The mission of the Hamtramck Historical Commission is to identify, assemble, collect and preserve objects, material, writings, buildings and sites relating to the history and culture of the city and its citizens, both past and present.

The Hamtramck Historical Commission operates in several ways, but above all, we save. We save photos of persons, places and information about events from Hamtramck’s past. We save documents, such as maps, newspapers, city records, brochures and nearly anything else that relates to the city. We save items, like old bottles, matchbooks, political posters, shopping bags - even old bowling pins. If an item has a connection to Hamtramck, we acquire it for our archives.

And we save memories. Videotaped and audiotaped interviews of residents and former residents are prepared and preserved to make a living history of Hamtramck.

All items are cataloged and all donors are recorded and acknowledged for their generosity. The Historical Commission relies heavily on assistance from friends of Hamtramck who contribute items. Their contributions are vital, as many of these objects are in danger of being lost, often thrown out with the trash.

The Commission gathers, protects and preserves all items in our collection so they can be viewed by future generations seeking a window into Hamtramck’s past.

The Historical Commission has three objectives: to gather information about the city’s past, to take stock of the present and to establish a system to continue to add to the commission’s archives to document the city’s history into the future. We are developing extensive files and archives and bringing together for the first time collections of material about the city’s incredibly rich history.

Shockingly, almost nothing of Hamtramck’s early days has been preserved. Township records from prior to 1900 are non-existent. There are scant records of the village of Hamtramck (1901-1922) and little has been saved from the early decades of the 20th century. Until the Historical Commission began its operations, there was no formalized system of preserving documents or to chronicle the city’s history.

Now, this material is being gathered, filed and put into a logical order so that historians of today and future generations can get a clear understanding of the city of Hamtramck as it is today and was in the past.

Greg Kowalski, Chairman
Joan Bittner~Cindy Cervenak~Hillary Cherry~Thomas Jankowski~Christine Renner~Dennis Orlowski

Hamtramck, MI 48212 586-826-7393 day 313–893–5027 eve hamtramckhistory@gmail.com