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. The community was relocated about 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 community suffered from a drought in 2001, when Detroit Lake was little more than the Santiam River through the summer.
In 2010, by a vote of 47–37, citizens in Detroit voted down a ballot measure that would have changed the city's name to Detroit Lake, the name of the neighboring reservoir and one of the most visited summer sites in Oregon. The proposal was put forth by Doug DeGeorge, a builder and motel owner who resides in Arizona and wanted to disassociate the town from Detroit, Michigan, and its close ties to "crime, corruption, failing schools, and a shaky auto industry". DeGeorge was not present on the day of the city council vote, but repercussions from his comments had phone lines flooded with angry calls from Michigan residents. Voters chose to keep the original name of the city, though most residents and tourists still call it Detroit Lake. Gary Brown, a city councilman in Detroit, Michigan, disagreed with the proposal, saying that residents would have made a big mistake because "the Motor City will one day return to its previous glory".
On September 9, 2020, the entire city of Detroit was mostly burned to the ground during the Santiam Fire. Dozens of people were trapped, but managed to escape on a forest road through the active fire. A few months later, during the February 2021 winter and ice storm, the city received 26 in (66 cm) of snowthe most of any place affected by the storm.
Geography
Detroit is in eastern Marion County, within the Cascade Range. It is on the north side of Detroit Lake, a reservoir on the North Santiam River. A tributary, the Breitenbush River, enters the lake on the west side of the city. Oregon Route 22 passes through the center of town, leading east then south to U.S. Route 20 at Santiam Junction, and west to Salem, the state capital and Marion county seat. The summit Mount Jefferson is to the east-southeast.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Detroit has a total area of , of which are land and , or 38.4%, are water.