metro >> on the cover

Digging For
Purple

The musty basement of a Downtown bar
may hold secrets to the Purple Gang's past.

Jackie Headapohl I Managing Editor

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Lead researcher Shawn Fields of Detroit digs out artifacts from under
the paving stones behind the bar.

Brenna Moloney of Ann Arbor and Greg Young of Pleasant Ridge look at
an artifact.

The group returned to the Cream of
Michigan, where a young Raskin asked, "What
would have happened if there was a bullet in
it?"
"There never are the Purple guy said.
Raskin said, "They were some ruthless
people, some bad, bad Jewish guys, but they did
good stuff, too:'
Although they may have spread some of their
wealth around "Little Jerusalem:' the Jewish
section of Detroit's east side, and protected
kids from anti-Semitic bullies, members of the
Purple Gang spent the majority of their time
controlling the liquor traffic from Canada as
well as a number of blind pigs and gambling
houses during Prohibition.
Now, a group of Wayne State University
archaeology students, in partnership with
Preservation Detroit, believes they may have
found evidence of a Purple Gang-run speakeasy
in the basement of Tommy's Detroit Bar and
Grill at 624 Third St.

An Interesting History
For the past four years, Marion Christiansen,
tour program director at Preservation Detroit,
has been hearing clues to a long-ago speakeasy
associated with the Purple Gang at Tommy's
Bar, housed in one of Detroit's oldest build-
ings, dating from the mid-1800s. Its previous
names include the Golden Galleon and Mac's
On Third. One of its more intriguing features
is a blocked-off tunnel in the west end of the
basement.
"Historic preservation is important:' said
Christiansen, who reached out to the bar
owner and Wayne State Assistant Professor of
Anthropology Krysta Ryzewski, who agreed
to conduct a student-led research project at
the property. "We're working with the bar
owner on a historical designation. You can't
just knock down history:'
Building and bar owner Tom Burelle is
excited about the project. "I've been interest-
ed in having the building's history revealed.
I've always loved Detroit history, and this
project gives me a chance to find out the true
history of the building:'
Burelle has owned the bar for two years. Part
of the basement had its own electrical wiring,

and there is nice wood paneling in a basement
room that would not have been used by cus-
tomers. "With the tunnel there, obviously there
was something that had gone on here, probably
a speakeasy:' he said. "I'd heard plenty of stories
about the Third Street Gang and the Purple
Gang, toe he added.
The area around the bar was the turf of the
Third Street Gang, Christiansen said, "and they
are loosely tied to the Purple Gang:'
Ryzewski assembled a
team of student volunteers,
led by grad students Shawn
Fields and Brenna Moloney,
to run the project.
Beginning in July, students
met once a week to dig into
the archives to do historical
research. They were split
Krysta
into two teams: One team
Ryzewski
researched the Purple
Gang and drilled down to
gang activities in the area. The other group
researched the history of the building and went
back to tax records, city directories and insur-
ance maps. Structural engineers Pierce Sadlier
and Aaron Trobough of Structurally Sound
Engineering and architect Jason Arnott of Earth
Environments, who donated their services,
were brought on board to study the building's
construction. They looked at the building's
basement and surroundings, including a neigh-
boring church, and identified where an under-
ground passage might be. In early August, the
students gathered at Tommy's for an archaeo-
logical dig.

Tantalizing Clues
"We're trying to do some documentation:'
Fields said, "looking at the building and stag-
ing it out. It looks like at one time there was a
street-level walk-down. We also found a closed-
off room filled with dirt and bottles:'
Moloney adds that they're looking for evi-
dence of an outbuilding where perhaps custom-
ers entered the tunnel to the speakeasy. "We
went to Fort Street Presbyterian Church across
the street, which has in its history stories of
tunnels that were used for the Underground
Railroad:' Moloney said. "We talked to a build-
ing manager to see where those tunnels might
have been and they seem to line up exactly with

Digging on page 10

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September 26 • 2013

JN