Corktown, Detroit
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Corktown Historic District
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Bagley Street in Corktown
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| Location |
Detroit, Michigan United States
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| Coordinates | 42°19′50″N 83°03′50″W / 42.33056°N 83.06389°WCoordinates: 42°19′50″N 83°03′50″W / 42.33056°N 83.06389°W |
| Architectural style | Colonial Revival, Late Victorian, Federal |
| NRHP Reference # | 78001517 |
| Added to NRHP | July 31, 1978 |
Corktown is a historic district located just west of Downtown Detroit, Michigan. It is the oldest extant neighborhood in the city. The current boundaries of the district include I-75 to the north, the Lodge Freeway to the east, Bagley and Porter streets to the south, and Rosa Parks Boulevard (12th Street) to the west. The neighborhood was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
The Corktown Historic District is largely residential, although some commercial properties along Michigan Avenue are included in the district. The residential section is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is designated as a City of Detroit Historic District. The neighborhood contains many newer homes and retains some original Irish businesses.
The Great Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s resulted in extensive Irish migration to the United States and Canada. By the middle of the 19th century, they were the largest ethnic group settling in Detroit. Many of these newcomers settled on the west side of the city; they were primarily from County Cork, and thus the neighborhood came to be known as Corktown. By the early 1850s, half of the population of the 8th Ward (which contained Corktown) were of Irish descent. Historically, the neighborhood was roughly bounded by Third Street to the east, Grand River Avenue to the north, 12th Street to the west, and Jefferson Avenue/Detroit River to the south.
By the Civil War, German immigrants had begun making inroads into the Corktown neighborhood. Many immigrants had come from German provinces after the revolutions of 1848. By the turn of the century, the original Irish population had diffused through the city, and new immigrants, notably Mexican and Maltese, moved into this older housing. As the century progressed, migrants from the American South, both black and white, were lured by the jobs in the automobile industry and also went to the city. By the middle of the 20th century, the area of Corktown was reduced through urban renewal schemes, the building of light industrial facilities, and the creation of the Lodge Freeway and Fisher Freeway.
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