About
There's No Time Like Summertime in Detroit!
Beautiful weather, and a slate full of fun, fascinating events and activities will engage the body and mind, and lift the spirit of everyone from young children to senior citizens.
From the putting the world on wheels to the Motown sound – Detroit has crafted American culture. Metro Detroit has always been a great place to work, live and visit. The region is currently undergoing a renaissance with new developments and attractions. Downtown Detroit’s development boom is unparalleled in the country and impact on the world.
Although under-analyzed and unnoticed, Detroit has one of the most fascinating cultural scenes in the nation. As a city vibrant, lost and now in recovery, it's a place both raw and refined, with gritty street art and edgy theater, as well as remarkable museums and architecture. Yet, like many other things about the city, the culture here is subtle and discreet-it requires seeking out. Yet, its impact is and always has been significant.
During Detroit's prime, renowned architects like Albert Kahn, C. Howard Crane and Mies van der Rohe refined their craft here, creating remarkable homes, theaters and office buildings. Artists like Mary Chase Stratton of Pewabic Pottery, Diego Rivera and Carl Milles, created engrossing art influenced and supported by the power and energy of this industrial capital. During this time, the city's elite also helped assemble one of the finest collections of art in the world at the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Fun Facts About Detroit:
- Is home to the Motown sound founded by Berry Gordy Jr. in 1957
- Is home to the first Van Gogh painting in public collection in the U.S. at the Detroit Institute of Arts, “Self Portrait.” Vincent Van Gogh, 1887
- Installed the firs t mile of paved concrete road, just north of the Model T plant, on Woodward Avenue between McNichols and 7 Mile Roads in 1909
- Built the nation’s first urban freeway, the Davison, in 1942
- Is home to the oldest state fair in the nation – the Michigan State Fair, first held in 1849
- Is the potato chip capital of the world, based on consumption
- Has the country’s largest island park within a city – Belle Isle Park
- Is home to the world’s only floating post office, the JW Westcott II, can be found on the Detroit River
- Is north of Canada
- Is the second in the nation in fishing rod sales
- Shares the world’s first auto traffic tunnel between two nations – the Detroit/Windsor Tunnel
- Is home to the second tallest hotel in North America – the Detroit Marriot Renaissance Center, at 73 stories
- The nation’s first soda - Vernors – created in Detroit by pharmacist James Vernor in 1862.
- Detroit is also home to Sanders hot fudge, Better Made Potato Chips, Fago soda pop, Stroh’s Ice Cream
- Has the most registered bowlers in the United States
- Was the first city in the nation to assign individual telephone numbers in 1879