Detroit Population
1940-01-01
Detroit, Michigan
1,623,452people
Source: U.S. Census 1940
← Rhymes
Detroit: 1941–1967
The rise and fall of the home of America's auto industry
A chronological timeline of Detroit's transformation from wartime industrial capital to a city in crisis. Beginning with the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the federal mobilization that made Detroit the heart of American manufacturing, the sequence traces the auto boom, the seeds of its own undoing in suburbanization and racial exclusion, and the 1967 riots that marked the city's break with its postwar identity.
10 events·7 data points·1940–1970
War Time
1941–1945Attack on Pearl Harbor
1941-12-07Honolulu, HawaiiUS government bans civilian auto production
1942-02-10Detroit, Michigan1943 Detroit race riot
1943-06-20Detroit, MichiganEnd of World War II
1945-09-02Abingdon-on-Thames, Berkshire, England
The Auto Boom
1945–1950River Rouge employment
1946-12-01Detroit, Michigan75,000peopleHenry Ford dies
1947-04-07Dearborn, MichiganDetroit Population
1950-01-01Detroit, Michigan1,849,568peoplePeak Detroit population
Source: US Census 1950
The Peak and Seeds of Demise
1950–1956Bank of Japan bails out Toyota
1949-12-01Tokyo, JapanUS auto sales
1950-12-316,700,000vehiclesCrosley Motors ceases automobile production
1952-07-01Cincinnati, Ohio
Exodus
1956–1966Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956
1956-06-29Washington, D.C. · Dwight EisenhowerDetroit Population
1960-01-01Detroit, Michigan1,670,144people11% decline from the previous decade
Source: U.S. Census 1960
River Rouge employment
1960-12-01Detroit, Michigan30,000people
A city struggles to cope
1966–1970Detroit enacted its first city income tax
1962-07-01Detroit, Michigan1967 Detroit riot
1967-07-23Detroit, MichiganDetroit Population
1970-01-01Detroit, Michigan1,511,482peopleSource: U.S. Census 1970