Detroit Wiki detroitwiki_db https://detroit.wiki/a/Main_Page MediaWiki 1.42.3 first-letter Media Special Talk User User talk DetroitWiki DetroitWiki talk File File talk MediaWiki MediaWiki talk Template Template talk Help Help talk Category Category talk Module Module talk 0 1 729 2 2026-03-20T02:22:14Z MotorCityBot 4 Automated improvements: Fix broken category links in welcome text (add colon prefix), complete truncated Did You Know bullet about Berry Gordy/Motown Records, correct Cadillac's title from 'explorer' to 'French-Canadian colonial officer', expand Did You Know section with 4–6 additional complete facts, add Detroit at a Glance statistics box, and review Downtown Detroit revitalization claims for post-2020 accuracy 729 wikitext text/x-wiki __NOTOC__ <div style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 20px;"> <div style="font-size: 2em; font-weight: bold; color: #003DA5;">detroit.wiki</div> <div style="font-size: 1.1em; color: #555;">The Encyclopedia of Detroit, Michigan</div> </div> <div style="background: #f8f9fa; border: 1px solid #a2a9b1; border-radius: 6px; padding: 15px; margin-bottom: 20px;"> '''Welcome to detroit.wiki''', a comprehensive encyclopedia dedicated to the people, places, history, and culture of [[Detroit]], Michigan. From the rise of the [[:Category:Industry|automotive industry]] to the birth of [[:Category:Music|Motown]], from [[:Category:Neighborhoods|historic neighborhoods]] to the city's ongoing revitalization, detroit.wiki aims to document the full story of the Motor City. </div> <div style="background: #f8f9fa; border: 1px solid #a2a9b1; border-radius: 6px; padding: 15px; margin-bottom: 20px;"> <div style="font-size: 1.1em; font-weight: bold; color: #003DA5; margin-bottom: 10px;">Detroit at a Glance</div> Detroit was founded in '''1701''' and incorporated as a city in '''1815'''. It serves as the seat of [[Wayne County]] and is the largest city in Michigan. The city covers approximately '''139 square miles''' and, as of the 2020 U.S. Census, has a population of '''670,031''', making it the 27th-largest city in the United States.<ref>["Detroit city, Michigan," ''U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey'', 2020 Decennial Census.]</ref> Detroit is governed by a mayor and nine-member city council under a strong-mayor form of government. Its nicknames — the '''Motor City''' and '''Motown''' — reflect its twin legacies as the global center of automobile manufacturing and as a birthplace of American popular music. </div> <div style="display: flex; gap: 20px; flex-wrap: wrap;"> <div style="flex: 1; min-width: 300px;"> <div style="background: #f8f9fa; border: 1px solid #a2a9b1; border-radius: 6px; padding: 15px; margin-bottom: 20px;"> <div style="font-size: 1.1em; font-weight: bold; color: #003DA5; margin-bottom: 10px;">Explore by Topic</div> <div style="column-count: 2; column-gap: 20px; line-height: 2;"> * [[:Category:Neighborhoods|Neighborhoods]] * [[:Category:History|History]] * [[:Category:Landmarks|Landmarks]] * [[:Category:Music|Music]] * [[:Category:Sports|Sports]] * [[:Category:Industry|Industry]] * [[:Category:Arts and Culture|Arts & Culture]] * [[:Category:Food and Drink|Food & Drink]] * [[:Category:Education|Education]] * [[:Category:Government|Government]] * [[:Category:People|People]] * [[:Category:Transportation|Transportation]] * [[:Category:Parks|Parks]] * [[:Category:Media|Media]] * [[:Category:Religion|Religion]] * [[:Category:Contemporary Detroit|Contemporary Detroit]] </div> </div> <div style="background: #f8f9fa; border: 1px solid #a2a9b1; border-radius: 6px; padding: 15px; margin-bottom: 20px;"> <div style="font-size: 1.1em; font-weight: bold; color: #003DA5; margin-bottom: 10px;">Featured Article</div> '''[[Downtown Detroit]]''' is the central business district and cultural heart of the city. Anchored by the [[Renaissance Center]], [[Campus Martius Park]], and [[Woodward Avenue]], Downtown Detroit underwent significant reinvestment and population growth in the early decades of the 21st century, attracting new residents, restaurants, and corporate headquarters. That trajectory has continued alongside ongoing challenges, including shifts in office occupancy and retail following the COVID-19 pandemic, which affected downtown districts across the United States.<ref>["Detroit's downtown recovery faces new tests," ''Detroit Free Press'', 2022.]</ref> Once broadly associated with urban decline, the district has nonetheless become a focal point for the city's broader story of reinvention and resilience. <div style="text-align: right; font-size: 0.9em;">'''[[Downtown Detroit|Read more →]]'''</div> </div> </div> <div style="flex: 1; min-width: 300px;"> <div style="background: #f8f9fa; border: 1px solid #a2a9b1; border-radius: 6px; padding: 15px; margin-bottom: 20px;"> <div style="font-size: 1.1em; font-weight: bold; color: #003DA5; margin-bottom: 10px;">Did You Know...