Locale

As the automotive capital of the world, Detroit is a city built by cars. From the stunning mansions of auto barons and brilliant downtown architecture to the sprawling automotive facilities and manufacturing plants to the expressways that crisscross the region, the automobile has left its mark on this city and its people.

Detroit is also a city of complexities and contrasts. It is a place where first-generation Americans came in search of a better life, sweated on assembly lines and toiled as entrepreneurs, eventually triumphing over adversity. Many aspects of the local culture reflect the struggle, diversity and triumph of developing a community in what became the oldest city in the Midwest.

History

Detroit is the largest city in Michigan, the seat of Wayne County, and a major port city on the Detroit River. Located north of Windsor, Ontario, Detroit is the only major U.S. city that looks south to Canada. It was founded on July 24, 1701, by the Frenchman Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, who, along with 51 French-Canadians, founded a settlement called Fort Ponchartrain du Détroit. France offered free land to attract families to Detroit and the fort town grew to 800 people in 1765, making it the largest city between Montreal and New Orleans.

The French surrendered the fort to the British in 1760, and Detroit subsequently passed to the United States under the Jay Treaty in 1796. In 1805, fire destroyed most of the settlement. Detroit fell to British troops during the War of 1812 in the Siege of Detroit but was recaptured by the United States a year later and incorporated as a city in 1815. Prior to the American Civil War, the city's access to the Canadian border made it a key stop along the Underground Railroad. Many Detroiters volunteered to fight during the war, beginning with the Iron Brigade that defended Washington, D.C.

Detroit was referred to as "the Paris of the West" for its architecture and for Washington Boulevard, which was electrified by Thomas Edison. Strategically located along the Great Lakes Waterway, Detroit emerged as a transportation hub. In 1896, a thriving carriage trade prompted Henry Ford to build his first automobile in a rented workshop on Mack Avenue. In 1904 he founded the Ford Motor Company. Ford's manufacturing — and those of automotive pioneers Durant, the Dodge brothers, Packard and Chrysler — reinforced Detroit's status as the world's automotive capital; it also served to encourage truck manufacturers such as Rapid and Grabowsky. Roosevelt referred to Detroit as "the great arsenal of democracy" because of the rapid conversion of much of the automotive industry to producing armaments during World War II.

During Detroit's prime, renowned architects like Albert Kahn, C. Howard Crane and Mies van der Rohe refined their craft here, creating remarkable homes, theaters and office buildings. Artists like Mary Chase Stratton of Pewabic Pottery, Diego Rivera and Carl Milles, created engrossing art influenced and supported by the power and energy of this industrial capital. During this time, the city's elite also helped assemble one of the finest collections of art in the world at the Detroit Institute of Arts.

The city's riverfront is the focus of much current development. In 2007, the first portions of the Detroit River Walk were laid, including miles of parks and fountains. This new urban development in Detroit is a lynchpin in the city's efforts to reinvent its economic identity through tourism.

  
The importance of music

Detroit built not only cars and companies, but the sounds that revolutionized the world. In the early 19th century, Detroit's public school system made music accessible to all by hiring some of the best music education professors. Detroit gave the world Motown and techno and exports world-class musicians. Further, Detroit's location in the Midwest has offered artists a place to experiment with sounds and music concepts without following the confines of music development on the coasts.

Climate

Detroit’s average high temperature in July is 83 with an average low of 62 and an average rainfall of of 3.1 inches. In other words, the weather will be gorgeous for your stay during the 2010 Annual Gathering!