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About Poletown
Poletown is a section of Detroit, Michigan bordering the enclave city of
Hamtramck, Michigan. The area was named after the Polish immigrants who
originally lived in the area.
First settled in the 1870s when the first waves of Polish immigrants came to
Detroit, Poletown was the heart of Detroit's Polish community for many years.
The nucleus of the community was the St. Albertus Catholic Church, which opened
in 1873 and closed in 1990. Poletown experienced its greatest period of growth
during the 1920s and 1930s as thousands of Polish immigrants came to Detroit in
search of jobs in auto plants and the slaughterhouses that were in the area.
Poletown was not only home to Poles, but was home to Albanians, Yugoslavs,
Blacks, Yemenis and Filipino. During the 1950s and 60s however, Poletown fell on
hard times as freeway construction and urban renewal projects destroyed the
neighborhood.
In 1981 the neighborhood was cleared to make way for the construction of the
General Motors Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly plant. The city of Detroit relied on
eminent domain to compel the displacement of the 4,200 people who lived in the
area, along with their 1,300 homes, 140 businesses, six churches and one
hospital. The plant was built at the boundary of Hamtramck and Detroit as a BOC
factory (Buick-Oldsmobile-Cadillac) and became known as the "Poletown Plant".
The displaced residents sued the city but the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that
economic development was a legitimate use of eminent domain. Public resistance
especially from one Catholic parish led to national news attention and the
involvement of Ralph Nader and the Gray Panthers. A 29-day sit-in at the
Immaculate Conception Church came to an end on July 14, 1981 when police
forcibly evicted 20 people from the church.
The decision of the court became a landmark case for "public use" eminent domain
matters. The decision was overruled by the Michigan Supreme Court in the 2004
decision County of Wayne v. Hathcock. (Although the 2005 United States Supreme
Court decision in the case of Kelo v. City of New London states that the use of
eminent domain to promote economic development is constitutional on a federal
level, the opinion in Kelo cites the Hathcock decision as an example of how
states may choose to impose their own restrictions on the taking of property.)
Population: 6,966 Racial Breakdown White: (9.8%) Black: (87.4%) Native American:
(0.2%) Asian: (0.2%) Other: (0.3%) Multiracial: (1.8%) Latino: (0.6%) [citation
needed]
Poletown is also used as slang for Hamtramck, Michigan. Although Hamtramck has
become highly diverse, there is still a small Polish-speaking minority. Polish
bakeries and restaurants there are particularly popular, especially around Fat
Tuesday. Many people around the city celebrate Fat Tuesday by eating Paczki
(singular form: paczek), even if they are not Polish.