With a population of approximately 680,000 (more than 4 million
in the metropolitan area), Detroit is the largest city in the US
state of Michigan and one of the largest in the Great Lakes
region after Chicago and Toronto. Detroit is the ancestral
center of the American automobile industry. Art Deco-style
skyscrapers bear witness to the golden age of the "Motor City".
Due to the decline of the auto industry and suburbanization, the
population has shrunk sharply since the 1960s and the city has
undergone severe structural change. But Detroit is also an
important center of the American music scene (soul and R'n'B
from the Motown label, Alice Cooper, Eminem).
Geographically, Detroit is a curiosity in that it is north of
Canada: on the south bank of the Detroit River, which separates
the two countries, lies the Canadian city of Windsor.
French Captain Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac founded Fort
Pontchartrain du Détroit in 1701. Détroit is French for 'strait'
or 'waterway' and refers to the connection between Lake Huron
and Lake Erie known today as the Detroit River. European
colonists settled in the area, who made their living from the
fur trade, among other things. The fort was captured by the
British during the Seven Years' War in 1760, who shortened the
name to Detroit. It has been part of the United States since the
American War of Independence. Detroit was the seat of government
for Michigan Territory and later Michigan State from 1805 until
Lansing was elected the new capital in 1847. Until the mid-19th
century, Detroit was a small town. The population then grew
rapidly and steadily, exceeding 100,000 in the 1870s. In the
Gilded Age, rich entrepreneurs and shipowners built magnificent
villas.
However, the automobile industry was decisive for
the development of Detroit. Scottish immigrant David Dunbar
Buick founded the Buick Auto-Vim and Power Company (later Buick
Motor Company) here in 1899. The following year, brothers Horace
and John Dodge formed their Dodge Brothers Company. Henry Ford
first founded the Cadillac Motor Company in 1901 and - after
falling out with investors - the Ford Motor Company in 1903.
Investor William C. Durant bought Buick, Cadillac and other
automakers and combined them into General Motors in 1908.
Together with Louis Chevrolet, he launched Chevrolet as another
brand in 1911. Walter Chrysler was initially a manager at Buick
before founding his own company, Chrysler Corporation, in 1925.
Ford, GM and Chrysler were subsequently dubbed the "big three"
of the US automobile industry. "Detroit" was used as a synonym
for the American auto industry, just as "Wall Street" is used to
describe the financial economy.
In the 1910s, the
population experienced a rapid boom: within a decade, the
population doubled to 990,000 and Detroit was the fourth largest
city in the USA after New York City, Chicago and Philadelphia.
Accordingly, there was a lot of construction activity. The first
skyscrapers were also built in this decade, the 99 meter high
Chrysler House is considered the oldest among them. In the 1920s
and 1930s, construction continued. The dominant architectural
style of that time was Art Deco, which is why Detroit is one of
the strongholds of American Art Deco. Albert Kahn (1869–1942),
who immigrated from the Hunsrück, was considered the “Architect
of Detroit” at the time. His architectural office designed
numerous characteristic factory halls, office and apartment
buildings as well as private estates. Detroit was also a major
destination of the Great Migration of African Americans from the
Southern States. In 1910 only one percent of the population was
black; in 1950 it was 16 percent.
The spread of the
automobile and the construction of highways and dual
carriageways favored the emergence of suburbs. Above all, white
middle-class residents moved from the inner-city neighborhoods
to single-family house settlements outside the city, which is
described as "white flight". As a result, the population of
Detroit proper began to decline in the 1950s and the proportion
of African Americans continued to increase. In July 1967 there
were violent race riots that cost the lives of 43 people. While
the population decline in the actual city area was initially
offset by an increase in the suburbs, some residents also moved
completely away from the Detroit area to other parts of the USA
as a result of the crisis in the auto industry in the 1970s. The
city of Detroit has lost almost two-thirds of its population
since 1950, leaving 35 percent of the city's area uninhabited.
The remaining residents are over 80% black, 7% Latinos, and
"non-Hispanic whites" make up just 8% of the population. Detroit
is the city with the highest African American population.
The social situation is precarious. One in five young people
drop out of high school without a degree (US: 13%). Only 14% of
adults have a bachelor's degree (US: 30%). 12% of Detroiters are
unemployed (USA: 5%). Only one-third of families have two
married parents (US: 73%); unmarried mothers account for more
than three quarters of all births (USA: 35%); Both are not an
expression of lifestyle decisions in the USA, as they are in
Europe, but tend to be a sign of social hardship. Despite the
growing vacancy rate and the resulting drastically falling real
estate prices, only 48% of Detroit residents own their own homes
(USA: 64%).
Berry Gordy Jr. founded Tamla Records in 1959
and Motown Records in 1960, which became the premier label for
soul and R'n'B music in the 1960s and '70s. Here stood u. a.
Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder and The
Jackson Five signed with young Michael Jackson. Alice Cooper is
also from Detroit. More recently, Eminem, The White Stripes, but
also Detroit Techno have stood for the Detroit music scene.
A number of successful films are set in or shot in Detroit,
e.g. B. Beverly Hills Cop, 8 Mile, The Island, Transformers,
Gran Torino, Only Lovers Left Alive, Batman v Superman and Don't
Breathe.
By plane
Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (IATA: DTW) in
the suburb of Romulus is one of the 20 busiest airports in the United
States, handling 34 million passengers a year. It is a hub for Delta Air
Lines and its regional subsidiary Delta Connection, but the low-cost
Spirit Airlines also offers numerous connections. From Frankfurt you can
fly directly with Delta or Lufthansa. Other direct connections from
Europe are from Amsterdam (Delta) or Paris (Air France or Delta). Within
the US, the most frequented routes are with Atlanta (Delta, Southwest,
Spirit), Orlando (Delta, Frontier, Southwest, Spirit), Chicago-O'Hare
(American, Delta, United) and Las Vegas (Delta, Southwest, Spirit) .
From the airport you can take the SMART bus line 261 to the city
center. In addition, intercity buses (Michigan Flyer) run several times
a day directly from the airport to Ann Arbor, Jackson and East Lansing.
By train
Detroit Station is served three times daily in each
direction by the Amtrak Wolverine (Chicago-Detroit-Pontiac) bullet
train. It takes just over five hours to drive from Chicago and 40-45
minutes from Pontiac. At the station you can change to the tram (QLine)
or various DDOT and SMART bus lines.
