Detroit
Detroit, Michigan | |||
|---|---|---|---|
.png) Seal | |||
| Nickname(s): The Motor City, Motown | |||
 Location in Wayne County, Michigan | |||
| Country State County | United States Michigan Wayne County | ||
| Government | |||
| • Mayor | Kwame Kilpatrick (D) | ||
| Population (2000) | |||
| • Total | 951,270 (city proper) | ||
| Time zone | UTC-5 (EST) | ||
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (EDT) | ||
| Website | http://www.ci.detroit.mi.us | ||
| |||
Detroit (IPA: /dɪˈtʰɹɔɪt/) (French: Détroit, pronounced 
[[Media:Detroit.ogg|/detʀwa/]]) is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the largest city in the state and is the county seat of Wayne County. Established in 1701 by French fur traders, it is best known today as the world's automotive center and an important music capital — legacies celebrated by the city's two familiar nicknames, Motor City and Motown. Other nicknames include Hockeytown, USA, Mo-Town, D-town, and The D.
Located along the Detroit River — French: Rivière Détroit, i.e. "River of the Strait" — and across from the Canadian city of Windsor, Ontario, it is the center of a tri-county industrial zone (including Oakland and Macomb counties) that is among the most significant in the American Rust Belt.
Detroit is the United States' 11th most populous city, with 900,198 residents, according to the United States Census Bureau's 2004 estimate. This is half the population the city boasted at its peak in the 1950s, and Detroit leads the nation in terms of declining urban population. Residents are generally known as "Detroiters." "Detroit" is also sometimes used as shorthand for the Metro Detroit region, which is also unofficially referred to as "Southeast Michigan."
History
French officer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac founded a fort and settlement at the site of Detroit in 1701. The settlement was originally called Fort Pontchartrain d'Étroit after Louis Phélypeaux, the comte de Pontchartrain, minister of marine under Louis XIV and for the river that connects Lakes St. Clair and Erie. The British gained control of the area in 1760 following the French and Indian War and thwarted an Indian attack three years later during Pontiac's Rebellion. In 1796, Detroit and its surrounding areas passed to the United States, and from 1805 to 1847 Detroit was the territorial and state capitol of Michigan. Though Detroit fell to the British for a short time during the War of 1812 (see Siege of Detroit), it was recaptured by General William Henry Harrison in 1813. Detroit was incorporated as a city in 1815.
Situated strategically on a strait along the Great Lakes waterway, Detroit emerged as a key transportation center. The city grew steadily during the 1830s, and subsequent decades saw substantial growth in the shipping, shipbuilding, and manufacturing industries. A thriving carriage trade set the stage for the work of Henry Ford, who in 1896 built his first automobile. Ford's first plant was a rented workshop on Mack Avenue in Detroit; this was soon outgrown, and the first factory built and owned by Ford was constructed in 1904 on Piquette Avenue. The famous Model T Ford was conceived in this plant. By 1909, the Model T's success outstripped the Piquette plant's capabilities, and production was moved to Highland Park, an independent city within Detroit. Ford's manufacturing innovations as well as significant contributions from many other automotive pioneers such as William C. Durant, the Dodge brothers, and Louis Chevrolet solidified Detroit's status as the world's car capital, and the blossoming industry spurred the city's spectacular growth during the first half of the 20th century, drawing many new residents from the southern United States.
With the factories came high-profile labor strife, climaxing in the 1930s as the United Auto Workers initiated bitter battles with Detroit's auto manufacturers. The labor activism established during those years, which brought fame and notoriety to hometown union leaders such as Jimmy Hoffa and Walter Reuther, remains a key feature on the city's cultural and political landscape.
Detroit has endured a painful decline during the past several decades, and is often held up as a symbol of Rust Belt urban blight. The city's population has plummeted since the 1950s as residents moved to the suburbs, particularly following the 12th Street Riot in 1967. Court ordered busing accelerated the "white flight" from the city. Large numbers of buildings and homes were abandoned, with many remaining for years in states of decay. The percentage of blacks residents increased rapidly and the first black mayor, Coleman Young, was elected in 1973. Young's pugnacious style during his record four terms in office was not well received by many white Detroiters.
