The major emphasis of the diocese changed in the 1900s as the automobile industry began to prosper in Michigan. Throughout the century the financial stability of the diocese were closely tied to the development and decline of the industry in the Detroit area. The rapid rise in Detroit’s wealth and power in the 1910s and 1920s were reflected in a diocese that became one of the largest and most influential in The Episcopal Church. The suburbanization of the 1940s and 1950s led to a focus on the physical expansion in the diocese with the addition of new church buildings. The decline of Detroit in the 1970s and 1980s saw the diocese cutting back and closing parishes.