WE ARE CORKTOWN

Corktown is Detroit’s oldest neighborhood, though it is only half as old as the city itself. Corktown takes its name from the Irish immigrants who settled here; they were primarily from County Cork. As the initial destination of many of Detroit's immigrant populations, it became home to the people who worked in Detroit's industries during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Around 1900, three men from the island of Malta settled there and a number of their fellow citizens followed. In the 1920s, Latino populations arriving from the Southwest and Mexico came to Corktown seeking work in Detroit's auto factories. The neighborhood suffered in the 1950s and 1960s, however, when highway construction and business district encroachment swallowed up or flattened dozens of residential blocks. Today the neighborhood is home to several new bars, restaurants and shops, making it a destination for new and longtime residents to live, work and play.