Injecting heroin grew in popularity in Detroit during the 1960s. Though use of the drug levelled off as the population declined, the Detroit gang Young Boys Inc. was formed. The 1980s introduced the widespread use of crack cocaine and produced collateral property crime as addicts stole to finance their purchases. Abandoned buildings were turned into crack houses. Violence was common as competing drug dealers fought for territory. Ongoing urban renewal efforts have led to the razing of abandoned homes as well as the demolition or renovation of some abandoned skyscrapers and large buildings for new housing developments. An expedited process was implemented to remove abandoned homes near schools. With the large number of homes razed, sizeable tracts have reverted back to nature to become a form urban prairie. Wild animals have been spotted migrating from their destroyed former habitat in the suburbs to the city.[1]
"Renaissance" has been a perennial buzzword among generations of city leaders since the 1967 riots, coined with the construction of the Renaissance Center in the early 1970s. One of the city's high schools is named Renaissance High School. It was not until the 1990s that Detroit enjoyed somewhat of a bona fide revival, much of it centered downtown. A 1996 state referendum brought three casinos—MGM Grand Detroit, Motor City Casino, and Greektown Casino—with the goal of increasing tourism and stemming the flow of gambling dollars to the nearby Windsor, Ontario casino.
In 2000, amid some controversy, 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. Significant landmarks such as the Fox Theatre, Detroit Opera House, and the Gem Theater have been restored and now host concerts, musicals, and plays. Many downtown centers such as Greektown, Campus Martius Park and the Eastern Market, as well as the Michigan State Fairgrounds on the northern border, draw patrons and host activities.
Geography and climate
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 370.2 km² (142.9 mi²). 359.4 km² (138.8 mi²) of it is land and 10.8 km² (4.2 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 2.92% water. The elevation at the Coleman A. Young International Airport in northeastern Detroit is 190.8 m (626 feet).
Sitting atop a large salt mine [2], Detroit is located on the north bank of the Detroit River, between Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair, in southeastern Michigan. It lies north of Windsor, Ontario, which is often referred to by residents of the city as their "neighbor to the south." Detroit features two border crossings: the privately-owned Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel that has motor vehicle and railroad access to and from Canada.
Detroit completely encircles the cities of Hamtramck and Highland Park. In its northeast corner are Harper Woods and the four cities and single village that make up the Grosse Pointes. Detroit has for years been culturally divided into East Side and West Side, with Woodward Avenue as the dividing line. The city is criss-crossed by three systems of roads: the original French roads running perpendicular to the river, radial roads from a Washington, D.C.-inspired system and true north-south roads from the Northwest Ordinance township system.
Detroit contains an eclectic combination of architectural styles. Art Deco buildings from the 1920s and 1930s are intermixed with more modern structures, notably in the downtown area and in the New Center adjacent to Wayne State University north of the downtown. Smaller commercial areas are interspersed amongst single-family homes and apartment complexes. The Eastern Market farmer’s market is the largest open-air wholesale/retail market of its kind in the United States with more than 150 businesses. Despite these commercial and residential areas, abandoned buildings and large tracts of empty land remain throughout the city — notably in the downtown area. In recent years, the city has undertaken efforts to demolish abandoned buildings to remove suspected criminal elements using the structures and to revitalize the city.
Detroit and the rest of southeastern Michigan has a typically Midwestern temperate seasonal climate, which is influenced by the Great Lakes. Winters are cold with moderate snowfall while summers can be warm and somewhat humid.[3] The average temperature in July is 83 °F (28 °C) and in January highs average 16 °F (−9 °C). Summer temperatures can top 100 °F (37 °C), and winter temperatures can drop well below 0 °F (−17 °C). Average monthly precipitation ranges from about two to four inches (44 to 92 mm), being heaviest in the summer months. Snowfall, which normally occurs from November to April, ranges from 1 to 10 inches (3 to 25 cm) per month.[4] The highest recorded temperature was 103.0 °F (39.0 °C) on June 25, 1988, while the lowest recorded temperature was −17.0 °F (−27.0 °C) on January 19, 1994.[5]
Demographics
| Historical populations[6] | |
|---|---|
| Census year |
Population |
| 1840 | 9,102 |
| 1850 | 21,019 |
| 1860 | 45,619 |
| 1870 | 79,577 |
| 1880 | 116,340 |
| 1890 | 205,876 |
| 1900 | 285,704 |
| 1910 | 465,766 |
| 1920 | 993,078 |
| 1930 | 1,568,662 |
| 1940 | 1,623,452 |
| 1950 | 1,849,568 |
| 1960 | 1,670,144 |
| 1970 | 1,511,482 |
| 1980 | 1,203,339 |
| 1990 | 1,027,974 |
| 2000 | 951,270 |
| 2004 | 900,198 (Est.) |
Overview
Since the city was founded under the French, French colonial influence can be found in many place names (Gratiot Avenue, Beaubien Street, Cadieux Road, Chene Park). Only a small percentage of area residents are descendents of 18th-century French settlers.
