History

Wyandot Indians were inhabiting the region in 1701, when the French soldier Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac founded Fort Pontchartrain du Dtroit on the site of present-day Detroit. It was used for fur-trading purposes as well as for defense. Soon a small settlement grew within the stockade. The fort remained under French control until 1760, when it was taken for Great Britain by Major Robert Rogers in the French and Indian War. The forts name was then shortened to Detroit. Ottawa Indians led by Pontiac continued to resist the British. For five months in 1763 they besieged Fort Detroit, but they could not take it. By the terms of the Treaty of Paris (1783), ending the Revolutionary War, Detroit was supposed to be included within the United States. British fur-trading interests, however, were able to keep it under their control, and it was not until 1796 that General Anthony Wayne formally took possession for the United States.

By 1800, Detroit had developed into a small stockaded village of narrow streets and log buildings tightly crowded together. In 1802 it became an incorporated town and in 1805 capital of Michigan Territory. That year a fire completely destroyed the settlement, giving Detroit the opportunity to rebuild on a comprehensive plan devised by Augustus Breevoort Woodward. He followed the plan of Pierre Charles LEnfant that was used for Washington, D.C. During the War of 1812, the British captured the town and held it for a year. Detroit was incorporated as a city in 1815, but did not organize a city government and elect its first mayor until 1824. In 1825 the Erie Canal was completed in New York, making it possible for travelers from the east to reach Detroit easily via the Great Lakes. Michigan farm products could be shipped east, and Detroit boomed as a port. The city was the first capital of Michigan, 1837-47. In the 1850s, it was an important terminal on the Underground Railroad, which helped runaway slaves to escape to Canada. After the Civil War, Detroit developed as a manufacturing center. One of its industries was carriage-building, a fact that led Ransom E. Olds, Henry Ford, the Dodge brothers, and others to establish automobile factories in the city in the early 1900s.

Detroits growth in the 20th century was due primarily to the automobile industry. The jobs it offered attracted thousands of immigrants from Europe and thousands of families from the southern United States, including many blacks. During World War I, workers poured into Detroit to help produce war materials. Meanwhile, like many large cities in the early 20th century, Detroit was plagued by a corrupt, graft-ridden city government. A new charter in 1918, however, reorganized the government in such a way that the chances for corruption were greatly reduced.

Detroit suffered widespread unemployment in the Great Depression. There was also much labor strife. During World War II, greatly increased production again caused a demand for labor, and blacks from the South flocked to Detroit. Racial tension increased, and in 1943 there was a race riot in which 34 persons died. Because of rapid growth after the war, the city had become highly congested and many sections were deteriorating.

Starting in the late 1940s, Detroit began a massive program of urban renewal. Housing projects replaced old dilapidated houses, freeways were built to relieve traffic congestion, and many new public buildings were erected. Despite these efforts, however, Detroit began to lose population to the suburbs, and the downtown business district declined.

During the 1960s and early 1970s, race relations became a critical problem. The number of black residents had increased to more than one-third of the population, and racial conflict intensified. In 1967 rioting erupted in black neighborhoods, resulting in 42 deaths and widespread destruction of property. To improve conditions, the city began a major development project designed to revitalize the downtown area; it included the Renaissance Center, a large commercial and residential complex completed in 1977.

The recession of the early 1980s caused severe financial problems for the Renaissance Center and Detroit-area businesses, and gave the city one of the nations highest unemployment rates. In the 1990s, Detroits economy was still suffering, the crime rate was increasing, and the number of residents continued to decline. Detroit legalized casino gambling, becoming the largest U.S. city to do so.

In March, 2008, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was charged with perjury, obstruction of justice, and official misconduct in relation to a sex scandal and the controversial settlement of a lawsuit against the city of Detroit. In September, Kilpatrick pleaded guilty to two obstruction of justice charges. In addition to paying $1 million to the city of Detroit, Kilpatrick resigned later that month. City Council president Kenneth V. Cockrel, Jr., became mayor. In 2009, former Detroit Pistons basketball player Dave Bing won a special election to serve out the remainder of Kilpatrick's term.

Also in 2009, automobile companies General Motors and Chrysler filed for bankruptcy after struggling during a worldwide economic downturn. The federal government took over some of their operations. Both companies emerged from bankruptcy later that year.