According to U.S. Census Bureau data, from 1910 to 1920, Detroit’s population increased from 465,766, to 993,678, and then rose again in 1930 to an astounding 1,568,662. In just twenty years, the population of Detroit exploded from less than half a million, to over one-and-a-half million, what drove this rapid growth? Detroit’s nickname, the Motor City, may help to answer this question. With the founding of automotive manufacturing companies such as: Ford, Dodge, General Motors, Chevrolet, and later Chrysler, and, the now defunct, Packard, Detroit was poised to build the world’s cars–but lacked the labor force to do so (Wikipedia, Detroit 20th Century). The prospect of employment at these new factories attracted hundreds of thousands to Detroit, including many black Americans from the South during the Great Migration–resulting in the massive population increase seen in the census data (Wikipedia). The automotive center of the world also saw its factories utilized for wartime manufacturing during both world wars, leading to even more migration to the city for work. Jobs in Detroit were especially lucrative, as the city’s labor unions were at the forefront of progress, helping to secure greater benefits, hours, pay and working conditions for their members (Wikipedia). Greater job opportunities drove the massive move into Detroit, jobs that built the world’s cars and the Arsenal of Democracy.
References
U.S. Census Bureau and Erik Steiner, Spatial History Project, Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis, Stanford University
Wikipedia–Detroit, 20th Century
Header/Featured image from Wikimedia Commons
