46 July 11 • 2019
jn
From the DJN Foundation Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History
Mike Smith
Alene and Graham
Landau Archivist
Chair
COURTESY LEONARD N. SIMONS JEWISH COMMUNITY ARCHIVES, PEVIN FAMILY PAPERS
Joe Fisher poses on the Ambassador Bridge in March 1930, just months after the crossing between Detroit and Windsor opened.
W
hile searching past July issues of the JN and
the Detroit Jewish Chronicle in the William
Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit
History for topics for this week’
s column, I found an
item that speaks to an anniversary. On July 13, it will
be 68 years since the Detroit Jewish Chronicle was
purchased by Philip Slomovitz and merged with his
Detroit Jewish News. This ended a nine-year peri-
od when Detroit had two English-language weekly
Jewish newspapers.
The Chronicle was first published on March 3,
1916. It was only eight pages. Under the banner on
the first page, it read: “The only Jewish Publication in
the State of Michigan Devoted to the Interests of the
Jewish People.” In an era where Detroit had multiple
newspapers in German, Polish and other languages,
this was indeed the only Jewish newspaper in town.
The first issue is interesting. The front page fea-
tured a photo of the “Jewish Institute” (To Help the
Poor Help Themselves) and a poem, “True Jewish
Faith.” Inside, the initial editorial cited the need for
a Jewish publication in Detroit, and the fact that the
city’
s Jewish community lagged behind that of other
cities across the country, all of which could “boast
of the possession of some medium for the utterance
of its collective sentiment.” It also stated that the
Chronicle would never be “the ally of any single fac-
tion among our people.”
On March 27, 1942, the first issue of the Detroit
Jewish News was published. The Chronicle continued
publishing until 1951, when it merged with the JN.
It was the end of an era, but not the end of a Jewish
newspaper in Detroit.
Since 1916, for the last 103 years, until this day,
Detroit’
s Jews have had their own medium. Today, it
is the JN that publishes the “utterances” of the com-
munity. But, its ancestor, the Detroit Jewish Chronicle,
is preserved and can still be read in the Davidson
Digital Archive. ■
Want to learn more? Go to the DJN Foundation archives, avail-
able for free at www.djnfoundation.org.
Looking Back