This week in Michigan real estate history features the incorporation of two of Oakland County’s most populous cities.

On June 7, 1955, the voters approved the incorporation of both the City of Troy and the City of Southfield. Both were previously organized as townships. The incorporation as cities preceded the dramatic growth in the population of both cities, as the migration of residents from the City of Detroit accelerated. The City of Detroit’s population has declined in every census since 1950. At the same time, the population of Troy grew from 19,402 in the 1960 census to 80,980 in the 2010 census. Southfield’s population grew from 31,531 in the 1960 census to 71,758 in the 2010 census.

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On June 2, 1919, groundbreaking for the construction of the General Motors Building was held in what would eventually be known as the New Center neighborhood of Detroit, Michigan.

The building was originally known as the Durant Building, after William C. Durant, one of the co-founders of General Motors. However, Durant was ousted by the Board of Directors prior to the completion of the building, and it was renamed the General Motors Building. In 1996, GM purchased the Renaissance Center on the riverfront of downtown Detroit, and GM moved its last workers to the RenCen in 2001. The General Motors Building is now primarily occupied by the State of Michigan, and known as Cadillac Place.

The structure was designed by noted architect Albert Kahn and has approximately 1.4M square feet of space. When the building opened fully in 1923, it was the second largest office building in the world (behind only New York City’s Equitable Building).