In the 1960s, the 14th congressional district consisted of
Hamtramck, the northeast portion of
Detroit,
Harper Woods and the Grosse Pointes. The 1964 redistricting that created these boundaries placed
Lucien Nedzi, who had represented the old 14th district, in the same congressional district as fellow
Democratic incumbent Harold Ryan. Nedzi was the more liberal of the two Democrats, and won the primary. In the 1972 redistricting, East Detroit and Warren south of 10 Mile Road were added to the district while some of the district in Detroit was moved to other districts. Prior to the 1972 redistricting, the majority of voters in the district were residents of Detroit. The 1972 redistricting changed the district from having a population based on the 1970 census that was 10% African American to one that was 3% African American, what with 70,000 or more residents added from East Detroit and Warren, with the latter city as a place where black families could in 1970 literally be counted with one's fingers. At the same time, the percentage of people who were either immigrants or had at least one parent who was an immigrant fell from 46% to 37%. This was more a reflection of the fact that the residents of Warren and East Detroit at the time were in many cases literally the children and grandchildren of the residents of north-east Detroit and Hamtramck. Those born in Poland or with at least one parent born there fell from 12% to 9% of the population, the same group for Canadians fell from 7% to 6% the Italian group held steady at 6% while the German group actually rose from 4% to 6%. Since all these figures are based on the 1970 census, the changes reflect differences between the areas added and dropped, not any population movement. Based on the 1970 census, the district had the most people who identified having Belgian ancestry of any congressional district in the country, and one of the most heavily Polish as well. Based on the 1970 census, it was possible to write that Hamtramck was "an almost entirely Polish-American city". From 1982 until the 1992 redistricting, the 14th congressional district included the northeast Detroit (basically north of 6 mile and east of Ryan), Grosse Pointe Farms, Grosse Point Woods, Grosse Pointe Shores, Hamtramck, Harper Woods, the southern third of
St. Clair Shores,
Eastpointe, Center Line,
Warren south of 10 mile and west of Van Dyke, all of
Sterling Heights,
Utica, Hazel Park, Madison Heights, and Troy south of about Big Beaver Road, and west of Rochester Road. The district was represented by Dennis Hertel. Conyers' 1st district included
Highland Park, and Detroit between the Southfield Freeway and a line running from the south end of Highland Park over to the boundary with Dearborn. The eastern boundary of the district was with the 14th district and the northern boundary was 8 mile road. All of the Wayne County portion of the 14th was retained in the 14th in the 1992 redistricting. It also retained most of the district area in Detroit from Conyers' old 1st district and all of Highland Park. In addition, it took in the far north-western part of Detroit and Redford Township from the 17th district, which prior to redistricting was represented by
Sander Levin, and after 1992 did not exist (since there were only 16 districts). The south end of St. Clair Shores and about 80% of Eastpointe were put in the district that ended up being
David Bonior's district, while the rest of Eastpointe, as well as the remaining areas in Warren, Center Line, Maidson Heights, Hazel Park, Sterling Heights, Utica and Troy were merged into the district that ended up represented by the 17th district's representative
Sander Levin, renumbered as the 12th post-redistricting. == Demographic history ==