Detroit Michigan - History of the World's Greatest City

On Thursday, Detroit made history — and not in a good way. The heart of the U.S. auto industry and home to the Detroit Tigers, Eminem and the White Stripes, Motown, and (maybe) Jimmy Hoffa's body became the largest city ever to file for bankruptcy. In many ways, this financial crisis is 60 years in the making. As the Motor City faces an uncertain future, here's a look back at some key dates in the long, storied past of one of America's great cities:

July 24, 1701

Antoine de La Mothe Cadillac establishes a French settlement, Fort Ponchartrain du Détroit (the strait), along with 100 French soldiers and an equal number of Algonquins.

1760

Britain wins the city from the French.

1796

U.S. forces capture Detroit from the British.

Feb. 1, 1802

Detroit becomes a chartered city, covering about 20 acres. It is incorporated as a city of Michigan territory in 1806, unincorporated in 1809, then reincorporated in 1815, this time for good. The population in 1815 is about 850.

1827
Detroit adopts its forward-looking city motto: Speramus Meliora; Resurget Cineribus (We hope for better days; it shall rise from the ashes).

1850
Bernhard Stroh opens Stroh Brewery Company. Over the years, Stroh's acquires several rival brands, including Schaefer, Schlitz, Old Milwaukee, Lone Star, and Colt 45.

June 4, 1896

Henry Ford test drives his first automobile on the streets of Detroit.

1898

Ford establishes the Detroit Automobile Co., producing all of two cars before the company fails three years later.

1899

Ransom E. Olds opens Detroit's first auto manufacturing plant.

Nov. 3, 1901

Ford opens his second car company, Henry Ford Co. Ford leaves the company in August 1902, and it becomes the Cadillac Motor Co. Detroit is America's 13th biggest city, with a population of about 286,000.

June 16, 1903

Ford starts the Ford Motor Co. in Detroit; among the 12 initial investors are brothers John and Horace Dodge, who start manufacturing their own Dodge cars in 1915. Ford soon moves his operations to the suburb of Dearborn. (The company hasn't built a car in Detroit since 1910.)

Sept. 16, 1908

William Durant and Charles Stewart Mott found General Motors in Flint, Mich., as a holding company for Buick. (Today, GM is now the only one of the major U.S. automakers headquartered in Detroit proper.)

June 6, 1925

Walter Chrysler starts the Chrysler Corp. in Detroit. It is now headquartered in Auburn Hills, a Detroit suburb.

1950

Detroit's population hits 1.85 million, making it America's fourth-largest city, with 296,000 manufacturing jobs.

1958

The 3,500,000-square-foot Packard Motor Car Co. factory in Detroit, opened in 1903, is shuttered. It still stands today, a symbol of Detroit's long, slow decline.