One of the chief public buildings is the city
hall, facing the Campus Martius, with fronts on four streets. It counts
among the finest edifices of the kind in the west. Built of sandstone, it
is designed after the Italian style of architecture, surmounted by a tower
180 feet high. Its cost amounted to $600,000. Other prominent structures
are the opera house, the office of the Board of Trade, the custom house,
and the Roman Catholic cathedral.
The commercial facilities of the city are very extensive. The Detroit
River is a connecting link in the great chain of lake navigation, and
affords the best harbor on the inland-seas. Detroit is not only the center
of a great railroad system; more than 350 vessels are owned here, and
numerous daily lines of steamers run to various points of the lakes. Its
manufacturing industries are very important and consist of iron, flour,
tobacco, cigars, lumber, and bricks. The extensive Pullman Car Works are
situated here; also one of the seven pin factories in the United States.
Settled by the French, early in the eighteenth century, Detroit passed
into the hands of the English in 1763. It was then besieged for eleven
months by the Indian chief Pontiac; ceded to the Americans in 1783, but
not occupied by them till 1796.
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