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A French fur trapper by the name Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac established a fur trading outpost here along the strait of the river, Detroit in French, and is now known as the Detroit River. Around the 1850 Detroit began building railroad cars, ships, stoves and major industries settled here to exploit the large iron ore and copper deposits. The main business in 1890 was stove making and when the first cars came on the scene, nobody believed they would replace the horse. But all changed when Henry Ford began building Model T cars in 1908 at his factory at Highland Park. He paid the workers $5 per day, which was extremely good wages at the time. By 1922, Ford had manufactured over 5 million cars. The population of Detroit doubled at the time. Vast wealth was created and the city was booming. Most of the locals became homeowners and large theatres were built to entertain the masses. A superb system of streetcars and Trolleys was developed and Belle Isle was considered the most beautiful park in America. The Ambassador Bridge and also the famous Detroit Windsor Tunnel were finally developed to offer easy access to Canada. After World War II, many freeways were built, which altered the old neighbourhoods of Detroit. The population peaked at 2.1 million and during the 50s Detroit was a real cultural centre for America, with its most popular music of the period, the Motown sound that quickly spread in popularity across the globe. Tension grew in the centre of Detroit and most of the families moved out to the suburbs, leaving behind abandoned buildings. Later the Car industry suffered from rising oil prices and competition from Japanese cars. The local workers lost their jobs when many of the car factories closed. Nowadays the city has seen lots of investment into real estate and with the building and renovation of grand theatres and arenas, Detroit has finally turned the corner and is beginning to grow and thrive again, with its civic leaders being very optimistic of the future of one of Americas greatest cities. |