Corktown Boundaries?

[MikeyinBrooklyn]

I was talking to a newish Detroiter today, and he asked me exactly where Corktown was. I go frequently enough, but I couldn't think of exactly where I would say it started & stopped. I know when I'm there, but maybe not the moment I cross into it. What streets would people suggest mark the "border" of Corktown?

[gnome]

In my unofficial opinion, Corktown runs from Porter or Howard on the south to Michigan on the north, 6th street on the east and 14th [[or the Train station) on the west.

other options include Corktown Shores, Briggs or North Corktown; those certainly would have been the historical boundaries if the freeways hadn't cut things in half and if the Detroit Industrial Corridor hadn't torn things up ....

some will say it is the Lodge and Rosa Parks.

In short, Corktown may be a place, but it is also a state of mind.

[MikeyinBrooklyn]

Thanks gnome. Your boundaries make sense. I am afraid, though, that if Corktown is a state of mind, I may never get there again. I'm not cool enough... When I lived in Williamsburg, Brooklyn- home of the hipsters- my friends referred to me as the hip replacement.

[downtownguy]

I would generally agree with Gnome. However, I would consider I-75 as the northern border as this would incorporate several residences, apartments/lofts and businesses north of Michigan, such as Brooks Lumber, Checker Cab, Brooklyn Lofts, Corktown Lofts and 2000 Brooklyn.

[casscorridor]

Corktown boundaries are growing for real estate reasons. Websites such as Curbed Detroit have encouraged new neighborhood boundaries and branding.

"Corktown shores" was recently annexed, and not long ago "North Corktown" was annexed from the former Briggs neighborhood. My guess is one more Corktown annex is in store, and it will most likely be to the west. "West Corktown" is the little area just west of where 75 and 96 converge, with a far western boundary of Grand Blvd or Vinewood St. This will happen because developers need to re-brand that area for it to be viable.

Fortunately, Hubbard-Richard/Hubbard Farms is a stable neighborhood with a decent brand so it will never be "Corktown."

[preserve]

All the property north of Michigan to the Freeway is Corktown, the other side of the "ditch" is North Corktown, formerly the Briggs neighborhood, to Grand River,
then Woodbridge starts. Corktown used to extend east to 5th but the
Lodge pretty much ended that and then MGM took over the area that
used to house a tea room and row houses. BTW, we're not all hipsters here.
Some of us are holding on as we were, urban pioneers, preservationists and
just ordinary people without skinny jeans, facial stubble and bikes and dogs.

[professorscott]

I spent a lot of time in Corktown and worked there for several years. Most of us who were there in the 1980s or 1990s considered Fort Street to be the south border. I agree with the poster who said the Lodge cut off the easternmost part; the Lodge for all practical purposes forms the eastern border. West and North are harder for me to pin down. To the west, for sure when you cross the viaduct into Mexicantown you've left Corktown, but I'm not sure I think of it as going quite that far to the west.

That's the nice thing about neighborhoods; unlike cities they are living organisms and don't have to have precise boundaries. Corktown back then had a lot of fascinating characters: Max Silk, who was reputed to have been a member of the "Jewish Mafia"; Connie McConnaghie, who was a homeless [[somewhat by choice) newspaper delivery person that we tried to put up for City Council; Steve that had once owned McNally's, just to name a few.

And of course, walking distance to John King Books - what could be better than that.

[Brian1979]

North: The Fisher
South: Labrosse from Rosa Parks to Trumbull, then Porter from Trumbull to the Lodge.
East: The Lodge
West: Rosa Parks

[Jimaz]

North: The Fisher
South: Labrosse from Rosa Parks to Trumbull, then Porter from Trumbull to the Lodge.
East: The Lodge
West: Rosa Parks

FWIW, that exactly matches the Google Maps boundaries for Corktown.

[DetroitHabitater]

North: The Fisher
South: Labrosse from Rosa Parks to Trumbull, then Porter from Trumbull to the Lodge.
East: The Lodge
West: Rosa Parks

Brian is cutting the annex loose!


For the national "historic district boundries" they are shaded on the detroit zoning map. http://www.detroitmi.gov/Default.aspx?tabid=3093

the historic district cuts out many of the commercial properties-most on the north side of michgan.

Formerly "a mile radius from home plate" but after the urban revitalization of the 50s and 60's there is little left.

[PSewick]

I know this thread is two months old, but I wanted to link to my best attempt at answering this question:

http://corktownhistory.blogspot.com/...y-borders.html

[DetroitPlanner]

Neighborhoods do not have hard geographies based upon political boundaries like Cities, Villages, Counties or townships would. Your best bet would be to look at what the neighborhood organizations say, but even those are subject to the boundaries of existing neighborhood organizations that may be established earlier.

The delineation of a neighborhood is based largely upon opinion rather than fact.

[Huggybear]

The city's records in the 1960s reflect that it ends where the West Side Industrial District starts and refers to the latter as "the neighborhood formerly known as Corktown." Michigan Avenue was also known as "skid row."

The term Corktown is somewhat fascinating, almost like one of those names given to an area where Irish people "weren't quite white" by prewar standards, and then those people reappropriated it.

