Some significant events took place Downriver in the 1970s:

1970

March: Grosse Ile Municipal Airport opens. Until 1969, the facility had been the Naval Air Station Grosse Ile (NASGI) since its construction in the 1930s
July 20: Southland Center mall was officially unveiled, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony led by Taylor Mayor Richard J. Trolley. The original anchor tenants in the mall were Hudson's, Kroger, and Woolworth dime store.
October 8: Southland Center's original movie theater begins operations.
The I-75 freeway Downriver is given its official name of the Fisher Freeway.

1971

Construction began on the Security Bank tower in Southgate, off Trenton Road. Upon completion, it would become the tallest building Downriver and between Detroit and Toledo (ranks it still holds today).
March 11: The fourth Kmart store opens on West Road in Woodhaven's Central Business District.
August 12: The fifth Kmart store, and the second in Taylor, opens on Telegraph Road at Goddard Road.

"Bowling for Dollars" would become king Downriver and throughout Metro Detroit. The show, which aired on WWJ Channel 4 from this year to 1979, originated from the Arena section of Allen Park's Thunderbowl Lanes, and was hosted by Bob Allison, perhaps best known for his radio program "Ask Your Neighbor." Within a year of its debut, other stations around the country would be airing their own versions, modeled after Allen Park's.

December 24: Bob Short, the man most everyone knew as "Captain Bob-Lo," passed away at the age of 90. The 4'4" man, recruited from Ringling Brothers circus, had been the official mascot of the well-known attraction since the 1950s.
The final original terminal building opened at Detroit Metropolitan Airport as the Michael Berry terminal.

Plans were first announced for the then unheard of idea of repurposing a landfill for public use, as the city of Riverview promoted the idea of using the Riverview land preserve (a.k.a. Riverview Highlands and Mt. Trashmore) as a ski hill during the winter months.
October 6: JCPenney opens it's anchor space in a new expansion of Southland Center, replacing the now-by-then-relocated Kroger store.

July 19: Meijer Thrifty Acres would locate the first of their "hypermarkets" Downriver with the opening of the Eureka-Pardee location in Taylor.
August: Westbound Eureka Road between the railroad viaducts and 12th Street in Wyandotte would be closed for over a year due to a pavement cave-in which resulted from sewer construction underground.

Fall: The dime store trade took a major hit Downriver with the fall closing of Neisner's locations in Lincoln Park and Wyandotte.

State Senator James DeSana (a former Wyandotte Mayor) convinces Michigan Governor William Milliken to scrap plans for a 550-bed prison cell which was to be located on land bordering I-75 and Huron River Drive in Rockwood. The project would be relocated to an Upper Peninsula community.
Todd Browning, operator of Bob-Lo Island since 1949, would sell the assets to Cambridge Properties of Kentucky following two lack-luster years of park attendance. The recent oil embargo had also curtailed much of the sailing schedule for Bob-Lo Steamers Columbia and Ste. Claire.
November 1: The sixth Kmart store opens on Telegraph Road in Flat Rock.
December 15: Fire erupted at the Clark Petroleum Tank Farm off Ecorse and Telegraph Roads in Taylor. Nine youths were then arrested for subsequent looting at businesses which had been forced to evacuate.