Delray, Detroit

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Delray is a neighborhood located in the industrial southwest side of Detroit in the U.S. state of Michigan. Delray is bordered by the River Rouge, historic Fort Wayne, I-75, and Zug Island. It's a unique area within the city with its own distinctive local culture and history.

[edit] History

The area known as Delray was first platted as "Belgrade" in 1836. It was replatted as "Delray" in 1851. Augustus D. Burdeno, after returning from the Mexican-American War convinced other residents to rename the town after a Mexican village, probably associated with the Battle of Molino del Rey. It incorporated as a village in 1897 and was annexed by the city of Detroit in 1906. The Delray post office became a station of the Detroit post office.

Traditionally Delray was a working class community that depended heavily on industrial jobs provided by nearby factories. In the past the expanding local industrial economy attracted migrants from the rural South, Hungary, Poland, Ireland, Germany, and Mexico. Like many other communities in the Rust Belt, Delray has been economically hit hard in recent decades by factory closings and the decline in manufacturing. Unemployment and poverty are major challenges confronting residents in Delray today.

In addition to these economic problems, Delray has been afflicted by the same social breakdown found in other poor urban communities. Crime, substance abuse, high school and labor force dropout, and illegitimacy are prevalent in the slums of Delray. An investigate feature story about the white underclass in U.S. News and World Report found that one part of the Delray area had one of the worst slums in the United States. Local residents, churches, and citizens groups have tried to address these problems.

A section of Delray was recently featured in the film The Island. During a chase scene shots of the Rouge Bridge were cut with shots of a factory on the I-75 service drive in a particularly ugly part of DelRay, the area is said to be home to Rap-Metal Band Insane Clown Posse (but not where they are actually from), and is also home to notorious Midwest street gangs such as the Gangster Disciples, Vice Lords, Satan Disciples, Latin Counts, Cash Flow Posse, Spanish Cobras, Insane Deuces and Latin Kings.

Due to the long-time presence of large industrial complexes, the area is considered to be one of the most polluted residential areas in Detroit. Population: 1,891 Racial Breakdown White: (17.8%) Black: (21.2%) Native American: (0.9%) Asian: (0.1%) Multiracial: (3.9%) Hispanic: (56.3%) ^{[citation needed]}

[edit] See also

Neighborhoods in Detroit, Michigan

[edit] Sources

Romig, Walter. Michigan Place Names. Wayne State University Press: Detroit, 1986.
Environmental Justice Case Study from University of Michigan
About Delray