Muralidharan 1

Arjun Muralidharan

Ewing

Honors 1000

11 October 2017

Sean McDermott, The Irish Immigrant

There was a feeling of uneasiness, nervousness, and perturbation festering in Sean as he

took his first steps out of the Michigan Central Station and into the city of Detroit. Only 24, Sean

ventured from his home in Dublin, Ireland and, much to his parents dismay, boarded a

steamship to America to open his own shoe store. After landing in Ellis Island and witnessing the

opulent New York City, Sean discovered why so many like-minded individuals left everything

behind and flooded the American cities--cities that were made from steel, towering skyscrapers,

and infinite limits.

Sean decided not to stay in the crowded New York City but venture out further west,

perhaps to Chicago. However, he heard tantalizing rumors and whispers among the streets of

New York that Detroit was a city on the rise that had already began its economic explosion

making it perfect to start a new business. Not usually one to take advice from strangers, but Sean

thought, New place, new me, and took a chance. He immediately boarded a train from the

Grand Central Station and travelled along the New York Central Railroad to Detroit.1 Although

the trip was lonely and nerve-racking for the young Irish shoemaker, Sean was enthusiastic to

pursue his big ambitions. There was nothing special about Sean McDermott, he was average--

average height and weight, broad, ruffled light brown hair, ocean blue eyes, freckles running all

over his face--but the fight, the motivation, the drive within him stood apart.
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It was the summer of 1915 when Sean landed in Detroit after the interminable train ride,

and he witnessed the same thing he saw in New York: a bustling city full of life, excitement in

the streets, steam and smoke polluting the sky, the wafting industrial smell, and automobiles

galore. Then, Sean noticed the stark difference between the newly-arrived immigrants and the

people of the city. The new arrivals, including himself, were dressed in worn suits, some even in

dilapidated clothes, with a face of amazement and perplexity.2 In contrast, the established people

of the city had a uniform and formal way of clothing and possessed a jovial and affable

demeanor with each other.3 Although it was summertime, the men were wearing sharply-tailored

suits, straight slacks, polished shoes, and a hat; everywhere Sean looked, everyone wore a hat,

either a Panama, Bowler, or Fedora! Meanwhile, the women accompanying their men walked

around in colorful, flowery, or fashionable dresses wearing, of course, a hat. However, Sean did

notice a certain division on how the immigrants were viewed; some provided welcoming,

comforting eyes like they knew how being an outsider felt, while others, albeit a few, stared with

demeaning, degrading eyes that terrified Sean.

Sean felt overwhelmed, and he truly believed he was in an otherworldly place. The wide

streets, meant for the growing automobile era, varied from the streets in Dublin; the buildings

were taller, larger, and more extravagant than those he saw back in Ireland.

However, Sean had to overcome his nervousness in order to achieve his ambitious dream,

opening his own shoe store. Back in Dublin, his family owned a successful business, but Sean

yearned to venture on his own. Making and fixing shoes since he was just eight years old, shoes

were Seans forte, and so he thought moving to a new country with an untapped clientele would

allow him to be successful.

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The closest neighborhood to the Michigan Central Station was Corktown, a community

established by Irish Americans. This proved to be fortuitous to Sean as one of his cousins lived

in a house on Leverett Street and graciously invited Sean to stay with him. His cousin was one of

the many Irish immigrants that migrated to Detroit between 1880 to 1900 and settled and

founded in Corktown.4 When Seans cousin first saw Sean, he was appalled by his clothing and

stated, Seanie, you cant wear those rags, you look like a bum! If you want people to take you

seriously, you have to dress properly! After badgering Sean, he handed him a newspaper ad for

a tailor with shop on Woodward Avenue.5 To accommodate him in assimilating and being a part

of the city, the first thing Sean did was get a suit.

Despite his strong Irish accent, Sean spoke good English making it easier for him to

communicate with others. Sean first conversed with the tailor, Jack Durst, who had opened his

own successful store. The tailor, intrigued by Seans ambitions, referred him to an organization

that loaned out buildings for a low price. Unbeknownst to Sean, the organization Jack was

insinuating to was the Purple Gang, a ruthless Jewish gang.6 Naively, Sean enters into a contract

with them, but did not know that the plant to use the store as a front to conduct illegal activities.

After a month of getting situated, gathering supplies, and getting enough money, Sean

finally opened his store. His customers were surprised to see a young Irishman that already

established himself so soon, but approved of how Sean was and his equal treatment of everyone.

