Special Report

ON

TI--E

COVER

Walking Woodward from page 13

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David E. Heineman, politician and

designer of the flag of the city of

Detroit

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Emil and Fanny Heineman's home at 428 Woodward Ave., built in 1859.

others still provide help to city
Orchestra from 1919 until
residents.
his death in 1936. Initially,
• Old Main, south of
he did not disclose he was
Warren on Cass, plainly visible
a Jew, but later took pride
one block west of Woodward.
in his Judaism and helped
When built in 1896 as Detroit's
support Zionist immigrants
Central High School, this was
to Palestine. His wife's father
the high school attended by
was author Mark Twain.
most Jewish teens. Later, the
The restoration of Orchestra
building also housed Detroit
Hall, begun in 1970, was
completed years later with
Ossip Gabrilowitsch, City College and then became
part of Wayne State University.
adjoining new construction,
Detroit Symphony
funded by philanthropists
Orchestra conductor Both institutions educated
many Jewish students and
led by the late Max Fisher
(1919-1936)
employed many Jewish faculty
to create "The Max" con-
members. Numerous buildings at Wayne
cert center and the Jacob Bernard Pincus
are named for Jewish donors, includ-
Music Education Center.
ing the Cohn Building, Prentis
• Jewish Vocational Service, south
Leonard Simons Building and Applebaum
of Canfield (E). JVS taught job skills here
School of Pharmacy, visible east of
in the Arnold E. Frank Building to Jewish
Woodward in the Medical Center.
Detroiters, as it still does today for the
• The museums and Main Library,
general community at this and other
north of Warren (E and W). The audi-
Metro Detroit locations. JVS and Hillel of
torium of the beautiful Detroit Institute
Metro Detroit, headquartered nearby on
of Arts (DIA) was the temporary home
the Wayne State University's campus, are
the only Jewish agencies remaining within of Temple Israel's congregation in 1941.
Collectors Alan and Marianne Schwartz
the city limits of Detroit, though many

14

August 2 • 2007

and Jack and Aviva Robinson were major
donors of art to the DIA. Leonard Simons
and later his daughter Mary Lou Zieve
headed the Detroit Historical Commission;
the Streets of Detroit exhibit in the Detroit
Historical Museum is named in Simons'
memory. The museum displays the
official flag of Detroit, designed by City
Council President David Heineman in
1907. The Main Library was begun with
funds secured by Heineman from Andrew
Carnegie; today it prominently displays
law professor Harold Norris's poem about
the Liberty Bell.
• The New Center Area. As you
approach Grand Boulevard, the skyline
to the west is dominated by buildings
designed by Albert Kahn, the Fisher
Building (1929), General Motors Building
(1922) and other buildings designed for
GM. Later the Fisher Building was owned
by Max Fisher, then the Berry family, and
currently by the Farbmans, who have
restored it to its original beauty. Jewish-
owned stores on Woodward in the New
Center area included Roggin Drugs, the
Mittledorfs' 60-Minute Cleaners and the

Goodmans' Shoe Center store. South of
New Center, Jews had mainly been east-
siders, but north of Grand Boulevard they
crossed Woodward, and have been pre-
dominantly west-siders ever since.
• Temple Beth El, north of Gladstone
(W). This magnificent structure was occu-
pied by Temple Beth El from 1922 until
1973. The Woodward addresses of Beth
El's temples built in 1903 and 1922 reflect-
ed the prosperous economic status of the
city's Reform Jews. Both Beth El buildings
on Woodward were designed by Beth El
member Albert Kahn, the first resembling
the Pantheon in ancient Rome and the
later one a Greek temple; perhaps Kahn
was reminding Detroiters that Judaism
was an essential foundation for Western
civilization, like the Greeks and Romans.
Since 1974, the Lighthouse Cathedral's
Christian congregation at the Gladstone
building has preserved the outstanding
murals in the sanctuary, displaying bibli-
cal themes and famous Jews throughout
history, and the English translations from
the Jewish Bible carved on the facade.
• Jewish Community Center, north
of Holbrook (E). Across from Beth El
and one block north of it sits the former
JCC, purchased and remodeled in 1933,
expanded in 1937 and utilized as the JCC
until 1959. This solid red brick build-
ing replaced rented quarters on a nearby
side street. The purchase of expensive
Woodward frontage reflected a show of
pride by the Jewish community in the face
of widespread discrimination during the
Great Depression. Like the other buildings
on Woodward, there was no parking lot;
most people arrived by foot, trolley or bus.
• Northern High School, south of
Owen and Clairmount (E). Built in 1915,