On the Canadian side, Via
Rail trains run four times a day from Toronto to Detroit's neighboring
city of Windsor, Ontario, in just over four hours. From there you can
take the Tunnel Bus to Detroit.
By bus
Greyhound Bus Station,
1001 Howard St. Tel: (313) 961-8011. Buses several times a day to/from
Ann Arbor (55-70 min), Toledo (1:10 hrs; from $10), Flint (2 hrs; from
$12), Lansing (2-3 hrs; from $11), London (Ontario; around 3 hrs; from
$24), Cleveland (3:10-4 hrs; from $16), Grand Rapids (3½-4 hrs; from
$19), Columbus (4:40 hrs; from $20) , Cincinnati (4:40-6 hrs; from $26),
Toronto (5-6½ hrs; from $37), Chicago (5½-6 hrs; from $24), Indianapolis
(6:10 hrs; from $43) . At Lafayette & Fifth you can transfer to various
city bus routes.
The Tunnel Bus of the urban bus company Windsor
Transit runs every half hour from the Windsor International Transit
Terminal in the neighboring Canadian city of Windsor (Ontario) through
the tunnel under the Detroit River to Detroit. The drive to Cobo Hall
takes 23 minutes on weekdays (12 minutes on weekends) and 34 minutes (18
minutes on weekends) to Little Caesars Arena. A ticket costs 5 Canadian
dollars and can be paid for in Canadian or US currency (but you won't
get change).
Local public transport in the actual city area is organized by the
Detroit Department of Transportation (DDOT), and the Suburban Mobility
Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) is responsible for
connections between the city and the surrounding area.
A special
means of transport is the Detroit People Mover, an automatically
operated elevated train system that runs through the city center on a
4.7-kilometer circuit with 13 stations. Since 2017 there has also been a
5.3-kilometer modern tram line (QLine) that connects downtown along
Woodward Avenue with the New Center at the station to the north.
There are also 43 inner-city and 48 suburban bus routes. The Rosa Parks
Transit Center acts as a central transfer point.
Michigan Central Station.
Monumental station building, built in
1910-13 in neoclassical style. At 70 meters high, it was the tallest
station building in the world at the time. Traffic continued to decline
from the mid-20th century and the station was closed in 1988. Although
the building is a listed building, it has since been left to decay. As a
so-called "Lost Place" it is a popular motif in ruin photography. Scenes
from the films 8 Mile, The Island, Transformers, Batman v Superman: Dawn
of Justice and the TV series Arrow were also filmed here.
In the
meantime, the Ford Motor Company has bought the building and is
extensively renovating it to make it the center of a new e-mobility
campus.
Packard Automotive Plant. Former factory of the luxury car
manufacturer Packard. The halls were designed by Albert Kahn and built
in 1903–11. It was one of the first applications of reinforced concrete
construction based on the Kahn system developed by Kahn's brother
Julius. The production was given up in 1958, in the following decades
the facility was still used for storage purposes. It then became a lost
place where underground techno parties were held and a paradise for
graffiti artists, urban explorers, paintball players and scrap metal
collectors. In 2017, a reconstruction began with the aim of housing
offices.
Cadillac Place (formerly General Motors Building), 3044 West
Grand Boulevard. Huge 15 storey neoclassical style office building. It
was built in 1919-22 and served as the headquarters of General Motors
until 1996. It was designed by Albert Kahn and has a gross floor area of
over 400,000 m². The structure, in the form of a double comb, consisting
of a main corridor with four transverse wings arranged at right angles,
allows as many offices as possible to be exposed to natural sunlight
(comparable to the I.G. Farben building in Frankfurt am Main). Since the
relocation of the GM headquarters and a renovation, the listed building
has been used as the government building of the state of Michigan since
2002.
Masonic Temple, 500 Temple Street. World's largest Masonic
temple. It was built in 1920-26 in neo-gothic style. A large number of
Masonic organizations have their headquarters here, as well as theatre,
ball and banquet halls, a swimming pool, handball and gymnasium, bowling
alley and billiard room.
Fisher Building, 3011 West Grand Boulevard,
Detroit, MI 48202 wikipediacommons. One of the city's iconic
skyscrapers. Completed in 1928, it is Art Deco in style and 130 meters
tall. The magnificent lobby is particularly worth seeing. The Fisher
Building also houses a theater - the Fisher Theater - which mainly hosts
touring Broadway companies.
Penobscot Building, 645 Griswold Street .
Art Deco style skyscraper built in 1927-28. At 173 meters tall and 47
stories, it was the tallest building in Detroit until it was replaced by
the Renaissance Center in 1977.
Guardian Building, 500 Griswold St.
Built 1928-29, 151 meter tall Art Deco skyscraper. Lavishly designed
lobby.
Ambassador Bridge. 1927-29 built, 2.3 km long suspension
bridge over the Detroit River, which connects Detroit with the sister
city of Windsor and thus the US state of Michigan with the Canadian
province of Ontario. The four-lane toll bridge is the busiest border
crossing in North America, with a quarter of all goods traded between
the US and Canada crossing the border.
Renaissance Center (RenCen for
short). Group of five office towers built in 1971-77. The middle tower
stands out at 221 meters and is Detroit's tallest building. The four
flanking towers are each 159 meters high. The headquarters of General
Motors is located here.
Woodbridge. Historic district with numerous
mansions and houses in Victorian style from around 1900. The castle-like
police station (4150 Grand River Avenue) is particularly noteworthy.
This neighborhood is also home to the Trumbullplex, a creative-anarchic
community with an attached theater and art gallery
Cobo Center, 1
Washington Blvd. Opened in 1960, the conference center is one of the
largest in the world with its 220,000 m². A visit is worthwhile, for
example, during the North American International Auto Show, which takes
place every January. In 2019 and 2020, the Cobo Center will also be the
venue for the FIRST World Championship, the largest (student) robotics
competition in the world. No food may be brought into the Cobo Center;
However, there are three sales stands for drinks, cold and warm dishes
in the house.
