Detroit is the largest and most populous city in Michigan.
The city is situated on the Detroit River in southeastern Michigan. The Canadian city of Windsor, Ontario, is on the other side of the river, to the south of Detroit.
As of September 2019, the population of Detroit is about 670,000 people. It is the 23rd most populous city in the United States.
Detroit covers a total area of 370 square kilometers (143 square miles).
The city has an average elevation of 200 meters (656 feet) above sea level.
In 1701, Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac founded Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit, the future city of Detroit.
The word “detroit” is French for “strait,” and the French called the river “le détroit du Lac Érié,” meaning “the strait of Lake Erie.”
During the 19th century, it became an important industrial hub at the center of the Great Lakes region.
In the 20th century the city’s name became synonymous with the American automotive industry.
The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), located in Midtown Detroit has one of the largest and most significant art collections in the United States. It has over 100 galleries and covers about 61,100 square meters (658,000 square feet). The DIA collection is regarded as among the top six museums in the United States with an encyclopedic collection which spans the globe from ancient Egyptian and European works to contemporary art.
The Henry Ford is a large indoor and outdoor history museum complex and a National Historic Landmark in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn. The museum collection contains the presidential limousine of John F. Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln’s chair from Ford’s Theatre, Thomas Edison’s laboratory, the Wright Brothers’ bicycle shop, the Rosa Parks bus, and many other historical exhibits. It is the largest indoor-outdoor museum complex in the United States and is visited by over 1.7 million people each year.
Comerica Park is an open-air ballpark located in Downtown Detroit. It serves as the home of the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball, replacing Tiger Stadium in 2000. The park is named after Comerica Bank, which was founded in Detroit and was based there when the park opened.
“Hitsville U.S.A.” is the nickname given to Motown’s first headquarters. A former photographers’ studio located at 2648 West Grand Boulevard in Detroit, Michigan, near the New Center area, it was purchased by Motown founder Berry Gordy in 1959.
The Detroit Zoo is a zoo located about 2 miles (3.2 km) north of the Detroit city limits. Situated on 50 hectares 125 acres of naturalistic exhibits, it is home to more than 2,400 animals representing 235 species. The Detroit Zoo was the first zoo in the United States to use barless exhibits extensively.
The Fox Theatre is a performing arts center located in Downtown Detroit. Opened in 1928 as a flagship movie palace in the Fox Theatres chain, it was at over 5,000 seats the largest theater in the city. Designed by theater architect C. Howard Crane, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985 and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989 for its architecture.
Belle Isle Park, known simply as Belle Isle is a 397-hectare (982-acre) island park in Detroit. It is home to the Belle Isle Aquarium, the Belle Isle Conservatory, the Belle Isle Nature Center, the James Scott Memorial Fountain, the Dossin Great Lakes Museum, a municipal golf course, a 800 meters (half-mile) swimming beach, and numerous other monuments and attractions.
Detroit and its neighboring Canadian city Windsor are connected through a tunnel and the Ambassador Bridge, the busiest international crossing in North America.
Regarded as a major cultural center, Detroit is known for its contributions to music and as a repository for art, architecture and design.
Detroit’s diverse culture has had both local and international influence, particularly in music, with the city giving rise to the genres of Motown and techno, and playing an important role in the development of jazz, hip-hop, rock, and punk music.
Detroit techno is a type of techno music that generally includes the first techno productions by Detroit-based artists during the 1980s and early 1990s.
In 2015, Detroit was named a “City of Design” by UNESCO, the first US city to receive that designation.
Some 365 meters (1,200 feet) beneath the streets of Detroit, under the north end of Allen Park, Dearborn’s Rouge comple, 1and most of Melvindale, run 160 kilometers (100 miles) of subterranean roads over an area of more than 600 hectare (1,500 acres). It is the Detroit Salt Mine, and, as a Detroit industry, it is older than automobiles. As a geological entity, this salt deposit is older even than the dinosaurs.