Portal:Michigan/Cities/1

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Highland Park is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 16,746 at the 2000 census. It is completely surrounded by Detroit except a small portion which touches the city of Hamtramck which is also surrounded by Detroit.

The area that became Highland Park began as a small farming community north of Detroit near the turn of the century. The area's population shot up after 1913 when Henry Ford opened the Highland Park Ford Plant featuring the first assembly line. The city was incorporated in 1918.

Ford Motor Company closed the Highland Park plant in the late 1950s, and in the late decades of the 20th century the city's population and economy shared the same decline that Detroit experienced. Both cities also saw an increae in crime rate. The city went bankrupt in 2002, and as of 2006, it is still in emergency financial management under the State of Michigan.