Detroit, the chief commercial city and port of entry of Michigan, and seat of justice of Wayne county, is situated on a river of its own name, about 125 miles by water, or 178 by land, NW. of Cleveland, Ohio, with which it is connected by daily steamers and by railway lines. Railways also connect Detroit with Chicago, 284 miles distant, and direct lines extend to all the principal places in Michigan. By way of Windsor on the opposite side of the river, the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada affords direct communication with the cities of the Dominion, and a large number of vessels ply between this city and the other ports on the Great Lakes.
Detroit is substantially built upon rising ground, its streets are broad, well paved, and shaded with trees. It is well supplied with the best of water, pumped from the river by massive engines. Its fire and police departments are excellent, and its system of public schools, embracing buildings and appliances valued at over 1,000,000, afford accommodation for about 25,000 pupils. The principal manufactures of the city include iron products, machinery, railroad cars, flour, malt liquors, cigars, leather, boots and shoes, stoves, drugs, &c., with an annual value of 80,000,000, and the mercantile transactions embrace a large trade in grain (of which about 12,000,000 bushels are received annually), flour, live-stock, lumber, wool, pork, copper, &c. The tonnage of the shipping passing Detroit during the seven months while navigation is open is over 36,000,000 tons. Of its 300 vessels, 150 are steamers. The streets are regular, lighted with electricity, and many of them planted with trees. The public buildings embrace a Catholic cathedral and numerous churches of almost all denominations, a city-hall erected at a cost of about $600,000, a new Board of Trade building, a convent, a United States marine hospital, &c. Six daily newspapers and numerous weekly and monthly periodicals are published here, of which several are in the Teutonic language. Detroit is among the oldest places in the United States. It came into possession of the French in 1610, was transferred to the British in 1763, and in 1796 passed to the United States. It was incorporated as a city in 1824. Pop. (1870) 79,577; (1880) 116,340; (1890) 205,876.