Executive Committee Meeting 10-15-24

President's Report

Page 80 of 95

KEY DATES

Key Dates 1701 – Setting out from Montreal, Antoine de Lamothe-Cadillac establishes Fort Ponchartrain Detroit on the banks of the Detroit River, signaling the origin of the city’s development. 1763 – The Treaty of Paris ends the Seven Years' War, which had begun in 1754. France loses Canada and its land east of the Mississippi to Great Britain. 1783 – The territory of Detroit comes under American control. 1805 – The town, its buildings made of wood, is destroyed in the Great Fire. 1825 – The Erie Canal, the first waterway connecting the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean, is completed. 1832 – Major cholera epidemic. 1837 – Michigan becomes the 26th state of the Union. 1848 – Detroit loses its status as the capital of Michigan in favor of Lansing. 1865 – End of the American Civil War. Detroit benefits from the ensuing industrial development. 1908 – The Model-T is the first mass produced car to leave the Ford plants in Detroit. 1910 – From the 1910s until 1970, the Great Migration took 6 million Black people from the south of the country to the north, and in particular to the Midwest. 1913 – Ford launches the first assembly line in the automotive industry. 1929 – Wall Street crash. The U.S. stock market collapses, marking the start of the Great Depression. Inauguration of the Ambassador Bridge, connecting Detroit to Windsor (Canada), with

the Detroit-Windsor tunnel added the following year. 1932 – At the invitation of the Detroit Institute of Arts, Diego Rivera creates a series of murals in the museum. 1942–1945 – Detroit is a production center for tanks and fighter aircraft during WWII. 1950 – The city has a peak of 1.85 million inhabitants, never surpassed to this day. 1959 – Barry Gordy Jr founds his record label: Motown. 1967–1968 – Particularly violent urban race riots. 1973 – Democrat Coleman Young becomes the city’s first African American mayor, a position he held until 1993. 1973–1974 – First oil crisis. 1987 – The Downtown People Mover elevated public transport system is inaugurated. 2000 – For the first time since 1920, the population drops below one million. 2006 – Detroit organizes Super Bowl XL, the climax to the American football season. 2007 – The Riverwalk development begins. 2013 – The City of Detroit files for bankruptcy. 2015 – Detroit is designated “City of Design” by UNESCO. 2024 – Refurbished by Ford, the Michigan Central building (closed in 1988) is converted into a center of innovation and design.

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Inside the Guardian Building. EQRoy/Shutterstock