city, Wayne county, southeastern Michigan, U.S., on the Detroit River, just southwest of Detroit. Settled about 1820, it was laid out in 1854 on the site of the Huron village near where the Ottawa chief Pontiac had planned his attack on Detroit in 1763. Its name recalls the Wendat (Wyandot) Indians, a confederation of the Huron nation. The city developed around the Eureka Iron Works, a blast furnace and rolling mill built in 1854 by pioneer industrialist Eber Ward; in 1864 the mill produced the first commercial Bessemer (Bessemer process) steel in the United States, using William Kelly (Kelly, William)'s version of the pneumatic steelmaking process. Wyandotte was also noted for Great Lakes shipbuilding (1872–1920). Diversified manufactures now include chemicals, steel and allied products, pharmaceuticals, and plastics; vast salt beds underlying the city are the basis for important chemical industries. Inc. city, 1867. Pop. (2000) 28,006; (2005 est.) 26,940.