Hamtramck, Mich., is surrounded almost entirely by Detroit but has its own rich history, and thanks to volunteers from Detroit Local 58, it now has new lighting to showcase its storied past.

“Hamtramck has a resilient, community-focused spirit,” Local 58 Business Manager James Soosik said. “A lot of our electricians working on the project had personal ties to the city and were proud to contribute.”

The project began in 2017 when a member of the Hamtramck Historical Museum board approached Local 58 to see if it could upgrade the 100-year-old building’s electrical system. Local 58’s Community Service Committee added the museum to its list of projects.

Local 58 retiree Norm Jaworski was one of the members who worked at the museum and could remember when the spot was a department store and barber college.

“It was a little bit of home for me,” said Jaworski, who attended high school in Hamtramck. “High school is when you really start growing up. You remember that time in your life.”

Jaworski was one of about 10 members who worked on the project over the past eight years, with a notable uptick in 2018 when Local 58 hosted the Electrical Workers Minority Caucus conference and the museum was included in the caucus’ Day of Service.

Due to the age and poor condition of the original wiring, it was all removed, Soosik said, along with about 90% of the original raceways. Everything was replaced, and all the lighting was converted to LED.

“It worked out well, given limited panel capacity and lack of funding for a full distribution upgrade,” Soosik said.

The switch to LED also made the building more efficient.

“We did LED everywhere,” said Jaworski, who served as project lead. “It brought down the electrical load by roughly 80%.”

Their work included installing lighting, branch circuits and receptacles. They installed one-by-four LED strip lights all around the lower level and second floor. The first floor was illuminated using lighting that required over 100 track heads and several hundred feet of track. Caniff Electric, a Hamtramck-based electrical supply house, assisted with lighting design and provided the fixtures.

The workers needed to be particularly careful around the historical aspects that the museum wanted to keep as a way to preserve the building’s history.

“The museum wanted to keep everything as natural as possible,” Jaworski said.

Some of the museum’s historical items include old ballot boxes, records from City Hall, census info and a high school uniform that Jaworski remembers from his days in school. It also has a genuine bootleg still from the days of prohibition when, according to the museum, Hamtramck was known as the “Wild West of the Middle West.” None of that was surprising to Jaworski.

“I remember working on a friend’s house in Hamtramck and we found a secret room for making liquor,” he said. “Things like that were all around.”

The city, which is just 2 square miles in size, used to be home to a large Polish population that moved there for work in a nearby Dodge plant. Today, most of the Polish community has moved out to the suburbs. With so much change, it’s important to have a place that keeps the city’s history alive, and it feels good to contribute to that, Jaworski said.

“Now they don’t have to worry. They’ve got nice lighting,” he said. “Because of all the work we did, they’re able to open their doors and visitors can see the history of Hamtramck.”

Visitors will also see Jaworski himself, or rather his likeness, in a mural. He and other Local 58 members sat for an artist who created a mural depicting scenes of workers, as well as one of the early settlers. Jaworski likes to take his grandchildren there to see it.

“Now they can tell their friends that they have a grandpa in the museum,” he said.

Jaworski and Soosik said volunteering on projects like this is part of how Local 58 contributes to its community. Through the local’s Volunteer Committee, members have donated their time and skills to Habitat for Humanity, women’s shelters, veterans’ projects, churches and more.

On every second and fourth Sunday, members get together to prepare meals and gather toiletries and clothing, then head over to Cass Park, a half-mile from the hall, to serve community members in need.

“These projects underscore our commitment to southeast Michigan and highlight the responsibilities we carry as tradespeople,” Soosik said. “Volunteer efforts like this demonstrate how our members give back, inspire newer generations, and reinforce that our work goes beyond personal or financial benefit — it strengthens the very communities we live and work in.”