Delray, Detroit
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Delray is a residential neighborhood located in the industrial southwest side of Detroit Michigan. It is isolated from other residential communities by industrial warehouses and other commercial properties. Delray is bordered by the cities of Dearborn, Melvindale, and River Rouge to its south, Fort Street to it west, and Clark Street and the Detroit River to its east. 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.
[edit] Description
Delray is a unique area within the city with its own distinctive local culture and history, and is Detroit's most historically diverse neighborhood. Today, It has a large Hispanic population that has tried to revive the area with locally-owned restaurants and shops that attempt to feed off nearby Mexicantown redevelopment. The community is served by Delray Neighborhood House and the Detroit Public Library's book mobile. Nevertheless, the urban landscape and industrial dilapidation has been a draw to filmmakers. 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 dilapidated factory on the I-75 service drive.
Historic Fort Wayne, built 1843 to guard Detroit from British attack from Windsor's Fort Malden, is located at the northeastern end of the neighbourhood. It was closed to the public as a historical site due to underfunding in 1992, but remains preserved for possible reopening as a tourist site.
Detroit's Southwestern High School also serves the community.
[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. Most of the village sat in what was Springwells Township, with the rest sitting across the River Rouge in Ecorse Township. 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, racially diverse community with a high Hungarian population 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 Italy. Like many other communities in the Rust Belt, Delray has been economically hit hard in recent decades by factory closings, urban sprawl and the decline in manufacturing. Unemployment and poverty are major challenges confronting residents in Delray today as well as plans for a new bridge span to Canada. During the 1940s and 1950s, Delray was a thriving residential community with a strong commercial presence along Jefferson Avenue, which included variety stores, the impressive Grande Theatre, furniture stores, live poultry stores, bakeries, barber shops, fine restaurants like Joey's Stables, "beer gardens," many elaborate old world style churches and the well-kept, spacious George Paton Park, with indoor and outdoor pools,althletic fields and well-kept grassy fields. A large gothic looking Detroit City water works facility was located on the Detroit River near where the Rouge River flowed into it. A number of long-time residents still reside in Delray, with former residents returning to church in Delray on Sundays and holidays. The large Fort Wayne U.S. Army base is also located in Delray. Economic decline began in the 1960s when the United States steel industry collapsed and affluent second generation immigrant residents moved to the suburbs, taking their parents with them.
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 labour force dropout, and illegitimacy are prevalent in the community. 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.
In the 1990's the neighborhood dealt with large gang membership. Numerous gangs targeted in policing efforts to control crime and recruitment were the Cobras, Cash Flow Posse, Vice Lords, Gangster Disciples, Black P. Stones, Bloods, Latin Counts, Sureños, Insane Deuces, and Latin Kings.
[edit] Sources
- Romig, Walter. Michigan Place Names. Wayne State University Press: Detroit, 1986.
- Environmental Justice Case Study from University of Michigan
- About Delray
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