The Henry Ford (Greenfield Village and Henry Ford Museum), 20900
Oakwood Boulevard, Dearborn, MI 48124. Large history and technology
museum in the western suburb of Dearborn, where the Ford Motor Company
is headquartered. The museum consists of a 48,000 m² building whose
facade is modeled after Independence Hall, Congress Hall and Old City
Hall in Philadelphia, and the entire former village of Greenfield, where
Henry Ford was born in 1863. Notable exhibits include the chair from
Ford's Theater in which Abraham Lincoln was assassinated; Thomas
Edison's Laboratory; the Wright brothers' bike shop; the bus where Rosa
Parks refused to stand up for a white man; and the limousine in which
John F. Kennedy was shot.
Detroit Institute of Arts, Woodward Ave.
Tel: +1 (313) 833 7900. One of the largest and most important art
collections in the United States and one of the most visited art museums
in the world. Here are u. Watson and the Shark by John Singleton Copley,
The Nightmare by Johann Heinrich Füssli, Nocturne in Black and Gold: The
Falling Rocket by James McNeill Whistler and the Detroit Industry Murals
by Diego Rivera.
Motown Museum (Hitsville USA), 2648 West Grand
Boulevard. A museum dedicated to the history of the legendary soul and
R'n'B record label has been established at the original location of
Motown Records.
Ford Piquette Avenue Plant. Museum of the history of
early automobile manufacture. The Ford Model T was manufactured in this
factory from 1904.
Belle Isle. 3.9 km² large park on an island in the middle of the Detroit River between Detroit and Windsor (Canada). The island is home to the Belle Isle Conservatory (a botanical garden), a zoo and an aquarium.
Detroit Pistons. NBA basketball team, five-time Eastern Conference
champion and three-time NBA Finals winner. Home ground is the Little
Caesars Arena.
Detroit Lions. Traditional American football team in
the NFL. Four-time league championship winner, most recently in 1957.
Home ground is Ford Field.
Detroit Red Wings. Professional ice hockey
team in the NHL, one of the league's "Original Six". 11-time Stanley Cup
winner. Detroit is considered a "Hockeytown", i.e. a stronghold of ice
hockey. Home games are played at Little Caesars Arena.
Detroit
Tigers, 2100 Woodward Ave. pro baseball team in MLB; four World Series
titles, the most recent being from 1984. Home ground is Comerica Park.
Little Caesars Arena. multifunctional hall for 20,000 spectators; used
for Detroit Red Wings hockey games, Detroit Pistons basketball games,
wrestling and concerts.
Ford Field. football stadium with 65,000
seats; Home of the Detroit Lions. Major concerts by pop and rock stars
also take place here.
Fox Theater, 2211 Woodward Avenue, Detroit, MI 48201 . Magnificent
Art Deco style theater with oriental decorative elements, opened in 1928
as the "flagship" of the Fox Theaters cinema chain. After a phase of
neglect, it was restored in 1988 and placed under monument protection.
Today it is the largest theater in the city and can seat over 5,100
spectators.
The Fillmore Detroit (formerly State Theater), 2115
Woodward Avenue, Detroit, MI 48201 . Traditional theatre, opened in 1925
as a cinema, in a Neo-Renaissance building. Today the hall for 2,900
spectators is mainly used for concerts.
Detroit Opera House, 1526
Broadway, Detroit, MI 48201.
Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra
Hall, 3711 Woodward Ave. Fourth oldest symphony orchestra in the United
States.
Detroit is on the southeastern edge of Michigan and on the right bank
of the Detroit River. Together with the St. Clair River and the nearby
Lake St. Clair, this forms the outflow of Lake Huron to the north into
Lake Erie further south and also marks the border with neighboring
Canada to the north in this area. However, because the river flows from
the east to the southwest at this point, Detroit is the only major city
in the United States that looks south to Canada.
Opposite, on the
other side of the river and thus the border, is the city of Windsor.
With (2011) 211,000 inhabitants, it is considerably smaller than Detroit
and belongs to the Canadian province of Ontario.
The urban area
is 370.2 km² (of which 359.4 km² is land area) and extends about 17
kilometers along the riverbank and between 10 kilometers on the eastern
edge and 23 kilometers on the western edge inland. Detroit also includes
the approximately 4.6 km long and 3.9 km ² large Belle Isle, an island
in the Detroit River, which is located on the eastern outskirts.
Detroit is located in the northeast of the associated county, Wayne
County. In particular, the northern city limit is identical to the
county border along its entire length. This extends over 28.5 kilometers
exactly in west-east direction and is marked by the 8-Mile-Road. A
little north of the geographic center of the urban area is a few square
kilometers in size, the two cities of Hamtramck and Highland Park with a
total of around 34,000 inhabitants (as of 2010) comprehensive enclave.
In terms of economic geography, Detroit is located in the
northwestern part of the Rust Belt and former Manufacturing Belt, the
densely populated, first industrial area in the USA, whose former
centers are today often characterized by the decline of heavy industry.
Detroit is located at 42° 20' north latitude and at 83° 3' west
longitude.
Detroit lies in the middle of the Great Lakes Plain on the eastern
edge of a flat Wisconsin Ice Age ground moraine. It extends from the
west shore of Lake Huron in the north in a southwesterly direction down
to Lake Erie, is 25 to 40 kilometers wide and slopes gently and evenly
towards the southeast towards the waters with a gradient of well under
1%. Accordingly, the city lies on a flat surface that rises slightly and
evenly from 175 to about 206 meters above sea level from the Detroit
River to the northeast. Due to the low gradient, the area remained
almost without surface drainage and was therefore very muddy for a long
time. [ On the other hand, there were practically no obstacles to
settlement activity after draining.
At the height of the two city
centers of Detroit and Windsor is the Detroit terminal moraine of the
former St. Clair glacier tongue, which was breached by the Detroit River
exactly between the two cities. Therefore, the inner cities on both
sides are a few meters higher than large parts of the hinterland. This
fact at that time determined the exact location of the first settlement
foundation.
There is no fixed structure of the city in the actual sense. Administrative borders such as police and school districts or redevelopment areas exist side by side and have already been changed several times as a result of demographic developments. On the other hand, in the public perception, in addition to the city center (downtown) directly on the Detroit River, Woodward Avenue in particular plays a role, a historically important arterial road that was very magnificent up to the 1960s and runs north-northwest from the city center and the city divided extensively into western and eastern parts, the West Side and the East Side. Along this street are a chain of neighborhoods of widely differing profiles, beginning with Downtown, Midtown, New Center, and the North End, which in turn is bounded by Hamtramck and Highland Park, and north of that is the Palmer Park area. Also noteworthy are the southwest corner of the Detroit River, Southwest Detroit, and the corridor along Jefferson Avenue east of downtown. In addition, connected residential areas often form informal boundaries in the form of so-called neighborhoods.
