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Detroit, Mich.
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Mayor: Kwame Kilpatrick (to Jan. 2010)
2000 census population (rank): 951,270
(10); % change: –7.5; Male: 448,319 (47.1%);
Female: 502,951 (52.9%); White: 116,599 (12.3%);
Black: 775,772 (81.6%); American Indian and Alaska
Native: 3,140 (0.3%); Asian: 9,268 (1.0%); Other
race: 24,199 (2.5%); Two or more races: 22,041 (2.3%);
Hispanic/Latino: 47,167 (5.0%). 2000 percent population 18
and over: 68.9%; 65 and over: 10.4%; Median age:
30.9.
2005 population estimate (rank): 886,671
(11)
See
additional census data
Land area: 139 sq mi. (360 sq km);
Alt.: Highest, 685 ft.; lowest, 574
ft.
Avg. daily temp.: Jan., 24.7° F; July,
74.2° F
Churches1:
Protestant, 1,165; Roman Catholic, 89; Jewish, 2;
City-owned parks: 56 parks (3,843 ac.); 393
sites (5,838 ac.);
Radio stations: AM, 27; FM, 30
(includes 3 in Windsor, Ont.);
Television stations: 82 (includes 1 in Windsor, Ont.)
Civilian Labor Force (PMSA) April 2006:
2,161,8003;
Unemployed: 149,8003,
Percent: 6.93;
Per capita personal income (MSA)
2004: $36,6503
Chamber of Commerce: Detroit Regional
Chamber of Commerce, One Woodward Avenue, P.O. Box 33840, Detroit MI
48232-0840
1. Six-county metropolitan
area.
2. Within four counties of Metro
Detroit.
3. Detroit–Warren–Livonia,
Mich.
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Detroit, the largest city in Michigan, is situated in
the southeast part of the state on the Detroit River. The seat of
Wayne County, Detroit was incorporated as a city in 1815 and
reincorporated in 1824.
Detroit is the oldest city of any size west of the seaboard colonies,
having been founded by Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac on July 24, 1701, more than a century before Chicago was founded. The
French were the first settlers, and they gave the city its name from their
word meaning “strait,” referring to the 27-mile-long Detroit River, which
connects Lake Erie and Lake St.
Clair. The river forms part of the international boundary, and marks the
only point where Canada lies directly south of U.S. territory.
Because of its strategic location, Detroit was fought over by the
French, the British, and the Indians during the French and Indian Wars. It
was the headquarters for the British forces in the Northwest Territory
during the American Revolutionary War.
The first steam vessel, the Walk-in-the-Water, made its
appearance on the Great Lakes in 1818, and Detroit was the western
terminus for most of its voyages from Buffalo. Its link to all the
important cities on the Great Lakes made it a major exporting center.
Detroit is one of the largest manufacturing cities in the U.S. and is
the center of the automobile manufacturing industry, which has experienced
a decline due to foreign competition in the past decade. The health and
medical care sector is important to the economy, and employment in the
finance, insurance, and real-estate industries has inched up in the
Detroit metropolitan area since the early 1990s.
Mayor Kwame Kirkpatrick won the November 2005 mayoral election. In
2008, he was indicted on eight felony charges including perjury,
obstruction of justice, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and misconduct in
office steming from a past affair with his former chief of staff,
Christine Beatty.
See also Encyclopedia: Detroit .
Selected famous
natives and residents:
-
Anita Baker
singer;
-
Sonny Bono
congressman and singer;
-
Ralph Bunche
statesman;
-
Ellen Burstyn
actress;
-
Francis Ford Coppola
director;
-
Aretha Franklin
singer;
-
Casey Kasem
radio personality;
-
Charles Lindbergh
aviator;
-
Madonna
singer and actress;
-
John Mitchell
former U.S. attorney general;
-
Harry Morgan
actor;
-
Rosa Parks
activist;
-
George Peppard
actor;
-
Gilda Radner
comedian;
-
Della Reese
singer;
-
Smokey Robinson
singer;
-
Sugar Ray Robinson
boxer;
-
Diana Ross
singer;
-
George C. Scott
actor;
-
Tom Selleck
actor;
-
Lily Tomlin
comedian and actress;
-
Margaret Whiting
singer.
Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson Education,
Inc. All rights reserved.
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