Facts about Detroit
Caesars Windsor, Canada's largest, complements the MGM Grand Detroit, MotorCity Casino, and Greektown Casino in Detroit.
Several tribes led by Chief Pontiac, an Ottawa leader, launched Pontiac's Rebellion (1763), including a siege of Fort Detroit.
Detroit is home to Compuware and the national pizza chain Little Caesars.
Strategically located along the Great Lakes waterway, Detroit emerged as a transportation hub.
Detroit's courts are state-administered and elections are nonpartisan.
Traveling up the Detroit River, Father Louis Hennepin noted that the north bank of the river was an ideal location for a settlement.
The Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge is the only international wildlife preserve in North America, uniquely located in the heart of a major metropolitan area.
In 2006, downtown Detroit reported $1.3 billion in restorations and new developments, which increased the number of construction jobs in the city.
Important history of Detroit and the surrounding area is exhibited at the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, the nation's largest indoor-outdoor museum complex, with emphasis on American Culture.
Labor strife climaxed in the 1930s when the United Auto Workers became involved in bitter disputes with Detroit's auto manufacturers.
Construction and completion of a third border crossing would eliminate (or greatly diminish) the traffic jams that plague the Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel.
The refuge includes islands, coastal wetlands, marshes, shoals, and waterfront lands along 48 miles (77 km) of the Detroit River and western Lake Erie shoreline.
The University Commons-Palmer Park district in northwest Detroit is near the University of Detroit Mercy and Marygrove College and has historic neighborhoods including Palmer Woods, Sherwood Forest, and Green Acres.
Widespread layoffs, a credit crunch, and loss of consumer confidence in the U.S. economy in 2008 also contributed to plummeting profits for Detroit's Big Three automakers.
One of the nation's largest law firms, Miller, Canfield, Paddock & Stone P.L.C., has offices in both Windsor and Detroit.
Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW), the area's principal airport, is located in nearby Romulus.
Many Detroiters volunteered to fight during the Civil War, beginning with the Iron Brigade that defended Washington, D.C., early in the war.
Strained racial relations were evident in the 1920s trial of Dr. Ossian Sweet, a black Detroit physician acquitted of murder.
Despite the new developments downtown, Detroit has the highest home foreclosure rate among the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas, with over 67,000 foreclosed properties, 65 percent of which remain vacant.
Gaming revenues have grown steadily, with Detroit ranked as the fifth largest gambling market in the United States for 2007.
Detroit's musical history includes many popular rock bands from the 1960s and 1970s.
Live music has been a prominent feature of Detroit's nightlife since the late 1940s, bringing the city recognition under the nickname Motown.
About 80,500 people work in downtown Detroit, comprising 21 percent of the city's employment.
Detroit's lowest elevation is along its riverfront, at a height of 579 feet (176 m).
The highest elevation is in northwestern Detroit, at a height of 670 feet (204 m).
Industrial growth during World War II led to Detroit gaining the nickname the Arsenal of Democracy.
Kenneth V. Cockrel Jr., president of the Detroit City Council, succeeded him as mayor.
Major theaters include the Detroit Opera House and Orchestra Hall, which hosts the renowned Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
Medical service providers such as the Detroit Medical Center and Henry Ford Hospital are also major employers in the city.
Detroit faced several challenges even prior to this crisis, including a shrinking population, a market where the supply of housing exceeded the demand, a declining tax base, older housing stock, and an old infrastructure system.
The Detroit River connects Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair, contributing to the city's important role as a major port city.
At its peak, Detroit was the fourth largest in the country, but since 1950 the city has seen a major shift in its population to the suburbs.
Detroit is one of 13 American metropolitan areas that are home to professional teams representing the four major sports in North America.
The Detroit-Windsor area, a critical commercial link straddling the Canadian U.S. border, has a total population of nearly 5,700,000.
Detroit and the surrounding region constitute a major manufacturing center, most notably as home to the Big Three automobile companies, General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler.
The city of Detroit has contributed to a number of different genres over the decades leading into the new millennium.
In 2007, Quicken Loans announced its development agreement with the city to move its world headquarters, and 4,000 employees, to downtown Detroit.
The city has three international border crossings, the Ambassador Bridge, Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, and Michigan Central Railway Tunnel, linking Detroit to Windsor, Ontario.
