Manchester City Map Poster

About Manchester

The Manchester Ship Canal opened in 1894, creating the Port of Manchester and directly linking the city to sea. The world's first service station was built in Didsbury in 1906 where petrol was dispensed from a hand pump at a rate of 20 gallons per hour. In 1931, Wythenshawe was added to the city area when it became part of Greater Manchester County Borough. The population peaked at 866,311 (1841) during World War II as a result of mass evacuation and expansion associated with industrialisation; over half were evacuated outwards towards such places as Bolton, Bury and Oldham which resulted in their rapid growth; inner-city Salford also expanded rapidly after 1945 but declined soon after due to deindustrialisation which saw its last cotton mill close down by 1977. Since early-2000s onwards however has seen some new investment into areas like Ancoats an area that suffered greatly from deindustrialization.[citation needed] There are now fewer than 250 people living within this former village's boundaries[clarification needed].