Detroit – Hamtramck Assembly

The Dodge Main, or Chrysler Hamtramck Assembly Plant, as it stood in 1965. Image from the Detroit Historical Society.

In 1980, General Motors convinced the cities of Detroit and Hamtramck, Michigan to use a newly passed eminent domain law to demolish 1,500 homes, 144 businesses, and 16 churches to build a new auto plant on the Detroit – Hamtramck Border.

At the time, Detroit was in decline, losing population and businesses to the suburbs. Detroit, and its Mayor Coleman Young, wanted to attract new businesses to the struggling city, and agreed. Despite protests, legal challenges, and a visit by Ralph Nader, the Detroit neighborhood of Poletown was demolished and its 4,200 residents relocated (CityLab).

I had heard the story of Poletown many times before, but I had never known what it looked like. So, I used the DTE Aerial Photo site to compare Poletown in 1961, 1981 (the year demolitions began), and the present (2020).

The Poletown neighborhood in 1961. You can see that Chene Street (the diagonal road crossing the freeway) eventually turned into Joseph A. Campau Street, which is Hamtramck’s main street.
The remnants of Poletown in 1981, around the time that demolitions began.
Finally, the GM Poletown plant today (2020). You can see how the plant completely separated the are below it (formerly part of Poletown, sometimes referred to as Poletown South/East) from the center of Polish culture in Hamtramck. This area is now mostly vacant.