Industries. About a span of 200 years. The city of detroit itself was founded by the french in 1701. Detroit is a french name. It represents the straight of water being the Detroit River. It separates the United States from canada now. At that time, it was one region of land that was inhabited by the various native american people. This is a representation of what it may have looked like around 1701 when the french settled this area. Theres a long history that took place before this. Human habitation began in this area as far back as 2000 years ago with the cultures that we sometimes referred to as mound builders that came out of the Mississippi River area. They came up to this region and left us these large burial mounds. At one point, there was six of them at least in the city. Now there is only one that remains on the grounds of historic fort wayne down at the Detroit River. Several of the tribes that were living here wouldve been the chippewa, the pottawatomie, the uron. A, the h these people lived a very prosperous life for such a long time before european habitation. They were cultivating crops, hunting and treating and making tools and pieces of artwork. Some of those are displayed over here. The pipe here at the top of the case was given to one of the settlers of detroit by tecumseh, a very famous native american figurehead in this region. You can also see in this case some tools that were created by the peoples here, made out of stone, metals, things that they wouldve gotten from the land, essentially. Since this region has a strong connection with the Detroit River, these copper fishing hooks i find very interesting. We see people today along the River Fishing for recreation to get food. This connects us back to the original people who settled here. Detroit was first settled by antoine cadillac who got permission from the french king to establish a trading outpost at the strategic section on the Detroit River where detroit is now. He came out of the northern route of montreal with a handful of men, about 100 men. When they arrived here, they immediately got to work at building a settlement. This section here represents a ribbon farm. A ribbon farm is an agricultural method established by the french when they settled here. Imagine you have the Detroit River going like this and detroit on top of that. Ribbon farms stretched out on either end in long, thin sections. This allowed each family and farmer to have a little bit of land near the river, near the water. This would be used for watering your plants but also critically important for transport as well. The detroit location itself is a very attractive spot for the french because of the Detroit River, its a very narrow river that leads from lake erie to lake huron. This is important because of commerce, getting goods from the upper region in michigan and the rest of the great lakes, but also a strategic position. At this point, detroit was on both sides of the river. Because of this, they controlled the entire span leading up to the rest of the great lakes. Important from both a strategic aspect and in terms of controlling trade. Following the french and indian war, new france became british. It was all seated to the british in 1763. Right now you are looking at a really great model of detroit. This is how it maybe wouldve looked in 1792. This model represents the town and the new fort built by the british. This was after they had torn down the original fort, fort pontchartrain. You may notice its strange the fort itself is behind the settlement. This would actually come back to bite the fort because when the americans took over, they notice, our cannons cant fire on the river. What good is a fort that cant fire on attackers from the river . That was eventually torn down and replaced with another fort. Even though at this point in time it was a british city, a majority of residents were french. A couple of hundred within the city limits itself, but a lot more on the farms on the outside. In 1805, detroit burned down to the ground. Almost completely. All but a couple of buildings had been completely destroyed. Because it happened midday on a sunday, miraculously no one was killed. Despite the obvious tragedy of the whole city burning down, this provided a fresh start for a whole new city plan. The bones of which are represented in the city today. The new territorial judge, augustus woodward, as he was on his way to detroit, thats when the city burned down. He was a big fan of pierre lafond. The city designer for washington, d. C. He immediately got to work planning a new city grid. His layout of the city provided for wide boulevards, spaces where people can congregate, things that didnt naturally occur when the city had grown over time. Some of the elements he stole are these diagonal lines, these circular plazas, Grand Circus Park and campus marshes are in the city today, even though this plan saw a few changes. I mentioned the importance of the Detroit River as not only a highway for trade but for travel. Following the fire, the city continues to rebuild. More people come to the city. Because of that location on the Detroit River, the link between upper and lower great lakes, we see a lot of commerce continue to thrive. We see ships coming back from the Upper Peninsula of michigan, with iron ore, lumber, things that would transform the city of detroit into a major manufacturing hub. One of the biggest manufacturing cities in the United States. By the mid1800s, detroit is already an industrial powerhouse, with the Detroit River bringing in resources from the Upper Peninsula, with railroad being built more and more, all the time. We were amassing a stockpile of resources that would be transformed into other things in the city itself, things like various types of metal. Things like the shipbuilding things like copper and iron ore. This would get transformed into things that would transform the country. Ships, railcars, eventually automobiles. Its around this time that detroit really gains its reputation as a manufacturing powerhouse. Our cities staff recently traveled to detroit, michigan to learn about its rich history. To watch more visit cspan. Org citiestour. Youre watching American History tv all weekend, every weekend on cspan3. In 1979 a Small Network rolled out a big idea, let viewers make up their own minds. Cspan open the door in washington policymaking for all to see. Bringing you unfiltered content from congress and beyond. A lot has changed in 40 years but that big idea is bigger than ever. Cspan is your unfiltered view of government so you can make up your own mind. The Public Service by your cable or satellite provider. Tv,ext, on American HistoryHouse Speaker nancy pelosi hosted a reception at the u. S. Capitol to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the house of representatives passing the 19th amendment to the u. S. Constitution, which guaranteed women the right to vote. Other speakers included kevin former senator barbara mikulski. Ladies and gentlemen, the honorable nancy pelosi, the speaker of the house of representatives, accompanied by the honorable kevin mccarthy, ms. Kay coles james, the honorable barbara mikulski, the honorable brenda lawrence, the honorable debbie lesko, ms. Cokie roberts, and meb