How Has the Geography of Detroit Changed?

The Packard Motor Company Plant, which occupies 40 acres, closed in 1958. 

The River Rouge Plant, which is actually in Dearborn, Michigan, is still running. It is 1.5 miles wide and 1 mile long.

This is a photo of a General Motors strike in 1970. The United Auto Workers have had to make many concessions since then.

This shows the construction of the Chrysler Freeway, part of Interstate 75, which runs all the way to Florida. 

This aerial view shows the suburb of Southfield and Northland Mall, one of the earliest enclosed malls in the United States.

Detroit had been the center of the auto industry since Henry Ford and the Model T and was home to huge manufacturing plants like the Packard Plant and the Ford River Rouge Plant. Beginning in the 1950s, however, auto manufacturing began to move outside of the city, to the suburbs, and overseas. Ultimately, it would move almost entirely overseas, despite union opposition.

The move to the suburbs was made possible by freeways, such as the Chrysler Freeway, which as Interstate 75 was part of the federal effort to build an interstate highway system.

Suburban development was also heavily subsidized, and because of federal housing loan policy, suburban homes were often only available to whites. "White flight" began well before the 1967 riots and was enabled and shaped by policy decisions at the local, state, and federal levels.