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Detroit Stories
On this page you'll find all of our stories on the city of Detroit.Suggest a story here and follow our podcast here.

For Detroit's 313th Birthday, pictures of revival

Michigan Public | By Mark Brush
Published July 23, 2014 at 10:49 AM EDT
Orchestra Hall in Detroit sat vacant for almost 20 years before renovation started in the 1970s. An iconic building saved from ruin.
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http://detroiturbex.com/

DEE-twah

The French word for "strait" (détroit) was how it all started in 1701.

A French explorer founded Fort Pontchartrain on the "straits" - the water between Lake Huron and Lake Erie - on July 24, 1701.

It didn't become incorporated as a city until 1806, and the city grew from there.

This population graph shows the timing of the rise and decline of the city:

Population rise and fall in the city of Detroit.
Credit US Census Bureau
Population rise and fall in the city of Detroit.

For the city's 313th Birthday, the Detroit Free Press published some before and after pictures of the city. The photos come from a project by DetroitUrbex.com (urbex as in "urban explorers"). 

Their interactive site shows the typical pictures of ruin, but the revival pictures are especially fun to scroll through.

You can see them here.

Happy Birthday, Detroit!
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Arts & Life Detroit
Mark Brush
Mark Brush was the station's Digital Media Director. He succumbed to a year-long battle with glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer, in March 2018. He was 49 years old.
See stories by Mark Brush
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