Detroit's population increased more than sixfold during the first half of the 20th century, due largely to a massive influx of Eastern European and Southern migrants—both white and black—who came to work in the burgeoning automobile industry. One consequence is that Metro Detroit has a higher percentage of blacks than any other northern U.S. metropolitan area—roughly one quarter of the metropolitan population. Altogether, more than a million African-Americans live in the area, over 80% within city limits. With the suburban outflux, Metro Detroit is among the nation's most racially segregated regions.[7]
Metro Detroit's ethnic communities are diverse and include descendants of the French founders, as well as Germans, Poles, Irish, Italians, 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 population and to the country's largest concentration of Arab Americans. Chaldean-owned businesses are the retail life of the Detroit neighborhoods,[8] including some 90% of the city's "party stores" (selling high volumes of lottery tickets, hard liquor, beer, potato chips, and other snack foods). The southwest side of the city contains a notable Chicano community and the area has in recent years been renamed "Mexicantown" to reflect the large number of retail, restaurant, commercial, and industrial properties owned by the Hispanic population.
Up until the 1980s, there was a growing gay community in the northern part of the city in the area surrounding the City's Palmer Park along Woodward Avenue. The community disappeared as crime rates rose and gays often found themselves the object of discriminatory law enforcement targeting, with many residents eventually migrating north to the cities of Ferndale and Royal Oak.
Population
As of the census2 of 2000, there were 951,270 people, 336,428 households, and 218,341 families residing in the city. The population density was 6,855.1/mi² (2,646.7/km²). There were 375,096 housing units at an average density of 2,703.0/mi² (1,043.6/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 81.55% Black or African American, 12.26% White, 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 were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
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. 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.
In the city the population was spread out 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 income for a household 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.
In a 1998 government study by the National Institute for Literacy[9], 47% of Detroiters were deemed as "functionally illiterate." Detroit's population trends may imply that today this figure is significantly higher. At the same time, some 72% of all Detroit children are born to single unwed mothers.[10]
Economy
Detroit and the surrounding region constitute a manufacturing powerhouse, most notably as home to the American automobile industry and the Big Three auto companies. General Motors is based in Detroit, Ford Motor Company in nearby Dearborn, and one of the two world headquarters for DaimlerChrysler in Auburn Hills (the other is in Stuttgart, Germany). Dotting the Detroit landscape are countless offices and plants in the automotive support business: parts, supplies, electronics, and design. It is not uncommon in Detroit to hear radio ads or to spy billboards in which multimillion-dollar auto corporations make insider sales pitches to one another. Nevertheless, there is a flip side to the automotive dominance: because of its almost singular dependence on the auto industry, Detroit is more acutely vulnerable to economic cycles than most large cities. According to one saying, "When the auto industry hiccups, Detroit coughs, and when the auto industry catches a cold, Detroit gets pneumonia." Detroit is often one of the first cities to feel the effects of a nationwide recession and one of the last to recover from it.
Including the Big Three, there are seventeen Fortune 500 companies headquartered in Metro Detroit, including Borders Books and Music, Comerica, Federal-Mogul, Kelly Services, and Lear Corporation. Detroit is home to Compuware and the national pizza chain Little Caesars. Other major industries include advertising, medical services, chemicals, computer software, and casino gambling.
J.W. Westcott II, which is the only floating post office in the world, operates on the Detroit River.
Law and government
The city is run by the mayor and under a charter adopted on July 1, 1974. The same charter renamed the common council to the city council whose members are full-time legislators elected at-large on a nonpartisan ballot. Detroit has a "strong mayoral" system, with the mayors not requiring council approval of departmental appointments. Although the council approves budgets, by court interpretation the mayor is not obligated to adhere to any earmarking of funds for projects and departments. City ordinances must be approved by the council as well as contracts in excess of variable amounts. Municipal elections for mayor, city council and city clerk are held every year congruent to 1 modulo 4 (e.g., 1993, 1997, 2001, 2005, 2009).
