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Part 14: Business community (RealPlayer version)

Lewandowksi, Thomas, 1939 - (prod., narr.)

Oakland Community College

Hamtramck (Mich.) -- Economic conditions -- 20th century.

Central business districts -- Michigan -- Hamtramck.

Retail trade -- Michigan -- Hamtramck.

EX01a014

Extracts from oral histories of Hamtramck, MI in the Albert J. Zak Memorial Library (Hamtramck), Detroit Public Library (Burton Collection), Hamtramck Historical Collection, Library of Michigan, Macomb County Library, Oakland Community College Libraries.

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Max Witkowski and his brother Vernon were clothiers whose store was a fixture on Joseph Campau. Under their father's direction they helped outfit priests and seminarians at St. Mary's College, and St. Cyril and Methodius Seminary at Orchard Lake, MI. They also delivered suits as youths when Hamtramck had wooden sidewalks and mud streets. Bernard (Barney) Sumner, owner of Barney's Clothes experienced a time when Hamtramck was second only to downtown Detroit as a shopping district.