As for the relentless rebranding of everything, this long-time Detroit resident would suggest the term "Hallmark Holiday." Branding is being applied to products that don't have well defined characteristics, lack defined geographic boundardies, don't have an overt majority ethnic component [[and that's not something you would do in the modern world anyway), and aren't part of an original common development. There's certainly nothing wrong with this, but as much as people get irritated about tiny Oakland County fiefdoms, it's just being replicated a little bit in the city. Even as someone who lives a couple of miles away, I don't disntinguish between "Corktown" and "Corktown Shores" any more than I worry about whether I am in Clawson or Berkley [[I can count on being followed in both with Detroit plates).

For example, "Downtown"* versus "Midtown" is not a distinction that many outsiders understand. I'm not sure I understand it, having grown up in an era where it was "downtown" up to Warren, the "Cass Corridor" to the west, "Brush Park" to the east, and the "University Cultural Center" north of that. I'm not sure how durable the downtown/midtown distinction is going to be long-term when in the new parlance, both are being called the "7.2" and the DDA is now expanding well into "Midtown."

HB

*By the way, isn't there a cognitive dissonance between defining "downtown" by three freeways while complaining that freeways cut up neighborhoods?

[antongast]

*By the way, isn't there a cognitive dissonance between defining "downtown" by three freeways while complaining that freeways cut up neighborhoods?

It seems perfectly consistent to me. The freeways create divisions between neighborhoods, therefore over time the neighborhoods on opposite sides of the freeway each develop distinct qualities, and at some point they diverge enough that it makes sense to give them different names. Maybe you'd quibble with that version of events, but I don't see where it's internally contradictory.

[JenniferL]

What, or where, exactly is Corktown Shores? I never heard of that place until I opened this thread.

[casscorridor]

What, or where, exactly is Corktown Shores? I never heard of that place until I opened this thread.

Corktown Shores is a name made up by the owners of Green Dot Stables and promoted by Curbed Detroit. It encompasses the area around Green Dot [[near 14th St and Lafayette West). Only a few block over is Hubbard-Richard / Mexican Village area. Detroit doesn't have official neighborhoods so everything is up for debate. I wouldn't expect neighborhood rebranding to end anytime soon, if ever. The evolution of neighborhoods and their names is ever changing.

[JenniferL]

Corktown Shores is a name made up by the owners of Green Dot Stables and promoted by Curbed Detroit. It encompasses the area around Green Dot [[near 14th St and Lafayette West). Only a few block over is Hubbard-Richard / Mexican Village area. Detroit doesn't have official neighborhoods so everything is up for debate. I wouldn't expect neighborhood rebranding to end anytime soon, if ever. The evolution of neighborhoods and their names is ever changing.

Is there anything else there besides the Green Dot Stables? Last time I looked at that area, it was pretty barren. I don't remember seeing any homes there, let alone the kind you see in Corktown, or even North Corktown [[which is the same architecture as Corktown, but usually not rehabbed and with chickens, goats, and urban prairie).

[preserve]

the goats have been gone for a long time

[casscorridor]

Is there anything else there besides the Green Dot Stables? Last time I looked at that area, it was pretty barren. I don't remember seeing any homes there, let alone the kind you see in Corktown, or even North Corktown [[which is the same architecture as Corktown, but usually not rehabbed and with chickens, goats, and urban prairie).

Just a couple of loft buildings and the abandoned greyhound terminal within the immediate couple blocks, and the old steak hut is a few blocks over on Lafayette, which will be home to Russell Street Deli's new joint. Also very close to the Hubbard-Richard residential area next to Honey Bee Market. But yeah, the immediate few block area is pretty desolate.

[A2Mike]

I grew up in the Springwells area in the fifties, where we usually saw movies at the Rio theater, but occasionally we to the much grander Hollywood, on Fort, which I thought was in Corktown. Looking it up, I found it was actually west of W. Grand Blvd. Boundaries aside, the whole southwest side must have been a pretty nice place before WWll. Hubbard, Clark Park, Morrell, and a little farther out near Woodmere had solid sizable houses, and convenient access to downtown. The war saw an increase in industrial activity and the housing shortage led to some of the nicer houses being subdivided. It's tantalizing to think of how the Hollywood and Lincoln theaters, the huge churches like St. Anne's and Holy Redeemer, and of course, Michigan Central Station, might have anchored a continuing desirable area had things gone differently. I still think a revitalized downtown could lead the whole area west and southwest of downtown to renewed significance as the city comes back.

[JenniferL]

the goats have been gone for a long time

No more goats? What happened to them?

[Chinman]

try going to the Corktown Museum on 6th street and Porter to find the original boundaries of Corktown.

[preserve]

regarding the goats, some genious in the City's employ found an ordinance to use and took them away. Very sad, I really liked taking folks over there to feed them. Being a city girl, I was surprised at how they would run to the fence when cars would pull up and expect food. Part of the charm in N. Corktown that took your mind off the vacant land and burned out structures, After Green Dot coined Corktown Shores, I thought N. Corktown could then be Corktown Farms. All part of the fun down here, best neighborhood ever no matter what the boundaries are- like previously stated, it's a frame of mind

[Ben]

As a longtime resident of Detroit I always viewed Corktown as a neighborhood that seems to have amorphous boundaries. In fact UDM's School of Dentistry Considers their campus at MLK and 18th Street to be their "Corktown Campus", although I think most of us don't consider that Corktown.

[preserve]

Close enough. When doing the neighborhood patrol, 14th & MLK is the north boundary and the Dental School is actually on the north side of MLK, so while it really isn't in Corktown or even N. Corktown, it's okay.