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Southfield, Michigan
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History Southfield was surveyed in 1817 according to the plan by Michigan territorial governor Lewis Cass. The first settlers came from Birmingham and Royal Oak, Michigan, as well as the states of New York and Vermont. The city was founded by John Daniels in 1823. Among the where the Heth's, Stephens, Harmon, McClelland and Thompson families. It was first organized as a township on July 12, 1830. Southfield took its name from its location in the "south fields" of Bloomfield Township. A post office was established in 1833 and the first town hall built in 1873. The Southfield Fire Department was formed on April 6, 1942 and the Southfield Police Department in 1953.
A portion of the township incorporated as a city on April 28, 1958. The current city hall was built in 1964 as part of the new Civic Center complex, which also became home to Southfield's police headquarters. The Civic Center was expanded in 1971 to include a sports arena with swimming pool. Evergreen Hills Golf Course was added in 1972, and in 1978, a new public safety building, the Southfield Pavilion and a new court building was added. In 2003, an expanded and redesigned Southfield Public Library opened to the public on the Civic Center grounds, featuring state-of-the-art facilities. Outside the Civic Center complex, Southfield also has municipal parks and recreation facilities, which were largely developed in the 1970s, including Beech Woods Recreation Center and John Grace Community Center.
The city's population growth occurred primarily between 1950 and 1990 as residents fleeing Detroit's inner city moved out to the suburbs. By the 1970s, Southfield became home to a sizeable Jewish population which built synagogues and schools. By the early 1990s, many middle-class African Americans had moved into the city.
Economy
Southfield is a commercial center for the metropolitan Detroit area, with Southfield's of office space surpassing that of even the city of Detroit's central business district. Several internationally-recognized corporations have major offices in Southfield, including the North American Headquarters of Denso, Federal-Mogul, Lear Corporation, and Electronic Data Systems. Today, more than eighty Fortune 500 companies have offices in Southfield.
Southfield is home to 700 acres (2.8 kmē) of parkland, a nationally recognized public school district, eight colleges including Lawrence Technological University, and Oakland Community College.
Southfield's skyline is a mix of several skyscrapers built in the 1970s and 1980s and many mid- and low-rise residential and office buildings. Northland Center, built in 1954, claims to be the oldest suburban shopping mall in the United States. In 2003, Southfield unveiled its new library to the metropolitan Detroit area. The building is over , houses 250 computers and 1,000 wire internet connections.
Southfield has the Consulate of Macedonia in Detroit.
GeographyAccording to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 26.2 square miles (68.0 kmē), of which, 26.2 square miles (67.9 kmē) of it is land and 0.04% is water. The main branch of the River Rouge runs through Southfield. The city is bounded to the south by Eight Mile Road, its western border is Inkster Road, and to the east it is bounded by Greenfield Road. Southfield's northern border does not follow a single road, but lies approximately around Thirteen Mile Road. The city is bordered by Detroit and Redford Township to the south, Farmington Hills to the west, Franklin, Bingham Farms, Beverly Hills to the north and Royal Oak, Berkley and Oak Park to the east. Also the completely separate city of Lathrup Village sits in the eastern part of the city and is completely surrounded by Southfield.
DemographicsAs of the census of 2000, there were 78,296 people, 33,987 households, and 19,780 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,984.6 per square mile (1,152.5/kmē). There were 35,698 housing units at an average density of 1,360.8/sq mi (525.5/kmē). The racial makeup of the city was 38.83% White, 54.22% African American, 0.20% Native American, 3.09% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.64% from other races, and 2.99% from two or more races. 1.19% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
Of the city's 33,987 households, 25.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.2% were married couples living together, 14.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.8% were non-families. 36.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.27 and the average family size was 3.01.
The age distribution in the city's population was spread out with 21.6% under the age of 18, 7.9% from 18 to 24, 30.6% from 25 to 44, 24.8% from 45 to 64, and 15.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. In terms of gender distribution, for every 100 females there were 84.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.9 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $51,802, and the median income for a family was $64,543. Males had a median income of $48,341 versus $37,949 for females. The per capita income for the city was $28,096. About 5.8% of families and 7.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.2% of those under age 18 and 10.2% of those age 65 or over.
Government Southfield utilizes the Council-Manager form of government, and thus is governed by a City Council consisting of seven council members. The city council appoints a City Administrator, who manages the day-to-day operations of the city. The popularly elected Mayor, who does not vote on council actions, does have the right to veto council actions and holds the power to appoint the city's planner, assessor, attorney, and members of various commissions. The city's Clerk and Treasurer are also popularly elected officials. All of these officials hold non-partisan positions.
- City officials
- Mayor Brenda L. Lawrence
- City Administrator James Scharret
- City Clerk Nancy Banks
- City Treasurer Irv Lowenberg
- City Council
- Joan Seymour (President)
- Donald Fracassi (President Pro-Tem)
- Myron Frasier
- Sylvia Jordan
- Sydney Lantz
- William Lattimore
- Kenson Siver
Media Southfield is also the broadcast media center for the Detroit area, boasting studios and broadcast facilities for several television stations including WXYZ-TV, WJBK-TV, WKBD-TV, and WWJ-TV, and City Cable 15. The city has one radio station WSHJ 88.3 which is sponsored by Southfield Public Schools.
In addition to the News and Free Press, Detroit's two metropolitan daily newspapers that are widely distributed across Michigan, and parts of Ohio and Ontario, Southfield is served by the Southfield Eccentric, a suburban paper that reports on local and community events, which is published twice a week, on Sunday and Thursday.
Metro Detroit's sports station, FSN Detroit, is also located in Southfield on 11 mile and Evergreen Rd.
TransportationSuburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) operates local and regional bus transit.
The major thoroughfares in the city include the John C. Lodge Freeway|M-10]]), which is among the first urban to suburban highways constructed in the United States. The city also contains Interstate 696, Southfield freeway|M-39]]), and US-24/Telegraph Rd. Today, The city contains several freeway interchanges connecting local roads to the freeways. Most prominently, "The Lodge" connects downtown Detroit to "The Mixing Bowl," the sprawling interchange of I-696, US-24/Telegraph Rd, the Lodge, Northwestern Highway, Lahser Road, and Franklin Road, all of which are located in Southfield.
Most major streets adhere to a north-south/east-west orientation, forming a grid of major streets spaced one mile (1.6 km) apart from each other. The major east-west streets are 8 Mile Road (which forms the southern boundary of the city), 9 Mile Road (which is split by the Southfield Freeway), 10 Mile Road, 11 Mile Road (which is split by the Lodge), and 12 Mile Road. Major north-south streets are Telegraph Road, Lahser Road, Evergreen Road, Southfield Road (the northern extension of the Southfield Freeway) and Greenfield Road (which forms the eastern boundary of the city).
See also
External links
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