looking back

The Tashmoo was launched in 1900 as an excursion boat and was designed
by Frank Kirby, who also designed the famous Boblo boats. It was built by the
Detroit Shipbuilding Company in Wyandotte. The Tashmoo sank in 1936, after
running aground. It could not be saved and was scrapped.

DETROIT NEWS PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION, WALTER REUTHER LIBRARY

This is a photo of a group of happy Jewish children onboard the paddle-wheel
steamer, the Tashmoo, on July 22, 1935. The Tashmoo was about to take a
two-hour voyage to Tashmoo Park, for which the boat was named. Opened in
1897 in the St. Clair Flats near Harsen’s Island, the park was a popular summer
destination until it closed in 1951.

From the DJN Foundation Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History

A

lthough, like many men, I still like
to think I’m 18, I must admit I have
made it to official senior citizen
status. Let’s just say I’m older than 55. But,
speaking of senior citizens, I ran across a JN
article from 15 years ago in the Davidson
Digital Archives about a remarkable senior
in the Jewish community.
Mike Smith
In the Sept 13, 2002, issue of the JN, there
Detroit Jewish News
is a story by Ronelle Grier about Julius
Foundation Archivist
Spielberg, who had just celebrated his
100th birthday. And, as the subtitle states,
Spielberg certainly gave “meaning to the
phrase ‘active’ senior.”
Spielberg was an immigrant, born in Rovne, Russia, in
1902. He came to Detroit as a teenager in 1921 and gradu-
ated from the Detroit College of Pharmacy (now the Eugene
Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences of

58

September 27 • 2018

jn

Wayne State University) in 1925. A year later, he married
Anna Grenadier, his wife for the next 71 years. For a few
years, Spielberg worked in various pharmacies until he
opened his own store, Spiel Drugs in Detroit. Spielberg also
made some history in the pharmacy business in 1948 when
he opened Wrigley Drugs on Seven Mile Road, which is
believed to be the first self-serve drugstore in the Midwest.
But, what is more impressive, perhaps, is Spielberg’s record
as a race walker in Michigan and National Senior Olympic
Games. He collected more than 30 medals and, as of 1999,
when he was inducted into the Michigan Jewish Sports Hall
of Fame, held the national record for the 5,000-meter race.
When the article was published in the JN in September
2002, Spielberg had just raced in Midland, Mich., the month
before. Talk about active! Spielberg died on Dec. 31, 2003, at
the age of 101. •

Want to learn more? Go to the DJN Foundation archives,
available for free at www.djnfoundation.org.