Special Report
ON THE COVER
Footprints On The Avenue
Woodward's history is heavily entwined with Detroit Jewry's.
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The Woodward and Gladstone Temple Beth El, designed by architect Albert Kahn architect, was dedicated in 1922; the last service was held there in 1973.
W
hen French explorers and their Indian
guides landed on our shores in 1701,
they stood upon what would become,
centuries later, the main street of America's auto-
mobile industry.
And just as the creation of Woodward Avenue
200 years ago played a major role in the growth of
Detroit, the city's main thoroughfare has served as
a guidepost for the Jewish community.
As Detroit expanded economically and physi-
cally, Jews seeking freedom and opportunity
arrived here from across Europe and America. The
comfort of being with other Jews coupled with
the prevalent anti-Semitism of the times served
to keep the Jewish newcomers in neatly confined
neighborhoods — and steadily migrating north along
Woodward.
No history of the Detroit area would be complete
without a compilation of the wanderings of its
Jewish neighborhoods. The first large Jewish area
started out near downtown, a few blocks east of
Woodward, in the early 1900s — a thriving communi-
ty along Hastings Street. Today, this area of Detroit
Jewish history has been obliterated by the Chrysler
expressway.
Our travels moved northward along Woodward
to Brush and Beaubien on the east and, crossing
Grand Boulevard, to Oakland Avenue on the east
and the Dexter-Linwood neighborhood on the west.
During the 1930s and '40s, the drift and spread of
the Jewish diaspora could be seen through its high
schools: Detroit Northern on Woodward and then
Detroit Central on Linwood.
In the 1950s, as Detroit's Jewish population
grew and prospered, James Couzens, the Lodge
Freeway and Northwestern Highway became the
new "Woodward." But, as the Jewish population has
settled in the suburbs, Woodward has again become
the fulcrum.
From the southernmost foot of Woodward at the
Detroit River to the avenue's northern end in Pontiac,
from Walled Lake and Commerce in the west to the
Grosse Pointes in the east, there are Jews throughout
the Detroit area that — even though they may live
miles away — think of Woodward Avenue as our cen-
tral geographic reference point and lifeline.
- Alan Hitsky, associate editor
For Woodward Avenue memories: JNonline.us
Next week: Jewish-inspired redevelopment along
Woodward.