The Neighborhoods, November 27, 2018: In retrospect, GM’s Poletown was a pretty terrible idea if we’re being honest
General Motors today announced it could shut down its Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant at the end of 2019, and while the news of pending layoffs is not healthy for anyone it is a reminder that the plant, which we know locally as the Poletown plant, needs retroactive placement as one of Detroit’s biggest blunders for everyone involved in the plant’s construction.
The Poletown plant was promised as a way forward for both the city of Detroit and for General Motors.
Before GM, Poletown was a thriving neighborhood where Detroit’s rising Black population began to settle. Folks who thought that cities were doing the absolute most to woo Amazon’s HQ2 should probably thank their lucky stars that it didn’t come close to what happened with Poletown.
American automakers started to think twice about how they built factories. Then-Mayor Coleman Young saw GM as giving a needed infusion of economy into the city, whose residents were feeling the brunt of nationwide unemployment.
When we discuss Coleman Young’s legacy, we are correct in noting the advancements he made to integrate city government and provide opportunity for disenfranchised Detroiters. We gloss over his machinations to make Poletown happen, and how it still affects us today.
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