Detroit
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Detroit. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
the largest city of Michigan, and the county-seat of Wayne co. it extends for about 12 miles. It is also on the shores of Lake St. Clair. The city has an area of about 94 square miles, and is beautifully situated on ground which rises from the river. The great bodies of water adjacent to the city tend to moderate climatic conditions, and its elevation of 576 feet above sealevel has much to do with the very high average of health conditions in the city and its s surroundings. The city, both commercially and industrially, is one of the most important in the United States. It is on the lines of the Canadian Pacific, the Grand Trunk, the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern, the Pere Marquette, the Wabash, the Michigan Central, and other railroads. Its industries are widely diversified. There were in 1920 over 3,100 different classes hundreds of commodities of world-wide uses. It stands prominently among the cities of the United States in the production of automobiles, adding machines, soda and alkali products, stoves, steamships, gas engines, aeroplanes, hydraulic hoists, automobile parts, varnishes, paints, and oils, drugs, and pharmaceutical products. Wholesale and jobbing interests also play an important part in the business life of the city. The Detroit river carries an immense freight traffic. Nearly 40,000 vessels yearly, ca carrying a total tonnage of approximately 100,000,- 000 tons, valued at more than a billion and a quarter dollars, pass before the city. Detroit had in 1920 14 State banks, 5 National banks, 6 trust companies, and a Federal Reserve bank, with aggregate resources in the neighborhood of a half billion dollars. The total capital, surplus and undivided profits of the banks aggregated $50,000,000, and the total deposits amounted to nearly $425,- 000,000. The exchanges in the clearing for the year ending Sept. 30, house amounted to $4,032,443,000. Several of the largest manufacturers of automobiles have their plants in Detroit. These include the Ford Company, Packard Motor Car Company, the Hudson Company, the Paige-Detroit Company, and others. During the war the city developed a great shipbuilding industry which has been continued and vessels are made not only for inland waters but for ocean travel. There are over 700 miles of streets, the greater part of which are paved. The principal streets are laid with brick or asphalt. The streets in general cross at right angles, but these are intersected by several broad avenues radiating from the Grand Circus, a semi-circular park of 5½ acres in the center of the city. Woodward Avenue, extending through this, divides the city into nearly equal portions. There is an attractive system of parks, including an island park known as Belle Isle. This contains 707 acres, and lies in the center of the Detroit river, about 3 miles from the heart of the city. There are many handsome public buildings, including the Wayne County Court House, the City Hall, Postoffice, and Detroit Athletic Club House, and the Y. M. C. A. building and several hospitals. Many of the churches are also notable for the beauty of their architecture. The Museum of Art contains a library and valuable collections of classical art, modern paintings, furniture, etc. The educational system is maintained according to the highest modern standards. There are 160 public and 75 private schools, including 10 high schools, and 4 junior high schools. In connection with the school system are operated three college units, including a medical school, a normal school, and a junior college. These eventually will comprise the University of the City of Detroit. In addition to the public schools there are 60 parochial schools and numerous private institutions. The city spends approximately $6,000,000 to maintain this school system. The city is notable for a large number of handsome business buildings, hotels and theaters. Detroit was founded by the French explorer Cadillac, in 1701. After the site was chosen, a palisade inclosure was erected and called Fort Pontchartrain. The name Detroit is after the French " d'étroit " meaning the strait, and was so called because of its situation on the narrow strait now known as Detroit river, connecting Lake St. Clair with Lake Erie. The French ruled the region until 1760, when they were superseded by the English, who in turn held it until 1796, when it was conquered by General Wayne. The English again assumed control in 1813, but Commodore Perry's victory of Lake Erie gave the entire territory to the United States. The law. city has shown a remarkable increase in population in recent years. The figures are as follows: (1900) 285,705; (1910) 465,766; (1920) 993,678.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
the metropolis of Michigan and adjacent territory. It is situated on the north bank of the Detroit River, from which it takes its name. The word is French, meaning the strait. The river is about twenty-five miles long. It leads from Lake St. Clair southward to Lake Erie. It widens in places to encircle hundreds of charming islands occupied by villas, vineyards, and orchards. At Detroit, the passage is about three-fourths of a mile wide and thirty-two feet deep. The current flows smoothly at a rate of two miles an hour. The river affords several miles of excellent wharfage and a safe anchorage. Boats laden with the wheat, lumber, iron ore, and copper of the Great Lakes , from Chicago to Duluth pass Detroit on the way eastward. Salt, coal, nails, and other heavy articles of merchandise pass Detroit going westward. It is said that in tonnage, that is to say the number of tons of freight, the Detroit exceeds every other river or canal in the world. Twenty-five thousand laden boats pass yearly. Shipping alone, however, is not what has made the city. Detroit ranks with Buffalo and Cleveland, but is preeminently a railroad town. Seven trunk lines center here. It is situated at the greatest crossing between the United States and Canada. More freight and passengers cross the Canadian line here than at any other point between the two oceans. Trains run aboard double-tracked steam ferry boats and are carried across. A plan is on foot for an expensive tunnel by which they may pass beneath the channel of the river. The plan of the city is unique. Several fine avenues radiate like spokes from a point near the river. A park, called the Grand Circus, and the principal public buildings are located at this center. The rest of the city is laid out in the usual system of squares, bounded by streets running with the points of the compass. The manufacturing interests of the city are large. The output was rated at $100,000,000 for the year of the last census. Manufactures of steel, iron, tobacco, drugs, and liquors rank in the order named. Detroit is a center of the garden-seed industry. "City of Pills" is a nickname gained by the manufacture of 6,000,000,000 pellets a year. Detroit was settled originally by the French. It passed under British rule at the close of the French and Indian War. The historic defense of the fort in 1763 is graphically told in Parkman's Conspiracy of Pontiac. In 1805 it was made the capital of Michigan Territory, then extending to the Mississippi River. The population in 1900 was 285,704. The State census of 1905 reported 317,591. The census of 1910 is expected to report a third of a million. The city has the usual system of public schools, housed in over seventy buildings. There are a number of private academies. The Jesuits maintain Detroit College. There are over 200 churches. The Detroit Public Library contains 200,000 volumes. There are published in the city nearly 100 periodicals, including dailies, weeklies, and magazines. The Museum of Art contains a very fine collection of relics of antiquity and scientific specimens, as well as a gallery of paintings. City water is obtained from the center of Lake St. Clair. Electric lights, railways, and well built, well swept streets give the city a metropolitan air. See Seeds; Pontiac ; Michigan ; Drugs 2026 Editor's Note: By way of comparison, Detroit today has about 630,000 residents — up from the 285,704 of 1900 noted here, but a shadow of the 1.85 million it reached in 1950 before the auto industry's collapse emptied it. (Ed: BR 2026-06-18)