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DETROIT , the largest See also:city of See also:Michigan, U.S.A., and the See also:county-seat of See also:Wayne county, on the Detroit See also:river opposite See also:Windsor, See also:Canada, about 4 M. W. from the outlet of See also:Lake St Clair and 18 m. above Lake See also:Erie. Pop. (188o) 116,340; (189o) 205,876; (1900) 285,704, of whom 96,503 were See also:foreign-See also:born and 4111 were negroes; (1910 See also:census) 465,766. Of the foreign-born in 1900, 32,027 were Germans and 10,703 were See also:German Poles, 25,403 were See also:English Canadians and 3541 See also:French Canadians, 6347 were English and 6412 were Irish. Detroit is served by the Michigan Central, the Lake See also:Shore & Michigan See also:Southern, the See also:Wabash, the See also:Grand See also:Trunk, the Pere See also:Marquette, the Detroit & See also:Toledo Shore See also:Line, the Detroit, Toledo & See also:Ironton and the See also:Canadian Pacific See also:railways. Two See also:belt lines, one 2 M. to 3 m., and the other 6 m. from the centre of the city, connect the factory districts with the See also:main railway lines. Trains are ferried across the river to Windsor, and steamboats make daily trips to See also:Cleveland, See also:Wyandotte, See also:Mount Clemens, See also:Port See also:Huron, to less important places between, and to several Canadian ports. Detroit is also the S. See also:terminus for several lines to more remote lake ports, and electric lines extend from here to Port Huron, See also:Flint, See also:Pontiac, See also:Jackson, Toledo and Grand Rapids. The city extended in 1907 over about 41 sq. m., an increase from 29 sq. m. in 1900 and 36 sq. m. in 1905. Its See also:area in See also:pro-portion to its See also:population is much greater than that of most of the larger cities of the See also:United States. See also:Baltimore, for example, had in 1904 nearly 70% more inhabitants (estimated), while its area at that See also:time was a little less and in 1907 was nearly one-See also:quarter less than that of Detroit. The ground within the city limits as well as that for several See also:miles farther back is quite level, but rises gradually from the river See also:bank, which is only a few feet in height. The Detroit river, along which the city extends for about ro m., is here z m. wide and 30 ft. to qo ft. deep; its current is quite rapid; its See also:water, a beautiful clear See also:blue; at its mouth it has a width of about ro m., and in the river there are a number of islands, which during the summer are popular resorts. The city has a 3 M. frontage on the river See also:Rouge, an See also:estuary of the Detroit, with a 16 ft. channel. Before the See also:fire by which the city was destroyed in 18o5, the streets were only 12 ft. wide and were unpaved and extremely dirty. But when the rebuilding began, several avenues from too ft. to 200 ft. wide were—through the See also:influence of See also:Augustus B. See also:Woodward (c. 1775–1827), one of the territorial See also:judges at the time and an admirer of the See also:plan of the city of Washington—made to radiate from two central points. From a See also:half circle called the Grand See also:Circus there radiate avenues 12o ft. and 200 ft. wide. About ; m. toward the river from this was established another See also:focal point called the Campus Martins, 600 ft. See also:long and 400 ft. wide, at which commence radiating or See also:cross streets 8o ft. and too ft. wide. See also:Running See also:north from the river through the Campus Martins and the Grand Circus is Woodward See also:Avenue, 120 ft.-wide, dividing the See also:present city, as it did the old See also:town, into nearly equal parts. Parallel with the river is See also:Jefferson Avenue, also 120 ft. wide. The first of these avenues is the See also:principal See also:retail See also:street along its See also:lower portion, and is a See also:residence avenue for 4 M. beyond this. Jefferson is the principal wholesale street at the lower end, and a See also:fine residence avenue E. of this. Many of the other residence streets are 8o ft. wide. The setting of shade trees was See also:early encouraged, and large elms and maples abound. The intersections of the See also:diagonal streets See also:left a number of small, triangular parks, which, as well as the larger ones, are well shaded. The streets are paved mostly with See also:asphalt and See also:brick, though See also:cedar and See also: A larger and more massive and statelybuilding than the city hall is the county See also:court house, facing See also:Cadillac Square, with a lofty tower surmounted by a gilded See also:dome. The Federal building is a massive See also:granite structure, finely decorated in the interior. Among the churches of greatest architectural beauty are the First Congregational, with a fine See also:Byzantine interior, St See also: By far the most attractive is Belle Isle, an See also:island in the river at the E. end of the city, See also:purchased in 1879 and having an area of more than 700 acres. The Grand Circus Park of 41 acres, with its trees, See also:flowers and fountains, affords a pleasant resting See also:place in the busiest quarter of the city. Six miles farther out on Woodward Avenue is See also:Palmer Park of about 140 acres, given to the city in 1894 and named in See also:honour of the donor. See also:Clark Park (28 acres) is in the W. See also:part of the city, and there are various smaller parks. The principal cemeteries are Elmwood (See also:Protestant) and Mount See also:Elliott (Catholic), which See also:lie adjoining in the E. part of the city; Woodmere in the W. and Woodlawn in the N. part of the city.
