Portal:Michigan/Cities
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Cities 1
Highland Park is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 16,746 at the 2000 census. It is completely surrounded by Detroit except a small portion which touches the city of Hamtramck which is surrounded by Detroit.
The area that became Highland Park began as a small farming community north of Detroit near the turn of the century. The area's population shot up after 1913 when Henry Ford opened the Highland Park Ford Plant featuring the first assembly line. The city was incorporated in 1918. Magna International auto parts maintains a large presence in Highland Park.
Cities 2
Houghton is a city in Michigan and largest city in Copper Country on the Keweenaw Peninsula. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 7,010. It is the county seat of Houghton County.
The city is located on the south shore of Portage Lake, primarily on the slope of a hill on the opposite side of the Portage Lake valley from Hancock. The city is bounded on the east by Portage Township, on the west by Dakota Heights and on the south by Hurontown, both unincorporated communities that are part of Portage Township; and also on the west by Adams Township. Houghton is named after Douglass Houghton who discovered copper nearby (though there is evidence indigenous peoples had mined copper in the area thousands of years before). Houghton is also the home of Michigan Technological University. The city is served by Houghton County Memorial Airport.
Cities 3
Alpena is a city in Michigan with a population of 11,304 (2000 census). It is the county seat of Alpena County. The city is on the shore of Lake Huron's Thunder Bay, with Alpena Township surrounding it on land. The Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary is located offshore of the city.
Despite its small population, it is by far the largest city in sparsely-populated Northeast Michigan, serving as its commercial and cultural hub. It is one of the two anchor cities of Northern Michigan, along with its cross-peninsula rival, Traverse City. The region, known as the "Sunrise Side" from its location on the west shore of Lake Huron, was first a site of commercial fishing and is still home to extensive commercial fishing activities. Later the region, like much of Michigan, was shaped by the logging era of the 1800s. Today, Alpena's industry includes its limestone quarry, operated by the Lafarge corporation.
Cities 4
Traverse City is the largest city in the 21-county Northern Michigan region. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 14,532. In 2005, the Traverse City Micropolitan Statistical Area was the 13th largest in the United States, with a population estimate of 141,011. It is the county seat of Grand Traverse County, although a small portion lies in Leelanau County. Despite its modest population, Traverse City, especially its downtown, functions as the major commercial center for a seven-county area totaling over 2,700 square miles (7,000 km2) and, along with cross-peninsula counterpart Alpena, is one of Northern Lower Michigan's two anchor cities.
Traverse City is the self-proclaimed Cherry Capital of the World, holding an annual week-long Cherry Festival the first full week in July to celebrate. Besides cherries, the surrounding countryside produces grapes, and is one of the centers of wine production in the Midwest. Tourism, both summer and winter, is another key industry. Freshwater beaches, a mild summer climate, upscale golf resorts, vineyards, a nearby National Lakeshore, nearby ski resorts and thousands of square miles of surrounding forests make Traverse City (based on AAA's 2005 TripTik requests) the second most popular tourist city in the state behind Mackinaw City.
Cities 5
Novi is a city in Oakland County. It is a suburb of Detroit and is part of the Metro Detroit area. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 47,386. The city is located approximately 25 miles northwest from the center of Detroit, and is located within the boundaries of the geographic Township of Novi.
Novi is one of the fastest growing cities in Michigan. The construction of Twelve Oaks Mall in the mid-1970s at the interchange of Novi Road and I-96 is often credited with ushering in the growth that the city has experienced. But even before Twelve Oaks, the area encompassed by the city experienced consistent growth since the 1950s. This growth has led to substantial increases in the city's population, as well as commercial and industrial developments in the city.
Novi is also home to the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, which opened in 1989. Inductees receive the "Horsepower Award" on the Wednesday before the June NASCAR race at Michigan International Speedway.
Cities 6
In 1701, Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac and Alphonse de Tonty founded Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit. During the late 19th and early 20th century, it became an important industrial hub at the center of the Great Lakes region. The city's population rose to be the fourth-largest in the nation by 1920, after New York City, Chicago, and Philadelphia, with the expansion of the automotive industry in the early 20th century. One of its main features, the Detroit River, became the busiest commercial hub in the world—carrying over 65 million tons of shipping commerce each year. In the mid-20th century, Detroit entered a state of urban decay which has continued to the present, as a result of industrial restructuring, the loss of jobs in the auto industry, and rapid suburbanization. Since reaching a peak of 1.85 million at the 1950 census, Detroit's population has declined by more than 65 percent. In 2013, Detroit became the largest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy, but successfully exited in December 2014. (Full article...) (Full article...)
Cities 7
Farmington Hills is a fairly affluent city in Oakland County, near Detroit. It has the highest population of the cities in the aforementioned county, and, although it is sometimes thought of in conjunction with the Farmington, in the same county, real estate prices and population trends tend to be higher in Farmington Hills.
Originally, Farmington Hills was established by a white settler from Farmington, New York in 1824, and was called Quakertown, with a post office with the name of Farmington being established in 1826. This caused the area to be incorporated as Farmington Township in 1827, with the Village of Farmington incorporating in 1866, and the aforementioned village incorporating as a city in 1926. Also, to the extreme southeast of what is now Farmington Hills, an area known as Clarenceville was established. This area still has a school district bearing its name.
Throughout all of this time, the Township of Farmington remained. After Farmington incorporated as a city in 1926, two more villages were established, the Village of Wood Creek Farms in 1957 and the Village of Quakertown in 1959. Eventually, the Villages of Wood Creek Farms & Quakertown and the remainder of Farmington Twp. incorporated as the City of Farmington Hills.
The City of Farmington Hills is a beautiful place to live. It has many schools, and even a university. It is a great place to live.
Cities 8
Dearborn is the eighth largest city in the State of Michigan with a population of 98,153. First settled in the late 18th century by French farmers in a series of ribbon farms along the River Rouge and the Sauk Trail, the community grew with the establishment of the Detroit Arsenal on the Chicago Road linking Detroit and Chicago. It later grew into a manufacturing hub for the automotive industry.
The city was the home of Henry Ford and is the world headquarters of the Ford Motor Company. It has a campus of the University of Michigan as well as Henry Ford Community College. Dearborn has The Henry Ford, America's largest indoor-outdoor museum complex and Metro Detroit's leading tourist attraction. Dearborn's large population of Arab Americans adds to the unique culture of the city.