The closed development has expanded very far outwards and extends on
the American side over a radius of 40 to 60 kilometers around the city
center. By far the largest part of the settlement activity falls into
the period after the Second World War. The original practice, however,
of successively incorporating new building areas on the outskirts of
settlements came to an end as early as the mid-1920s, because the new
suburbs became increasingly self-confident and permanently prevented
their integration into Detroit by means of legal dodges. As a result,
the contiguous development now stretches far beyond the city of Detroit,
particularly to the north and west. As a result, there are only a few
residential areas in the city with young buildings and modern living
comfort.
The city center is marked by the densely built-up city
center on the riverbank with its ensemble of high-rise office buildings
typical of North America. In addition, with the exception of a corridor
along Woodward Avenue, small-scale development on small plots
predominates. Due to decades of emigration, vacant houses and derelict
plots of land characterize the picture there. Especially in the areas
immediately to the west, east and north-east of the inner city, the
development has been thinned out for several kilometers; in many streets
there are only individual houses over long distances. On the other hand,
some limited neighborhoods, traditionally more prosperous, survived the
city's decline almost unscathed.
The industrial plants are
distributed relatively evenly over the entire metropolitan area of
Detroit. They stretch along major railway lines, often forming distinct
corridors that stretch for miles. In addition to Detroit itself,
important industrial locations include the suburbs of Dearborn and River
Rouge directly (south)west, Livonia further west, the corridor along the
Mound Road to the north with the towns of Warren and Sterling Heights,
and the towns of Pontiac and Auburn Hills in the extreme northwest .
However, the decline of local industry, especially in the Detroit area,
has left many older businesses idle or in ruins.
Detroit's suburbs are part residential communities and part large
cities with significant economic activity. Land area and population
figures vary greatly, ranging from around 0.5 to 96 square kilometers
and between 150 and 134,000 inhabitants. Most of the suburbs are spread
across Wayne counties and its two northern neighbors, Oakland and
Macomb. Together with Detroit, the three counties have a population of
3.86 million, making them the largest proportion of the population in
the Detroit-Warren-Livonia Metropolitan Statistical Area, which together
with three other counties has a population of around 4.3 million. The
three counties mentioned comprise 39.1% of Michigan's population.
Some communities are considered to be particularly wealthy. These
are Dearborn, the Grosse Pointe area (the northeastern non-Detroit
portion of Wayne County bordering Lake St. Clair), and Rochester Hills
and Bloomfield to the northwest just before Pontiac.
Detroit is located in the cool-temperate climate zone that spans
large parts of the United States and the southern edge of Canada
(effective climate classification Dfa). The seasons are typically
continental with hot, muggy summers and cold, relatively snowy winters.
The average annual temperature is 9.3 degrees Celsius; 188 days are
frost-free.
The winter months of December, January and February
are the coldest; their average monthly low temperatures are between −4.4
and −7.2 °C; severe frosts down to below −15 °C are not uncommon at this
time of the year. When there is strong wind, temperatures often feel
considerably colder due to the wind chill effect. However, at this time
of year, heat waves can cause temperatures to temporarily rise well
above 15 °C. The lowest temperature recorded so far was -29.4 °C on
January 21, 1984. In contrast, the summer months of June, July and
August are the warmest with average highs of 26.1 to 28.5 °C. During
this time, the temperature can temporarily rise to over 30 °C. The
highest temperature was recorded on July 24, 1934 at 40.6 °C.
Precipitation is distributed throughout the year, as rain in the summer
and as snow in the winter months. The lowest rainfall is recorded in
January and February. The average annual precipitation is a moderate
828.5 mm.
The lake effect snow, which is notorious for the Great
Lakes region, does not usually occur in Detroit because the nearest
large bodies of water are further east and thus on the lee side of the
prevailing wind direction. Lake Michigan to the west is also far too far
away for the snowfall it causes to play a role in Detroit. However, in
summer it can happen that air masses on the back of a low-pressure area
over Lake St. Clair absorb a lot of moisture, which then rains down
heavily over the city.
Detroit was founded on July 24, 1701 by the French captain Antoine de
la Mothe Cadillac at the outlet of Lake Erie, the Detroit River (le
détroit du Lac Érié), as Ville d'Etroit ("City on the Strait"). 30 years
earlier, Louis Hennepin had passed this spot as part of his expedition
on the Le Griffon. In his works (e.g. Description de la Louisiane,
nouvellement découverte au Sud'Oüest de la Nouvelle France), he
described the north bank of the Detroit River as an ideal settlement
area, where Detroit later emerged. During the wars with the British for
supremacy in North America, Fort Ponchartrain du Détroit, which was
built there and was named after the Comte de Pontchartrain, naval
minister under Louis XIV, was an important base for the French armed
forces. During the French and Indian War (1754–1763) it was one of the
last fortifications to be occupied by the British.
On September
29, 1760, the French garrison surrendered the fort to British troops
under Major Robert Rogers without a fight. After that, the name was
reduced to Detroit. The French roots are still reflected in the city's
official flag. During the Pontiac Rebellion (1763–1764) of the Ohio
Valley Indians against British colonial rule, Detroit was a focal point
of fighting and was unsuccessfully besieged by the Indians. With 2,144
residents, Detroit in 1778 was the largest city west of the
Appalachians, between Montreal and New Orleans, and the third largest
city in the province of Quebec, to which the British had annexed the
Quebec Act 1774 - after Quebec and Montreal.
During the American
Revolutionary War, control of Detroit, which was increasingly attracting
Anglo-American settlers, was a military objective for the US Army. The
city was nominally placed under United States rule by the Treaty of
Paris, but remained under de facto control of the British and their
allied Indian tribes. The British recognized the Detroit area as part of
the United States in the Treaty of Jay in 1795, as did the Indians after
several military defeats in the Treaty of Greenville, and left the area
a year later. In the years that followed, the city began to develop,
with the French priest Gabriel Richard playing a key role in founding
schools and building roads.