In 1980, Detroit hosted the Republican National Convention, which nominated Ronald Reagan to a successful bid for president.
Midtown has about 50,000 residents, yet it attracts millions of visitors each year to its museums and cultural centers; for example, the Detroit Festival of the Arts draws about 350,000 people.
Detroit was referred to as the Paris of the West for its architecture, and for Washington Boulevard, recently electrified by Thomas Edison.
The city name comes from the Detroit River (French: l'йtroit du Lac Йriй), meaning the strait of Lake Erie, linking Lake Huron and Lake Erie.
Some Fortune 500 companies headquartered in Detroit include General Motors, auto parts maker American Axle & Manufacturing, and DTE Energy.
When Casino Windsor is included, Detroit's gambling market ranks third or fourth.
Detroit completely encircles the cities of Hamtramck and Highland Park.
In 2007, the first portions of the Detroit River Walk were laid, including miles of parks and fountains.
The city is also served by various charter schools and private schools, as well as parochial Roman Catholic schools run by the Archdiocese of Detroit.
The Detroit area is accustomed to the economic cycles of the auto industry.
The city is an important center for global trade with large international law firms having their offices in both Detroit and Windsor.
In 2007, downtown Detroit was named among the best "big city neighborhoods" in which to retire by CNN Money Magazine editors.
Of the African-Americans who live in the metropolitan area, about 70 percent live within the Detroit city limits.
According to a 2007 analysis, Detroit officials note that about 65 to 70 percent of homicides in the city were confined to a narcotics catalyst.
Ford's manufacturing—and those of automotive pioneers William C. Durant, the Dodge brothers, Packard, and Walter Chrysler—reinforced Detroit's status as the world's automotive capital; it also served to encourage truck manufacturers such as Rapid and Grabowsky.
Gordy moved Motown to Los Angeles in 1972 to pursue film production, but the company has since returned to Detroit.
Caesars Windsor, Canada's largest, complements the MGM Grand Detroit, MotorCity Casino, and Greektown Casino in Detroit.
The Detroit suburbs in Oakland County, Macomb County, and northeastern and northwestern Wayne County are predominantly white.
Despite foreign competition for market share, Detroit's automakers continued to gain volume with the expansion of the American and global automotive markets.
Other institutions in the city include the Detroit College of Law, now affiliated with Michigan State University.
Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Wayne County.
Windsor is the city in the Canadian province of Ontario, just across the river from Detroit.
The name Detroit is commonly used to refer to the Metro Detroit area, a sprawling region with a population of 4,467,592.
France offered free land to attract families to Detroit, which grew to 800 people in 1765, the largest city between Montreal and New Orleans.
All these teams but one play within the city of Detroit itself.
Downtown Detroit has major offices for Electronic Data Systems, Visteon, Delphi, Ford Motor Company, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, Deloitte Touche, KPMG, the Jeep and Dodge Truck arm of Chrysler, GMAC, and OnStar.
Metro Detroit suburbs are among the more affluent in the United States, in contrast to lower incomes found within the city limits.
Detroit is the most liberal large city in America, according to a study released by the Bay Area Center for Voting Research, which measured the percentage of city residents who voted for the Democratic Party.
Detroit was referred to as the Paris of the West for its architecture, and for Washington Boulevard, recently electrified by Thomas Edison.
Detroit is home to several institutions of higher learning, including Wayne State University, a national research university with medical and law schools in the Midtown area.
The Detroit International Riverfront includes a partially completed 3.5-mile riverfront promenade with a combination of parks, residential buildings, and commercial areas.
From 1805 to 1847, the rebuilt Detroit was the capital of Michigan.
Detroit and the rest of southeastern Michigan have a continental climate that is influenced by the Great Lakes.
Casino gaming plays an important economic role, with Detroit the largest city in the United States to offer casino resorts.
The city is an important center for global trade with large international law firms having their offices in both Detroit and Windsor.
Detroit fell to British troops during the War of 1812, was recaptured by the United States in 1813, and incorporated as a city in 1815.
Long recognized as the historic heart of the American automotive industry, Detroit took on the nickname "Motor City." The state's automotive industry provided the model for mass production that other industries later adopted. Henry Ford pioneered the use of the assembly line in manufacturing automobiles.