Хамтрамк: город с богатой историей и мусульманским большинством

Hamtramck (/h//æ//m/'/t//r//æ//m//ᵻ//k/ hamTRAMik) is a city in Wayne County in the U. S. state of Michigan. An enclave of Detroit, Hamtramck is located roughly 5 mile (8 km) north of downtown Detroit, and is surrounded by Detroit on most sides. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 28,433, and was by far the most densely populated municipality in Michigan. It is notable as the only Muslim majority city in the United States. Known in the 20th century as a vibrant center of Polish American life and culture, Hamtramck has attracted new immigrants in the 21st century, especially from Yemen, Bangladesh and Pakistan. In 2013, it reportedly became the first Muslim majority city in the U. S. In 2015, Hamtramck became the first city to have a Muslim majority city council in the history of the United States, with four of the six council members being Muslim.

Hamtramck is named for the French Canadian soldier Jean François Hamtramck, who was the first American commander of Fort Shelby, the fortification at Detroit. It was originally known as Hamtramck Township.

Hamtramck was originally settled by German farmers, but Polish immigrants moved into the area when the Dodge Brothers plant opened in 1914. Poles previously made up a large proportion of the population. It is sometimes confused with Poletown, a traditional Polish neighborhood, which used to lie mostly in the city of Detroit and includes a small part of Hamtramck. As of the 2010 American Community Survey, 14.5% of Hamtramck's population is of Polish origin whereas in 1970 it was 90% Polish. Circa the 1920s and 1930s, people had bars active and publicly made them visible, which was against Prohibition. Over the past thirty years, a large number of immigrants from the Middle East (especially Yemen), India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal, and Southeastern Europe (especially Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo) have moved to the city. As of the 2010 American Community Survey, the city's foreign born population stood at 41.1%, making it Michigan's most internationally diverse city (see more at Demographics below). The population was 43,355 in the 1950 Census and 18,372 in 1990. Hamtramck was primarily farmland, although the Detroit Stove Works employed 1,300 workers to manufacture stoves. In 1901, part of the township incorporated as a village to gain more control over the settlement's affairs, and by 1922 the village was reincorporated as a city to fend off annexation attempts by the neighboring city of Detroit. By the mid 1920s, 78% of the residents of Hamtramck owned their own houses or were buying their houses. Around that time, the factory workers made up 85% of Hamtramck's heads of households. Of those factory workers, about 50% were categorized as not skilled workers. In 1910, the newly founded Dodge Main assembly plant created jobs for thousands of workers and led to additional millions of dollars in the city. Dodge Main quickly expanded and became important to Hamtramck. Before the construction of Dodge Main, Hamtramck was a largely rural town. The establishment of the Dodge Main assembly plant led to a large influx of Polish immigrants who pushed out the incumbent German politicians. It was after this that Hamtramck was considered a Polish American town. By the end of the 20th century and the closing of Dodge Main, followed closely by General Motors razing of key parts of the Polish neighborhoods, the ethnicity of the region quickly shifted from traditionally Polish descendants to new Middle Eastern, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Nepali immigrants. By the elections of 2015, the city is suggested to have been the first to elect a Muslim majority council in the country. In November 2021, Hamtramck elected a completely Muslim American city council and a Muslim mayor, becoming the first municipality in the United States to be governed entirely by Muslim Americans. In June 2023, the city drew scrutiny for its ban of the rainbow flag and perceived homophobia.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.09 square miles (5 km2), all land. Hamtramck is mostly surrounded by Detroit except for its small common border with the city of Highland Park, which is in turn also mostly surrounded by Detroit. Hamtramck lies about 5 mile (8 km) from the center of Detroit. The I 75 freeway roughly runs along this city's western border, and I 94 runs near its southern border. According to Keith Maheney of the Detroit Free Press, the urban layout assists recent immigrants who do not yet have the credentials to drive an automobile, as Hamtramck is "uniquely walkable" and a "tight size".

