In a thirty-year period, from 1870 to 1900, Michigan’s population more than doubled. The lumber industry developed rapidly. Huge amounts of land were cleared as large numbers of farmers settled in the area. Then in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Olds Motor Works and Ford Motor Company transformed Detroit into the center of the nation’s automobile industry. Later, during both World Wars, Michigan’s industrial might aided the war effort greatly. Factories built trucks, armored vehicles, airplane engines, and more