Just like the Irish liqueur
So luscious, you'll wish you could drink it
Detroit's oldest neighborhood, and one of its best-preserved architectural showcases, Corktown has survived despite some incredible odds. Its delightful Victorian-era homes have been renovated and lovingly maintained by a determined posse of prescient 1980s urban pioneers, and the diverse bar scene is gathering impressive steam despite a lack of casino-type municipal dollars.

Corktown is a minuscule little pocket of the city just outside of downtown and anchored by the large, yet historic, white elephant that was once the Detroit Tigers' home field. Roughly one square mile, Corktown sits just south of Michigan Avenue, and directly west of the Lodge Freeway. Its name, of course, hearkens back to County Cork, Ireland, from which a majority of the first settlers came in the mid-nineteenth century to escape Ireland's devastating Potato Famine. The Irish were the second wave of newcomers to Detroit, after the Germans began nosing out the original French. Their working-class origins were reflected in their choice of modest cottages-some which you could actually order from a Sears catalog-though Corktown once comprised a much larger area with a more diverse range of architectural styles. Those streets were lost to urban-renewal efforts and the Lodge Freeway construction of the mid-twentieth century.

Corktown's Irish seemed to reside rather agreeably with another wave of European islanders who settled in the neighborhood around 1900-the Maltese. Today the area is one of the city's most integrated neighborhoods, with an equal mix of African American, Latino, and white residents. Though the end of Tiger Stadium was predicted to be a potential harbinger of doom for Corktown, in a typically perverse Detroit fashion just the opposite happened. Several local nightspots draw weekend pub crawlers, including the gritty Lager House, one of the city's best showcases for live acts. Corktown's Irish legacy emerges in full force on the annual St. Patrick's Day parade, when scores of green-clad suburbanites descend to stand along Michigan Avenue to hoist the Guinness and heckle bagpipers. Corktown has a well-deserved spot on the National Register of Historic Places.


Read more:

Greater Corktown Development Corporation

DetroitIrish.org



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Motor City Candleworks, based in the historic Russell Industrial Center in Detroit, Michigan, makes candles and incense with local flavor.

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