Hamtramck flourished from 1910 to 1920 as thousands of European immigrants, particularly Poles, were attracted by the growing automobile industry. The city has grown increasingly ethnically diverse in subsequent years but still bears many reminders of its Polish ancestry in family names, street names and businesses. A motto often associated with the city is "A League of Nations". Neal Rubin of The Detroit News wrote in 2010 that despite the demographic changes, "In a lot of ways, Hamtramck still feels like a Polish enclave." In 1987, Detroit television station WDIV ran one episode of a local sit com called Hamtramck which featured former Detroit Tigers pitcher Dave Rozema and a cameo by manager Sparky Anderson. It was met with poor reviews and protests by many Polish Americans, and was canceled before airing a second episode. After six decades of double digit percentage declines in population between 1930 and 1990, Hamtramck finally started to grow in recent years, with population blossoming almost 55% by the 2020 census, surpassing 28,000 residents. These large population gains were despite a small decrease in households in the past 40 years. The Hamtramck Historical Museum and the Polish Art Center are next door to one another. In 1997, the Utne Reader named Hamtramck one of "the 15 hippest neighborhoods in the U. S. and Canada" in part for its punk and alternative music scene, its Buddhist temple, its cultural diversity, and its laid back blue collar neighborhoods. In May 2003, Maxim Blender selected Hamtramck as the second "Most Rock N' Roll City" in the U. S., behind Williamsburg in Brooklyn, New York City. Hamtramck is home of several of Michigan's most distinguished music venues. In January 2004, members of the Al Islah Islamic Center requested permission to use loudspeakers for the purpose of broadcasting the Islamic call to prayer. This request set off a contentious debate in the city, about the noise that would be caused by the call to prayer, eventually garnering national attention. Ultimately Hamtramck amended its noise ordinance in July 2004, allowing for the prayer calls to be made. Hamtramck Disneyland is an art installation in the city built on two garages out of metal.

Polish immigrants and residents of Hamtramck and southeastern Michigan celebrate Tłusty Wtorek (Fat Tuesday), known locally as Pączki Day, by lining up at the city's numerous Polish bakeries to purchase pączki. On Pączki Day, several local bars host parties with live entertainment and free pączki.

The "Hamtramck Music Festival" is an annual Independent music festival held in March in Hamtramck. It is currently sponsored by Bens Encore and the local Artist Community. In 2011, almost 200 bands played the Blowout at 14 venues over four days.

Held annually in the first weekend in May at grounds at St. Florian Church.

The Hamtramck Labor Day Festival is held on Labor Day weekend, ending with the Polish Day Parade on Labor Day. The festival includes live music on two stages, a carnival area, beer, and food tents extending the half mile (1 km) stretch of Joseph Campau Street, from Caniff to Carpenter.

In response to a decision by the city council to ban pride flags on city flagpoles, multiple LGBT activist groups organized into a coalition. The founding group consisted of individual activists, AntiTransphobe Detroit, Michigan General Defense Committee, and the Hamtramck Queer Alliance. Notable speakers at the event were Dana Nessel, Rev. Strickland, Grace of AtA, and Josh of HQA. The launch triggered further acts of civil disobedience including a raising of the Progressive Pride flag by Russ Gordon.

Held at the Planet Ant Theater, the festival celebrates independent movies and the people who make them, featuring comedies, dramas, documentaries, animation and music videos.

General Motors' Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly plant, one of the automaker's premiere facilities, produced the Chevrolet Volt, the Cadillac CT6, the Chevrolet Impala and the Buick Lacrosse; it was closed in March 2019, and retooled as Factory ZERO to build the upcoming GMC Hummer EV. In April 2009, American Axle announced that it planned to close its plant at the Hamtramck/Detroit border, thus eliminating several hundred jobs in the area. As of February 2014, most of the 1.9 million square foot former facility has been demolished. The Polish Art Center, at 9539 Joseph Campau Street, is a local institution in Hamtramck. The center promotes the preservation of Polish heritage through its display of cultural artifacts, often exhibited at festivals, schools and libraries. The center also hosts lectures, book signings, workshops, folk art demonstrations, and pisanki making classes. The Ukrainian American Archives & Museum of Detroit is located at 9630 Joseph Campau Ave. It was formerly at 11756 Charest Street. The Museum's purpose is "to educate and inform the general public about the culture, art, and history of Ukrainians, their immigration to the United States and the contributions of Americans of Ukrainian descent to America; to engage in research in these areas; to maintain archives for the deposit of documents and other records relating to these topics; to acquire, preserve, exhibit artifacts of artistic, historical, and scientific value relating to these subjects; to sponsor public programs in order to study and preserve the heritage of Ukrainian Americans." For more than 85 years, Kowalski Sausage Co. has manufactured meat products at 2270 Holbrook Street, which are distributed in the metropolitan Detroit area. Notwithstanding the statement in the credits that it was filmed "in Detroit, Michigan", the 1998 Indie film Polish Wedding was filmed mainly in Hamtramck, particularly at a house on Wyandotte Street. Theresa Connelly, who wrote and directed the film, had spent her childhood in Hamtramck. In December 2010, citing general budget woes and the city of Detroit withholding a portion of shared revenue for the Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly plant straddling the border of both cities, Hamtramck requested that the State of Michigan allow it to declare bankruptcy. The request was denied. Receivership was avoided when a deal was struck between the city and Detroit which required Detroit to pay $3.2 million in collected taxes to Hamtramck in exchange for Hamtramck paying Detroit nearly the same amount for a water and sewage bill that was in arrears. The United States Postal Service operates the Hamtramck Post Office at 2933 Caniff Street. The post office annex is located at 14600 Dequindre Street in the City of Detroit.

