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:: Much of the history of industry and its impact on cities in 20th century America can be written by examining the evolution of manufacturing in Wayne County and its influence on the viability of communities. At the turn of the century, Detroit and Wayne County lead the nation in the invention and manufacturing of a variety of textile and manufactured goods, including pharmaceuticals, paints, varnishes, stove works and metal-hulled ships. Major national firms were headquartered here, including Parke Davis Pharmaceutical, Ferry-Morris Seed Company, Burroughs, and the Detroit Stove Company in Detroit. Related industries such as shipyards and steel manufacturing were located further downriver in Wyandotte, Ecorse and River Rouge. These were naturally related to the proximity to water and shipping docks needed to import raw materials and transport finished goods. With the birth of the auto industry and the advent of the railroad system, Wayne County was already well positioned to attract related industries. U.S. Tire, Chalmers Motor Car, Owen Electric, Packard Motors, Fruehauf, Dodge, Ford Motor Company and countess suppliers to the auto industry established their major manufacturing facilities close to the rail lines, employment base and road networks of the established communities. :: The end of the 1920s positioned Wayne County as the nation's leading center for auto-related manufacturing that in turn employed hundreds of thousands of workers. It is no small coincidence that in communities like Highland Park, Hamtramck, Detroit, Ecorse, and River Rouge, neighborhoods sprung up for workers within close proximity to large employers. In very short order, housing was built within the shadow of plants, allowing production workers and laborers to walk to work. The quality of these homes was directly related to the income levels of the workers. In some communities, entire neighborhoods of frame-built houses were established explicitly for laborers recruited from the south for Ford Motor Company. For those unable to walk to work, dedicated bus lines transported workers to and from work daily. Managers and executives who had the luxury of private transportation built their housing within the exclusive neighborhoods of Indian Village, Boston-Edison, Dearborn, and the Grosse Pointes. Communities like Highland Park and northwest Detroit had neighborhood enclaves for the very wealthy and new middle class white-collar workers employed by the auto industry. :: Additional housing and commercial expansion occurred throughout the 1930s and 1940s so that with few exceptions, the communities of Detroit Highland Park, Hamtramck Ecorse and River Rouge were built out before 1950. At the same time, the very automobiles produced in the older communities facilitated the sub urbanization of Wayne County. After WWII, Detroit, Highland Park and Hamtramck continued to grow in population until the very early 1950s when freeways, shopping mail development and housing development outside the cities contributed to the decline of population and continued to the present time. It should be noted that this phenomenon was not unique to Wayne County. In fact, nearly every major eastern and Midwestern central city has suffered a population loss of 30 percent of its residents since the 1950s due to falling birth rates, smaller family size, aging of the population and the trend toward sub urbanization. :: During the 1960s, the early signs of transitions in manufacturing and management techniques also began to appear that affected the auto-dependent communities. When faced with a decline in sales, global manufacturing companies chose to close their oldest, most obsolete plants until their inventory was adjusted. The oldest plants were, naturally, located in Wayne County, leading to protracted periods of unemployment and instability for area families. As newer manufacturing techniques began to be implemented in plants, fewer jobs were needed, thus reducing employment opportunities. Ultimately, decisions were made to build new manufacturing facilities outside of urbanized areas, favoring instead "greenfield sites". Plants built in suburban Wayne County, Oakland County and outside of the state of Michigan put Wayne County's older and industry dependent communities at a disadvantage. :: By the 1970s, global competition and changes in consumer preferences resulted in failing auto demand that in turn triggered the decline of Wayne County's importance as the world's leading industrial center. The birthplace of modern industrial methods had become obsolete. As the course of industry moved on, each early industrial community bears witness of its former position through its inventory of housing, commercial strips and obsolete infrastructure.
