The Situation
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Detroit is situated in a unique location. It was initially settled as an outpost for the fur trade, and though it has the benefit of reaching into the interior of the United States where a strait connects Lake Erie and Lake Huron, it was specifically chosen for its strategic military position (Holli 2001, 132). The settlement was located at the narrowest part of the Detroit River, where the high banks made it defensible. Further, due to the bend in the river, it was possible to see both up-river and down-river better than on the opposite bank (Woodford 2001, 19). While this was useful to the traders who didn't necessarily colonize the settlement, it would pose some population problems for the town during the booming 1800s, as settlers bypassed this off the beaten path town for other westward settlements (Woodford 2001, 48).
Detroit also happens to sit on a wealth of natural resources that would come into play later in Detroit’s history. The city is located near both sandstone and limestone deposits which are necessary in steel production. Detroit had the luxury for many years of the being the largest consumer of high-finished steel and in close proximity to the iron-ore, coalfields, and limestone quarries that produced it (White and Primmer 1937, 91). Though the auto industry (and others prior) likely would have developed regardless of this, these natural resources allowed it to flourish and stay in Detroit, for better or worse. As can be seen in the map of Detroit in 1796, the military fort initially dictated much of the construction of the settlement. Factors such as maintaining a clear line of fire affected early growth patterns of the city.(Woodward 2001, 40). Even Augustus Woodward's plan was constrained by the location of the fort. |