FUN FACTS ABOUT DETROIT Detroit... • is home to the Motown sound founded by Berry Gordy Jr. in 1957 • is home to the first Van Gogh painting in a public collection in the U.S. at the Detroit Institute of Arts, "Self Portrait," Vincent Van Gogh, 1887 • installed the first mile of paved concrete road, just north of the Model T plant, on Woodward Avenue between McNichols and 7 Mile Roads in 1909 • built the nation’s first urban freeway, the Davison, in 1942 • is home to the oldest state fair in the nation — the Michigan State Fair, first held in 1849 • is the potato chip capital of the world, based on consumption • has country’s largest island park within a city — Belle Isle Park • is home to the world’s only floating post office, the J.W. Westcott II, can be found on the Detroit River • is north of Canada • is second in the nation in fishing rod sales • shares the world’s first auto traffic tunnel between two nations – the Detroit/Windsor Tunnel • is home to the tallest hotel in the Western Hemisphere – the Detroit Marriott Renaissance Center, at 727 feet/73 stories • the nation's first soda — Vernors — created in Detroit by pharmacist James Vernor in 1862. Detroit is also home to Sanders hot fudge, Better Made Potato Chips, Faygo soda pop, Stroh’s Ice Cream • has the most registered bowlers in the United States • was the first city in the nation to assign individual telephone numbers in 1879  |
