WSU students dig Hamtramck's past

A group of 15 students from Wayne State University along with a handful of volunteers are digging deeply into Hamtramck past - and you can join them.

On Saturday, an Open Day will be held at the dig site where the old Village Hall stood on Jos. Campau and Grayling streets. In all, 15 students are a handful of volunteers are working on the site as part of an Archeological Field Methods Course.

This is the first archeological dig ever done in the city of Hamtramck.

The students have been on site since mid-September and will continue digging there every Monday afternoon until November. At that point they will take everything they have recovered,  study and catalogue it and ultimately it will be sent to the Hamtramck Historical Museum for display. The museum is working with the students in the project. The students will make an official presentation to the community in December at a special program at the museum.

The old village hall was built in 1914-1915 and torn down decades ago. The lot also housed a bar (The Nut House) a store, a house and some small buildings.

Ryzewski said all the items collected there help give an insight into the lives of people years ago.

The Open Day will be a community event so that anyone can meet with the students and see what they are doing on the site.
It will take place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 27, at the site. All are welcome and there is no charge. Concurrently, the Hamtramck Historical Museum will be open. Join us!

The archeological dig is just one of the programs being conducted by the Hamtramck Historical Museum. Help us make more of these fascinating events possible.

'Coming to Hamtramck mural dedicated

There was a full house at the Hamtramck Historical Museum when the official dedication of the "Coming to Hamtramck" mural done by artist Dennis Orlowski was held in July.

The mural has attracted international attention. The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press did stories on the mural. That was picked up by Associated Press, and stories about the mural appeared in cities across the United State and in Canada.

The mural focuses on the major ethnic groups that have come to Hamtramck since its earliest days. The mural measures about 6-feet high by 146-feet long. It features many historical figures as well as current city residents. Its panels feature American Indians, French, Germans, Polish, African-Americans, Ukrainians, Albanians, Yemenis, Bosnians and Bangladeshis.

A special set of panels will be added to the mural  in the future to encompasses the smaller ethnic groups that have been present here, such as the Jewish merchants, Filipinos, Chaldeans, Lebanese and more.

The mural was made possible by a $15,000 grant from the Michigan Humanities Council.

It now hangs on the upper wall of the main gallery of the museum. Be sure to come see it.

Museum hosts DIA group

The Detroit Film Theater, which is the movie theater housed in the Detroit Institute of Arts, returned to the Hamtramck Historical Museum in August for the annual meeting held by the theater ushers' group.

DFT Director Elliot Wilhelm conducted the meeting in which he outlined the film lineup to be shown at the theater in the coming months.

This is the second year the Hamtramck Historical Museum has hosted the ushers. Their visit helps fulfill the historical museum's goal to be a meeting place for a variety of organizations.

Be a Friend
In order for the Hamtramck Historical Museum to thrive and be sustainable for the future, we need your support. One of the best ways to do that is to become a Friend of Historical Hamtramck.

There are a variety of Friends' membership levels, and it's easy to join. Membership information can be found on the Museum website, www.hamtramckhistory.org.
Just click here to join.

So if you are not a member, please become one, and tell all your friends about how they can become our Friends. We have made tremendous progress in the past few years as we have renovated the Museum building and expanded our outreach programs, but much remains to be done.

Be a part of that.