"Detroit the Dynamic": The Industrial History of Detroit from Cigars to Cars

The first decade of the twentieth century represents a great divide in Detroit industrial history. In the second half of the nineteenth century, Detroit and its environs developed a substantial and diverse industrial base. Bulk product industries made iron and steel, copper ingots, salt, chemicals, and a bewildering variety of wood products. The city's industrialists achieved great success and national fame by manufacturing a wide spectrum of goods seldom remembered today as products of Detroit. The city was home to substantial manufacturers of consumer goods such as shoes, tobacco products, paint and varnish, packaged seeds for flowers and vegetables, beer, pharmaceuticals, heating and cooking stoves, and big ticket capital goods including ships and railroad cars. The sudden emergence of automobile manufacturing after 1900 changed the city's industrial character nearly overnight. By 1915 Detroit was the automobile manufacturing center of the United States, and the auto industry dominated Detroit's economy. For the rest of the twentieth century this single industry determined the city's fate and defined its character. For published scholarship on the history of Detroit industry, the first decade of the twentieth century forms a great divide as well. Numerous high-quality, scholarly studies document the emergence and maturation of the automobile industry. These works include broad automobile industry studies, detailed histories of the major companies, and biographies of most of the significant automotive leaders. In contrast, the collective body of works on Detroit industry from 1850 to 1900 is thin, and historians in search of information need to cast wide nets.