USA

Fueled by a mid-1990s car industry boom, the Motor City is staging a comeback from its long-running economic decline. As the birthplace of Motown and a national centre of African American culture, Detroit is primed to become the new star of the Rust Belt.

Before the 20th century

Lots of people know that Cadillacs come from Detroit. But what they probably don't know is that Detroit came from a Cadillac. Enterprising French trader and explorer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac stumbled upon what is now Detroit in 1701, figuring it would make a good base from which to send furs to Canada. Cadillac named his new find Ville d'Etroit (City of the Strait) because the Detroit River connects Lake St Clair with Lake Erie, and from that point on the town grew steadily, using its river as an economic channel to the world.

Modern history

Detroit might have remained little more than a stomping ground for trader types had it not been for an ambitious industrialist named Henry Ford. Born on a farm in nearby Dearborn, Ford left for Detroit to establish the Ford Motor Company in 1903. Within five years he was mass producing cars and perfecting the assembly line. The assembly line inspired another Detroit innovation known as the United Auto Workers (UAW), who kicked off the industrial union movement from the 'Motor City'. Driven by the automobile's success, Detroit was the first city to have a paved concrete road (in 1909), the first to install a traffic light (in 1915) and the USA's first to have an urban freeway (in 1942).

Pre-car, Detroit's proximity to Canada made it an important station along the Underground Railroad. This network of informal escape routes was used by abolitionists and African-American slaves who travelled from America's southern states, through the US north and into Canada. Said to have been in place as early as the colonial period, the height of Underground Railroad activity was between 1830 and 1865. The new arrivals brought with them the beginnings of jazz and blues music. From the late 1800s on, African-American musicians played an important role in Detroit's entertainment scene, and the city was the first to have an integrated musicians' union. Mississippi transplant John Lee Hooker recorded his first blues hits here in the 1940s. Hooker and his peers paved the way for Motown - the biggest American music phenomenon of the 20th century and African-American Detroit's ticket to the big leagues.

But Detroit's prominence on the world music stage didn't prevent the city from imploding. While everyone was dancing in the streets, businesses - following Ford's earlier lead - started fleeing for the suburbs, and middle-class whites followed in painful numbers. Detroit lost nearly a million residents between the 1950s and 1980s and, as the auto industry downturned, hyper unemployment set in, disproportionately affecting African-American men. Along the way, bloody race riots in 1967 and a cruel recession during the 1970s were just a few of the nails in the coffin.

Recent history

The pickup in the American automobile manufacturing industry in the past decade has proven to be something of a boon for Detroit. It may never be able to match its glory days, but Motor City is on the upswing - blue-collar but rich in cultural output. Musically, the city's rock scene is spawning a string of bands as influential as the Motown studio was in the 1960s. The city's rich history, riverfront locale and considerable dedication to rejuvenation will really take hold of you, if given the chance.

Top Accommodation

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Winters are long and can last from late November well into April, with plenty of snow, icy winds, and sub-zero temperatures. By June the sun is out and temperatures start to rise, and by July and August it can be downright hot and sticky. Spring and autumn fit in around the edges, and are wonderful times to visit (particularly autumn, when tree leaves are at the peak of their colour).

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Transport

Getting there and away

Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, 32km (20mi) southwest of Detroit, is the primary regional air centre, offering direct flights to most major cities in the country. Northwest Airlines uses Detroit as a major hub and routes many of its European flights through Metro Airport, making it easy for overseas travellers to spend some time in Michigan before moving onward. Shuttle service from the airport to downtown Detroit can be arranged at the terminals.

Greyhound provides bus service to more than 40 cities throughout Michigan, including destinations in the Upper Peninsula, as well as to other Midwest states. Amtrak trains run daily to Kalamazoo, Battle Creek and Chicago. The Chicago-bound train stops in Ann Arbor.

Getting around

It's important to remember that Detroit is built by and for cars and visitors are expected to conform. Handfuls of major highways pass in and out of the city, all named after Ford, Chrysler or some other auto company executive. The good news is that driving in Detroit is fairly easy and parking is a breeze. The same can't be said of catching a bus. D-DOT buses technically serve the city and suburbs, but not even a die-hard Detroiter can testify that these buses actually exist. Service is spotty, at best.

A downtown trolley runs along major downtown streets to and from the Renaissance Center. The People Mover is a quick, easy way around downtown's more pleasant sites on a 5km (3mi) elevated track. A SMART bus service travels to Greenfield Village, the Detroit Zoo and points outside of downtown. Taxis are fairly easy to hail on the street.