Editing Italian Americans (section)

=== Detroit ===
{{Main|History of Italian Americans in Metro Detroit}}
The first ethnic Italian in Detroit was Alphonse Tonty (Italian name: Alfonso Tonti), a Frenchman with an Italian immigrant father. He was the second-in-command of [[Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac]], who established Detroit in 1701. Tonti's child, born in 1703, was the first ethnic European child born in Detroit. In order to preserve the fur trade, the French administrators and the British administrators discouraged immigration, so the Italian population had slow growth. Growth in immigration increased after Detroit became a part of the United States and the [[Erie Canal]] had been constructed. Armando Delicato, author of ''Italians in Detroit'', wrote that Italian immigration to Detroit "lagged behind other cities in the East".

In 1904 the City of Detroit had 900 Italians. In Metro Detroit there were several thousand ethnic Italians by 1900. The concentrations of the population lived in [[Eastern Market, Detroit|Eastern Market]] and east of the area presently known as [[Greektown, Detroit|Greektown]]. Of those Italians in 1900 most originated from [[Genoa]], [[Lombardy]], and [[Sicily]]. Some Italians stayed in Detroit temporarily before traveling onwards to mines in northern Michigan.

The increase in the automobile industry resulted in the increase of the Italian population in the 20th century. By 1925, the number of Italians in the City of Detroit increased to 42,000. The historical center of Detroit's Italian-American community was in an area along Gratiot Avenue, east of [[Downtown Detroit]]. During that period, Italian immigrants and their children lived throughout the City of Detroit, and several neighborhoods had concentrations of Italian immigrants. There were larger numbers of southern Italians than those from the north. Armando Delicato, author of ''Italians in Detroit'', wrote that "Unlike many other American cities, no region of Italy was totally dominant in this area". Steve Babson, author of ''Working Detroit: The Making of a Union Town'', wrote that "Many northern Italians, coming from an urban and industrialized society, had little in common with local Sicilians, who came from the rural and clannish south." In Detroit's history, within the crafts Italians concentrated on tileworking.

During World War II, [[Fort Wayne (Detroit)]] served as home to Italian [[Prisoner of war|prisoners of war (POWs)]] captured during the [[North African campaign]]. After Italy's surrender in September 1943, the POWs were given the opportunity to work as servants, cooks, and janitors. At the end of the war many chose to remain and settle in Detroit.

As of 1951, Detroit had about 150,000 Italians.

The National Italian American Foundation estimated that in 1990, [[Metro Detroit]] had 280,000 ethnic Italians. As of 2005 the closest remaining large [[Little Italy]] near Detroit was Via Italia in [[Windsor, Ontario]] and there was a group of remaining Italian shops and restaurants along Garfield Road in [[Clinton Township, Macomb County, Michigan|Clinton Township]]. In 2005 Delicato wrote that "Unlike some other national groups, like the Poles, who still look to [[Hamtramck]], or the Mexicans, who have [[Mexicantown]], Italian Detroiters no longer have a geographical center".