Charity and See also:Education.—Among the charitable institutions are the See also:general hospitals (Harper, See also:Grace and St Mary's) ; the Detroit Emergency, the See also:Children's Free and the United States Marine hospitals; St See also:Luke's See also:hospital, See also: All the enormous See also:traffic between the upper and lower lakes passes through the Detroit river. In 1907 the number of vessels recorded was 34,249, with registered See also:tonnage of 53,959,769, carrying 71,226,895 tons of See also:freight, valued at $697,311,302. This includes vessels which delivered part or all of their See also:cargo at Detroit. The largest See also:item in the freights is See also:iron ore on vessels See also:bound down. The next is See also:coal on vessels up bound. See also:Grain and See also:lumber are the next largest items.- Detroit is a port of entry, and its foreign commerce, chiefly with Canada, is of growing importance. The city's exports increased from •$11,325,807 in 1896 to $37,o85,O27 in 1909. The imports were $3,153,609 in 1896 and $7,100,659 in 1909. As a manufacturing city, Detroit holds high See also:rank. The total number of manufacturing establishments in 1890 was 1746, with a product for the year valued t $77,351,546; in 1900 there were 2847 establishments with a product for the year valued at $roo,892,838, or an increase of 30.4% in the See also:decade. In 1900 the establishments under the factory system, omitting the See also:hand trades and neighbourhood See also:industries, numbered 1259 and produced goods valued at $88,365,924; in 1904 establishments under the factory system numbered 1363 and the product had increased 45.7 % to $128,761,658. In the See also:district subsequently annexed the product in 1904 was about $12,000,000, making a total of $140,000,000. The output for 1906 was estimated at $180,000,000. The state factory inspectors in 1905 visited 1721 factories having 83,231 employees. In 1906 they inspected 1790 factories with 93,071 employees. Detroit is the leading city in the country in the manufacture of automobiles. In 1904 the value of its product was one-fifth that for the whole country. In 1906 the city had twenty automobile factories, with an out-put of r 1,0oo cars, valued at $12,000,000. Detroit is probably the largest manufacturer in the country of freight cars, stoves, pharmaceutical preparations, See also:varnish, soda ash and similar alkaline products. Other important manufactures are See also:ships, paints, foundry and See also:machine See also:shop products, See also:brass goods, furniture, boots and shoes, clothing, matches, cigars, See also:malt liquors and See also:fur goods; and slaughtering and See also:meat packing is an important industry. The Detroit Board of Commerce, organized in 1903, brought into one association the members of three former bodies, making a compact organization with civic as well as commercial aims. The board has brought into active co-operation nearly all the leading business men of the city and many of the professional men. Their united efforts have brought many new industries to the city, have improved industrial conditions, and have exerted a beneficial influence upon the municipal See also:administration. Other business organizations are the Board of See also:Trade, devoted to the grain trade and kindred lines, the Employers' Association, which seeks to maintain satisfactory relations between employer and employed, the Builders' & Traders' See also:Exchange, and the See also:Credit Men's Association. Administration.—Although the city received its first See also:charter in 18o6, and another in 1815, the real See also:power rested in the hands of the See also:governor and judges of the territory until 1824; the charters of 1824 and 1827 centred the See also:government in a See also:council and made the See also:list of elective See also:officers long; the charter of 1827 was revised in 1857 and again in 1859 and the present charter See also:dates from 1883. Under this charter only three administrative officers are elected,—the mayor, the city clerk and the city treasurer,—elections being biennial. The administration of the city departments is largely in the hands of commissions. There is one See also:commissioner each, appointed by the mayor, for the parks and boulevards, See also:police and public works departments. The four members of the See also:health board are nominated by the governor and confirmed by the state See also:senate. The school board is an See also:independent See also:body, consisting of one elected member from each See also: It may reduce or increase the amounts asked, and may add new items. The See also:budget then goes to the board ofestimates, which has a See also:month for its See also:consideration. This body consists of two members elected from each Ward and five elected at large. The mayor and heads of departments are advisory members, and may speak but not vote. The members of the board of estimates can hold no other office and they have no appointing power, the intention being to keep them as free as possible from all See also:political motives and influences. They may reduce or cut out any estimates submitted, but cannot increase any or add new ones. No bonds can be issued without the assent of the board of estimates. The budget is apportioned among twelve committees which have almost invariably given See also:close and conscientious examination to the actual needs of the departments. A reduction of $1;000,000 to $1,500,000, without impairing the service, has been a not unusual result of their deliberations. Prudent management under this system has placed the city in the highest rank financially. Its See also:debt limit is 2 % on the assessed valuation, and even that low maximum is not often reached. The debt in 1907 was only about $5,500,000, a smaller per capita debt than that of any other city of over 1oo,000 inhabitants in the country; the assessed valuation was $330,000,000; the city tax, $14.70 on the thousand dollars of assessed valuation. Both the council and the estimators are hampered in their work by legislative interference. Nearly all the large salaries and many of those of the second grade are made mandatory by the legislature, which has also determined many affairs of a purely administrative See