Welcome To Detroit, Michigan

Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Wayne County. Detroit is a major port city on the Detroit River, in the Midwest region of the United States. Located northof Windsor, Ontario, Detroit is the only major U.S. city that looks south to Canada. It was founded on July 24, 1701 by the Frenchman Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac. Its name originates from the French word DETROIT for strait, characterizing its location on the river connecting the Great Lakes.

In 2008 Detroit ranked as the United States eleventh most populous city, with 912,062 residents. At its peak in 1950 the city was the fourth largest in the US, but has since seen a major shift in its population to the suburbs.

The city name comes from the Detroit River , meaning the strait of Lake Erie, linking Lake Huron and Lake Erie; in the historical context, the strait included Lake St. Clair and the St. Clair River.

Detroit and the rest of southeastern Michigan have a continental climate which is influenced by the Great Lakes. Winters are cold with moderate snowfall with temperatures at night sometimes dropping below 10 °F , while summers are warm with temperatures sometimes exceeding 90 °F .

Live music has been a prominent feature of Detroits nightlife since the late 1940s, bringing the city recognition under the nickname Motown. The metropolitan area has two nationally prominent live music venues: DTE Energy Music Theatre and The Palace of Auburn Hills. The Detroit Theatre District is the nations second largest.Major theaters include the Fox Theatre, Music Hall, the Gem Theatre, Masonic Temple Theatre, the Detroit Opera House, the Fisher Theatre and Orchestra Hall which hosts the renowned Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

Movie studios are planned for the metro area. Detroit Center Studios will debut at the downtown building which was the start-up casino for MGM Grand to create digital animation and visual effects.Motown Motion Picture Studios with 600,000 square feet will produce movies at the Pontiac Centerpoint Business Campus for a film industry expected to employ over 4,000 people in the metro area.

Berry Gordy, Jr. founded Motown Records which rose to prominence during the 1960s and early 1970s with acts such as Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, The Four Tops, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, Diana Ross & The Supremes, the Jackson 5, Martha and the Vandellas and Marvin Gaye.

Many of the areas prominent museums are located in the historic cultural center neighborhood around Wayne State University. These museums include the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Detroit Historical Museum, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, the Detroit Science Center, and the main branch of the Detroit Public Library.

Other cultural highlights include Motown Historical Museum, Tuskegee Airmen Museum, Fort Wayne, Dossin Great Lakes Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD), the Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit (CAID), and the Belle Isle Conservatory.

Important history of Detroit and the surrounding area is exhibited at the The Henry Ford, the nations largest indoor-outdoor museum complex.The Detroit Historical Society provides information about tours of area churches, skyscrapers, and mansions.

The citys Greektown and casino resorts serve as an entertainment hub. Annual summer events include the Detroit Electronic Music Festival, Detroit International Jazz Festival, and Woodward Dream Cruise. Within downtown, Campus Martius Park hosts large events such as the Motown Winter Blast. As the worlds traditional automotive center, the city hosts the North American International Auto Show.

Held since 1924, Americas Thanksgiving Parade is one of the nations largest.The Motown Winter Blast and River days, a five-day festival on the International Riverfront, leading up to the Windsor-Detroit International Freedom Festival fireworks can draw super sized-crowds of hundreds of thousands to over three million people.

An important civic sculpture in Detroit is Marshall Fredericks "Spirit of Detroit" at the Coleman Young Municipal Center. The image is often used as a symbol of Detroit and the statue itself is occasionally dressed in sports jerseys to celebrate when a Detroit team is doing well. A memorial to Joe Louis at the intersection of Jefferson and Woodward Avenues was dedicated on October 16, 1986. The sculpture, commissioned by Sports Illustrated and executed by Robert Graham, is a twenty-four foot long arm with a fisted hand suspended by a pyramidal framework.

Detroit is one of 13 American metropolitan areas that are home to professional teams representing the four major sports in North America. All these teams but one play within the city of Detroit itself ,the NBAs Detroit Pistons  play in suburban Auburn Hills at The Palace of Auburn Hills. There are three active major sports venues within the city: Comerica Park (home of the Major League Baseball team Detroit Tigers), Ford Field (home of the NFLs Detroit Lions), and Joe Louis Arena (home of the NHLs Detroit Red Wings). A 1996 marketing campaign promoted the nickname "Hockeytown".

In college sports, Detroits central location within the Mid-American Conference has made it a frequent site for the leagues championship events. While the MAC Basketball Tournament moved permanently to Cleveland starting in 2000, the MAC Football Championship Game has been played at Ford Field in Detroit since 2004, and annually attracts 25,000 to 30,000 fans. The University of Detroit Mercy has a NCAA Division I program, and Wayne State University has both NCAA Division I and II programs.

The NCAA football Little Caesars Pizza Bowl is held at Ford Field each December. Since 1916, the city has been home to an Unlimited hydroplane boat race, held annually (with exceptions) on the Detroit River near Belle Isle. Often, the race is for the APBA Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the Gold Cup (first awarded in 1904, created by Tiffany) which is the oldest active motorsport trophy in the world