:: The deterioration of the auto-based employment coupled with the increased mobility of the new middle-class population resulted in a direct loss of the housing demand within older surrounding neighborhoods. Concurrently, commercial and retail corridors along the major avenues declined as the population which once supported them moved to suburban locations. Lower home values in the former industrial areas have created a double jeopardy - for the low cost of housing is unfortunately associated with older wood frame housing that requires a fairly regular maintenance schedule. Badly deteriorated housing, vacant commercial properties, empty lots and vacant hulking industrial buildings have created numerous pockets of severe blight throughout Wayne County's formerly thriving industrial communities. :: Older infrastructure of sewer lines, roads and utilities must be rebuilt to remain competitive with "greenfield' sites. Popular development practices involved building new infrastructure in outlying suburbs which not only results in urban sprawl, but also misses the opportunity to refurbish the older communities left with systems that are now 100 years old and in need of repair. In order to attract new industry to the older cities, the infrastructure will have to be equal or better than what is offered in greenfield sites. Innovative policy is needed to reverse this trend.
:: It is not surprising that investment in the older communities continues to be of value. These areas retain a built environment and transportation network intended for industry, providing a full range of services. Corporations have full access to the interstate highway system, rail, water and aviation transportation systems that allow for national distribution of goods and services. The concentration of small businesses, suppliers, and built environment within the older industrial cores offers economic development opportunities to service these large numbers of employees and businesses. Finally, adequate vacant land obsolete buildings are available to be assembled to encourage the location of new industry or the expansion of existing industry. If the infrastructure can be rebuilt to accommodate growth, these attributes place the older industrial corridors of Wayne County in a position to capture a reasonable share of the economic growth that the county is expecting.
:: Continued decline has been arrested through the reinvestment by public and private sources, creating a visible difference in distressed communities. As described in the CEDS, new resources must be carefully directed to the most beneficial direction to create sustainable communities. The CEDS committee has evaluated materials presented in the following sections to develop goals and objectives for the concentration of future resources that will generate the most effective impact on the distressed communities. |
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:: As
the global economy moved forward, the County's industrial legacy
left behind an inventory of early 201h century factories typified
by five story structures. The list of automobile and related
production plants that are no longer operational due to obsolescence
is lengthy. For example, the legendary Highland Park Ford Plant
that revolutionized the nation's manufacturing wages and assembly
techniques is currently relegated to storage use. Of all Wayne
County communities, Detroit's inventory of obsolescence is the
longest. Vast brownfield sites exist, left from either corporate
abandonment for newer sites or permanent closing. Chryslers Huber
Foundry, Lynch Road Assembly, Uniroyal, Packard Plant and Fruehauf
Corporation are among those left behind.
:: Not
all of the industrial change has had a negative impact. In fact,
several new major industrial development projects have been located
within the older communities. By the late 1980s new facilities
such as the General Motors Assembly Plant, Chrysler Jefferson
Avenue Assembly Plant and the Mack Avenue Viper Plant were introduced
back into the city of Detroit and Hamtramck. More recently, the
former Chrysler Headquarters Facilities in Highland Park is being
developed as a new multi-tenant industrial and commerce park.
Partnerships between communities and corporations, legislation
such as NAFTA laws and environmental remediation funds have made
the areas into desirable trade zones and introduced manufacturing
back into the older cities.
:: Smaller
commercial and retail development opportunities are also present
for redeveloped areas of Wayne County's distressed cities. While
a large share of the area's market demand has been seized by
shopping mall development in outlying suburbs, the convenience
of nearby shopping for lower income shoppers without transportation
cannot be overstated. The value of neighborhood-based retail
and commercial services to the economic sustainability of communities
and cannot be overstated. The County has taken a particular interest
in this issue with the establishment of the Ways of Life program.
This program identifies retail corridors that exhibit strong
potential, but suffer from age, land use configuration and image
problems. Through an intensive analysis process, a land use plan
and image campaign is launched. The Ways of Life program is described
further in the Planning and Development Activities section of
this report. The demographics section of this report illustrates
that wide discrepancies exist among the income levels of communities
in Wayne County. Nonetheless, a large market share of households
still resides within the older communities that, at a minimum,
require basic goods and services within close proximity to home.