In 1805 the city became the capital
of the newly acquired Michigan Territory, but burned down completely in
the same year and was rebuilt according to plan. The incorporation as a
city took place on December 13, 1806. In 1812, the city was conquered by
the British during the British-American War with the help of the Indian
chief Tecumseh. In 1813, US troops recaptured the city, which meant the
final expulsion of the Indians from the region . Finally, in 1815, under
Governor Lewis Cass, the city regained democratically elected
institutions. Over the next few years, the city grew steadily, being at
the crossroads of the Great Lakes trade routes, and on the eve of the
American Civil War had a population of more than 45,000. Because of its
location on the Canadian border, the city was a key location on the
Underground Railroad, a network of escape routes for slaves from the
American South. Many residents fought in volunteer regiments for the
Union cause during the Civil War, but violent riots also erupted in 1863
when Irish and German Catholic immigrants refused to be drafted into the
army and subsequently attacked African American homes and businesses in
the city.
In the decades that followed, increased
industrialization set in as companies in the pharmaceutical industry,
the tobacco industry and the manufacture of cast-iron stoves settled in
the city. The latter was the city's most important industry in the
1890s, which is why it became known as the Stove Capital of the World.
Magnificent villas and palaces were also built during this period, which
were intended to show the prosperity of the entrepreneurs who had become
rich in the Gilded Age. As in other industrial cities in Europe and
North America at the time, the industrial boom also led to rapid
population growth: in the last 40 years of the 19th century, the number
of inhabitants increased sixfold. The booming industry attracted
workers, especially immigrants such as Irish, Germans and Poles. Detroit
also became a stronghold of labor and progressive movements. The
Republican mayor (1889-1897) and later governor of Michigan (1897-1901),
Hazen S. Pingree, is considered one of its masterminds. for paved roads
and reliable street lighting owned by the municipality.
In 1909
mass production of automobiles began with the Ford Model T in
Detroit/Highland Park. Other car manufacturers settled there. This is
how Detroit became known as Motor City or Motown. With the automotive
industry, Detroit experienced rapid growth and another population
explosion: Between 1900 and 1930, the population quintupled, this time
due to the influx of African Americans from the South as part of the
Great Migration. The city experienced riots several times in the 20th
century, such as in 1943, when the three-day riot could only be ended by
federal troops and 34 people died. The 1967 riots killed 43 people.
However, the automotive monostructure also led to a sustained
decline when the models of the US Big Three (General Motors, Ford and
Chrysler) were no longer in demand. Since the late 1960s, the city has
struggled with population decline and high crime rates as the white
middle and upper classes migrated to the suburbs (White Flight). Many
houses are empty and dilapidated, although the city has been trying to
demolish or renovate such houses since the late 1990s. General Motors
has relocated numerous plants overseas in recent decades and has lost
market share due to a failed corporate strategy: while there were six
General Motors plants in the city in 1972, which mostly worked in three
shifts until 2003, there was only one after the financial crisis of
2009. Layoffs mainly affected black workers and also black members of
the middle class. On June 1, 2009, GM declared itself insolvent.
Since 1950, when population peaked, Detroit has lost over 60% of its
residents. 35% of the urban area is now uninhabited. The city became
synonymous with the decline of former industrial cities. Renaissance is
the keyword associated not only with the Renaissance Center but also
with the revitalization of downtown: trying to get young people to live
in Detroit again. With the Detroit Tigers moving to the newly built
Comerica Park and the Detroit Lions moving to Ford Field, sporting
events from the surrounding area are being brought downtown again, and
there are attractive performances at the Fisher Theater. Nevertheless,
Detroit has been considered one of the most dangerous cities in the USA
for years; For example, it was number one on the 2009 Forbes list of the
most dangerous cities in the United States.
In 2001, at the age
of 31, Democrat Kwame Kilpatrick was elected to office as the city's
youngest mayor. In November 2005, Kilpatrick was re-elected despite
predictions to the contrary. After a scandal, however, he was sentenced
to prison in September 2008 and immediately resigned from his post. On
March 15, 2013, Michigan's governor, Rick Snyder, placed Detroit under
state receivership because of its high level of debt. He appointed Kevyn
Orr, who had previously held the same position at Chrysler, as
bankruptcy attorney. Detroit is thus the largest city in the USA to date
to have its financial controls removed. On June 14, 2013, the city
stopped making payments to creditors. Administrator Kevyn Orr put
together a plan to save the city by requiring creditors to forego some
of their claims. Otherwise, Detroit is threatened with bankruptcy.
Detroit filed for bankruptcy on July 18, 2013. The city's debt is
estimated at $18.5 billion. About 30% of the residents live in poverty.
The crime rate is the highest in the US. At the end of 2013, almost
80,000 houses in Detroit were empty. 40 percent of the street lamps were
no longer lit. There were only 27 jobs for every 100 inhabitants.
In September 2014, the city regained control of its finances under
newly elected Mayor Mike Duggan. In the years that followed, the city
sought investments and, like other former industrial cities that have
mastered economic structural change more successfully, it managed to
bring about a new economic upswing through culture, tourism and the
settlement of start-ups. Detroit has become a tourist attraction for its
rich architectural and industrial heritage, and entrepreneur Dan
Gilbert, who bought numerous vacant buildings, managed to attract
billions of dollars in investment to downtown and Detroit's business
district. However, this upswing has been unevenly distributed, and
observers criticize that the gentrification and construction boom in the
city center have brought no improvements for the city's many poor.
In the last census of 2010, which differentiated by ethnicity,
Detroit had 713,777 inhabitants. It is by far the largest city in
Michigan and 18th in the US.
The vast majority of residents,
590,226 people or 82.7%, were African American. Their proportion is thus
much higher than in Michigan as a whole (14.2%) or the US average
(12.6%). Although a far above-average proportion of African American
population groups is typical for the old industrial cities in the
Northeast of the USA, Detroit marks an extreme case here. No major
American city has a higher percentage of black people than Detroit. The
city also has the fourth largest black community in the United States,
behind New York, Chicago and Philadelphia.
The second largest
population group are by far the whites. With 75,758 people, they make up
10.6% of the total population. There are also around 2,600 Indians and a
good 7,500 Asians as well as around 21,600 members of other ethnic
groups and 15,900 mixed races. 6.8% of the general population consider
themselves Hispanic; almost three quarters of them come from Mexico.
