CLOSE-UP
AT HOME
Downrive r
SUSAN GRANT
Staff Writer
It's not always easy,
but most Downriver Jews
wouldn't live anywhere else.
ALLEN
PARK
TAYLOR
RIVER
ROUGE
ECORSE
LINCOLN
PARK
SOUTHGATE
RIVERVIEW
TRENTON
WOODHAVEN
FLAT
ROCK
f Joe and Irene Griffin
need Shabbat candles,
Passover matzah or
simply want a good
corned beef sand-
wich, they go to Southfield
or Oak Park.
But they prefer to stay
near their home in Wood-
haven than to venture out to
the center of Detroit's
Jewish community.
"We don't miss being out
there," Mrs. Griffin said.
"We can get almost every-
thing we need here. "
Having moved Downriver
in 1955 because it was close
to Mr. Griffin's store, the
couple has no desire to leave
the area they call home.
Jack and Evelyn Boone
have closer ties to Jews in
Detroit's northern suburbs,
particularly since Mr.
Boone attends Shabbat
services almost every Sat-
urday at Congregation
B'nai David. But the
Boones prefer to make
their home in`Trenton.
The Boones and the
Griffins are part of a small,
thriving Jewish commun-
ity centered in Trenton,
22
FRIDAY, APRIL 12, 1991
but encompassing the en-
tire Downriver area.
Although no one, including
the Jewish Welfare Fed-
eration, has exact figures,
it is estimated that 150
Jewish families live
Downriver — in com-
munities like Trenton,
Woodhaven, Allen Park,
Flat Rock, Grosse Ile, Lin-
coln Park and Taylor
which are near the Detroit
River.
"There was never a huge
population of Jews in the
Downriver area," said Mrs.
Eloise Blumberg, who
helped organize the
Downriver Jewish com-
munity. "Most Jewish peo-
ple went to Southfield or
West Bloomfield."
Hadar Granader is one of
the latter. He loves the
Trenton area and has own-
ed a pharmacy there for
more than 30 years. His is
one of 37 families who
belong to Downriver's only
synagogue, Congregation
Beth Isaac. But when he
and his wife, Lois, were
looking for a home, they
chose Southfield.
"We wanted to send our
kids to Hillel and the buses
wouldn't go that far," Mr.
Granader said. "For us, it
was the right decision."
Although their children
are grown, the Granaders
are comfoitable in their
new Bloomfield Hills house
and have no plans to move
despite the hour-long drive
to work.
But those Jews who set-
tled Downriver were de-
termined to carve out a
niche for themselves and
their children.
The Downriver Jewish
community's roots go back
to 1908 when Meyer
Mulias and his cousin,
Meyer Ellias, moved from
an agricultural community
in Bad Axe, Mich. to Tren-
ton where they soon opened
a general store. Under the
leadership of Mr. Ellias,
his son, Stanley, and Sadie
Ellias Mulias, who took
over the store when her
husband died in 1914,
Mulias and Ellias grew
into a large. department
store covering almost a
whole city block in
downtown Trenton.
While the Mulias and
Ellias families thrived in
Trenton and saw a handful