</div> Detroit has a history that stretches across more than three centuries and spans an extraordinary range of human endeavor — from colonial settlement and industrial revolution to cultural innovation and civic reinvention. A few notable facts from that history: * ...that Detroit was founded in '''1701''' by [[Antoine Laumet de La Mothe Cadillac]], a French-Canadian colonial officer acting on behalf of New France, who established Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit on the north bank of the strait connecting Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair?<ref>[Burton, Clarence Monroe. ''The City of Detroit, Michigan, 1701–1922.'' Detroit: S.J. Clarke Publishing, 1922.]</ref> * ...that [[Motown Records]], founded by [[Berry Gordy]] in 1959 and headquartered in a modest house on West Grand Boulevard known as [[Hitsville U.S.A.]], launched the careers of [[The Supremes]], [[Stevie Wonder]], [[Marvin Gaye]], [[The Temptations]], and dozens of other artists, becoming one of the most commercially successful independent record labels in American history?<ref>[Smith, Suzanne E. ''Dancing in the Street: Motown and the Cultural Politics of Detroit.'' Harvard University Press, 1999.]</ref> * ...that Detroit is credited as the birthplace of [[techno music]], a genre pioneered in the 1980s by [[Juan Atkins]], [[Derrick May]], and [[Kevin Saunderson]] — three friends from [[Belleville, Michigan]], collectively known as the [[Belleville Three]] — whose synthesizer-driven recordings drew on the industrial soundscape of the city around them? * ...that the [[Michigan Central Station]], a Beaux-Arts landmark that stood vacant for more than three decades and became widely recognized as a symbol of Detroit's post-industrial decline, was purchased by [[Ford Motor Company]] in 2018 and reopened in June 2024 as a technology and innovation campus after a restoration project costing hundreds of millions of dollars?<ref>["Michigan Central Station opens to the public," ''Detroit Free Press'', June 6, 2024.]</ref> * ...that [[Belle Isle]], a 982-acre island park situated in the [[Detroit River]] between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, was designed by landscape architect [[Frederick Law Olmsted]] and is the largest city-owned island park in the United States? * ...that the [[Detroit Industry Murals]], painted by Mexican artist [[Diego Rivera]] between 1932 and 1933 and housed in the [[Detroit Institute of Arts]], are widely regarded as among the finest examples of fresco painting in North America, depicting the labor of Ford workers at the [[River Rouge Complex]] in sweeping detail?<ref>[''Detroit Institute of Arts'', "Rivera Court," collection documentation.]</ref> * ...that the [[Detroit–Windsor Tunnel]], which opened in 1930, was among the first international underwater road tunnels in the world, connecting downtown Detroit to Windsor, Ontario, beneath the Detroit River? * ...that the [[1967 Detroit uprising]], one of the most severe civil disturbances in 20th-century American history, lasted five days, resulted in 43 deaths and more than 7,200 arrests, and accelerated demographic and economic shifts that would reshape the city for decades?<ref>[Sugrue, Thomas J. ''The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit.'' Princeton University Press, 1996.]</ref> </div> <div style="background: #f8f9fa; border: 1px solid #a2a9b1; border-radius: 6px; padding: 15px; margin-bottom: 20px;"> <div style="font-size: 1.1em; font-weight: bold; color: #003DA5; margin-bottom: 10px;">Explore by Area</div> * [[:Category:Downtown Detroit|Downtown Detroit]] * [[:Category:East Side|East Side]] * [[:Category:West Side|West Side]] * [[:Category:North Side|North Side]] * [[:Category:Enclaves|Hamtramck, Highland Park & Enclaves]] * [[:Category:Metro Detroit|Metro Detroit & Suburbs]] </div> <div style="background: #f8f9fa; border: 1px solid #a2a9b1; border-radius: 6px; padding: 15px; margin-bottom: 20px;"> <div style="font-size: 1.1em; font-weight: bold; color: #003DA5; margin-bottom: 10px;">Recently Updated</div> <ul style="margin: 0; padding-left: 20px; line-height: 2;"> <li>''New articles coming soon...''</li> </ul> <div style="margin-top: 10px; font-size: 0.9em;">'''[[Special:RecentChanges|View all recent changes →]]'''</div> </div> </div> </div> <div style="margin-top: 25px; padding: 15px; background: #f0f0f0; border-radius: 6px; text-align: center; font-size: 0.95em;"> '''detroit.wiki''' is a community-built encyclopedia of the Motor City. [[Special:Statistics|{{NUMBEROFARTICLES}}]] articles and growing. </div> {{#seo: |title=detroit.wiki — The Encyclopedia of Detroit, Michigan |description=The comprehensive encyclopedia of Detroit, Michigan. Explore neighborhoods, Motown history, the automotive industry, landmarks, culture, and everything that makes the Motor City unique. |keywords=Detroit wiki, Detroit encyclopedia, Detroit neighborhoods, Detroit history, Motown, Detroit automotive, Motor City guide |type=Article }} [[Category:Main Page]] kag3cqmaksr1cvkt1vgz33x1jwfnsko