Why Detroit?

by Brittany Truex

started sending me articles and other resources that contributed to my research. I was also very lucky to have the support of my two friends Kelsey and Abbey who traveled with me to Detroit over spring break. All the information that I was finding seemed to reinforce the notion that despite people classifying Detroit as a “failed city” it was serving as a catalyst to a greater discussion around issues of American urbanization.

Thank you to all of my friends and family who have helped and supported me along this journey. Finally, thank you, the reader, for continuing my project. I hope it leaves you as excited as I am about the potential for rebuilding American cities.

The question “Why Detroit?” summarizes my overall experience investigating and eventually traveling to the city this year. “Why Detroit?” takes me full circle from a personal question I found myself asking to a question I eventually had to answer to my friends and even citizens of Detroit when I traveled there this spring. This book serves as a compilation of my research in the form of writing, personal photography and information graphics. It is no secret that Detroit, Michigan, has fallen on hard times in recent years, but there are still many questions left unanswered by Detroit’s struggle to reclaim the city from its crumbling foundations. Earlier this year, I began learning about Detroit’s fight to overcome the obstacles that have been mounting against it for the last fifty years; obstacles made from the compounded residue of years of racial tensions, dramatic outward migration, collapse of the U.S. auto industry and a global economic recession. I found articles and images of Detroit that exposed the modern day American ruins, representing the city as a shell of its former self. After these initial stories, pictures and videos, I was intrigued by the factors that contributed to Detroit’s decline and particularly why Detroit had failed after having been such a large and successful city, if only for a short time.

My research into the subject started causally, but grew through the help of family and friends. For me, Detroit raised a set of personal questions as I read more about Detroit’s history as a center of innovation and creativity and the current resurgence of creative energy and willingness to see potential in a forgotten landscape. I really felt like I was on to something when I talked about Detroit, because as much as people would laugh or be surprised that I was interested in going there, they

Background

8 9

2010population: 951,270

= 9,500

population: 713,777

“...that’s the smallest it’s been since 1910, just before the automotive boom brought millions of well-paid jobs and turned Detroit into the Motor City” – freakonomics.com

“Detroit is the only city in U.S. History to both exceeded and them fall below 1 million people” – U.S. Census

Population of Detroit

Population of Detroit + City Ranking

In 2007, 1 in 3 Detroiters fell below the poverty line

20% 25%15 %10%5%

DETROIT

MICHIGAN

WASHINGTON, D.C.

CHICAGO

LOS ANGELES

U.S. AVERAGE

NEW YORK CITY

Detroit’s Unemployment 2000

0200,000

400,000

600,000

800,000

1,000,000

1,200,000

1,400,000

1,600,000

1,800,000

2,000,000

1900

1920

1910

1930

1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

0 50,000 1,100,000 1,150,000 2,000,000

1920192019201920

4th

5th

6th

7th

18th

10th

192019101900

1930

19501940

1960

19801970

199020002010

Source: US Census Bureau: Bureau of Labor Statistics: Michigan Department of Energy and Labour

In what has been the most dramatic loss of a city’s population since Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, the 2010 Census revealed that Detroit’s population has lost a quarter of its size in the last decade due to a number of factors, but primarily suburban migration, a loss of jobs in the auto industry and an inability for Detroit to support basic infrastructure. With the rapid rise of the auto industry after 1920, thousands upon thousands of people flocked to Detroit to work for the major auto manufacturers, Oldsmobile, Dodge, Ford, Cadillac and Packard. Workers drawn to the jobs in the auto industry were coming to Detroit “with grade school educations and getting good paying jobs,” says Kevin Boyle, a historian and Detroit native. According to Edward L. Glaeser of The New York Times, Detroit’s reliance on the major auto manufactures is one of the biggest contributing factors to Detroit’s collapse. In his article, “Can Detroit Find the Road Forward?” he says, “Cities work best when they are filled with smart people and small companies that innovate by exchanging ideas. Huge automobile plants, like Henry Ford’s River Rouge Plant, were highly productive, but they were isolated from the rest of the city. Part of Ford’s genius was that he was able to provide high wage jobs for less-educated workers; this helped turn Detroit into a city with too few nonautomotive skills.” When the auto industry began to collapse in the face of foreign competition and innovation, Detroit was left with a labor force that was not able to diversify, and left many with few options other than to leave. And leave they did. Starting in the 1950’s many of Detroit’s white citizens started leaving the Detroit urban area for the suburbs. Following the “white flight” many of Detroit’s black citizens also decided to leave. High unemployment and little economic diversity created widespread poverty

Why stay? Why leave?

