Detroit, the once-mighty symbol of the nation's manufacturing strength, has now become the biggest U.S. city ever to file for bankruptcy - the result of a long, slow decline in population and auto manufacturing.
Although the filing had been feared for months, the path that lay ahead was still uncertain. Bankruptcy could mean laying off employees, selling off assets, raising fees and scaling back basic services such as trash collection and snow plowing, which have already been slashed.
The city's woes have piled up for generations. In the 1950s, its population grew to 1.8 million people, many of whom were lured by plentiful, well-paying auto jobs. Later that decade, Detroit began to decline as developers started building suburbs that lured away workers and businesses.
Detroit Mayor Dave Bing, left, speaks as state-appointed emergency manager Kevyn Orr listens during a news conference in Detroit
Then beginning in the late 1960s, auto companies began opening plants in other cities. Property values and tax revenue fell, and police couldn't control crime. In later years, the rise of autos imported from Japan started to cut the size of the U.S. auto industry.
A homeless man covers himself from the cold while walking down a sidewalk in Detroit
An Outsource to Detroit banner from Galaxe.Solutions is seen on a Detroit building
By the time the auto industry melted down in 2009, only a few factories from GM and Chrysler were left. GM is the only one with headquarters in Detroit, though it has huge research and testing centers with thousands of jobs outside the city. Above, the abandoned General Motors Fisher Body plant #21.
Detroit lost a quarter-million residents between 2000 and 2010. Today, the population struggles to stay above 700,000.
The result is a metropolis where whole neighborhoods are practically deserted and basic services cut off in places. Looming over the crumbling landscape is a budget deficit believed to be more than $380 million and long-term debt that could be as much as $20 billion.
An old Chevrolet truck stands for sale in a parking lot in Detroit
In recent months, the city has relied on state-backed bond money to meet payroll for its 10,000 employees.
An aerial view of Detroit, Michigan
Ilegally dumped tires sit in front of a vacant home in a once thriving neighborhood on the east side of Detroit
A person walks past the remains of the Packard Motor Car Company, which ceased production in the late 1950s in Detroit
Graffiti covers an abandoned building at the former Belle Isle Safari Zoo in Detroit
A telephone sits on a table at the former Belle Isle Safari Zoo in Detroit
The Detroit skyline from Windsor, Canada
