The Skyscrapers of Detroit from the Air

Stereoview
The Skyscrapers of Detroit from the Air-View over Michigan Avenue to Detroit River.
In 1796 when the land beneath us was part of a great tract surrendered by the British to the United States, not much importance was attached to a small village of about 500 inhabitants named Detroit. With the passage of less than a century and a half that village has become a great city, the fourth in the Nation. Today it has an area of more than 140 square miles and a population of about 1,569,000. It is the leading city in the world for the manufacture of automobiles, but is famous also for many other interesting products, some of which stand first of their kind in the world. Of its manufacturing plants, there are at least thirty-five that come within the million dollar a year range and the city has an industrialized value of over $2,000,000,000 a year.

It was Detroit's geographic position that gave to the city its name. The water we see in the background is the Detroit River which connects Lake Huron with Lake Erie. The name Detroit means strait-détroit. This river is one of the greatest waterways in the world for over it passes more shipping than passes over the Suez and Panama Canals combined.

The city is beautifully situated with a river front of about eleven miles. In the distance, connected with the mainland by a bridge, we see Detroit's famed island park, Bell Isle. Across the river is Windsor, Ontario. Michigan Avenue is the street that extends ribbonlike straight before us toward the river. In the skyline before us the Penobscot is the tallest building. It is forty-seven stories high with a beacon ninety feet above the roof.

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