July 25, 2016

Detroit was founded on July 24, 1701 by the French explorer and adventurer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac and a party of settlers. Cadillac was the leader of a band of soldiers and French Canadians adventurers who came ashore and claimed the land for the King of France. The city he helped found, Detroit, became the world center of automobile production in the 20th century. William H. Murphy and Henry M. Leland, founders of the Cadillac auto company, paid homage to him by using his name for their company and his armorial bearings as its logo in 1902. Various places bear his name in North America, in particular Cadillac Mountain, Maine, and the town of Cadillac, Michigan.