Detroit, Michigan

Detroit is located in the state of Michigan. It is the largest city in the state. It is located on the Detroit River. It was found in 1701. The Frenchman that found it was Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac. It has been known as the automotive center of the world. However, it also has many music legends that came from the area as well. It has been nick named the Motor City, as well as Motown too. Detroit has also been called City of Champions, Arsenal of Democracy, The D, D-Town, Hockeytown, The 3-1-3 and Rock City as well. According to the 2010 census that was taken, Detroit has a population of 713,777 approximately. It is a large and highly populated area and it is the eleventh largest city in the U.S. It is located in Wayne County and is 143.0 square miles in total. Land covers 138.8 square miles, water covers 4.2 square miles, the urban areas cover 1,295 square miles and the metro areas cover 3,913 square miles. Detroit sits at an elevation of 600 feet.

History

Detroit River

Detroit was named after the Detroit River. It means the strait of Lake Erie. This lake is also linked to Lake Huron and Lake Erie. In 1701 Cadillac, the Frenchman along with other French Canadians that he brought with him created the settlement of Fort Ponchartrain duDetroit. France was giving away land, to get families to go to the area. 1765, there were 800 people in the area. However, in 1760 the fort in the area was surrender to the British. Fur trade was popular at the time and created much economic growth. In 1760 when the French and Indian War happened, the British made the name only Detroit. The Ottawa leader at the time, Chief Pontiac, led the Pontiac Rebellion that happened in 1763. They at the time even sieged Fort Detroit. However, by 1796, Detroit went to the U.S. due to the Jay Treaty. By by 1805, the area was destroyed by a fire.

Detroit held the capital of Michigan from 1805 to 1847. The area expanded, as did the street layouts too. There was another war in 1812 with the British called the War of 1812. It was the Siege of Detroit and so in 1813 the U.S. took back the area and by 1815 it was made an incorporated city. Early on the city was a stop on the underground railroad to Canada. When the American Civil War took place, people in the Detroit area had volunteered to fight. During the time, the brigade was called the Wolverines by Custer that led them.

By the 19th and 20th century, there were many buildings and areas constructed. This is when the Gilded Age happened and this can still be seen in many of the buildings in the area. It became a transportation hub since it was located on the Great Lakes. It was a large ship building, shipping and manufacturing area. By 1896, Henry Ford had rented a space on Mack Avenue to build his first car. By 1903 Ford Motor Company was created by Ford in the area. Later, there was Durant, Dodge, Walter Chrysler and Packard in the area, that made Detroit the car capital of the world. Detroit was also a stop for smugglers during the prohibition era and Canadian alcohol was brought in by the Purple Gang.

By the 1930s, there were labor problems with the United Auto Workers, as well as the first urban freeway was built too. However, growth continued as people came for work from other states. There were also many immigrants that came to Detroit from Europe as well. However, during the 50s there was consolidation with auto companies and this meant there was competition for jobs as well. There was also a freeway system added and this did make commuting easier. However, due to racial tensions and jobs, the population decreased to less than half of 1.8 million after the 1950s. The 80s saw that Detroit hosted the Republican National Convention for Ronald Regan, however crime and bad policies in politics saw urban decay as well. Many areas were vacant and demolished in the 80s.

The area began to revive areas such as the down town, midtown and New Center as well. There was also One Detroit Center, as well as over time casinos opened in the area too. There is now the MGM Grand Detroit, Greektown Casino and MotorCity Casino as well. The city also built new stadiums in the area as well as Fort Shelby Hotel and Book Cadillac Hotel reopened as well.

Living In Detroit, Michigan

Detroit

The city of Detroit has a humid climate. This is mainly because the city is situated on the Great Lakes. The winters there are cold and they do receive snowfall. The temperature can drop below 0 degrees in the winter periodically. When there is snow it is between December and February. The summers are warm and sometimes hot. The summers can exceed 100 degrees, but it is rare and the temperature is usually in the 90s.

Detroit has many different architect styles in the area, because of the changing people that came through and settled the city. There will be Art Deco, Post Modern and even Renaissance styles. Some of the most important buildings in the area that reflect these designs are the One Detroit Center, the skyscrapers there, the Renaissance Center, the Guardian Building, Fisher Building, Penobscot Building andCadillac Place too.