Among the white population, families with Irish, German and Polish
ancestry make up the highest proportion. The English and Italians follow
at a great distance. In particular, the proportion of people of German
descent is significantly below the comparable values for Michigan or the
US average, while a comparatively large number of people stated Polish
ancestors. In addition, almost 8,500 people are of Arab origin.
The greater Detroit area is clearly divided between the various ethnic
groups. While Detroit is almost exclusively inhabited by blacks and
hardly any whites, in most of the suburbs, including most of the
adjacent suburbs, the opposite is the case. The dividing line is so
sharp that the city limits are clearly visible on census maps for almost
their entire length. In particular, the northern section along the
8-Mile-Road is seen at the same time as a psychological border and is
used in the region as a dictum for the borderline between the two
subcultures mentioned and their different living conditions. The
upheavals of recent years, in which Detroit experienced an economic and
social collapse, have also meant that many black middle-class people
have moved to the suburbs, while the deserted inner-city areas are being
repopulated by mostly white artists and intellectuals in a gradual
process of gentrification become. According to the latest demographic
data, 78.6% of the population was black and 14.6% white.
Detroit
is also a stronghold of the Arameans/Assyrians (Chaldeans) who emigrated
to the United States from their homeland, the Middle East, due to
religious persecution. According to a 2008 study, there are currently
113,000 Arameans/Assyrians living in the Detroit area.
After Detroit was destroyed several times in the 18th century and
lost its position as a trading center and administrative center in the
first half of the 19th century, the population development shows a
typical picture for industrial cities in the north-east of the USA:
Strong increase in the number of inhabitants from around 1850 to the
peak of the Population around 1950, then rapid growth in the suburbs
until around 1970, then population decline in the city itself and
stagnation in the population of the metropolitan area as a whole.
Due to the initially less favorable conditions for industrial
development, the population initially lagged behind other industrial
cities in the region such as Buffalo or Chicago in particular. However,
the rise of the automobile industry at the beginning of the 20th century
caused the number of inhabitants to increase all the faster afterwards.
Between 1910 and 1930, Detroit grew by more than 1.1 million people to
three times its size in 1910, overtaking many other industrial cities in
the USA. The population finally peaked in 1950 at 1.85 million people.
The automobile boom of the post-war years once again drew large
crowds to the region. However, most of the newcomers settled in the
suburbs, so that the city could no longer benefit from this immigration.
Detroit's population remained at just over 1.6 million, while the
population of the Tri-County suburbs grew from 750,000 in 1940 to 2.7
million in 1970.
While the region's population has remained
roughly constant since then, Detroit's population has now fallen by over
60% compared to 1950. Especially in the years after the 1967 uprising
and in the period after the turn of the millennium, sharp declines of
over 20% each within a decade were recorded. At the last census in 2010,
Detroit had a population of 713,777, over 237,000 or almost 25% fewer
than in 2000.
According to statistics, Detroit is one of the most dangerous cities
in the USA. The city has had extremely high crime rates for more than
four decades and has been one of the top American cities for years,
especially when it comes to violent crime. In recent years, an average
of 350 murders have taken place each year. Per capita, the homicide rate
is about ten times the US average. In addition, there are more than
5,000 robberies annually, about six times the US average, and more than
10,000 assaults, about 5.5 times the average.
In addition, there
were almost 50,000 property crimes, also a very high figure in
comparison, although not as extreme. Arson has also been a widespread
phenomenon in Detroit for some time, especially in old, empty
residential buildings. It was part insurance fraud, part blind
destructiveness, which for a while became a cultural phenomenon,
especially around Halloween as Devil's Night.
Most of the murder
victims were young men of African American descent and died from
gunfire. According to the police, the use of violence is often connected
to family disputes or, to an even greater extent, to drug-related crime.
The inhibition threshold to violence is very low.
The lack of
opportunities for social and economic advancement, an underfinanced and
sluggish judiciary, poor school education in general and the universally
easy availability of firearms in connection with the temptation of
illegally earned quick money are cited as the reasons for the high level
of violence. There has also been a noticeable decline in morals. In
addition, fear and apathy had spread among the population, which visibly
made the educational work more difficult.
However, the most
effective countermeasure is seen in increased youth work. This includes
instruction in non-violent conflict resolution in schools and targeted
action by the authorities against neglect at home and truancy. The
widespread "culture of secrecy" in Detroit must also be ended. In
contrast, increasing the number of police officers is seen as less
effective, even though the Detroit police force is significantly
underfunded, according to a study by the University of Berkeley.
In complete contrast to the surrounding slums, downtown Detroit has a
crime rate that is slightly below average compared to the US average. If
certain other social factors such as the number of tourists are taken
into account in addition to the number of inhabitants, a study has shown
that the crime rate is very low even for large American inner cities.
Most offenses are burglary and car theft. However, the low crime rate
downtown is in complete contrast to public perception, according to
which the city's bad reputation is clearly spreading to the main
business district.
Since the American education system is heavily dependent on the
respective local economy, there are sometimes glaring shortcomings. Due
to the sharp decline in population in the 1950s and 1960s, many schools
were closed; Pupils had to travel long distances to get to schools in
other cities/towns.
There are a variety of public and private
universities, some of which (University of Detroit Mercy, Lawrence Tech,
Eastern Michigan University, Wayne State University) are among the most
respected schools in the country.
The Motown label, which has had a major influence on soul music and
pop music, is known worldwide. This was done through producer Berry
Gordy and Motown's own studio band The Funk Brothers, who can be heard
on almost all of the label's albums. Detroit was also important for
pre-punk rock: Both MC5 and Iggy Pop had their first successes here in
the 1960s. In the 1970s, Detroit's importance in American rock music was
reflected in songs by Ted Nugent (Motor City Madhouse) and the group
Kiss (Detroit Rock City). Alice Cooper, who had some success with the
band of the same name in the 1970s, is also at home here.
Detroit's Cobo Hall, one of the largest rock concert venues, has had a
similar impact on American popular music as New York City's Madison
Square Garden. Detroit techno, which originated in the city's black
neighborhoods, has continued to play a leading role in the music scene.
The white rapper Eminem has also become known in hip-hop. The metal
bands Halloween and The White Stripes also come from Detroit.
