Tour info (PDF)
Fall Tour registration is now closed
Although we expect tours to proceed as outlined, individual sites and other details may change due to site availability and other factors. Please consult your confirmation letters and the website for updates. Final details will be provided at the registration desk upon check-in.
The SIA registration desk is at the Marriott Courtyard Detroit Downtown Hotel
The registration desk will be open the following times:
7:30 to 9:30 a.m. and 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. on Thurs. 9/29
6:30 to 7:30 a.m. on Fri. 9/30
7:15 to 8:15 a.m. on Sat. 10/1
8:00 to 9:00 a.m. on Sun. 10/2.
Hotels
Airfare
The SIA visited Detroit for its 9th Annual Conference in 1980. We are returning 25 years later to look at the changes to its industrial landscape and learn more about its industrial legacy.
Detroit is the oldest major city in the Midwest but its economic and industrial history is really a tale of two cities. Founded in 1701 as a French fur trading post and fortress along a strait (“De Troit”), it was primarily a commercial center until the 1870s, when manufacturing became firmly established.
Detroit had a remarkably diversified industrial base in the late 19th century, with nationally significant companies manufacturing railroad freight cars, parlor and kitchen stoves, tobacco products (cigars and chewing tobacco), pharmaceuticals, iron and copper, chemicals, boots and shoes, ships, and a wide range of wood products. In the early 20th century, Detroit became the center of the American automobile industry and the home of important brands such as Oldsmobile, Ford, Cadillac, Packard, Hudson, Lincoln, Dodge, Maxwell, Chrysler, and many others.
By the late 1920s Detroit’s economy was dominated by automobile manufacturers and their suppliers. The auto industry’s growth brought an enormous influx of immigrants to staff the factories. Detroit’s population, only 285,000 in 1900, skyrocketed to 1.6 million in 1930, when it was the fourth-largest city in the United States. After serving as “The Arsenal of Democracy” during World War II, the automobile industry began moving out of the city starting in the 1950s and this trend has continued unabated to the present. After reaching a peak population of nearly 2 million in the early 1950s, Detroit’s population is now under 900,000.
For More information contact:
- Mary Habstritt, Events Coordinator, with questions about the schedule or other event details, siaevents@aol.com; (212) 769-4946.
- Don Durfee, SIA Office Manager, with registration questions: (906) 487-1889 or sia@mtu.edu