Along with these buildings, there are many others in Detroit that are important structures and cover the sky line. There is the Detroit Opera House, the Fox Theater and the Detroit Institute of Art as well. The down town area has many high rises and similar buildings in the area. There is a combination of low rises as well as family homes and neighborhoods too. Going further out from the city part of Detroit, there are high rise residential buildings, as well as neighborhoods such as Palmer Park and Grosse Pointe. There is also the University of Detroit Mercy and Marygrove College that is part of the University Commons Palmer Park District. These colleges connect older neighborhoods to the area. Some residential areas there are the University District, Sherwood Forest and Palmer Woods as well. Many buildings in Detroit are part of the National Register of Historic Places, since there are many places that are pre World War II. Some of these neighborhoods that have these older brick houses include Woodridge, Indian Village, Boston Edison Brush Park and Palmer Woods to name a few.

Detroit is also home to many churches and cathedrals as well that are part of the register too. These include St. Mary's, St. Anne de Detroit and St. Joseph's. Some of the older buildings have also been renovated, such as Campus Martius Park.

Job Opportunities

Blue Cross

Detroit is still part of major manufacturing in the area. General Motors, Chrysler and Ford are still there. Along with these large employers, there is also many companies that have come to Detroit that deal in nanotechnology, information technology, biotechnology and hydrogen fuel cells as well. There is also OnStar, Compuware World Headquarters, HP Enterprise Services, PricewaterhouseCoopers, as well as Ernst & Young and Quicken Loans too. Plus, Detroit does have Fortune 500 companies in the area as well. There is General Motors, American Axle & Manufacturing and DTE Energy. These companies as well as Henry Ford Hospital and Detroit Medical Center employee many people in the Detroit area.

Additional large employers in the area include:

Casino gambling and gaming has brought in many jobs, as well as revenue for the city. As well as these, there are also approximately 4,000 factories in Detroit too. These include car production and sales, as well as there are engineering jobs too.

The Real Estate Market

Real Estate

Detroit median home price for homes is $79,028. There is a variety of homes available that are new and resale homes, approximately 2,731 that are available. There is also approximately 5,594 homes that will be soon be available that are in some stage of foreclosure. The average listing price of a home in Detroit is $44,458. There are a variety of neighborhoods available to live in. Some of the most popular areas and neighborhoods are:

Restaurants and Food

mitchells fish market

Detroit offers a variety of foods and cuisines to enjoy. There are many different types of foods in the area and styles of restaurants and diners to go to. Some of the most popular restaurants are:

Tours and Attractions

DTE

Detroit has many attractions and things to do in the area. There is plenty of live music in the area, as well as a healthy night life too. There are many live music venues in the area, these include the DTE Energy Music Theater and The Palace of Auburn Hills. There is also plenty of theaters there too. There is the Detroit Theater District and they have many Broadway shows that take place in the there. There is also Fox Theater, Gen Theater, Music Hall, the Detroit Opera House and Masonic Temple Theater too, as well as St. Andrew's Hall, The Fillmore Detroit, the Fisher Theater, the Orchestra Hall and the Majestic Theater too. Also, the Motown Motion Picture Studios calls Detroit home and movies and more are produced here.

Because Detroit has such a heritage in music, there are many genres that have come from Detroit, as well as Detroit contributing directly to music over the decades. They host the Detroit International Jazz Festival, The Motor City Music Conference, the Detroit Electronic Music Festival, the Urban Organic Music Conference, the Summer Jamz Festival and the Concert of Colors as well.

Sight Seeing

detroit historical museum

Detroit offers many sit seeing opportunities in the area. There are many museums and cultural areas around Detroit. There is the Detroit Historical Museum, the Detroit Institute of Arts, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, the Detroit Public Library and the Detroit Science Center too. Plus, there is the Pewabic Pottery Studio, the Tuskegee Airmen Museum, The Motown HistoricalMuseum, Fort Wayne, the Dossin Great Lakes Museum, the Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit, the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit and the Belle Isle Conservatory as well. There is also the 16,000 square foot G.R. N'Namdi Gallery that is located in mid town. Also, the Henry Ford Museum as well that covers Detroit's varied history.

Detroit also has many tours available of the churches, mansions, neighborhoods and skyscrapers in the area as well. There is also the Detroit Zoo to enjoy that is located in Royal Park, in Bloomfield Hills there is the Cranbrook Art Museum, Aurburn Hills has the Walter P. Chrysler Museum and Belle Isle has the Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory also.

