Housing
Detroit had a time when it was heavily populated and there were hundreds of thousands of jobs available. At one point their were 296,600 manufacturing jobs alone. The population was so high at a peak of 1,849,568 residents, that even housing was scarce. Back in the 1950s, a house cost around $8,000. They may not have been the biggest houses but it was a house none the less. Everyone had job and had money to purchase a house and whatever else they needed.
Jobs |
The auto industry was a major contributing factor for jobs but also for the loss of jobs. Its hard to believe that Detroit at one point had the highest per-capita income in the United States. Although, it only got worse from there. By the late 1950s the 3 big auto companies decided to move out of Detroit because there were technological advancements and realized they did not need as many workers to build a car. Thats when Detroit started to hit its decline. Because so many people lost their jobs because of the motor companies relocation, 180,000 residents fled from Detroit between 1945 and 1960.
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12Th Street Riot
What some don't realize is that the 12th Street Riot in Detroit was also a factor for the major decrease in population. On the night of Sunday July 23rd, 1967 a small street in the booming town became Hell as we knew it. With rumors being spread of police shooting an african american prostitute two days prior tensions were already high. When the police were raiding an illegal after-hours club, about 200 on-lookers started to line the street watching what was going on. At about 3:30am it took a turn for the worse. A bottle was thrown at the police and fires began to erupt in the streets. By 4:30am there was thousands of rioters in the streets, and by 6:30am the streets erupted in flames. Every policeman and fireman was called in plus an additional 300 state troopers. The firemen that were trying to put out all the fires were being attacked by rioters. When they called in the national guard to help with the riot it only got worse, firemen were being shot by snipers and fire hoses were cut so they could not put out the raging fires that assisted in leaving 5,000 people homeless. Additionally 43 people were killed, 7,000 people were arrested, 1,700 stores were looted and destroyed and their was 50 million dollars worth of property damage. Finally, by July 27th order was restored but so much had been lost to so many people. After the 12th Street Riot thats when the population of detroit really started to take a plummet.