In addition to property tax, the city levies an income tax of 2.65% on residents, 1.325% on non-residents, and 1.6% on corporations. Revenue is also obtained from the Detroit-owned Water and Sewer Department which operates most of the fresh water and wastewater treatment facilities within the metropolitan area. The city has a budget deficit estimated at $214 to $400 million. A financial default by the city and a state-ordered receivership could necesitate a bailout from federal or state agencies, rising taxes or both. But city officials insists such a nightmare scenario is unlikely. The city has been cutting its workforce through layoffs and attrition and additional layoffs are likely. The city also is attempting to negotiate union concessions and is strongly considering a property-tax rollback to help spur development in the city.
Detroit has several sister cities, including Chongqing (People's Republic of China), Dubai (United Arab Emirates), Kitwe (Zambia), Minsk (Belarus), Nassau, Bahamas, Toyota (Japan), and Turin (Italy).
Politics
As with most large urban centers in the United States, Detroit consistently supports the Democratic Party in national and state elections. Its city elections are non-partisan, though mayors for the past four decades have been open about being members of the Democratic Party.
Considered by some to be a rising political star when he won election in 2001 at age 31, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has been dubbed by wags as "America's hip-hop mayor" because of his fond appreciation for youth culture, flashy dress, and a diamond stud earring as well as his sponsorship of a "hip-hop" summit.[11] Since taking office, however, the mayor and his administration have found themselves dogged by accusations of scandal and impropriety (including using city funds to buy his wife a Lincoln Navigator while the city was running a huge deficit). Detroit's major media have relentlessly pursued the stories, including reports of wild parties involving strippers at the mayoral mansion. The mayor has strongly denied accusations of wrongdoing. Nevertheless, Kilpatrick was re-elected for a second four-year term as mayor in 2005, helped in part by strong support from members of Detroit Renaissance[12], a group formed in 1970 by leading business leaders.
In 2004, following scandals and legal decisions, a court-ordered reorganization of the Detroit Police Department was implemented under the supervision of the FBI.
Courts
Detroit's courts are all state-administered and elections are nonpartisan. The Circuit Court for Wayne County is located downtown in the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center (previously called the "City-County Building"). Circuit judges are elected county-wide and handle all cases where more than $25,000 is in dispute, felonies, divorce/custody actions and all matters of general equitable jurisdictions. Prior to a court reorganization in the late 1990s, the city had a separate criminal court called Recorders Court, located at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice across from police headquarters. Judges for the Recorders Court were elected city-wide. The criminal division of the circuit court is still at the Frank Murphy building.
The Wayne County Probate Court is responsible for estate administration, guardianships and conservatorships for the disabled and minors, juvenile delinquency and neglect proceedings, as well as the divorce/family court docket that is run jointly with the Circuit Court. Probate judges are elected on a county-wide ballot. In addition to the facilities at the Municipal Center, the Probate Court also operates juvenile detention facilities and hosts referee offices at the James Lincoln Justice Building.
The state-run 36th District Court is located on Madison Avenue and handles civil disputes where less than $25,000 is in dispute, landlord-tenant matters, misdemeanors, and preliminary examinations of criminal defendants charged with felonies prior to being bound over to circuit court. The 36th District Court incorporated the city's common pleas, traffic court, and misdemeanor prosecutions that were previously handled in Recorders Court.
In addition to the above trial courts, Detroit also hosts the 1st District of the Michigan Court of Appeals' offices, located in the New Center area in what once was the General Motors headquarters building.
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan is also based in Detroit. The main offices are located in the Theodore Levin Courthouse building on Fort Street in Downtown Detroit. The building was originally dedicated in 1932 during the administration of Herbert Hoover and renamed in 1995.[13] Various judges of the United States court of appeals for the Sixth Circuit also have offices within the Art Deco federal building.
Crime
During the latter half of the 20th century, Detroit's crime figures were often among the highest in the U.S. The city is currently listed as the second most dangerous city by the Morgan Quitno Corporation's statistics [14] (after Camden, New Jersey). Detroit consistently ranks in the top 5 for homicide rates, coming in 3rd place in 2004 with a murder rate of 42.1 per 100,000. The highest murder total for Detroit was 714 murders in 1974. Many of these problems are blamed on the widespread middle-class flight (which has contributed greatly to urban decay), poverty, de facto segregation of the region, and unemployment.
