Originally Posted by
Carey
In researching the life of my Irish [[by way of Canada) grandfather many years ago, I discovered Detroit in the 19th Century had a secondary Irish neighborhood on the east side, around Mt. Elliott and Jefferson. The parish was Our Lady of Help, on Elmwood Avenue and Congress [[I think that's the MLK athletic complex now).
Luckily, a kid from that neighborhood became a well known columnist for the Detroit News in the pre-World War II era, and he wrote vividly about growing up there, and about the the neighborhood's people, stores and St Patrick's Day parades. Of course, I'm blanking on his name right now, but his books are readily available in the DPL main branch and WSU's Purdy Kresge library. They offer a great view of living in a Detroit neighborhood before the auto age in the 1890s.
Anybody know the name of the guy I'm trying to recall?
In any case, if you check out who lived in that area in city directories from the 1890s, you'll see Irish names closer to Jefferson and more and more German names as you get closer to Gratiot.