Detroit’s Mexicantown — A Century of Latin Culture
At the dawn of the last century, Detroit began to experience a prolific boom in industry. Working-class people from across the country and beyond were drawn to the opportunity for stable, well-paying jobs on the assembly lines at the Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler facilities. Throughout the fifties, however, the auto industry began to leave Detroit — plants shut down and many workers were forced out of their jobs. Urban decay began to take ahold of the city, leaving abandoned facilities and vandalized monuments in its wake. As the city shifted into decline, small communities of immigrants which had settled there throughout the 1900s began to take over the now diminished neighborhoods throughout Detroit. One such district is the vibrant Latin-American neighborhood Mexicantown.
First known as “La Bagley”, Mexicantown began to emerge as an enclave for Latinos in the early 1920s. After a period of civil unrest and socioeconomic chaos brought forth by the Revolution of 1910, Mexicans felt compelled to escape the lingering turmoil in their home country. Detroit, with its well-paying assembly-line jobs for people with only a basic skillset, seemed like a promising alternative to the disorder in Mexico. Additionally, by immigrating as far north as Michigan, Mexicans avoided the overt and often violent discrimination of the American Southwest. With the…