An analysis of crime in downtown Detroit by the Michigan Metropolitan Information Center at Wayne State University found crime rates in the central city lower than rates for the entire nation, state and other large Michigan metro areas — and improving. Detroit also includes many middle-class neighborhoods in which crime is far less prevalent than in more impoverished areas of the city. On the other hand, many of the suburbs, which are predominantly white (though some include sizeable African-American and Asian minorities) and boast much higher household income levels than Detroit, are among the 25 safest cities in the United States with a population of 75,000 or above.
The city has, in the past, faced hundreds of arsons, often in the city's many abandoned homes, each year on Devil's Night, the evening before Halloween. The Angel's Night campaign, launched in the late 1990s, draws tens of thousands of volunteers to patrol the streets during Halloween week. The effort has largely squelched Devil's Night arson: in 2002, there were just 110 fires during the October 29–31 period, representing a 30 percent decline in total fires and a 41 percent decline in suspicious fires. In 2003, the three-day number was 117, increasing slightly to 141 in 2004; officials attributed the 2004 increase to power lines being knocked down by high winds.
Education
Primary and secondary education
The city is served by the Detroit Public Schools (DPS) district. The student population was 140,716 as of February 2004, and the district employed 19,620 people. The district consists of 232 schools: 147 elementary, 31 middle, 28 high schools, ten adult education and four vocational education. In addition to the ten newly built schools (eight elementary, two middle), five area high schools have either been remodeled or have new buildings. More than half of the city schools were built before 1930.[15]
DPS has not escaped many of the problems that other city sectors have encountered. In the early 1970s, the NAACP brought DPS to court seeking remedies for past de jure racial segregation. In a series of decisions beginning in September 1971, federal judge Stephen Roth ordered busing to desegregate the system, speeding up the white flight that had been on-going within the city. As of 2004, Detroit schools were 91% African-American.[16]
The school district continued a steady decline and, in the mid to late 1990s, was rocked by allegations of mismanagement by the school board. In 1999, the Michigan Legislature removed the locally elected board of education and replaced it with a reform board appointed by the mayor and governor, with the reform board selecting a CEO to run the schools. In 2004, after reports revealed that the appointed reform board was no improvement, the elected board of education with legislative and executive powers, responsible for selecting the General Superintendent to run the schools, was reinstated following a city referendum. The election of the eleven member board of education, with four chosen at-large and seven by district, occurred on November 8, 2005.
Higher education
Once the home of the University of Michigan, which was founded in Detroit in 1817 then later moved to Ann Arbor in 1837. Detroit has several universities and colleges within its borders, including: College for Creative Studies, Lewis College of Business, Marygrove College, Wayne State University, University of Detroit Mercy, and Wayne County Community College. The Detroit College of Law, now affiliated with Michigan State University, was founded in the city in 1891 and remained there until 1997, when it relocated to East Lansing.
Culture
Music and performing arts
Music has been the dominant feature of Detroit's nightlife since the late 1940s. The metropolitan area boasts two of the top live music venues in the U.S. DTE Energy Music Theatre (formerly Pine Knob) was the most attended summer venue in the U.S. in 2005 for the fifteenth consecutive year, while The Palace of Auburn Hills ranked twelfth, according to music industry source Pollstar. Detroit is considered by most industry analysts as the best concert market in the U.S. in per capita terms.
The city has the second-largest theater district in America, after New York City, with eighteen professional theaters. Outside New York City, Detroit has more theater seats than any other city east of the Mississippi River. Detroit is home to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Detroit Opera House. Major theaters include the Fox Theatre, Masonic Temple Theatre, Fisher Theatre, State Theatre, Music Hall, and the Detroit Repertory Theatre. Historically, Detroit's former Black Bottom neighborhood was a major jazz and blues mecca through the 1950s; its influence would still be felt decades later. Major jazz stars of the era often came to Black Bottom to perform in its many venues.
One of the highlights of Detroit's musical history was the success of Motown Records during the 1960s and early 1970s. The label was founded in Detroit by Berry Gordy, Jr. and housed at the "Hitsville U.S.A." complex along West Grand Boulevard until 1972. Motown was home to some of the most popular recording acts in the world, including Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross & the Supremes, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, The Four Tops, and Martha Reeves & the Vandellas. One major Detroit R&B artist from this era that was not in Motown's stable was Aretha Franklin.
