Detroit, Oregon
city in Oregon, USA
Detroit is a city in Marion County, Oregon, United States. It was named for Detroit, Michigan, in the 1890s because of the large number of people from Michigan in the community. The population was 203 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area.
History
The original townsite of Detroit was inundated in the summer of 1952 when the Corps of Engineers finished Detroit Dam on the Santiam River. The community was relocated about 1⁄2 mile (0.80 km) northwest of the original site, on Route 22, and was incorporated as a city the same year.
Construction on the concrete Detroit Dam began on April 1, 1949, as part of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Willamette Valley Project. The completed dam was dedicated by former Oregon Governor Douglas McKay and the U. S. Secretary of the Interior on June 10, 1953. In addition to flood control, the dam benefited navigation, irrigation, electric power production, stream purification and recreation.
Located near Detroit Lake and Detroit Lake State Park, Detroit's economy is dependent on tourism.
The public source identifies “Detroit, Oregon” as city in Oregon, USA. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Detroit, Oregon and city.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Detroit, Oregon”, the useful work is to connect “city in Oregon, USA” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2187605. The Library of Congress control number is no2009183817. Authority coordinates are 44.736, -122.151. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020, 1952, 1949 and 1953.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
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Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Detroit, Oregon” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.