Becoming the Motor City: A Timeline of Detroit's Auto Industry

Well over a century ago, a cadre of self-trained mechanics, machinists, and other tradesmen started tinkering in the small, cramped machine shops near downtown Detroit. Despite their varied technical ideas, professional ambitions, and personal temperaments, they worked towards a common goal: to revolutionize personal transportation by capitalizing on the recently developed internal combustion engine.

The intercession of Providence determined that the likes of Henry Ford, Ransom Olds, John an...