However, the group of people Sean had previously met returned and demanded him to keep up

his end of the deal. Sean, flabbergasted, did not know what they meant by this. The leader of the

group addressed Sean as a simpleton and stated that the businesses they lend to are now part of

their lucrative business and the store is used as a front. Sean objected to this, and the posse--

frustrated and annoyed--left wryly.

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The day after when Sean walked back to open his store, he saw the store in chaos: door

unlocked, windows smashed in, and shoes scattered everywhere. However, a note is left

centerfold on a table which simply stated, Im afraid youre out of business now, paddy. Sean,

brokenhearted and distraught, went back to his cousins house and felt decimated. He was not a

very emotional man, but when you want something precious and you obtain it only for it to be

ripped out of your hands, it is soul-crushing.

However, after a week of sulking around, his cousin offered him to a job at the Highland

Ford Factory. Seans cousin, a benefactor of the $5 workday, worked at the Highland Ford

Factory for two years and was well-off economically. Sean grudgingly took the job to find

sustainity; Sean was able to get a job at the assembly line which he had heard to be tedious,

interminable, and redundant, but money was motivation enough. Sean thought of the Highland

Ford Factory as an industrial palace, and the assembly line was the main spectacle of the awe-

inspiring system.7 Sean was one of the hundreds of people repeating the same job over for the

golden goose egg: the $5 workday.

This was the story of an average shoemaker, Sean McDermott, that wanted to begin a

new life but instead falls victim to the cruel reality of diminishing dreams. Fortunately, Sean and

many other immigrants that came to America, especially to cities like Detroit or New York City,

were able to find endless opportunities to establish a new, peaceful way of living and assimilate

into homogeneous culture.

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Notes

1. The Michigan Central Station first opened in 1913, and since 1988 it has been the

historical gateway in and out of Detroit (Kavanaugh).

2. Even though this photograph was taken in 1910, it represents how immigrants looked

and felt like when they first encountered the city for years to come (Immigrants Entering).

3. The photograph captures a crowd at the Michigan State Fair, but the way they are

dressed and act provide crucial information on how people behaved during the era (Michigan

State Fair).

4. During the years 1880 and 1900, immigrants flooded and transformed Detroit,

especially the Irish that settled and established Corktown; Corktown over the years then became

the hub for further Irish immigration (Zunz).

5. Although this newspaper advertisement was published in 1919, it provides a glimpse

of how past advertising was supposed to entice the populous with bargains, deals, and

loaded/emotional words (Display Ad 27).

6. The Purple Gang became prominent after the 18th Amendment was passed, but even

before that, particular in the years 1910-1920, the gang was established and presented a threat

(Rockaway).

7. The assembly line inside the Highland Ford Factory is photographed and it shows a

glimpse on how efficient this marvelous idea was (Interior of Ford Motor..).
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Works Cited

Detroit News. Immigrants Entering Detroit at Michigan Central Station. Detroit News

Photograph Collection, Walter P. Reuther Library, Detroit, 1910, digital.library.wayn-

e.edu/digitalcollections/item?id=wayne:vmc40618. Accessed 10 Oct. 2017.

Detroit News. Michigan State Fair - Crowds. Crowds Near Exhibits. Detroit

News Photograph Collection, Detroit, July 1915, digital.library.wayne.edu/digital

collections/item?id=wayne:vmc21325. Accessed 10 Oct. 2017.

"Display Ad 27 -- no Title." Detroit Free Press (1858-1922), Oct 24, 1919, pp. 15. ProQuest

Historical Newspapers: Detroit Free Press (1831-1922),

http://search.proquest.com.proxy.lib.wayne.edu/docview/566368302?accountid=14925.

Interior of Ford Motor Company Factory. National Automotive History Collection, Detroit

Public Library, Detroit, 1913, digital.library.wayne.edu/digitalcollections/item?id-

=wayne:CFAIEB01a025. Accessed 10 Oct. 2017.

Kavanaugh, Kelli B. Detroit's Michigan Central Station. Arcadia, 2001.

Rockaway, Robert A. "The Notorious Purple Gang: Detroit's All-Jewish Prohibition Era Mob."

Shofar, vol. 20, no. 1, 2001, p. 113. Academic OneFile,

go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&u=lom_waynesu&v=2.1&id=GALE%7C

79839466&i=r&asid=60b943329fc21d9253250a45e2dd03fe. Accessed 10 Oct. 2017.

Zunz, Olivier. Detroit's Ethnic Neighborhoods at the End of the Nineteenth Century. pp.

4046. Michigan History Division, Feb. 1978,

deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/50936/161.pdf?sequence=1.