2005: Detroit's Renaissance Center, framed by the demolished ruins of the Detroit Screw Works factory, was constructed with great fanfare following the devastating 1967 riot.   As it's name implies it was hoped to inspire the rise of the City of Detroit.  Regrettably, powerful forces conspired against the wounded city.  Its core industry, automobile production, declined under twin hammers of oil embargos and foreign competition. 

The City of Detroit, suffering from damage to its spirit, image and economy, saw an accelerating flight of its middle classes to the communities ringing the city and the concomitant loss of tax base, businesses and institutions.  By the mid 1990's its downtown was largely a ghost town highlighted by the fabulous abandoned ruins of its famed 1920's skyline.   Many of its neighborhoods had become urban prairies and the city found itself in care of almost all of the metropolis' population of poor, disabled, homeless and abandoned.

Yet, in the face of that seeming hopelessness, changes were occurring that would again spur the rise of Detroit. I am pleased to tell the story Detroit Rises! Click the little arrows and begin the tour...