Hamtramck & Highland Park

The cities Hamtramck and Highland Park are enclaves of the City of Detroit.

Understand

Hamtramck is known for being home to a large Polish community. This is evidenced in many ways, such as the celebration of Pączki (pronounced: poonchki) Day. In 1970, 91% of the residents were Polish. However, today its only about 22% because many Poles have moved to other parts of the area, and because of a large immigration of people from the Middle East and South Asia.

Highland Park is home to several architecturally significant buildings. It is also home to the Highland Park Ford Plant, the first plant in the world to use the assembly line.

See

Hamtramck

• 1 Hamtramck Disneyland. (updated Jun 2018)

Landmarks

• 2 St. Florian Church, 2626 Poland St. Built in 1928, this church is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Ralph Adams Cram designed the church in Late Gothic Revival and Bungalow/Craftsman styles.  

Museums and galleries

• 3 Hamtramck Historical Museum, 9525 Jos. Campau (between Poland and Norwalk Streets, just north of Holbrook Avenue), ☏ +1 313 893-5027, hamtramckhistory@gmail.com. Sa Su 11AM-4PM. By donation. (updated Mar 2018)
• Pr1mary Space, on Yemans just west of Jos. Campau. Pr1mary Space displays a new show almost once a month. The gallery specializes in illustrative art of the post-pop era, basically graffiti art. (updated Sep 2018)
• 4 Ukrainian American Archives and Museum, 9630 Joseph Campau, ☏ +1 313 366-9764, uaamdetroit@gmail.com. (updated Jan 2020)

Landmarks

• 5 First United Methodist Church (Soul Harvest Ministries), 16300 Woodward Ave. Built in 1916, the First United Methodist Church is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The church is an Arts and Crafts influenced, Gothic-style structure, constructed from red brick and trimmed with limestone.  
• 6 Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church, 12375 Woodward Ave. Built in 1929, Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The church is a small, random ashlar, limestone, Neo-Gothic-style building.  
• 7 Highland Park Ford Plant, 91 Manchester Ave. Designed by Albert Kahn and completed in 1910, the Highland Park Ford Plant was a production plant for Ford Motor Company. In 1913, the Highland Park Ford Plant became the first automobile production facility in the world to implement the assembly line. It is now used by Ford Motor Company to store documents and the Henry Ford Museum for artifact storage.  
• 8 Highland Park General Hospital, 357 Glendale Ave. Built in 1918, this hospital is listed on the U.S. Register of Historic Places. The hospital was one of the first two institutions established when Highland Park incorporated as a city in 1916. The Highland Park Hospital closed in 1976.  
• 9 Highland Park Presbyterian Church, 14 Cortland. This church, built in 1910, is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. It was constructed in a Tudor Gothic style from red brick with limestone trim and red terra cotta roof tiles.  
• 10 Trinity United Methodist Church, 13100 Woodward Ave. Built in 1922, this church was designed in the Neo-Gothic architecutral style, and was built from gray limestone.  

Historic neighborhoods

• 11 Highland Heights-Stevens' Subdivision, on Farrand Park, McLean Street, Colorado Street, Rhode Island Street, and Massachusetts Street, between Woodward Avenue on the west and Oakland Avenue on the east. This historic district composed of 422 homes, two apartment buildings, five commercial buildings, and a library was founded in the early 20th century. Most of the homes were designed by Albert Kahn in Century Revivals and Bungalow/Craftsman architectural styles.  
• 12 Medbury's-Grove Lawn Subdivisions, on Eason Street, Moss Street, and Putitan Street, from Hamilton Avenue on the west to Woodward Avenue on the east. This historic district is composed of 272 homes, most of which are designed in the Colonial Revival, Bungalow/Craftsman, and Tudor Revival architectural styles.  
• 13 Palmer Park Boulevard Apartments, on 1981, 2003 and 2025 W McNichols Rd. This historic district is composed of 3 apartment buildings designed in the Century Revival and Classical Revival architectural styles. All three were built in the 1920s and were designed by Richard H. Marr.  

Do

• Hamtramck Blowout. Annual local music festival held in March. 
• Hamtramck Labor Day Weekend Festival Celebration of the Polish cultural heritage including ethnic foods and music and a parade.
• Pączki Day. Celebration of this sweet confection on the day before Lent begins. 
• 1 Detroit City Football Club, 3201 Roosevelt St. Take in a professional soccer match (specifically in the second-tier USL Championship) at historic Keyworth Stadium. Food truck concessions and bathroom facilities present on matchday. (updated Feb 2022)
• 2 Fowling Warehouse, 3901 Christopher St, ☏ +1 313 264 1288. A fowling lane, a game combing aspects of bowling and American football, similar to horseshoes or cornhole. Houses three bars with over 120 different types of beers and a 175 seat beer garden. (updated Jan 2021)
• 3 Planet Ant, 2357 Caniff St, ☏ +1 313 365-4948. 501(c)(3) Non-profit professional theater featuring improv comedy, musicals and plays. (updated Jan 2021)

Buy

• 1 Record Graveyard, 2610 Carpenter Ave, ☏ +1 313 870-9647. M-Sa 11AM-7PM. Used records. 
• 2 Polish Art Center, 9539 Joseph Campau (Three blocks north of Holbrook), ☏ +1 313 874 2242, toll-free: +1 888 619 9771, raymond@polartcenter.com. M-Sa 9:30AN-6PM, Su 11AM-3PM. It was founded in 1958, by Polish immigrant Joseph Kalenkiewicz. This small Polish import shop was later sold in 1973 to Raymond and Joan Bittner. (updated May 2017)

Eat

• 1 Aladdin Sweets & Cafe, 11945 Conant St, ☏ +1 313 891-8050. 
• 2 Polish Village Cafe, 2990 Yemans St, ☏ +1 313 874-5726. Polish Village is a great place for authentic Polish food, in a historic old cafe in the basement of this Hatramck home. Try the dill pickle soup and a huge beer. 
• 3 La Dolce Vita, 17546 Woodward Ave, ☏ +1 313 865-0331. Italian cuisine. 
• 4 Motor City Sports Bar & Grill, 9122 Joseph Campau Ave, ☏ +1 313-875-4710. (updated Jan 2021)

Drink

• 1 Whiskey in the Jar, 2741 Yemans St (near Jos. Campau St, 3 blocks south of Caniff), ☏ +1 313 873-4154. This eclectic bar was a speak-easy in a house during the Prohibition Era. 
• 2 Suzy's, 2942 Evaline St (near Jos. Campau St, 4 blocks south of Caniff), ☏ +1 313 872-9016. 

Stay safe

Highland Park is not highly regarded as a safe city. Visitors should not visit Highland Park at all after dark. The city of Highland Park became financially insolvent in 2002 and it was largely placed under the control of the county government.

Hamtramck is home to numerous bars and entertainment venues which stay open 7 days a week until 2AM. Exercising excessive caution is not necessary when visiting since most of the neighborhoods are safe. Applying common sense as one would when visiting any city is all that is necessary.