North of Hamtramck

What's the history behind the area immediately north of the city limits of Hamtramck bound by Carpenter to the south, Joseph Campau to the west, the Davison to the north and Mound to the east? As a westsider, I'm not much familiar with this area, at all.

A census tract covers an area twice this size with the western boundary being the Chrysler. I noticed using the 2010 Census mapping tool that this is only one of two Census tracts in all of Detroit with a Asian [[Bangladeshi, etc...) majority or plurality. The other is the tract immediately to the east at the foot of Mound which includes the new Emerald Springs public housing.

I assume that immigration is keeping up the half of the tract east of Joseph Campau, but what happened west of Joseph Campau? Obviously, the neighborhood was mostly gone before the spillover from Hamtramck began, which was relatively recently from my understanding. I imagine the west half wasn't a different neighborhood. All I can imagine is that the freeway construction is the difference.

BTW, to be clear, I'm not talking about the difference between the Hamtramck-Detroit border, rather the neighborhood in Detroit and the difference across Joseph Campau.

I lived in that area from 73 to 83.

In the 1800s to 1930s, Detroit was annexing most of the its neighboring townships so that future sub-divisions [[ under the automobile industries ) can have water and natural gas plumbing access; solving its regional population growth and promote increasing taxation. In the 1920s Detroit was annexing up to 97% of Hamtramck Township. In the meantime the people of Village of Hamtramck don't want to be part of Detroit. So they rush to vote for a incorporated village and they did. The people of the Village of Hamtramck set their boundaries on the Milwaukee Junction to southern street from that is no longer there part of the once Poletown Area. Detroit Mayor Coleman Young and his cronies destroyed it for a GM Hamtramck Assembly Plant and the Dodge Main Plant. Other borders were included were Mt. Elliot St. Miller to Vincent St. and behind its industrial walls, Buffalo to Prescott St from Conant St. The Detroit-Hamtramck border extends from Carpenter St. to the railroad tracks and back to Milwaukee Junction. Detroit and Hamtramck folks were constantly fighting who would have the Conant Ave. block in the 1920s but was settled during the Great Depression.

Now the northern neighborhoods of Detroit-Hamtramck border at the time was mostly working class whites up the 1960s. Fewer black families who were and still living in Conant Gardens at the time were starting to move to the McNichols-Joseph Compau Area. and expanded further to northeast neighborhoods of Detroit other than confined and pacified at the Sojourner Truth Housing Projects. By the 1970s hard times were falling in Hamtramck-and Detroit border when jobs were lost. Middle class whites and fewer middle class black families were moving out to other areas. Filling the void were lower class welfare pacified black families. The northeast neighbohoods of Detroit just west of Joseph Compau and north of Carpenter St. was completely destroyed now its a blighted area, an instant ghetto hood. The Hamtramck side of the neighborhoods are well kept up. Most middle class white families want to keep it that way to prevent more poor welfare pacified black families from moving their areas. The Hamtramck Assembly plant which its completed in 1980 saved Hamtramck but destroyed Poletown as an urban sacrifice. It started to lure Yemeni Arab Muslims families to southern Detroit-Hamtramck borders of Mt. Elliot St. Later they expanded further into southern Hamtramck neighborhoods that were almost destroyed by pacified low-income families of the 1970s and 80s. By the 1990s not only the Yemeni Muslim families spread all over Hamtramck neighborhoods, another group of people moved in to find work in the Hamtramck Assembly Plant. They were called Bangladeshis and East Indians [[ from India) Most of them came from New York City's Astoria Brooklyn communties. Since they had a difficult time finding a home in Hamtramck neighborhoods, Bangladeshis begin to moved into northeast Detroit neighborhoods from Conant Ave to Davison St. and further westward to Joseph Campau block. Bangla-Town was born. Fewer Bengladeshi families had moved further westward past Joseph Campau St. on the Detroit side, but they saw fewer houses, urban praries and poor Detroit welfare pacified low-income black folks. Most of them even move to Hamtramck neighborhoods to set up shop and be closer to their families, people and housing to prevent being robbed from folks wearing Trayvon Martins.

So that's why The northern borders of Hamtramck and Detroit was laid out. Not beacuase of influx of immgrants of families moving in, demarcate from people, its for water, public utility rites, but also regional taxation.

Pretty good write up there Danny.

Our Lady help of Christians in that area is now a Mosque. East of Campau was an extentsion of Hamtramck housing and folks wise.

Yes the area west of Campau was in much worse shape.

I mean, that much is obvious, but is there any reason why Joseph Campau is the divide on the Detroit side of the border? Why did Hamtramck spill over Carpenter to the east of Campau, but not to the west? Was it just chance/coincidence? Again, it's not divided by a freeway or a railway or a municipal border, which often serve as demarcations. It's not as if on the surface it was a seperate neighborhood. In fact, across the Davison, Campau's roll as a dividing line ceases to exist.

My best guess would be the Catholic Church, Rectory and School on McDougall. The closer you got to that the more Hamtramck like it became.

The west side of Campau was always drearier and populated by non white polish folk as far as I was aware.

Wanna see what Hamtown was like years ago head to Alpena Mich. Some of them neighborhoods look just like Hamtown did right down to the spotless alleys.

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Originally Posted by Dan Wesson

My best guess would be the Catholic Church, Rectory and School on McDougall. The closer you got to that the more Hamtramck like it became.

The west side of Campau was always drearier and populated by non white polish folk as far as I was aware.

Wanna see what Hamtown was like years ago head to Alpena Mich. Some of them neighborhoods look just like Hamtown did right down to the spotless alleys.

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Tee hee! What do non white polish folk look like? Do they wear Trayvony Martiniewiczs'?

Darn, I thought I fixed that!! Oh well, have fun. :o

I remember along time ago my Aunt Florence Swinciki telling me that her dark hair and dark complexion was do to being from southern Poland and something to do with the Moors.... sounded good at the time.

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Originally Posted by Dan Wesson

I remember along time ago my Aunt Florence Swinciki telling me that her dark hair and dark complexion was do to being from southern Poland and something to do with the Moors.... sounded good at the time.

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Poland, until the Soviet annexations in 1939, consisted of a big chunk of Ruthenia. The Podhale mountaineers of southern Poland also tend to have darker hair. There are several groups in Europe [[e.g. the Basques and Albanians) who live in mountainous areas and were never overrun by the Indo-European migrations. Most of these isolated groups tend to be darker in hair color.

My Mom's not-quite-adoptive uncle [[from Starr Commonwealth or whatever it
was called back in the day) - he's long gone now and there are no known living
relatives - was Joseph Kmush, of Polish heritage, though he never lived near
Hamtramck. He did have dark eyes and dark very curly hair. He would have
been born between 1900 and 1910.

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Originally Posted by canuck

Tee hee! What do non white polish folk look like? Do they wear Trayvony Martiniewiczs'?

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Racistowicz!

I heard that there were quite a few doctors living in that neighborhood north of the hospital until it closed. That was when the neighborhood began to deteriorate. But with the Bangladeshi folks moving in, it's now in much better shape, until you get over by Joseph Campau.

I remember when they were building that hospital. The first time the steel frame work was erected it fell over into Carpenter. They redid it. Now I understand it's an empty building. Yes?

Half of it is empty. The other half is a charter school. Thank God!