Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-02-02
DETROIT ABREAST
OF HOUSING NEEDS
Decade of Building Boom
Gives City Imposing Ar
ray of Structures.
~ the Associated Press.

~ the Associated Press.
DETROIT February 2-Detroit-
where automobile is king of host of
industries making anything from a
headache pill to a skyscraper heating
system-added nearly 100000 TO its
population during the last decade. 1t
thereby stood off all contenders for the
position of Americas fourth city and at
the same time it shed the last VeStige
of boom town appearance.
Today, as the result of "catch-up"
building program, Detroit stands fully
equipped to provide its present popula-
tion-and an even larger one-with
ample housing, educational, recreational
and cultural facilities.
The decade preceding 1929 saw a Jump
from the 1000 class to 993,739. But
the city had been SO busy trying to
Satiate a seemingly unlimited demand
for automobiles that little had been
done to place physical growth on a par
with the upSWing of population.
Many Big Buildings.
The period between 1920 and 1880. on
the other hand, is recorded in Detroit's
history as "the bJhlliing decade" Dur
ing flve years of that period-from 1923
TO 1928-one new building of 10 stories
or more was started on an average of
every 90 days. In one year, 1927, two
40-story, one 46-story, one 35-story and
one 28-story building replaced smaller
downtown structures.
Residence property was improved at
an even faster tempo. Row after row
OF apartment houses and apartment
hotels-some $500 of them in all
eprang up where before there was only
vacant, Swampy land.
The city reached out eagerly to add
new territory, taking in go square miles
IN 10 years. To serve these new homes
there were new business streets and
community shopping centers. The
Fisher brothers built the first section of
their big building on Grand boulevard
and gave Detroit its uptown"
Ford Plant Expands.
A large slice of the county gain of
population in the last 10 years outside
the city was in Henry Ford'S new mu-
nicipality of Dearborn, for during the
decade Ford changed gangling ship
yard on River Rouge to the worlds
largest automobile factory. Detroit
pushed its city limits in all directions,
and in virtually every direction went
right up against the boundaries of
suburban municipality which refused to
surrender its identity. Two of these SUI
burbs, Highland Park and Hamtramck,
continue to exist, surrounded on all
sides by the city.
easier by the extensive use of the au-
tonobile for daily transportation, more
extensive here perhaps than anywhere
in the world. But at the same time, the
city considered public transportation
and IN 1928 took over the street car sys-
tenn as municipal project, added 70
miles Of rails and 478 miles of coach
lines.
Arts Are Promoted.
Detroit means industrial materialism
to many people, but the arts were not
neglected in the building decade" A
new, thoroughly adequate library and
many branches were erected, and across
the street from the main library is an
impressive institute of arts, housing per-
manently many valuable works and now
and again the scene of notable exhibits.
In addition to the automobile plants,
Detroit has hundreds or fndustries-big
and little. When stoves were popular,
Detroit led in stove making, and when
farmers needed wagons, the city made
them. AT one time, 1t led in tobacco
products. It met the demand for auto
mobiles, but even today As per cent of
the manufactured articles shipped from
Detroit have nothing to do with motor
cars.