Metro Detroit also spawned in the late 1960s a unique, high-energy rock scene in antithesis to Motown and the more mellow scenes popular on the coasts. Area artists MC5 and Iggy and the Stooges laid the groundwork in the mid-1960s for what would eventually become punk rock. Rock acts from southeast Michigan that first enjoyed success in the area include 1970s icons Bob Seger, Ted Nugent & The Amboy Dukes, The Romantics and Grand Funk Railroad as well as recent acts The White Stripes and The Von Bondies. The Detroit area is also generally accepted as the birthplace of the Techno movement, which has grown from local radio and clubs to dance venues worldwide over the past 25 years.
Detroit is more recently home to many hip-hop artists such as: Aaliyah, Eminem, Royce Da 5'9", Slum Village, Rock Bottom, Trick Trick & The Goon Sqwad, D12, Teairra Mari, Tone-Tone, MC Breed, Insane Clown Posse, Blade Icewood, Eastside Chedda Boyz, Malik (Eddie Kain), Dirty Glove Entertainment, Big Herk, and the Street Lordz are among the musical acts who have kept the diverse musical pipeline flowing.
As of 2006, fourteen groups or solo artists, four nonperformers, and two sidemen connected with the Detroit area have been enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Events
Detroit has two major events that are associated with the automobile industry: the North American International Auto Show (January) and the Woodward Dream Cruise (August). A number of annual music events occur in the city, which are the Downtown Hoedown country music festival (May), DEMF/Movement/Fuse-In electronic music festival (May), Ford Detroit International Jazz Festival (September), and the Concert of Colors, a diverse summer music festival.
Other Detroit events include: the Windsor-Detroit International Freedom Festival (June–July), Comerica Tastefest (July), Detroit Thunder Fest hydroplane race (July), Detroit Fashion Week (August), Art on the Move, and the America's Thanksgiving Parade.
Due to the large Polish population, the day before Ash Wednesday, or the festival of Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday is more frequently known locally as Pączki Day (though traditionally celebrated by Poles two days later on Fat Thursday). Many Metro Detroiters join in the festivity by indulging in jelly-filled donuts called pączkis.
Fashions
Detroit is a city known for style. One of the most known fashions of Detroit are suits with alligator shoes, and the city is often referred to as "Alligator City." Many inner-city young adults seem to take a liking in wearing fashionable streetwear or workwear such as Nike shoes, baseball caps, Carhartt jackets, Guess jeans, Dickies, Iceberg History, and more recently Marithé François Girbaud. There are more expensive tastes in Cartier eyewear, Rolex wristwear, Pelle Pelle, and Al Wissam leather jackets.
Food
Founded in 1907 by two Russian immigrant brothers in Detroit, Faygo soda (universally referred to as "pop" in the Detroit area) remains a Detroit tradition, and is sold internationally. Detroit was also the birthplace of Vernors ginger ale, the oldest surviving soft drink in the United States. Detroit is also the home of the Better Made Chips Factory which makes potato chips, Detroit is also considered the birthplace of the Coney Island hot dog, a chili dog with onions and mustard.
Media
The major daily newspapers serving Detroit are The Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News. Other Detroit publications are The Metro Times and Crain's Detroit Business[17], both weeklies. Detroit is also home to the weekly Michigan Chronicle, the state's largest African American owned newspaper, and the Michigan Citizen, another publication that targets African American readers.
The Detroit television market is the eleventh largest in the United States.[18] Most television stations broadcasting from Detroit have their studios in Southfield, which is also the site of transmission facilities of almost all Detroit-based stations. Stations broadcasting from Detroit include WJBK (Fox), WDIV-TV (NBC), WXYZ (ABC), and WWJ-TV (CBS). Other Metro Detroit television stations include WDWB (The WB), WKBD-TV (UPN), WPXD-TV (Pax TV) and WADL-TV (primarily broadcasting infomercials). WTVS is the city's PBS member station. Detroiters also receive the broadcast signal from CBET channel 9, the CBC Television affiliate based in Windsor. Depending on the location, some viewers can also receive the TVOntario, CTV and SRC networks. Comcast has the cable franchise for the city.
Detroit is also served by a variety of radio stations. The primary AM stations are WJR 760 (news-talk), WWJ 950 (news), CKLW (Canadian general talk) and WDFN 1130 (sports). Several FM stations include WNIC 100.3 (mix-genre), WJLB 97.9 (urban contemporary), WMXD (urban adult contemporary), and WOMC 104.3 (oldies). WDET 101.9 is the city's NPR station. WUOM 91.7 and WEMU 89.1 are also regional NPR affliates. Windsor radio stations CIMX 88.7 and CBC 89.9 can also be heard in the Detroit area.
