Looking Back

From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History

accessible at www.djnfoundation.org

The Legacy of the Phoenix and Redford Clubs
A

rthur Horwitz, pub-
lisher of the JN, 
recently provided me 
with a very insightful bit of 
information. While he was 
reviewing the usage statistics 
for the William Davidson 
Digital Archive of Jewish 
Detroit History, 
he noticed there 
were 59 visits 
to one particu-
lar page in the 
Archive: page 8 
of the March 12, 
1920, issue of the 
Jewish Chronicle. 
The headline for 
the page was “Phoenix and 
Redford Clubs Separate.” 
This year marks the 100th 
anniversary of this “separa-
tion,” but why is this event so 
interesting to so many today? 
Because the legacy of this 
event is relevant to Detroit’
s 
Jewish community today. 
First, one has to keep in 
mind that until the post-

World War II era, Jews were 
not allowed to become mem-
bers of golf clubs or social 
clubs, nor were they wel-
comed into certain suburbs 
or neighborhoods in Metro 
Detroit. Even after the war, 
there were still restrictions 
at some clubs and social 
organizations until the Civil 
Rights Act was passed in 1964 
and the Elliot-Larson Act 
in Michigan became law in 
1977. 
(A point of interest and 
comparison — the Detroit 
Golf Club did not admit its 
first African-American mem-
ber, Detroit Mayor Coleman 
Young, until 1986.) 
Few social clubs were open 
to Jews when the Phoenix 
Club was founded in Detroit 
in 1872. This is believed to 
be the first Jewish social club 
in the city. Until it closed in 
1942, the Phoenix Club was 
an important meeting place 
for Jewish literati, as well as 

a place to host meetings of 
Jewish organizations or Jewish 
celebrations, such as weddings 
and bar/bat mitzvahs. 
For Jews who liked to golf, 
but could not be members 
of established area clubs, the 
Phoenix Club bought land in 
northwest Detroit near Grand 
River Avenue and Lahser for a 
golf course in 1913. 
The Redford Country Club 
was incorporated in 1920. Leo 
Butzel was its first president. 
And it was a great success. 
The leadership of the RCC 
soon realized that the club 
could not accommodate all 
who wished to become mem-
bers. They began to look for a 
suitable space to build a new 
course and club house.
The RCC leadership found 
an ideal spot at 13 Mile and 
Inkster Roads, near the village 
of Franklin. By 1926, a deal to 
purchase nearly 400 acres of 
farm land there was complet-
ed. Famed golf course design-

er Donald Ross was hired to 
create the course, and Detroit’
s 
most famous architect, Albert 
Kahn, was hired to design the 
club house. The result was the 
Franklin Hills Country Club, 
which is, today, a central hub 
for Jewish social activities and, 
of course, Jewish golfers. 
So, the legacy of the “sep-
aration” of the Phoenix Club 
and the Redford Country Club 
cited in the March 12, 1920, 
issue of the Chronicle is the 
Franklin Hills Country Club. 
It is also a story of community 
building. 
A feature story, “The Clubs,” 
in the July 15, 1988, issue is a 
good summary of this history. 
Moreover, there are hundreds 
of pages in the Davidson 
Archives featuring the activ-
ities and history of the three 
organizations cited above. 

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

Mike Smith
Alene and 
Graham Landau 
Archivist Chair

54 | JULY 16 • 2020 

