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is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located in the Detroit metropolitan area and Wayne County, and is the tenth largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, it had a population of 97,775. The city is the hometown of Henry Ford and the world headquarters of the Ford Motor Company. It has a campus of the University of Michigan as well as Henry Ford Community College.
The Dearborn area was first settled by Europeans in 1786. The village of Dearborn was established in 1836, named after patriot Henry Dearborn, a General in the American Revolution and Secretary of War under President Thomas Jefferson. Its origins as a city trace back to a January 1929 consolidation vote that established its present-day borders by merging Dearborn and neighboring Fordson (previously known as Springwells), which feared being absorbed into Detroit. The area between the two towns was, and still remains in part, undeveloped.
Once farm land, this was bought by Henry Ford for his estate, Fair Lane and the Ford Motor Company World Headquarters. Later developments in this corridor were the Ford airport (later converted to the Dearborn Proving Grounds), other Ford administrative and development facilities, the Henry Ford Village and Museum, the Henry Ford Centennial Library, Fairlane Town Center, and the Dearborn Civic Center. Some of the land remains open as of 2005. It is planted with sunflowers and often with Henry Ford's favorite soybeans. The crops are never harvested.
Into the late 20th century, some believe that municipal policies to restrict use of Dearborn parks and leasing of facilities such as the civic center to residents were racially motivated. Historically, the city has had a very small African American population.
In the 2000 census, Arab Americans comprised 30% of Dearborn's population. More Iraqi immigrants have been arriving since the continued war in their country. The majority of more recent Arab immigrants are Muslims, in contrast to the predominately Christian Arabs who immigrated to Metro Detroit in the first half of the twentieth century. Lebanese Americans are still the largest proportion of Arab Americans in Dearborn.