Another area to go to is the Greektown part of the city where the casinos that are there are located, as well as many other entertainment opportunities as well. There is the farmer's market that is Eastern Market in the area, as well as Midtown and New Center too. This is where Wayne State University and Henry Ford Hospital is. Every year there is also the Detroit Festival Arts that is in midtown, as well as the Electronic Music Festival, the Woodward Dream Cruise, the International Jazz Festival, the Detroit Hoedown, the African World Festival, the Daily in the Alley and the Noel Night as well. Plus, Campus Martius Park has many events that take place there throughout the year too, such as the Motown Winter Blast. Detroit is also home to the North American International Auto Show, the International Riverfront and the Windsor Detroit International Freedom Festival as well.

Shopping and Fashion

Tanger Outlet Shopping Center

Detroit also offers many areas to shop in and stores and boutiques to go to. There is a variety of choices in the area to choose from. Some of the most popular include:

Hotels and Hospitality

Omni detroit

Detroit has a varied selection of hotels as well to enjoy. These are located in many areas of the city and offer a variety of accommodations as well. There are hotels, inns, motels and locations in the down town and mid town area as well. Some of the most popular include:

The Education System

Wayne State

Detroit has one of the largest school districts in Michigan. The Detroit Public Schools handle over 84,000 students, as well as the 54,000 students that are in charter schools too. There are many schools to choose from within the area. There are also private schools too. These are a combination of private schools and religious private schools as well. There are Roman Catholic schools that the Archdiocese of Detroit handles. These are throughout the city and the suburbs. There are also Catholic high schools too and these are handles also by the Society of Jesus, as well as the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Congregation of St. Basil too.

There are also plenty of colleges and universities to choose from as well. There is the Wayne State University, the University of Detroit Mercy, the College of Creative Studies, Lewis College of Business, Wayne County Community College, Margrove College, the satellite location of Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine, the Detroit Medical Center, the Detroit College of Law and the University of Michigan.

Transportation

Detroit Windsor Tunnel

Detroit has multiple modes of transportation available. There are highways, roads, rails, ports, streets and airports as well. There are three important boarder crossing areas in Detroit. These are the Detroit Windsor Tunnel, the Michigan Central Railway Tunnel and the Ambassador Bridge as well. These go into Windsor, Ontario, Canada. There are buses available in the area as well. The Detroit Department of Transportation handles the service that will take people to the edge of the city. Then there is the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation that handles all of the suburbs in the area. To go from the down town area of Detroit and into other parts of Detroit, as well as Windsor, there is the Transit Windsor too that uses the Tunnel Bus. Plus, there are the Detroit Smart Buses as well.

Detroit also has the People Mover that is an elevated rail in the city. This goes in a loop around the down town area. There will also be the Woodward Avenue Light Rail that will connect to the Detroit People Mover and the SEMCOG Commuter Rail as well. These will connect up multiple areas in Detroit with these services. There is also Amtrak in Detroit too. It is the Wolverine and it goes from Pontiac to Chicago.

Along with these, Detroit also has toll free expressway that is handled by the Michigan Department of Transportation. There are four highways in the area that cover the entire city. There is I-75, I-95, Kings Highway 401 and Southern Ontario as well. I-75 is the south to north highway in the area and covers Troy, Pontiac and Flint, as well as Detroit. The I-94 is the east to west highway in the area and goes through to Detroit to Ann Arbor, Chicago and Port Huron. There is also the I-96 that goes north west to south west in the area. There is also the I275 too that goes north and south and connects to the I-75, as well as junctions at I-96 and I-696 too. Plus, there is the I-375 too that goes to down town Detroit as well.

The main airport in Detroit is the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport. Delta Air Lines and Spirit Airlines use this airport as one of their main hubs. There is also Bishop International Airport, the Coleman A. Young International Airport, as well as Willow Run Airport too.

Volunteer Groups

Kidspace

Detroit does have some volunteer groups as well to participate in. Some of the most popular include:

News and Information

metro times

Detroit offers a few different news papers in the area, as well as magazines too. There is a combination of daily news papers available, as well as weekly ones too. There is The Detroit News and The Detroit Free Press. There is also the high school journalism program that is connected to the Detroit Free Press, as well as being connected to the Old Newsboys' Goodfellow Fund of Detroit also. There is also the Metro Times and the Michigan Chronicle as well.

There are plenty of TV stations within Detroit as well. Detroit has the 11th largest TV market in the U.S. and they receive stations from Ontario Canada as well. They also have a large radio market and many stations here as well. They are the 11th in the U.S. for the number of radio stations available.

Nearby Places

Harper Woods

Detroit has many cities near them that are within 10 miles and can easily be accessed by highways and expressways to get there. These cities include: