Detroit, MI

Famous for cars, Motown music and sports, Detroit is a city of about 714,000 people. It is the largest city in Michigan, and a diverse one at that, with a large population of African Americans, Latinos and Arab Americans. Four million people live in the Detroit metropolitan area.

Detroit was settled in 1701 by an explorer who landed at the site of the present-day Civic Center. It officially became a town in 1802 but burned to the ground in a fire three years later that destroyed every building except one, a fort that no longer stands. In the 1800s Detroit was known for manufacturing stoves and building ships, but that all changed when Henry Ford completed his first car in 1896. The automotive industry led the city through a population boom that lasted into the 1920s, and then the city was a leader of armament production during World War II. But in the decades after the war, the city and its economy fell on hard times. Revitalization efforts began in the 1970s and continue today.

ECONOMY AND INDUSTRIES

The automotive industry dominates the economy of the Motor City. Ford, General Motors and Chrysler are the city's top three employers, but with the automotive industry in financial crisis, the economy of the city is in a precarious state. Two of the Big Three automakers filed for bankruptcy in 2009 and the city is transitioning into viable new industries. Battery manufacturing, wind-power technology, solar-panel manufacturing and railroad car production are among the new opportunities for the city's engineers.

Healthcare, education and government are other top industries in the city. The Detroit metropolitan area has a workforce of more than 2 million people and the city is home to 12 Fortune 500 companies.

Detroit region's top five employers are:

• Ford Motor Company
• University of Michigan
• General Motors Corporation
• Chrysler L.L.C.
• Henry Ford Health System

Detroit has taken advantage of statewide tax incentives for filmmakers, luring film crews for major motion pictures. Detroit is now home to the Motown Motion Picture Studio.

Detroit houses three major casino/hotels: MotorCity, MGM Grand, and the Greektown Casino.

NEIGHBORHOODS AND DISTRICTS

Detroit includes many neighborhoods in and around the city:

• Arden Park-East Boston Historic District is known for the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament.
• Atkinson Avenue is a middle-class area that also hosts Henry Ford Hospital.
• Boston-Edison Historic District, a historic neighborhood of Detroit, was once home to owners and shareholders of many automobile companies.
• Delray is another residential neighborhood of Detroit that has industrial warehouses in close proximity and is supposedly the most polluted residential area in the city.
• Downtown Detroit is the central business area of Detroit and it contains most of the prominent skyscrapers.
• Greektown Historic District winds through Monroe Street and is one of Detroit's most happening neighborhoods. The neighborhood houses an interesting collection of authentic Greek restaurants, lounges and shops.
• Indian Village is another historic neighborhood that has architecturally significant homes.
• Mexicantown, which has experienced economic growth recently, is known for its delicious Mexican cuisine.
• New Center is a commercial area that offers convenient access to downtown resources and outlying factories.
• Rosedale Park hosts the only privately owned neighborhood recreation facility in Detroit.
• Woodbridge is another Detroit neighborhood that is rapidly gentrifying.
• Other neighborhoods of Detroit include Baldwin Park, Belmont, Carbon Works, Fitzgerald, Franklin Park, Grixdale, Martin Park, Ravendale, Russell Woods, Springwells, Van Steuban and Zone 8.

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

Lovers of art, music and theater will find plenty to do in Detroit. The city has more than 40 museums, theaters and institutions dedicated to the arts. Some of the most popular include:

• Detroit Children's Museum: The museum was founded in 1917 and is the third-oldest children's museum in the country. The museum's Planetarium is a popular attraction.
• Detroit Historical Museum: Established in 1928, the Detroit Historical Museum is one of the country's oldest and largest museums dedicated to a city's history. More than 600 historic artifacts spanning 300 years of history are displayed in 80,000 square feet of exhibit space.
• Detroit Institute of Arts: Since 1885, the DIA has been an important cultural presence in Detroit. The museum's art collection is one of the largest in the United States. It houses important works of art from Africa, Asia and ancient times. The collections are displayed in a 677,000-square-foot building that was renovated in 2007.
• Detroit Symphony Orchestra: Ten Detroit society women founded the orchestra in 1914. Today the well-known symphony plays at Detroit's Orchestra Hall.

Detroit has a long and storied sports history. It is home to professional teams from every major sport, and began the new millennium by constructing new baseball and football stadiums.

• Detroit Tigers: The Detroit Tigers are the city's oldest sports franchise, having played their first game in 1901. Today, the Tigers play at Comerica Park, a $300 million downtown stadium that opened in 2000, complete with a carousel, fountain and Ferris wheel.
• Detroit Lions: The Lions have played for Detroit football fans since 1934. In 2002, the team moved into Ford Field, a brand-new, $500 million, downtown stadium.
• Detroit Red Wings: The Red Wings played their first hockey game in Detroit as the Detroit Cougars in 1926. They have won a total of 10 National Hockey League championships, more championships than any other team in Detroit.
• Detroit Pistons: The Pistons moved to Detroit from Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1957. The team plays at the Palace at Auburn Hills, a 22,000-seat arena that opened in 1988.

LOCAL MEDIA

Detroit is the 11th-largest television market in the country. Major network affiliates in Detroit are:

• WJBK (FOX), Channel 2
• WDIV (NBC), Channel 4
• WXYZ (ABC), Channel 7
• WKBD (The CW), Channel 50
• WTVS (PBS), Channel 56
• WWJ (CBS), Channel 62

Additionally, Detroit is served by two daily newspapers, Detroit Free Press and Detroit News. The newspapers have a joint operating agreement.

EVENTS

Many annual events celebrate Detroit's culture and diversity, including:

• North American International Auto Show (January): First held in Detroit in 1907, the auto show has been held annually except 1943-1952. It occupies 1 million square feet (93,000 m²) of floor space.
• Detroit Electronic Music Festival (May)
• Greektown Arts Festival (June)
• Detroit International River Days (June)
• Comerica CityFest (July)
• Detroit International Jazz Festival (September)
• Detroit Free Press/Flagstar Bank Marathon (October)
• Thanksgiving Day Parade (November)

DID YOU KNOW?

• The world's first red-yellow-green traffic light was installed at the corner of Woodward and Michigan avenues in 1920. Detroit cop William Potts got the bright idea from railroad lights.
• Take that Coca-Cola. Detroit is home to the oldest continuously made soda pop brand: Vernors ginger ale, invented in 1866 by downtown pharmacist James Vernor.
• Detroit is north of Canada - anyway, the southernmost point of Canada: Point Pelee, Ontario, and you can drive there in about 90 minutes from Detroit.
• "Detroit" means "strait" in French, for the narrow body of water that connects Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie, better known as the Detroit River, the border between the U.S. and Canada.
• During the Prohibition Era in the 1920s, an estimated 75% of the booze smuggled into the U.S. came through Detroit from Canada, the second-biggest local business after automobiles.
• Detroiter Joe Louis held the heavyweight boxing championship of the world for an amazing 12 years and retired with the title in 1949.
• Belle Isle Park in the Detroit River is the largest island park in the U.S., at 985 acres, and features the beautiful Scott Fountain and the world's only marble lighthouse.
• Brain freeze capital? In 2008, 7-Eleven stores in Detroit sold more Slurpees than any other city, twice as many on average per store.
• Managers for the storied Detroit Tigers baseball team include Ty Cobb, the first inductee into the Hall of Fame, and Billy Martin, fired after ordering pitchers to bean batters.
• In 1950, Detroit was the fifth-largest city in the U.S., home to about 2 million people. Today, it's No. 11, at about 910,000.
• A movie made entirely by people who grew up in the Detroit area would star Tom Sellek, Ellen Burstyn, Lily Tomlin, Robin Williams and Kristen "Veronica Mars" Bell.
• Ford autoworker Berry Gordy founded Motown Records in 1959, discovered Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and many others, and by 1972 was the richest black man in America.
• In 2009, Detroit had an estimated 40 square miles worth of abandoned buildings.
• Detroit Red Wings fans throw octopuses on the ice when the team scores, a tradition that began in 1952 when the team needed eight wins for the NHL title. (An octopus has eight arms.)
• The nation's first "super highway" was Woodward Avenue between Detroit and Pontiac, an eight-lane divided highway with a 40-foot median, built in 1923.
• Detroit was Michigan's capital until 1847, when legislators moved it to Lansing because they feared an invasion from Canada, which was apparently real back then.
• A little ahead of its time: The Detroit Electric was the best-selling American electric car, with production peaking at 3,000 in 1916, falling off in the 1920s and ending in 1939.
• The greater Detroit area is home to the most concentrated population of Americans with roots in Arab lands, mostly Lebanon and Iraq.
• Yes, there is a Detroit-style pizza. It's square, with a thick crust, a whole lot of cheese and a sweet tomato sauce.
• Detroit's longest-running food fight: American Coney Island on Lafayette started serving coney dogs in 1917; Lafayette Coney opened next door in 1924. Detroiters still debate who's best.
• Northland Center, the country's first suburban shopping mall, opened in the Detroit suburb of Southfield in 1954.
• In 1879 Detroit became the first city to assign individual telephone numbers.
• Henry Ford introduced the first mass-produced automobile, the Model T, in 1908.