Editing Highland Park, Michigan (section)

==History==
The area that became Highland Park began as a small farming community, on a large [[ridge]] at what is now [[Woodward Avenue]] and Highland, {{convert|6|mi|km|spell=in}} north of Detroit. In 1818, prominent Detroit judge [[Augustus B. Woodward]] bought the ridge, and platted the village of Woodwardville in 1825. The development of the village failed. Another Detroit judge, [[Benjamin F. H. Witherell]], son of [[Michigan Supreme Court]] justice [[James Witherell]], attempted to found a village platted as Cassandra on this site in 1836, but this plan also failed.<ref name="MasterPlan"/>

By 1860, the settlement was given a post office under the name of Whitewood. After a succession of closures and reopenings of the rural post office, the settlement was finally incorporated as a [[List of cities, villages, and townships in Michigan|village]] within [[Greenfield Township, Michigan|Greenfield Township]] and [[Hamtramck Township, Michigan|Hamtramck Township]] under the name of Highland Park in 1889.<ref>[http://www.infomi.com/city/highlandpark/ InfoMI.com]. Accessed April 18, 2007.</ref>

[[File:Highland Park Ford plant.jpg|thumb|left|[[Highland Park Ford Plant]]]]
In 1907, [[Henry Ford]] purchased {{convert|160|acre|ha}} just north of Manchester Street between Woodward Avenue and Oakland Street to build an automobile plant. Construction of the [[Highland Park Ford Plant]] was completed in 1909, and the area's population dramatically increased in 1913, when Henry Ford opened the plant's first [[assembly line]]. The village of Highland Park was incorporated as a [[List of cities, villages, and townships in Michigan|city]] in 1918<ref>[http://cityofhighlandpark.us/story.htm City of Highland Park Official History] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070202011926/http://cityofhighlandpark.us/story.htm |date=February 2, 2007}}</ref> to protect its tax base, including its successful Ford plant, from Detroit's expanding boundaries.

In 1910, Highland Park, then a village, had 4,120 residents. Between 1910 and 1920 during the boom associated with the automobile industry, Highland Park's population grew to about 46,500, an increase of 1,081 percent, reaching its peak around 1927. The growth of Highland Park and neighboring [[Hamtramck, Michigan|Hamtramck]] broke records for increases of population; both municipalities withstood annexation efforts from Detroit.<ref>"[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1920/05/16/112660475.pdf Detroit Suburbs Ahead in Census]." ''[[The New York Times]]''. May 16, 1920. Retrieved on April 11, 2009.</ref> In 1925, [[Chrysler|Chrysler Corporation]] was founded in Highland Park. It purchased the city's [[Brush Motor Car Company|Brush]]-[[Maxwell automobile|Maxwell]] plant, which would eventually expand to 150 [[acres]] and serve as the site of the company's headquarters for the next 70 years.<ref name="MasterPlan">[http://www.highlandparkcity.us/Services/CED/MasterPlan.pdf Highland Park 2011 Master Plan] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120317072354/http://www.highlandparkcity.us/Services/CED/MasterPlan.pdf |date=March 17, 2012}}, accessed October 20, 2011</ref>

Arthur Lupp of Highland Park founded the Michigan branch of the [[Black Legion (political movement)|Black Legion]] in 1931; it was a secret [[vigilante]] group related to the [[Ku Klux Klan]], which had been prominent in Detroit in the 1920s. The Legion had a similar nativist bent and its members were opposed to immigrants, Catholics, Jews, blacks, labor organizers, etc. Many public and business officials of Highland Park, including the chief of police, a mayor, and a city councilman, joined this group. Lupp and others were among the 48 men indicted and convicted following the murder of Charles Poole in May 1936; eleven were convicted in that murder. Investigations revealed the Legion had been involved in many other murders or conspiracies to murder during the previous three years, for which another 37 men were convicted.<ref name="morris">[https://archive.org/stream/TheBlackLegionRides/BLR_djvu.txt George Morris, "The Black Legion Rides"], New York: Workers Library Publishers, August 1936, Internet Archive, accessed September 16, 2015</ref><ref name="bak">[http://www.hourdetroit.com/core/pagetools.php?pageid=5073&url=%2FHour-Detroit%2FMarch-2009%2FThe-Dark-Days-of-the-Black-Legion%2Findex.php%3Fcparticle%3D2%26siarticle%3D1&mode=print Richard Bak, "The Dark Days of the Black Legion"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150929032759/http://www.hourdetroit.com/core/pagetools.php?pageid=5073&url=%2FHour-Detroit%2FMarch-2009%2FThe-Dark-Days-of-the-Black-Legion%2Findex.php%3Fcparticle%3D2%26siarticle%3D1&mode=print |date=September 29, 2015 }}, ''Hour Detroit'' magazine, March 2009, accessed September 16, 2015</ref> These convictions ended the reign of the Legion.