Hamtramck is home to Detroit City FC (DCFC), a professional American soccer club that plays in United Soccer League Championship (USLC), the second tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. The club plays their home matches at Keyworth Stadium, which is owned by Hamtramck Public Schools. The club is managed by Trevor James, a former Ipswich Town F. C. player who later was an assistant coach and scout under Bobby Robson.

As of the census of 2020, there were 28,433 people residing in the city. The population density was There were 8,139 occupied housing units. The racial makeup of the city was 55.9% White (people of European, Middle Eastern and North African descent), 10.0% African American, 0.1% Native American, 26.9% Asian, 1.0% from other races, and 6.0% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents, of any race, were 1.1% of the population.

As of the census of 2010, there were 22,423 people, 8,897 households, and 5,115 families residing in the city. The population density was There were 8,693 housing units at an average density of The racial makeup of the city was 53.5% White, 19.2% African American, 0.2% Native American, 21.5% Asian, 0.6% from other races, and 4.7% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.4% of the population. There were 7,063 households, of which 43.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.3% were married couples living together, 18.1% had a female householder with no husband present, 7.0% had a male householder with no wife present, and 34.7% were non families. 28.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.09 and the average family size was 3.98. The median age in the city was 28.8 years. 31.7% of residents were under the age of 18; 12.2% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 27.9% were from 25 to 44; 20.7% were from 45 to 64; and 7.7% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 51.6% male and 48.4% female.

Historically, Hamtramck received a lot of immigration from Eastern Europe. In the 20th century, Hamtramck was mostly Polish. George Tysh of the Metro Times stated that "In the early days of the auto industry, Hamtramck's population swelled with Poles, so much so that you were more likely to hear Polish spoken on Joseph Campau than any other tongue." Later waves of immigration brought Albanians, Bosnians, Macedonians, Ukrainians, and Yemenis. As of 2003, over 30 languages are spoken in Hamtramck and more than four religions are present. The four principal religions are, Islam, Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism. In June 2013, the city's Human Relations Commission facilitated the raising of flags of 18 countries from which Hamtramck residents emigrated. They are displayed on Joseph Campau Street, with an American flag flying at either end.

In the 1930s, the first group of Bengalis came to Detroit and Hamtramck. The first significant population of Bengalis began arriving in the late 1980s and the Bengalis became a large part of the city's population in the 1990s. Almost 75% of Bangladeshi Michiganders live in Hamtramck. As of February 2008 the city planned to erect signage reading "Bangladesh Town" in the business district. In 2002, the estimate of Hamtramck inhabitants of origins from South Asia was from 7,000 to 10,000. As of 2001, 900 registered students who spoke Bengali and Urdu attended Hamtramck Public Schools.

