Detroit--Where Life is Worth Living - Part 3

Commerce

In 1915, the Detroit Convention and Tourists' Bureau put out a lovely brochure touting the many highlights of the city. Part of the brochure covered industry.

Did you know that in 1915, Detroit was #1 in the United States in the production of:
  • Automobiles (okay, you knew that one)
  • Automotive accessories
  • Stoves
  • Varnish
  • Paint
  • Adding machines
  • Pharmaceutical supplies
  • Soda
  • Chairs
  • Overalls
  • Aluminum castings
  • Pins! (Take that, other cities with pin production!)
Other interesting business facts of Detroit in 1914: (Interesting to me anyway)
  • Thirty different manufacturers in the city had annual production of over $1,000,000
  • Forty different businesses in Detroit employed more than 1,000 people, eight of them had more than 3,000 employees, and two had more than 15,000 employees
  • 85,376,705 tons of freight with a value of $927,191,061 was shipped on the Detroit River—more than that of New York, London, and Hong Kong combined
  • $28,000,000 was spent on new building construction
  • Industrial employees in Detroit increased from 46,372 in 1900 to 156,687 in 1914

Okay, enough with the stats—suffice it to say that Detroit was a city on the move!


 


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