1879  
​ 1974  Detroit purchases Belle Isle, a 985 
Detroit elects Coleman Young as its first  acre island on the Detroit River. It 
Black mayor. He serves until 1993.  becomes a public park. 
   

   
 
 
 

1959   
Berry Gordy founds Motown Records. He   
names the record company's center of  June 6, 1925 
operations "Hitsville USA." With artists like 
Walter Chrysler starts the Chrysler 
Stevie Wonder and the Jackson 5, Motown has 
Corp. in Detroit. It is now 
120 singles hit the Top 20 in the 1960s, and 
changes the direction of popular music. 
headquartered in Auburn Hills, a 
Detroit suburb. 
 
  
July 23-28, 1967 
The Twelfth Street riot, one of the  1869 
biggest in U.S. history, pits inner-city black  ​The Detroit Opera House opens on 
residents against police, then National  Campus Martius. The ground floor is the 
Guard troops. In five days of rioting, 43 
people are killed, 467 injured, and more  location of the first J.L. Hudson's 
than 7,200 arrested. About 2,000 buildings  store. 
are destroyed. 
 
 
 
 

 
   
May-July 2009  2018  
Bedrock Detroit announces a $900 
Chrysler and GM declare bankruptcy. 
million, two building project, including a 
  58-story tower.