From the 1920s (with Don Redman's McKinney's Cotton Pickers and Jean
Goldkette's orchestra, and the Casa Loma Orchestra also had its origins
here) to the 1950s, the city was a jazz stronghold, producing musicians
such as Milt Jackson, Yusef Lateef, Ron Carter, Howard McGhee, Donald
Byrd, Kenny Burrell, Geri Allen and the Jones brothers (Elvin Jones,
Hank Jones, Thad Jones) came along. The Detroit International Jazz
Festival has been held annually since 1980.
The city's flag was designed by David E. Heineman in 1907 and
officially adopted in 1948. The flag consists of five parts. The lower
left quarter includes lilies representing the French who founded the
city in 1701. The top right quarter includes three lions and represents
Britain, which ruled the city between 1760 and 1796. In the upper left
quarter thirteen white stars are depicted on a dark blue background.
These stand for the thirteen founding states of the USA. In the lower
right quarter there are a total of 13 white and red stripes. These have
the same symbolism.
In the center circle are two women, one next
to a burning city and one next to a blossoming city. The women represent
destruction and resurrection respectively. The mottos are Speramus
Meliora and Resurget Cineribus (We hope for better and It shall rise
from the ashes). The city burned down on June 11, 1805.
The Detroit metro area had a gross domestic product of $252.7 billion
in 2016, ranking 13th among the metropolitan areas of the United States.
The unemployment rate in the Detroit metro area was 4.5 percent,
slightly above the national average of 3.8 percent as of March 2018. In
the city itself, it was 8.7% in March 2018 (it was 28.5% in mid-2009).
In recent years, unemployment has fallen and the city has experienced
some economic recovery. In 2016, economic output grew by 2.1 percent.
As a formerly thriving industrial city, Detroit is now struggling
primarily with vacancies following the critical decline of the
automotive industry. Despite all efforts to diversify, the automotive
industry remains the main branch of industry. Cotton, rice, corn,
vegetables and oats are also grown in the area. Companies in the
aerospace industry and oil and gas companies are also increasingly
settling in Detroit.
Detroit is home to General Motors, which
along with the other two Big Three companies -- Ford Motor Company of
neighboring Dearborn and Chrysler of nearby Auburn Hills -- make the
Detroit metro area a symbol of America's automotive industry. The German
Volkswagen Group also has a presence in the northern suburb of Auburn
Hills. In November 2008, General Motors and Chrysler asked for
government help to deal with the financial and sales crisis and shrank
considerably over the next few years.
At the beginning of 2019,
the largest automobile exhibition in the USA, the North American
International Auto Show (NAIAS for short), took place in Detroit at the
beginning of 2019. From 2020, the event should take place in late
summer. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was canceled in 2020
and 2021.
Mainly because of the sharp drop in property prices and
the large number of vacancies, trade (e.g. bicycle construction) and
creative industries have been relocating since around 2013.
In a
2018 ranking of cities according to their quality of life, Detroit
ranked 71st out of 231 cities surveyed worldwide.
Street
Detroit is connected to its hinterland by numerous
interstate highways. Major highways lead to Cincinnati (I-75), Chicago
(I-94), Lansing (I-96), Lake Superior (I-75), Lake Huron and Toronto
(both I-94). As a supplement, many cross connections have emerged within
the metropolitan area, most of which run along the cardinal points. The
freeway network is particularly dense in the city of Detroit itself and
in the inner city area often runs well below ground level, similar to a
canal bed. For the construction of these roads, historical residential
areas were partially destroyed, an approach that is still controversial
today.
With the Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel,
there are two toll road crossings to Canada. In that order, they are the
two busiest border crossings with Canada. There is also a heavy-duty
truck ferry for the transport of dangerous goods, which are not allowed
to pass through the other two crossings.
In addition, six
dead-straight, historic main streets radiate from the city center far
into the hinterland. Together with a few other squares and cross streets
in the downtown area, they form a planned road network based on an
absolutist pattern, which is very rare in the USA.
Likewise, numerous railroad lines from the hinterland and other
industrial cities converge in Detroit in a star shape. Once built and
operated by numerous railroad companies, the routes are now operated (in
many cases jointly) by CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern, Canadian
National and Canadian Pacific. Important branch routes within the city
lead to the local port facilities and the two car factories. The former
ring road of the Detroit Terminal Railroad is no longer continuously
passable.
With the Michigan Central Railway Tunnel, opened in
1910, there is also a continuous track connection to Canada for the
railways. The tunnel was built between 1906 and 1910 as an immersed
tunnel with a slab track and thus embodies a technical pioneering
achievement. It is only used by freight trains.
The once
important local and long-distance passenger transport has played no role
since the 1960s. In long-distance traffic, Amtrak serves the
Pontiac-Detroit-Chicago route with (2017) three pairs of trains daily,
using a small, inconspicuous station about 4.5 kilometers north of
downtown in the New Center area. The original and much larger main
station from 1913, the Michigan Central Station around three kilometers
west of downtown, is only preserved as a ruin that can be seen from
afar.
The inner-city local passenger transport is currently handled almost
exclusively with regular buses. Only in the inner city area has there
been a fully automatic people mover since 1987, which is designed as a
4.7 kilometer long, single-track elevated railway ring. The system fell
well short of expectations and is constantly being criticized for its
low capacity utilization and the associated poor cost-benefit ratio.
On May 12, 2017, the QLine opened a 3.3-mile streetcar route along
Woodward Avenue between downtown and New Center. In addition, from 2022,
suburban trains will run on a 40-mile stretch between Detroit and Ann
Arbor. With these two projects, decades of Detroit as one of the largest
metropolitan areas in the USA without (real) local rail passenger
transport came to an end.
The main airport is Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, which opened in 1929. It is located 28 kilometers southwest of the city center in the territory of the city of Romulus. It serves as a hub for Delta Air Lines, has six runways and, with 33.5 million passengers and 380,000 aircraft movements annually, is one of the 20 largest airports in the USA. In addition, there are five other landing sites in the greater Detroit area, which are mainly used for general aviation and are only of secondary importance. This includes the city's original airport, Coleman A. Young International Airport, which is located about six miles northeast of downtown on Detroit soil.
