Named for Colonel Jean-François Hamtramck, who fought for the Americans in the Revolutionary War, the City of Hamtramck is an oddity being surrounded by the City of Detroit. The story of Hamtramck’s evolution is more so the story of Detroit’s desire to annex more land area.

Col. Hamtramck founded the area in 1798 after helping to take Detroit from the British. The Village of Hamtramck was formally established in 1901 and became an incorporated city in 1922 in order to stave off further annexation of the Hamtramck Township territory which used to extend into the Grosse Pointes to the East and as far North as 8 Mile, then known as Baseline Road.

If you live anywhere on the Eastside or in the Grosse Pointes you’re more of a Hamtramckan than you might think.