In the 1960s, before widespread rock music exposure in national media, Detroit-area radio stations, especially CKLW with its powerful signal, were instrumental in propelling many musical acts, both local and out-of-town, to national stardom.
Sites of interest
The Detroit Institute of Arts houses what is considered to be one of the most prominent American collections outside New York City, and features showcase pieces by Diego Rivera, Picasso and Van Gogh along with such hometown artists as Charles McGee. The Detroit Institute of Arts is located in an area near Wayne State University known as the Cultural Center, which is also the site of the Detroit Historical Museum, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Detroit Science Center, and the main branch of the Detroit Public Library. Other cultural highlights include the Motown Historical Museum, Tuskegee Airmen Museum, Historic Fort Wayne (Detroit), Dossin Great Lakes Museum, and the Belle Isle Conservatory.
Major parks include Belle Isle (largest island park within a city in the U.S.), Palmer Park, River Rouge Park, Chene Park and Campus Martius Park. which has an ice rink larger than the one in New York's Rockefeller Center. Hart Plaza, located between the Renaissance Center and Cobo Hall on the riverfront, is the site of many events, notably various music festivals. Other city recreational facilities include municipal golf courses (William Rogell, Rouge, Belle Isle, Palmer Park), Northwest Activities Center, Detroit Zoo, the Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory, and the Belle Isle Aquarium. As of April 2005 the Aquarium and Zoo at Belle Isle are closed, though there is a movement to reopen them.
The most important civic sculpture in Detroit is the "Spirit of Detroit", which when it was installed in 1958 was the largest cast sculpture made since the Renaissance. The 4.8 m (16 ft) tall bronze kneeling man holds a gold orb in one hand and a golden family in the other. The image is often used as a symbol of Detroit and the statue itself is occasionally dressed in sports uniforms to celebrate when a Detroit team is doing well. A memorial to Joe Louis at the intersection of Jefferson and Woodward Avenues was dedicated on October 16, 1986. The sculpture, commissioned by Sports Illustrated and executed by Robert Graham, is a 7.3 m (24 ft) long arm with a fisted hand suspended by a 7.3 m high pyramidal framework.
Sports
Detroit is home to professional teams representing the four major sports in North America. All but two play within the city of Detroit (basketball's Detroit Pistons and Detroit Shock play in suburban Auburn Hills). There are three active major sports venues in the city: Comerica Park for baseball, Ford Field for football, and Joe Louis Arena for ice hockey.
Like many industrial cities, Detroit is known for its avid fans, particularly in such blue-collar sports as football (Detroit Lions) and hockey (Detroit Red Wings). Detroit is perhaps the most fervent hockey hotbed in the United States. A Red Wings marketing campaign in the late 1990s launched the nickname Hockeytown, a city moniker subsequently embraced by local fans and national media.
In college sports, the University of Detroit Mercy has a NCAA Division I program, and Wayne State University has both NCAA Division I and II programs. The NCAA football Motor City Bowl is held here each December.
Detroit is home to the Detroit International Marathon, which crosses the border into Canada via the Ambassador Bridge and returns to the United States through the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel. It is the world's only cross-national marathon. The city is also home to the APBA Gold Cup unlimited hydroplane boat race, which is held in Detroit each year since 1990. The race occurs on the Detroit River near Belle Isle.
Detroit was also the former home of a round of the Formula One World Championship, holding a race on the streets of downtown Detroit from 1985 until 1988, after which the sanction moved from Formula One to Indycars. CART continued downtown until 1992, when the race was moved to another temporary course on Belle Isle where the race remained through 2001.
Comerica Park hosted the 2005 MLB All Star Game in July 12, 2005, and Ford Field will host Super Bowl XL on February 5, 2006. Detroit made bids for the 1952 Olympic Games, 1956 Olympic Games, 1960 Olympic Games 1964 Olympic Games, 1968 Olympic Games, and the 1972 Olympic Games. A world record was set on December 13, 2003, when the largest crowd in basketball history — 78,129 — packed Ford Field to watch the University of Kentucky defeat Michigan State University, 79–74.
