The city of Detroit was founded in 1701 by Frenchman Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, who was looking to establish a major trade post. Over the next hundred years the city changed hands first to the British, and finally to the Americans. In the days leading to the Civil War the city was the final stop on the Underground Railroad. In 1896, a farmer’s son named Henry Ford built his first car, which evolved to the moving assembly line and revolutionized the auto industry and the reason why today Detroit is called Motor City. During that time the city saw explosive growth and today is the country’s eight largest metropolitan area. In the middle part of the 20th Century, a former autoworker named Berry Gordy Jr. began an upstart record company called Motown that eventually brought the likes of Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, Dianna Ross, Stevie Wonder, and the Jackson’s into the limelight. A few other historical facts include that it was the first city to install a traffic light, to have a freeway, to have the first mile of paved road, and has the first traffic tunnel between two nations (the Detroit-Windsor tunnel). Famous natives include director Francis Ford Coppola, aviator Charles A. Lindbergh, singer Ted Nugent, comedian Gilda Radner, singer Dianna Ross, actress Lily Tomlin, singer Kid Rock, rapper Eminem, civil rights activist Rosa Parks, singer Madonna, and actor Tom Selleck.