also:character. Detroit has made three experiments with municipal ownership. On See also:account of inadequate and unsatisfactory service by a private See also:company, the city bought the water-works as long ago as 1836. The works have been twice moved and enlargements have been made in advance of the needs of the city. In 1907 there were six engines in the works with a pumping capacity of 152,000,000 gallons daily. The daily See also:average of water used during the pre-ceding year was 67,357,000 gallons. The water is pumped from Lake" St Clair and is of exceptional purity. The city began its own public lighting in See also:April 1895, having a large plant on the river near the centre of the city. It See also:lights the streets and public buildings, but makes no See also:provision for commercial business. The lighting is excellent, and the cost is probably less than could be obtained from a private company. The street lighting is done partly from See also:pole and See also:arm lights, but largely from See also:steel towers from xoo ft. to 180 ft. in height, with strong reflected lights at the top. The city also owns two portable asphalt See also:plants, and thus makes a saving in the cost of street repairing and resurfacing. With a view of effecting the reduction of street See also:car fares to three cents, the state legislature in 1899 passed an See also:act for purchasing or leasing the street railways of the city, but the Supreme Court pronounced this act unconstitutional on the ground that, as the constitution prohibited the state from engaging in a work of See also:internal improvement, the state could not empower a See also:municipality to do so. Certain test votes indicated an almost even See also:division on the question of municipal ownership of the railways. History.—Detroit was founded in 1701 by See also:Antoine Laumet de la Mothe Cadillac (c. 1661-173o), who had pointed out the importance of the place as a strategic point for determining the See also:control of the fur trade and the See also:possession of the North-west and had received assistance from the French government soon after See also:Robert See also:Livingston (1654-1725), the secretary of the Board of See also:Indian Commissioners in New See also:York, had urged the English government to establish a fort at the same place. Cadillac arrived on the 24th of See also:July with about See also:loo followers. They at once built a palisade fort about 200 ft. square S. of what is now Jefferson Avenue and between See also:Griswold and See also:Shelby streets, and named it Fort Pontchartrain in honour of the French colonial See also:minister. See also:Indians at once came to the place in large See also:numbers, but they soon complained of the high See also:price of French goods; there was serious contention between Cadillac and the French Canadian Fur Company, to which a See also:monopoly of the trade had been granted, as well as See also:bitter rivalry between him and the See also:Jesuits. After the several parties had begun to complain to the home government the monopoly of the fur trade was transferred to Cadillac and he was exhorted to cease quarrelling' with the Jesuits. Although the inhabitants then increased to ,200 or more, dissatisfaction with the paternal See also:rule of the founder increased until 1710, when he was made governor of See also:Louisiana. The year before, the soldiers had been withdrawn; by the second year after there was serious trouble with the Indians, and for several years following the population was greatly reduced and the See also:post threatened with extinction. But in 1722, when the See also:Mississippi country was opened, the population once more in-creased, and again in 1748, when the See also:settlement of the See also:Ohio Valley began, the governor-general of Canada offered See also:special inducements to Frenchmen to See also:settle at Detroit, with the result that the population was soon more than moo and the cultivation of farms in the vicinity was begun. In 1760, however, the place was taken by the See also:British under See also:Colonel Robert Rogers and an English See also:element was introduced into the population which up to this time had been almost exclusively French. Three years later, during the See also:conspiracy of Pontiac, the fort first narrowly escaped See also:capture and then suffered from a See also:siege lasting from the 9th of May until the 12th of See also:October. Under English rule it continued from this time on as a military post with its population usually reduced to less than 500. In 1778 a new fort was built and named Fort Lernault, and during the See also:War of See also:Independence the British sent forth from here several Indian expeditions to ravage the frontiers. With the ratification of the treaty which concluded that war the See also:title to the post passed to the United States in 1783, but the post itself was not surrendered until the 11th of See also:January 1796, in accordance with See also:Jay's Treaty of 1794. It was then named Fort Shelby; but in 1802 it was incorporated as a town and received its present name. In 18o5 all except one or two buildings were destroyed by fire. General See also: Detroit was the See also:capital of Michigan from 18os to 1847. Au'raoRrrlES.—Silas See also:Farmer, The History of Detroit and Michigan (Detroit, 1884 and 1889), and " Detroit, the See also:Queen City," in L. P. See also:Powell's Historic Towns of the Western States (New York and See also:London, 19o1); D. F. Wilcox, " Municipal Government in Michigan and Ohio," in See also:Columbia University Studies (New York, 1896) ; C. M. Burton, " Cadillac's See also:Village ' or Detroit under Cadillac (Detroit, 1896) ; See also:Francis See also:Parkman, A Half See also:Century of Conflict (See also:Boston, 1897) ; and The ConsOracy of Pontiac (Boston, 898); and the See also:annual Reports of the Detroit Board of Commerce (1904 sqq.). Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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