A History of Hamtramck
On November 26 last year, General Motors CEO Mary Barra announced that the controversial Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant would have no products allocated beyond 2019. The decision to shutter the 4.1 million sq ft facility, located at 2500 East Grand Boulevard in Detroit, was met with predictable outrage by local workers, residents and politicians.
Detroit-Hamtramck, which currently builds the Buick LaCrosse, Chevy Volt, Chevy Impala and Cadillac CT6, is one of GM’s most advanced vehicle manufacturing facilities and one of only a few that can handle different vehicles on the same assembly lines. Yet, with no profitable SUVs or trucks on its assembly lines and production down to one shift, manufacturing, and flight by residents from older inner-city neighbourhoods to the suburbs.
The Detroit–Hamtramck area where the plant is situated (it actually straddles the cities of Detroit and Hamtramck) was once a thriving, tight-knit community -
