It’s always nice to see Detroit as the focal point for national or regional maps.

“Detroit’s proximity to the geographical center of the nation’s population is obvious.”

This map comes from the 1949 master plan for the “Detroit Festival of the Great Lakes” to be held in 1951 at the 250th anniversary of Detroit’s founding. The Michigan State Fair Grounds were the chosen spot because of easy access via U.S. 10 (Woodward Ave.) and Michigan 102 (Eight Mile) as well as U.S. 16 (Grand River) and U.S. 112 (Michigan Ave.). The new Grand Trunk Railroad passenger platform at the Fair Ground was also projected to be used.

It was written that:

“The Michigan State Fair Grounds is conveniently located for both the farm families and the city families of Michigan. It is central to the heavily populated southeastern part of Michigan. 3.5 million people live within 50 miles of the grounds, almost 3/5 of the residents of Michigan, plus 150,000 in the neighboring Canadian province of Ontario.”