Detroit – the once thriving city of Michigan, located in the north, on the border of the United States and Canada. One of the oldest cities in the Midwest, has the glory of the world automotive capital. Not for nothing did they even give him world-famous nicknames – Motor City and Motown. Detroit – was founded in 1701, when officer Antoine Lomé and his team founded a settlement on the banks of the river connecting the two lakes – Erie and St. Clair. The river was named Detroit.
The name Detroit itself means the strait, in French, and the settlement acquired the name Fort Detroit. The very favorable location of the city turned it into an important transportation point. And from 1830 began to grow industry in the city, and its population.
In 1899, an automobile plant was built not far from the city by Henry Ford, and 4 years later, Ford Motors was founded. Henry Ford first introduced the assembly line, thereby establishing a massive assembly of the legendary T-model cars. This car had a good sale, and was the most affordable for Americans, and Ford became one of the largest in the states. The innovations of the company were adopted by the competitors, who then began to open the headquarters of automobile companies, thereby making the city famous as the Automotive Capital of the World.
The opening of new jobs, the fast-growing economy attracted new residents to the city, and by 1930 the city had become the fourth largest in the United States. During the Second World War, the industrial boom continued, but social tensions constantly increased.
Every year the city is visited by more than 15 million tourists. The most attractive tourist places today are three hotel-casinos offering entertainment, gambling and accommodation: Greektown Hotel-Casino, MotorCity Casino, MgM-GrandDetroit Hotel. Henry Ford Museum, tours to the family houses of the Ford and the Ford Rouge Plant factory, downtown Detroit Riverfront, a combination of shops, non-bar stores, restaurants and park areas, Renaissance Center – a complex of 7 towers, where the main office of General Motors is located, many restaurants , cinemas and shops, sports. Luis Arena complex, Hart Plaza, Cobo exhibition center, where one of the most famous auto exhibitions is held annually – the North American Auto Show.
However, since the 1950s the city began the mass migration of the inhabitants of the city beyond its limits. The reason for this was a lot of factors, but one of the most important was the reluctance of people with average incomes to live in the area next to racial and national minorities. From these years the population of the city began to decrease gradually. People, going to the suburbs, took with them taxes paid to the local treasury.
Not less popular places in the city: Fox Theater, Zoo and Opera House “Opera House”. An interesting place in the city is considered to be an abandoned Michigan railway station, located 3 km to the southwest of the city.
As of today, the population of the city has decreased three times, the economy is experiencing a severe crisis, and the unemployment rate is growing, which already exceeds 25 percent. Nearly 82 percent of the urban population is made up of Afro-American citizens.
Despite all the attempts of the authorities to create new jobs for the city, Detroit still has the dubious fame of the depressed city of North America. At 2011 prices, almost 35 percent of its residents live below the poverty line.
