Detroit

Detroit, a city geared to the tempo of the production line, is the symbol throughout the world of America’s automotive industry. It’s the birthplace of mass production and the producer of nearly 25 percent of the nation’s automobiles, trucks and tractors. This is the city of Ford, Chrysler and the U.A.W. Detroit is also a major producer of space propulsion units, automation equipment, plane parts, hardware, rubber tires, office equipment, machine tools, fabricated metal, iron and steel forging and auto stampings and accessories. Detroit was a quiet city before the automobile. The city rocketed out beyond its river-hugging confines, developing dozens of suburbs. Civic planning is now remodeling the face of the community, particularly downtown and along the riverfront. It’s one of the few cities in the United States where you can look due south into Canada. The city stretches out along the Detroit River between Lakes Erie and St. Clair, opposite the Canadian city of Windsor, Ontario. The original city was laid out on the lines of the L’Enfant plan for Washington, D.C., with a few major streets radiating from a series of circles. As the city grew, a gridiron pattern was superimposed to handle the maze of subdivisions that had developed into Detroit’s 200 neighborhoods.