The dig for Hamtramck’s past continues with WSU students

Wayne State University Archaeology students are excavating a site where once Immaculate Conception Church once stood on Grayling St.

By Charles Sercombe
Hamtramck is known for its colorful history.
Just ask Hamtramck Historical Museum Director, and retired journalist, Greg Kowalski.
He’s written over a dozen books about this city’s history. And he has said he has plenty more in him to bring to light.
As it turns out, a lot of Hamtramck’s history is buried. As in, underground.
Some of those buried secrets are slowly coming back to the surface, thanks to the Anthropology Department of Wayne State University.
That department and its participating students have already performed digs in a few locations in the city, and they are now wrapping up their current one at 2317 Grayling, the former site of Immaculate Conception Ukrainian Catholic Church.
The church still exists, by the way, at Commor and McDougall.
Here is what Mr. Kowalski has to say about the exploration:
“It’s a fairly expansive bit of land — wide, green, empty, a bit overgrown at the edges.
“Nothing there.
“Oh, how wrong that is, for it is a rich field of history. It was on this bland spot on Grayling Street, near Holbrook School, that Immaculate Conception Ukrainian Catholic Church was built in 1927. Over the next few years, more buildings would be added to the IC complex, and a full block of houses would be constructed. This is one of the oldest sections to have (been) developed when Hamtramck town began its explosive growth stage.
“For unknown reasons, the early local Ukrainian population settled here, nestled among many Polish neighbors. Frankly, none of them were all that neighborly. The complications of Poland-Ukraine-Russia-Prussia-Austria had created rivalries, going back centuries, that were carried over to the New World.
“Yet, everyone got along well enough. It all is so distant now — but it really isn’t. This past month, the Hamtramck Historical Museum began assisting Wayne State University in its fourth archaeological dig in Hamtramck. This year, we generously received permission from Bishop Dr. A. Barnes, of International Beginning Ministries, to conduct the dig on what is now their church property. Incidentally, the Ukrainian American Archives and Museum on Jos. Campau also is deeply involved in this project.
“I cannot adequately express how excited I am about this. For the first time, we have a comprehensive history of our archaeological dig site, and we even have living connections to the site.
“But so what? Who cares? Why does it matter?
“It matters hugely. The ongoing immigrant transformation of Hamtramck today is a reflection of what was happening a century, and more, ago. There is a message here: We can and will get along as one united family in this 2-square-mile city surrounded by Detroit.
“I am in awe of what the WSU students have been able to find at our explorations in the past, and I am confident we will find much more here. Linking this story from the past to Hamtramck today is challenging and exciting, and promises to be enlightening.
“In the fall there will be a public presentation of what the students will have found. It will be another bind that ties the people of Hamtramck together today as one big family.”
(Dr. Krysta Ryzewski of the WSU Department of Anthropology has been directing these digs. The university’s findings are on display at the Hamtramck Historical Museum, located at 9525 Jos. Campau.)
Posted Nov. 8, 2024