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Packard Motor Company Plant. 1580 Grand Boulevard East.

that also drove people from the city. In a 2007 estimate, 1 in 3 Detroiters fell under the national poverty level. With so many citizens below the poverty level Detroit still failed to provide them with funding for better education, social services and safety. Instead, money was directed to continuing to build infrastructure, but with a heavily diminished population, increased transportation and more buildings added little actual value to the city. So why have the 713,777 remaining residents of Detroit decided to stay? In talking with several people during our trip it was clear that many people still have faith in Detroit and a loyalty to their roots there. Detroit has had a lot of setbacks in its history, but it has also had a lot of triumphs, examples of creativity and innovation. For the people we talked to, Detroit was their home, and troubled or not it was worth staying.

12 13

Packard Motor Company Plant. 1580 Grand Boulevard East.

14 15

Packard Motor Company Plant. 1580 Grand Boulevard East.

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18 19

A Select Timeline of Detroit2010–1900

1900Detroit’s population goes from 285,000-465,000 and would still double in the next decade

1904Henry Ford builds the first Model T

1916Established as a great manufacturing city with auto manufactures Oldsmobile, Dodge, Ford, Cadillac,& Packard

1943Race Riots highlight inequalities for Detroit’s Black residents, now 152,000 residents

1959Mowtown Record Label is founded by Berry Gordy, Jr.

1950-1960Detroit is the 4th largest city in the US with 1.8 million people

192040% of industrial workers owe their livelihood to the auto industry

1928The Ford River Rouge Plant is completed becoming the largest integrated factory complex in the world, employing 100,000

1940Detroit’s industrial contribution to WWII efforts earns it the nickname: “The Arsenal of Democracy”

1960Metro Detroit emerges as a center of rock music with bands like Iggy and the Stooges and MC-5

1950-1960The suburbs begin growing tremendously while the metropolitan core suffers a noticeable decline

1970Mowtown relocates to Los Angeles

1970The oil crisis hits U.S. auto makers hard and many leave Detroit

1967The 12th St. Riot last 5 days and kills 43 people. 1,189 are also injured and over 7,000 people are arrested.

1980Detroit named “Murder Capital of the U.S.”

1980Detroit hosts the Republican National Convention

1980The “People Mover” Built

1980Detroit Techno emerges

1986Creation of the Heidelberg Project by Tyree Guyton

1977The Renaissance Center is built in downtown Detroit as GM’s Headquarters

1990Rise of the creative class

1973Coleman Young is elected Detroit's first black mayor—a position he would hold for 20 years

2000Start of Downtown revitalization efforts

2006-2010at 15% Detroit holds the highest unemployment rate in the U.S.

2010 Census reveals that Detroit’s population has dipped to 713,777, the population has not been this low since the 1920’s

Talking about timing, it is important to mention the history of Detroit as it established itself as one of the top manufacturing cities in the United States. Detroit came into prominence as a industrial center at the turn of the twentieth century with the construction of the Erie Canal, which created a major transportation line through Detroit. Entrepreneurs began to gather in Detroit to capitalize on the new automated technologies. From the 1920’s until the mid 1950’s Detroit flourished as the auto-manufacturing center of the United States. Its population peaked at 1.8 million people, making it the 4th largest city in the U.S. and also one of the richest during the 1950’s. However, when citizens began leaving the city for the suburbs in the late 50’s and early 60’s, tensions began mounting around racial and socio-economic segregation. Riots occurred in 1943, and again in 1967, sparked by racial tensions that had grown in the city. Violence and tempers continued to escalate from 1970 to 1980 with Devil’s Night tradition and the naming of Detroit as the “Murder Capital of the United States” in 1979. However, despite these problems, the 1990’s found members of the creative class coming to reinvent and rebuild some of Detroit’s forgotten spaces.

The timing surrounding my research of Detroit and our trip is also an important part of my personal story. I started finding information about Detroit early this year, as it coincided with a class I was taking on information design, and was aided by the release of the 2010 U.S. Census data. The reports from the 2010 Census exposed some of the most drastic data of Detroit’s decline and drew a lot of attention from news and media sources. Timing was also a huge factor in being able to visit Detroit during our spring vacation. We spent about four days driving to Detroit and two days exploring the city and photographing.