The Port of Detroit is Michigan's largest port. Due to its location
on the Detroit River, it is connected to the Atlantic via the Saint
Lawrence Seaway. The operator is the Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority
(DWCPA); it is the owner of part of the operating facilities and is also
responsible as the supervisory authority for the private port facilities
in the area. The most important goods handled are raw materials,
including iron ore in particular, as well as coal, building materials,
crude oil and steel. Goods handling is 15 to 20 million tons annually.
Furthermore, a passenger terminal was opened in 2011, which should allow
both ferry traffic to Canada and visits from cruise ships.
The
lower reaches of the River Rouge have been dredged for 4.5 kilometers.
This allows cargo ships to go directly to Dearborn to AK Steel's steel
mill and Ford's Rouge factory complex.
313 is the telephone area code for the city of Detroit and a few nearby suburbs. After 1993, numbers became scarce due to an explosion in the number of new registrations for fax and cellphone devices, and the city of Flint, which had previously also been reached under 313, and the region of The Thumb were assigned their own area code, 810. Through further reallocations, the "313 area" shrank to its current size and thus became an identifier for the real Detroiter, who uses his area code to indicate that he lived in Detroit before 1993. Especially in Detroit's hip-hop scene, the 3-1-3 has become a common saying, made famous, for example, by the film 8 Mile, in which Eminem plays the leading role. This is also satirized in The Simpsons episode The Tale of the Two Springfields.
The city's waterworks, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department
(DWSD), supply drinking water to Detroit and 127 of its suburbs, and
thus around four million people. According to the company, this makes it
one of the largest water suppliers in the USA. The drinking water is
obtained from Lake Huron and the upper reaches of the Detroit River and
treated in five plants. At the same time, DWSD collects and treats
wastewater from Detroit and 76 suburbs in a central sewage treatment
plant, which is also one of the largest in the USA. In the course of the
city's bankruptcy, the company was partially privatized; since then, the
networks outside the city limits have been leased to a joint venture of
the suburban communities for $50 million a year in order to be able to
subsidize drinking water for Detroit's poorer sections of the
population.
The electricity and gas supply in the Detroit area,
on the other hand, is in the hands of private companies. DTE Electric, a
subsidiary of the listed DTE Energy based in Detroit, is responsible for
the power supply in a wide area. The gas grid in Detroit and most of its
southwestern suburbs is also part of DTE (DTE Gas), while the northern
suburbs are connected to Consumers Energy's grid.
In addition,
numerous pipelines for petroleum, petroleum products and liquid gas
converge in Detroit. Near the mouth of the River Rouge, an overhead
power line crossing spans the Detroit River.
Detroit attracted global attention by declaring bankruptcy on July
18, 2013. Detroit was the first city of this magnitude to take this step
under Chapter 9 of the US bankruptcy code. The state of Michigan is one
of the 27 states in the USA in which this option is even possible under
state law; even if it had never been used before.
The background
to the bankruptcy declaration began in December 2011 when the state
government ordered an external budget analysis. Nevertheless, this step
required another special situation under state law. Because it was not
the mayor himself who declared the bankruptcy, but an emergency manager
appointed by the Michigan state government. The legal basis required for
this was only in force for a few months.
As early as May 13,
2013, after examining the city's finances, the emergency manager
appointed by the State of Michigan declared that the city was "clearly
insolvent". In his report, he explained that the city's spending
exceeded revenue by an average of $100 million annually from 2008 to
2012. He further expressed the belief ... only a complete restructuring
of the city's finances and operations will allow Detroit to regain its
footing and return to a path of prosperity feet and return to a path of
prosperity.)
Several factors are cited as the causes of the
decline: the decline of the automobile industry, which increasingly gave
up Detroit as a production location from the 1970s onwards, was central.
As a result, the city had an unemployment rate of about 18.2% (U.S.
average: about 7.6%) at the time of the bankruptcy, and one-third of
residents were classified as "living in poverty." Only about 53% of
homeowners were able to pay real estate taxes in 2011 and the stock of
derelict, vacant buildings is estimated at just under 80,000. Between
2000 and 2010 alone, 250,000 residents left. The steady decline in
population from a total population of approximately 1.9 million in the
1950s to about 713,000 in 2011 has resulted in a massive loss of city
revenue. From 2004 to 2013, revenue shrank by a nominal 27%. Municipal
expenditures are significantly burdened by pension and annuity payments.
In May 2013, there were two pensioners for every one municipal employee.
The steadily deteriorating financial situation led to drastic
savings measures many years before the bankruptcy was declared. From
2004 to 2013, the city cut almost half of its staff. Public services and
infrastructure fell into disrepair. For example, in January 2011,
emergency medical care (EMS) was outsourced from the fire brigade and
privatized for cost reasons. On June 26, 2012, 15 fire-fighting trains
were dissolved (10 fire-fighting vehicles and four turntable ladders
were shut down or sold).
The consequences of de-industrialization
were promoted by a system of municipal finances and collective
agreements that were unfavorable for the city. It is also undisputed
that political failures, incompetence and corruption also contributed to
the city's decline. In March 2013, former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick
was convicted of corruption and bribery. Kilpatrick was convicted on 24
counts of criminal dealings, fraud and taking bribes in exchange for
city contracts.
Various pension funds have filed suit against the
city's bankruptcy filing, fearing a serious devaluation of their pension
entitlements, which total approximately $9 billion, against the city
(initial plans called for a debt devaluation of $1 to 10 cents).
On November 7, 2014, the bankruptcy judge approved the city's bankruptcy
plan. That included bondholder write-downs of around 80% and a cut in
city employee pensions. The balance sheet debt reduction is
approximately $7 billion. Furthermore, the insolvency plan promises
investments in the city and places them under state supervision. The
ultimately relatively quick and constructive agreement can be largely
explained by the debate about the Detroit Institute of Arts. The
insolvency administrator planned to auction works of art to increase the
bankruptcy estate. In order to prevent this, a broad alliance (Grand
Bargain) of citizens, foundations and companies was formed, which
collected alternative funds together with the state and federal
government.
The city of Detroit is run by a City Council and a Mayor.
The
City Council consists of nine members who are elected to four-year
terms. The city council decides in particular on the city budget and
city statutes. City council members receive annual compensation of
$73,181 for their services, and the city council chairman receives
$76,911.
The mayor of the city of Detroit heads the city
government. The mayor's salary is $176,176 per year.