French officer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac founded a fort and settlement at the site of Detroit in 1701. Originally the settlement was called Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit after the comte de Pontchartrain, minister of marine under Louis XIV and for the river that connects Lakes St. Clair and Erie. The British gained control of the area in 1760 and thwarted an Indian attack three years later during Pontiac's Rebellion. In 1796 Detroit and its surrounding areas passed to the United States.

Detroit was incorporated as a Town by the Legislature of the Northwest Territory at Chillicothe on January 18, 1802, effective February 1, 1802. Government was administered by a five-person board of trustees and there was no office of mayor. Following this, Ohio became a state and the eastern half of Michigan was attached to the Indiana Territory. Because the difficulty in traveling from Detroit to the capital of the territory in Vincennes over 400 miles away, Michigan Territory was established effective June 30, 1805, as a separate territory with Detroit as the capital.

However, before the new territorial government officially began, the fire of June 11, 1805, destroyed nearly all of Detroit. The newly appointed Governor, William Hull, and the Territorial Judges, Augustus B. Woodward, Frederick Bates, James Witherell , and John Griffin, constituting the territorial government, essentially established martial law over affairs of the city. They convinced the U.S. Congress to pass an act on April 21, 1806, which authorized them to lay out a town that included all of the old town of Detroit plus an additional 10,000 acres (40 km²) to be used compensate persons who lost their house in the fire. [1] On September 13, 1806, they passed an act incorporating the new City of Detroit. The governor appointed Solomon Sibley as mayor. Shortly afterward, Sibley resigned and Elijah Brush was appointed in his stead. The mayor was appointed by the governor and, under the act of incorporation, was able to disapprove legislation passed by the popularly elected council without any recourse for overriding the mayor. Because of this, many felt that the real aim of the governor in incorporating the city was to remove the popularly elected town officers and exert a more direct influence over governance of the city. [2] This form of government was extremely unpopular, and was repealed on February 4, 1809. However, to prevent ressurection of the popularly elected town government, on September 16, 1810, an act passed repealing all laws pertaining to Michigan that had been passed by the Legislature of the Northwest Territory. This effectively eradicated any trace of legitimacy for the former popularly elected town government.

This state of affairs continued through the War of 1812, during which Governor Hull surrendered Detroit to the British. Lewis Cass, who replaced Hull as Territorial Governor, on October 24, 1815, restored control of local affairs to the people of Detroit, with the election of a five-person board of trustees.

Government under the board of trustees continued until an act of the Territorial Legislature on August 5, 1824, created a Common Council of the City of Detroit. The Council consisted of five aldermen, the mayor, and the recorder. In an act of April 4, 1827, the number of aldermen increased to seven. In 1839, it increased to 14, two aldermen from six wards plus the mayor and recorder. A seventh ward was created in 1848, an eighth in 1849, the ninth and tenth wards in 1857. Also in 1857, a new city charter provided that the mayor and recorder would no longer sit as members of the council. At this time, the council consisted of 20 members, two aldermen from ten wards. In 1873, a twelfth ward was added and aldermen from an illegally constituted eleventh ward also temporarily sat on the council. In 1875, a properly constituted eleventh ward and a thirteenth ward were added. The city charter of 1883 changed the name of the body to the Board of Aldermen. A few years earlier in 1881, a separately elected ten-person body named Board of Councilmen (also called the City Council), was established. This body was abolished in 1887.

A thriving carriage trade set the stage for the work of Henry Ford, who in 1899 built his first automobile factory in Highland Park, an independent city within Detroit. Ford's manufacturing innovations solidified Detroit's status as the world's car capital, and the blossoming industry spurred the city's spectacular growth during the first half of the 20th century.

The development of the automobile industry led to a massive increase in industrial production in the city. This in turn led to rising demands for labor, which were filled by huge numbers of newcomers from Europe and the American [[South}]. Between 1900 and 1930, the city's population soared from 265,000 to over 1.5 million. The landscape of the city also changed dramatically. Once known as the "Paris of the Midwest" for its tree-shaded avenues, the city took on a more blue-collar appearance as its riverfront became lined with factories and grain silos. At the same time, Detroit's downtown flourished architecturally, largely under the leadership of Albert Kahn, who designed a number of Art Deco skyscrapers. The city also experienced a cultural flowering, with a major expansion of the Detroit Institute of Arts and the founding of other institutions.

With the factories came high-profile labor strife, climaxing in the 1930s as the United Auto Workers initiated bitter battles with Detroit's auto manufacturers. The labor activism established during those years, which brought fame and notoriety to hometown union leaders such as Jimmy Hoffa and Walter Reuther, remains a key feature on the city's cultural and political landscape.

Detroit has endured a painful decline during the past several decades, and is often held up as a symbol of Rust Belt urban blight. After peaking in 1950 with 1.85 million residents, the city's population has plummeted as residents have moved to the suburbs, particularly following the 12th Street Riot in 1967. Large numbers of buildings and homes were abandoned, with many remaining for years in states of decay. Recent urban renewal efforts have led to the demolition or renovation of several abandoned skyscrapers and large buildings, the razing of old houses for new housing developments, and an expedited process to remove abandoned homes near schools. Still, large numbers of abandoned buildings remain in numerous blighted areas.