As of 2006, most of the Middle Eastern population in Hamtramck is Yemeni. Hakim Almasmari wrote in 2006 that "Several streets seem to be populated exclusively by Yemeni Americans, and Yemeni culture pervades the city's social, business, and political life." Many Yemeni restaurants are in Hamtramck, and the Yemeni community operates the Mu'ath bin Jabal Mosque (مسجد معاذ بن جبل), In 2005 the mosque, located just outside the southeastern border of Hamtramck, was the largest mosque out of the ten within a three mile radius. Sally Howell, author of "Competing for Muslims: New Strategies for Urban Renewal in Detroit", wrote that the mosque "has been credited" by public officials and area Muslims "with having turned around one of Detroit's roughest neighborhoods at the height of the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s, making its streets safe, revitalizing a dormant housing market, attracting new business to the area, and laying the foundation for an ethnically mixed, highly visible Muslim population in Detroit and Hamtramck." According to Almasmari, some of the first Yemenis to have arrived in Hamtramck said that Yemeni people first arrived in Hamtramck in the 1960s.

In the 2000s, a Bengali mosque named the Al Islah Jamee Masjid asked for permission to broadcast the adhan, the Islamic call to prayer, from loudspeakers outside of the mosque, and requested permission to do so from the city government. It was one of the newer mosques in Hamtramck. Sally Howell, author of "Competing for Muslims: New Strategies for Urban Renewal in Detroit", wrote that the request "brought to a head simmering Islamophobic sentiments" in Hamtramck. In 2023, the Hamtramck city council approved animal slaughtering in households for Muslim religious purposes.

Hamtramck is governed under a council manager form of government in which the elected mayor of the city is the chief executive officer. The city council consists of six seats. Though part of the council, the mayor is elected separately and votes only in the case of a tie and on ordinances and contracts. The city council hires a city manager, who becomes the city's chief administrative officer. The city manager has the vested powers and responsibility to appoint and remove all city employees and department heads, prepare the city's budget, and other city functions. The current Hamtramck City Hall is a former hospital building. In 1927, the Hamtramck Municipal Hospital, housed in a Georgian Revival building, opened. The mayor of Hamtramck asked the Sisters of Saint Francis to operate the hospital. In 1931, the religious order began leasing the hospital from the city government for $1 per year. The hospital was renamed the Saint Francis Hospital. During its lifetime it offered services to Polish speakers. In 1969, the hospital closed and the building became the city's city hall. In November 2015, Hamtramck became the first American city to elect a Muslim majority city council. It also now has an all male elected government which has been said to "not reflect the city's makeup." The Wayne County Jail Division operates the William Dickerson Detention Facility in Hamtramck. The city levies a city income tax of 1 percent on residents and 0.5 percent on nonresidents.

Hamtramck is served by Hamtramck Public Schools. Hamtramck High School is the public high school of Hamtramck. In addition Hanley International Academy, Frontier International Academy, Hamtramck Academy, Bridge Academy (of the Global Educational Excellence (GEE) company), Caniff Liberty Academy and Oakland International Academy are all charter schools, in Hamtramck. Frontier International Academy, a charter school operated by GEE, is in nearby Detroit.

Hamtramck was historically a Polish Catholic community, so it housed Catholic schools by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit. One of the buildings once used by Hanley charter school was previously St. Florian Elementary School. and St. Ladislaus Elementary School. The city also housed St. Florian High School, a Catholic high school which opened in 1940 and was located in another wing of the same building as St. Florian. The parishes that established St. Florian, Our Lady Queen of Apostles, and St. Ladislaus had been built after 1909. In 1925 2,217 students attended St. Florian, making it the largest Catholic elementary school in the city. and Our Lady Queen of Apostles had 1,316 students. JoEllen McNergney Vinyard, author of For Faith and Fortune: The Education of Catholic Immigrants in Detroit, 1805 1925, wrote that the classrooms were "more crowded than most any Polish parish school in Detroit."

In the 1920s Hamtramck families often sent their children to public school for Kindergarten due to convenience, then moved their children to parochial schools for the years with the most important religious instruction. Therefore, the age group 7 to 12 had the largest Catholic school enrollment. After the critical period ended, many students returned to public school. In 1925 the public schools had 1,467 students aged 14–15 while the non public schools had 217 students aged 14 and 15. The Tau Beta Association founded the library in November 1918. The library opened at its second location, the second floor of a professional building, on November 14, 1938. In 1951 the City Hall branch opened in the first floor of the municipal building; it was dedicated on January 22, 1952. The current library received its groundbreaking ceremony on July 5, 1955. It was completed on May 31, 1956, and dedicated on July 1, 1956.