Infrastructure
Medicine
Detroit is home to three major medical systems: the Detroit Medical Center, Henry Ford Health System, and the St. John's Health System. Detroit Receiving Hospital and Henry Ford Hospital are all Level I trauma centers. Detroit is considered to have some of the busiest emergency rooms in the United States.
The Detroit Medical Center consists of Detroit Receiving Hospital and University Health Center, Children's Hospital of Michigan, Harper University Hospital, Hutzel Women's Hospital, Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan, and the Karmanos Cancer Institute. It is staffed by physicians from the Wayne State University School of Medicine, which is the largest single-campus medical school in the United States. Henry Ford Hospital, Children's Hospital of Michigan, and Harper University Hospital are consistently ranked by US News and World Report as some of the best hospitals in the United States.
Transportation
Because of its gateway between the United States and Canada and its major industrial status — along with its major highways, rail connections and international airport — Detroit has been an important transportation hub.
Detroit is the crossroads for six major Interstate Highways, including I-94 (Edsel Ford Freeway), I-96 (Edward Jeffries Freeway), I-696 (Walter Reuther Freeway), I-275, I-75 (Fisher and Chrysler Freeways), and I-375 (an extension of the Walter Chrysler Freeway). Other major routes are the John C. Lodge Freeway (M-10), the Southfield Freeway (M-39) and the Davison Freeway (M-8). The city also has two international border crossings at the Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, linking Detroit to Windsor, Ontario to Canadian Highway 401. The Ambassador Bridge is the nation's busiest border crossing in terms of trade volume; it carries 25% of all traded US-Canada merchandise.
Coleman A. Young International Airport, known as Detroit City Airport, is on Detroit's northeast side. Although Southwest Airlines once had service to the airport, there is currently no commercial passenger service. Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW), the area's principal airport, is located in nearby Romulus and is a hub for Northwest Airlines and Spirit Airlines. Willow Run Airport, in western Wayne and eastern Washtenaw counties near Ypsilanti is a general aviation and cargo airport. Willow Run served as the primary manufacturing center for the B-24 Liberator during World War II. This and other area industries led to Detroit's WWII nickname as the Arsenal of Democracy.[19]
Mass transit within the city functions within two separate sphere's of influence. Transit services within the city are provided by the Detroit Department of Transportation (DDOT), which provides bus service that terminates at the suburbs' edges. Service in the suburbs is provided by Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART). Although SMART buses picks up passengers within Detroit, it cannot drop them off due to the exclusive jurisdiction the DDOT has over these routes. Combining the systems has been problematic and tainted by the racial politics that has affected all aspects of city-suburban relationships. The light rail system known as the People Mover provides a 2.9 mile (4.6 km) loop in the downtown area and usually operates daily.
The city is also served by Amtrak with routes connecting to Chicago, Ann Arbor, and other Michigan destinations. The current rail facility, north of downtown, replaced the still standing but neglected Michigan Central Station west of downtown. Abandoned at a time when crime was rising in the neighborhood, Amtrak vacated the building in 1988. Designed by Warren & Wetmore — the same architects who designed Grand Central Terminal in New York City — and opened in 1913, the station's fate remains unknown.
See also
- Black culture of Detroit
- Detroit in literature
- Detroit in the movies
- Dances of Detroit
- East Detroit
- Nain Rouge - a red dwarf who is said to attack people and bring bad luck to the city.
- People from Detroit
Further reading
- Burton, Clarence M. Cadillac's Village: A History of the Settlement, 1701-1710 (Detroit, 1896).
- Burton, Clarence M. The Building of Detroit (1912).
- Powell, L. P. "Detroit, the Queen City," Historic Towns of the Western States (New York, 1901).
- Farmer, Silas. The History of Detroit and Michigan (Detroit, 1889).
- Parkman, Francis. The Conspiracy of Pontiac (Boston, 1867).
External links
- City of Detroit official website
- Detroit Synergy
- Detroit Regional Chamber
- Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau
- Detroit Underground Depot
- Metro Detroit@UrbanPlanet.org Detroit Urban Discussion
- got detroit?
- DetroitYES!:Home of the Fabulous Ruins of Detroit
- Metro-Detroit Urban Exploration at Forgotten Michigan
- Forgotten Detroit
- Motor City Rocks
- Detroit History
- Detroit Blog
- Detroit Community Forum
- Detroit Sports Online
- DetroitWonk
- Detroit neighborhoods at CityscapeDetroit
- Detroit travel guide at Wikitravel