In 1944, the [[Davison Freeway]] was opened as the country's first modern depressed urban [[freeway]], running through the center of the city.<ref name=barnett>{{cite book |title= A Drive Down Memory Lane: The Named State and Federal Highways of Michigan |last= Barnett |first= LeRoy |year= 2004 |publisher= Priscilla Press |location= Allegan Forest, MI |isbn=1-886167-24-9 |page=66}}</ref> It was completely reconstructed and widened in 1996 and 1997 to improve its safety.<ref name="GEpr">{{cite press release|publisher=Office of the [[Michigan Governor|Governor]] |title=Governor Engler Celebrates Re-Opening of Davison Freeway One Month Early |url=http://www.state.mi.us/migov/gov/PressReleases/199710/davisonr.html |date=October 8, 1997 |access-date=November 8, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041207155112/http://www.state.mi.us/migov/gov/PressReleases/199710/davisonr.html |archive-date=December 7, 2004}}</ref>

[[Ford Motor Company]] demolished large sections of its Highland Park plant in the late 1950s. With the loss of industrial jobs, the city suffered many of the same difficulties as Detroit: declines in population and tax base accompanied by an increase in street crime. [[White flight]] from the city accelerated after the 1967 Detroit [[12th Street Riot]]. Ford's last operation at the factory, the production of tractors at its Model T plant, was discontinued in 1973, and in 1981 the entire property was sold to a private developer for general industrial usage.<ref name="MasterPlan"/> The city population was majority black and impoverished by the 1980s. Chrysler, the city's last major private sector employer, moved its corporate headquarters from Highland Park to [[Auburn Hills]] between 1991 and 1993, paying the city $44 million in compensation.<ref name="MasterPlan"/> The move dislocated a total of 6,000 jobs over this period.<ref name="MasterPlan"/>

On June 19, 1982, drafter Vincent Chin was [[Killing of Vincent Chin|beaten to death]] in Highland Park by two automotive workers in retaliation for [[Automotive industry in Japan|Japan's success in the automotive industry]].<ref name="Hung2">{{cite web |last1=Hung |first1=Louise |title=35 years after Vincent Chin's brutal murder, nothing has changed |url=http://globalcomment.com/35-years-vincent-chins-brutal-murder-nothing-changed/ |access-date=August 9, 2017 |website=Global Comment |date=June 28, 2017}}</ref> The killing was considered a racially-motivated hate crime.<ref name="wei">{{cite web |url=http://www.tolerance.org/news/article_hate.jsp?id=552 |first=William |last=Wei |title=An American Hate Crime: The Murder of Vincent Chin |publisher=[[Southern Poverty Law Center]] |work=Tolerance.org |date=June 14, 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928023138/http://www.tolerance.org/news/article_hate.jsp?id=552 |archive-date=September 28, 2007}}</ref>

Known as "The City of Trees",<ref name=Binellip182>Binelli, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=YlLyr7hX25IC&pg=PA182 182].</ref> the town was thickly forested until the 1970s. The spread of [[Dutch elm disease]] required many old trees to be cut down.

From 2001 to 2009, the city was controlled by an emergency financial manager appointed by the [[State of Michigan]] due to mounting financial stress.<ref name="efm1" /><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.mlive.com/politics/2013/10/highland_park_four_years_remov.html|title=Highland Park, four years removed from its last emergency manager, could be in line for another|last=Oosting|first=Jonathan|date=October 21, 2013|publisher=MLive}}</ref>

In August 2011, more than two-thirds of the [[street lights]] in Highland Park's residential neighborhoods and alleys were removed by the city, due to an inability to pay a $60,000 per month electric bill.<ref>{{cite news|last=Associated Press|title=Unable to pay $4 million electric bill, Michigan city turns off and removes many streetlights|url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/Unable-to-pay-bill-Mich-city-apf-2920161472.html|publisher=[[Yahoo]]|access-date=July 2, 2013}}</ref> The street lights were not only turned off, but decommissioned, or removed from their posts. The city advised residents to keep porch lights on to deter crime.<ref name=Binellip183>Binelli, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=YlLyr7hX25IC&pg=PA183 183].</ref> The following year, a local [[501(c)(3) organization|501(c)(3)]] [[nonprofit organization]], Soulardarity, was formed to restore streetlighting to the city's residential neighborhoods and alleyways in the form of [[solar street light]]s.<ref name="Soulardarity">{{cite web |last1=Laitner |first1=Bill |title=Tiny Michigan nonprofit is taking on DTE — and it could have huge impact on the company |url=https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/wayne/2020/01/16/dte-soulardarity-energy-democracy/4429251002/ |website=Freep.com |publisher=Gannett Co., Inc. |access-date=March 1, 2021}}</ref>

On November 20, 2013, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department filed a lawsuit against the City of Highland Park regarding unpaid sewage services and water totaling $17.7 million.<ref>Pardo, Steve and Candice Williams. "[http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20131123/METRO01/311230026/Detroit-sues-Highland-Park-17M-unpaid-sewer-bills Detroit sues Highland Park for $17M in unpaid sewer bills] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20131201155724/http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20131123/METRO01/311230026/Detroit-sues-Highland-Park-17M-unpaid-sewer-bills |date=December 1, 2013}}." ''[[The Detroit News]]''. November 23, 2013. Retrieved on December 1, 2013.</ref> In 2020, the two cities settled out of court for an unspecified amount.<ref>{{cite web |title=Kramer, Marian, et al. v City of Highland Park, Case No. 15-014492-CZ |url=https://cmspublic.3rdcc.org/ |website=Odyssey Web Access |access-date=March 1, 2021}}</ref>