Why then? Why now?

20 21

Michigan Central Train Depot. 2001 15th Street.

22 23

Belle Isle.

24 25

Belle Isle.

26 27

00

15

30

45

60

75

90

5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 90

Distribution of Residents’ Age

Num

ber

of

Res

iden

ts

Age

“In a city built for 2 million, Detroit is now only the home to around 100,000”

Source: University of Detroit Mercy; Detroit Free Press

MANHATTAN

BOSTONPOPULATION 581,616MI 2 AREA 48.43SAN FRANCISCO

POPULATION 751,682MI 2 AREA 46.69

DETROIT

TOTALSPOPULATION 933,043MI 2 AREA 138.77

POPULATION 2,870,493MI 2 AREA 118.08

POPULATION 1,537,195MI 2 AREA 22.96

In spite of its problems and mistakes made along the way, you cannot deny Detroit’s history as a place of creativity and innovation. Detroit has shown us that it could excel in manufacturing and the arts with the founding of three major music movements with Motown, the Techno music scene and garage rock such as Iggy and the Stooges and MC-5. It is that spirit that still lives in Detroit, as a city of makers and people who are ready to jump in and build new realities for themselves. For awhile this spirit may have been lost to some of the negative trends and neglect that have fallen on the city, but artists such as Mitch Cope and Gina Reichert, Tyree Guyton, and many others have all embraced Detroit as a creative space to turn forgotten land, houses and objects into sculpture that uplift neighborhoods. With 20% of its lots in the 139-square-mile-city vacant artists have been able to have a tremendous amount of freedom in claiming spaces and obtaining materials. What is more, they are taking an active position in remaking the city and being apart of their communities. As said by Dale Dougherty, editor and publisher of Make magazine, “There’s an excitement here. There’s a sense that it’s a frontier again, that it’s open, that you can do things without a lot of people telling you, ‘No, you can’t do that.’”

But it is not just visual artists who are making a difference in Detroit. Young entrepreneurs are taking creative approaches to making something from nothing in Detroit. Jerry Paffendorf recently moved to Detroit and used his background in technology and programing to establish Loveland which raises money for creative projects by selling one inch by one inch parcels of land for $1. Because land is so cheap and available in Detroit, he is able to buy small plots of land to raise money for building creative art spaces and projects throughout Detroit. Others like Phillip Cooley, have started small restaurants with focus on building the community through quality food.

Why not, Detroit?

28 29

Hamtramck Disneyland. 12087 Klinger Street.

His interest extends beyond his restaurant and catering business however to greater civic projects in Detroit such as the revitalization of the park in front of the abandoned Michigan Street Station. Lastly, artist Kate Daughdrill blends both art and business, along with her friend and co-founder of the organization Soup, Jessica Hernandez. Soup holds monthly community dinners at which ideas to spread art and revitalization are proposed and then put to a vote for funding from the group. Ideas and individuals like these are truly what I find inspiring about Detroit and just part of the beauty in its ruins. The decay of Detroit is not as much a reminder of what has failed but rather a reminder of what can be and where the rebuilding can begin.

30 31

32 33

Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit. 4454 Woodward Avenue.

36 37

Heidelberg Project. 3600 Heidelberg Street.

39

40 41

42 43

Power House. Lawley & Moran Street.

44 45

Sources:

Glaseser, Edward L. “Can Detroit Find the Road Forward.” The New York Times 22 Feb. 2011.

Martelle, Scott. “The Collapse of Detroit.” LA Times. 27 Mar. 2011. Web. 9 May 2011. <www.latimes.com>.

Pagano, Michael A., Terry Schwarz, Brad Whitehead, Ellen Dunham-Jones, Jennifer Bradley, Richard Florida, and Toni Griffin. “The Incredible Shrinking City.” Editorial. Room for Debate: A Running Commentary on the News. The New York Times, 29 Mar. 2011. Web. 8 May 2011. <www.thenewyorktimes.com/roomfordebate>.

Ryzik, Melena. “Wringing Art Out of the Rubble in Detroit.” The New York Times 3 Aug. 2011.

Seelye, Katharine Q. “Detroit Census Confirms a Desertion Like No Other.” The New York Times 22 Mar. 2011.

Photo Credits:“Background” Kelsey Cole