During the latter half of the twentieth century, Detroit's crime figures were often among the highest in the country. Though those figures have decreased in recent years, the crime rate remains high, and the murder rate--partly caused by gang-related activity--is one of the highest in the United States.

"Renaissance" has been a perennial buzzword among generations of city leaders, particularly during the construction and completion of the Renaissance Center, but it was not until the 1990s that Detroit enjoyed something of a bona fide revival, much of it centered downtown. In 1996 a state referendum paved the way for three Detroit casinos—MGM Detroit, Motor City Casino and Greektown Casino—with the goal of increasing tourism and stemming the flow of gambling dollars to nearby Windsor, Ontario.

In 2000, Comerica Park replaced historic Tiger Stadium as the home of the Detroit Tigers—a move that brought some controversy—and Ford Field (2002) brought football's Detroit Lions back into Detroit from suburban Pontiac. The 2004 opening of the Compuware Center gave downtown Detroit its first significant new office building in a decade.

As the city prepares to host a number of major events in coming years, including the 2005 Baseball All-Star Game and 2006 Super Bowl, it faces the challenge of cleaning up and improving its image for an international audience.

Timeline of Events

• 1701 - On July 24, Antoine de Lamothe Cadillac, with his lieutenant Alphonse de Tonty and a company of 100 men, established a trading post on the Detroit River under orders from the French King Louis XIV. They named it Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit at the present site of Detroit, in homage to the Count of Pontchartrain, the Royal Minister of Marine.
• 1701 - Ste. Anne de Detroit Catholic Church was the first building built in Detroit, started within two days of Cadillac's landing.
• 1760 - Major Robert Rogers and a group of his Roger's Rangers took formal command of Fort Detroit in the name of Great Britain after the French defeat in the French and Indian War.
• 1763 - Chief Pontiac besieged Detroit during Pontiac's Rebellion.
• 1796 - American control over Detroit was established, 13 years after it was assigned by treaty to the United States at the end of the American Revolutionary War.
• 1802 - February 1, the Town of Detroit is incorporated by the territorial legislature.
• 1805 - On June 11, a fire burned virtually the entire city. The city's motto: Speramus meliora; resurget cineribus, "We hope for better things, it will rise from the ashes," dates from this event.

• 1806 - September 13, the City of Detroit is incorporated by the territorial governing council.
• 1809 - February 24, the territorial governing council repeals the 1806 incorporation of the city.
• 1812 - On August 16, Detroit surrendered without firing a shot to British army under General Isaac Brock in the War of 1812.
• 1813 - September: British retreated from Detroit, which served as a base for the invasion of Canada.
• 1815 - October 24, the territorial governing council enacts the charter for the City of Detroit to be governed by a five-person board of trustees.
• 1824 - August 5, the newly formed territorial legislature reorganizes city government, creating the Common Council and office of mayor.
• 1837 - Detroit became capital of the State of Michigan (until 1847).
• 1837 - 1838 Small bands of self-proclaimed "Patriots", some operating from Detroit, invaded Canada in the Patriot War.
• 1863 - Anti-draft and race riot in Detroit.
• 1890 - Reforming mayor Hazen Pingree established vegetable gardens for the poor, which came to be called Pingree's Potato Patches.
• 1903 - Ford Motor Company was founded by Henry Ford in Detroit.
• 1929 - Ambassador Bridge construction completed.
• 1930 - Detroit-Windsor Tunnel construction completed.
• 1943 - A race riot, spurred by competition among black and white residents for wartime factory jobs, resulted in 34 deaths.
• 1950 - Detroit's population reached its height at 1.85 million.
• 1962 - Jerome Cavanagh was elected mayor, and launched a series of reforms.
• 1963 - Great March to Freedom.
• 1967 - On July 23 the 12th Street Riot, one of the worst riots in United States history, began on 12th Street in the predominantly African American inner city (43 killed, 342 injured and 1,400 buildings burned).
• 1968 - "Focus: Hope" project was founded by Fr. William Cunningham.
• 1973 - Coleman Young was elected Detroit's first black mayor -- a position he would hold for 20 years.
• 1987 - Pope John Paul II visits Detroit.
• 1992 - On November 5, black motorist Malice Green was beaten to death by policemen Larry Nevers and Walter Budzyn during a struggle. The officers were later convicted and sentenced to prison.
• 1996 - In November, Michigan voters voted to allow the operation of three casinos in the City of Detroit.
• 1999 - The Detroit Tigers played their final baseball game in classic Tiger Stadium, which had opened in 1912. The team relocated to the new Comerica Park downtown in 2000. The status of Tiger Stadium remains uncertain.
• 2002 - The Detroit Lions football team began play in the new, state-of-the-art Ford Field, returning to downtown Detroit after 27 years in suburban Pontiac.
• 2004 - The "restored" Campus Martius Park opens in downtown Detroit. Featuring an ice-skating rink, it is the focal point of the city's new Winter Blast festival.
• 2006 - The city is scheduled to host Super Bowl XL.