LEONARD N. SIMONS JEWISH COMMUNITY ARCHIVES
GARY RYAN
city neighborhoods. (Many Northwest Detroit houses, while still fairly new
because they were built in the late 1940s through the 1950s, were relatively
small.)
Another reason for suburban migration was the lack of available land for
expansion within the city. Detroit was designed as a city of single-family
homes and small apartment buildings, rather than higher-density vertical
development. As Arco Construction CEO Walter Cohen, a longtime residen-
tial real estate developer and builder, notes, “You run out of land quick with
single-family homes.”
Plus, the city was bounded by the Detroit River to the south, the Grosse
Pointes (with a discriminatory point system for prospective home buyers) to
the east, and Eight Mile, a state-designated county boundary, to the north.
Suburbs to the west of Detroit, such as Dearborn and Livonia, attracted very
few Jews. The Jewish residential movement was north/northwest, facilitated
by federally funded highways, new suburban sewer and water systems, and
relatively inexpensive buildable land.
And there was a financial component as well. “A house is the most impor-
tant investment any family has, and white homeowners felt threatened by
integration,” says Judge Cohn.
In addition, “Jews left because they were offered a good price,” says builder
Cohen.
Other factors were concerns about integrated public schools, crime and
the desire for predominantly Jewish neighborhoods. But for many white
people leaving Detroit, an underlying issue was a fear or dis-
like of African Americans.
Harriet Berg
CHANGING NEIGHBORHOODS
Harriet Berg, 92, a lifelong resident of Detroit and a dance
company director, remembers the changeover of her
Northwest Detroit neighborhood during the 1960s and 70s.
As a child, she lived in the Calvert-Wildemere area and
later Glynn Court. After her marriage, she and her hus-
ABOVE: Kids play baseball at
the Jewish Community Center in
Northwest Detroit in the 1960s.
Jews lived in the surrounding
neighborhood, but many had already
moved to nearby suburbs.
LEFT: This flyer was created by the
Jewish community to help stop white
flight from Detroit. Credit: Leonard N.
Simons Jewish Community Archives:
Jewish Community Council Records,
Walter P. Reuther Library
LEONARD N. SIMONS JEWISH COMMUNITY ARCHIVES: JEWISH COMMUNITY COUNCIL
RECORDS, WALTER P. REUTHER LIBRARY
continued on page 14
jn
January 26 • 2017
13