[madison10]

There have been Lebanese-Americans (not necessarily Muslim) in this area of Michigan & Ohio for at least 100 years. Danny Thomas, who was born near my home, is one, as is Jamie Farr.

Maybe there are so many here because that's where the train stopped? ;) or maybe people from the same regions set up neighborhoods together regardless of whether they were Christian or Muslim. They may have felt more akin to each other than to the bigoted, blue-collar Americans.

[hunter112]

Thanks for an answer to my question. It makes sense, in the Midwest, ethnic communities often grouped together by nationality to deal with perceived persecution by the majority population. I remember the Italian, Polish, and Croatian neighborhoods from my time as a kid just outside the Chicago area. It seems that many Lebanese Christians must have come here, and Muslims followed later, to find less ostracism in a community where the people's ancestors had lived side by side with Muslims in the "old country".

There are interesting stories all over North America about how groups of settlers from a particular place all came together and built a community there.