, Metro Detroit is among the nation's most racially segregated regions. Within the city limits there are 81.55%
African American, 12.26% of residents are
White &
Middle Eastern 0.33% Native American, 0.97% Asian 0.03% Pacific Islander, 2.54% from
other races, and 2.32% from two or more races. 4.96% of the population was
Hispanic or Latino of any race. The city's foreign-born population also stood at 4.8%, one of the lowest percentages of the 50 largest cities in the country.
Metro Detroit's ethnic communities are diverse and include descendants of the French founders, as well as
Germans,
Poles,
Irish,
Italians, Scots,
Armenians and
Greeks who settled during the city's early 20th century industrial boom. Metro Detroit has the largest concentration of
Belgians outside of
Belgium. The Detroit area is also home to a large
Chaldean-Assyrian population and the country's largest concentration of Arab Americans.
Mexicantown, on the southwest side of the city, is the historical center of a small
Chicano community.
There were 336,428 households out of which 33.9% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 26.7% were married couples living together, 31.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.1% were non-families. Some 72% of all Detroit children are born to single mothers. 29.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.2% had someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.77 and the average family size was 3.45.
There is a wide age distribution in the city, with 31.1% under the age of 18, 9.7% from 18 to 24, 29.5% from 25 to 44, 19.3% from 45 to 64, and 10.4% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 89.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.5 males.
The median household income in the city was $29,526, and the median income for a family was $33,853. Males had a median income of $33,381 versus $26,749 for females. The per capita income for the city was $14,717. 26.1% of the population and 21.7% of families were below the
poverty line. Out of the total population, 34.5% of those under the age of 18 and 18.6% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.
The National Institute for Literacy declared in 1998 that 47% of Detroiters were "functionally illiterate."
Economy
Detroit and the surrounding region constitute a manufacturing powerhouse, most notably as home to the Big Three automobile companies. The city is an important center for global trade with large international law firms having their offices in both Detroit and Windsor. There are hundreds of offices and plants in the automotive support business: parts, electronics, and design suppliers. The domestic auto industry accounts directly and indirectly for one of every ten jobs in the U.S. The area is an important source of engineering job opportunities.
With its dependence on the auto industry, Detroit is more acutely vulnerable to economic cycles than most large cities. A rise in automated manufacturing using robot technology, inexpensive labor in other parts of the world, and increased competition from foreign rivals have led to a steady decline in certain types of manufacturing jobs in the region. Other complications for city include higher taxes than the nearby suburbs, with many unable to afford the cost of citizenship entailed by levys on property and income and a lack of city services. In February 2006, the metropolitan Detroit's unemployment rate was 8.6%, topped only by communities devastated by
Hurricane Katrina. In the city, the unemployment rate hovered around 15% at the end of 2005, leaving Detroit as the nation's poorest city with more than one-third of residents below the poverty line.
Some allege that the domestic auto industry's woes can be traced to its own history and devices. The Big Three automakers have collectively lost market share to foreign rivals which many had perceived as having higher quality However, in 2003, Cadillac outscored Lexus in 2 of 3 quality surveys by AutoPacific, Strategic Vision, and J.D. Power. The perception of quality from foreign rivals has been called into question, with Toyota experiencing quality issues in 2006. In 1994, with a boom in demand for
sport-utility vehicles and
pickup trucks, the industry fought the
Clinton administration's efforts to impose a 40% increase in Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards for many trucks and obtained
Congress's approval to block the plan to develop stricter regulations. In the late 1990s, Detroit's Big Three automakers had gained market share and were enjoying record profits until the recession of 2000 and the subsequent September 11, 2001 attacks caused a severe decline in the stock market along with a pension and benefit funds crisis. Since 2001, losses and bankruptcy filings by some of the area's auto parts manufacturers exacerbated Detroit's economic situation.
Initially, GM and Ford had sought to avoid or delay the introduction of unprofitable hybrids in favor of the all fuel cell vehicle; however, with rising
gasoline prices and foreign rivals marketing hybrid cars, Detroit's auto makers responded by introducing hybrids amid criticism for the delay. In 2006,
Ford announced a dramatic increase in production of its
hybrid gas-
electric models, as well as promote the use of existing technologies to equip vehicles with
mixed ethanol and gasoline fuelled systems.
General Motors has invested heavily in all
fuel cell equipped vehicles, while
Chrysler is focusing much of its research and development into
biodiesel. Two days after the September 11, 2001 attacks, GM announced it had developed the world's most powerful fuel cell stack capable of powering large commercial vehicles. In 2002, the state of Michigan established NextEnergy, a non-profit corporation whose purpose is to enable commercialization of various energy technologies, especially hydrogen fuel cells. Its main complex is located north of
Wayne State University.
With many new business in the suburbs, the region is very competitive in emerging growth areas including
biotechnology,
nanotechnology,
information technology,
cognotechnology, and
hydrogen fuel cell development. Detroit has made efforts to lure the region's growth companies downtown with advantages such as a wireless Internet zone, business tax incentives, entertainment, an International Riverfront, and residential high rises.
Other Fortune 500 companies headquartered in Detroit include auto parts maker American Axle & Manufacturing,
Comerica, and DTE Energy. Detroit is home to Compuware and the national pizza chain
Little Caesars.
Electronic Data Systems,
Visteon,
Ernst & Young, and GM's OnStar are new major presences downtown.
Quicken Loans is reportedly considering a consolidation of its suburban offices into a new downtown Detroit headquarters. Some major industries include advertising, law, finance, chemicals, and computer software. Compuware's new headquarters, GM's move to the
Renaissance Center 
