46 | OCTOBER 22 • 2020 

Looking Back

From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History

accessible at www.djnfoundation.org

The Standard Club
R

ecently, I have written about sev-
eral historic Jewish clubs in Metro 
Detroit. There is the Franklin Hills 
Country Club, which boasts an outstand-
ing golf course and club house. It is also 
a prime meeting place for local Jews. The 
Great Lakes Yacht Club is another largely 
Jewish club based upon a sport that also 
provides financial support for Jewish orga-
nizations. Both clubs are still 
thriving today. 
In addition, there have 
been many historic Jewish 
social clubs. The first, and 
perhaps the most significant 
in early Jewish Detroit, was 
the legendary Phoenix Club 
(1872-1942).
While researching the 
above-mentioned clubs in the William 
Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit 
History, I found references to many similar 
organizations. One name, however, stood 
out from the rest: The Standard Club.
The Standard Club was a prominent 
Jewish organization for nearly 50 years, 
from 1934 until 1981. A group of Jewish 
businessmen developed the idea of the 
Standard Club. Many of these founders of 
the Standard Club were also members of 
the historic Phoenix Club. Harry Grant 
was the Standard Club’
s first president and 
Louis C. Blumberg served as its first sec-
retary.
More than a luncheon club, invitation 
to membership in the Standard Club was 
based upon contributions to charity. The 
club motto was short and sweet: “Less 
Talk, More Action.
” From the evidence 
I found on various pages of the JN and 
Detroit Jewish Chronicle, the club lived up 
to its motto. The club’
s first project was the 
rebuilding of the Jewish Old Folk’
s home. 
During World War II, it held weekly USO 
shows and programs for members of the 
military. The club also sponsored Israel 
Bond fundraisers and hosted prestigious 
speakers such as Chaim Weizmann.

The Standard Club held its first 
meeting at the Leland Hotel in 
Detroit. It moved to the Book 
Cadillac in 1940 and met at the 
Renaissance Center several 
years before disbanding. Over 
the decades, the club roster 
included such Detroit Jewish 
leaders as Max Fisher, Avern 
Cohn and Alfred Taubman, to 
name just a few of the more 
prominent members. The 
club, while always remain-
ing predominately Jewish, 
did eventually open its membership to 
women and gentiles.
Like many organizations in 
Downtown Detroit, the Standard Club 
felt the pressures of economic decline 
and demographic change in the 1960s 
and 1970s. It closed in 1981. The Feb. 27, 
1981, issue of the JN features an editorial 
by Philip Slomovitz that notes the closing 
of the club and what the Standard Club 
had meant to Jewish Detroiters.
It should also be noted that, among the 
546 pages in the Archive that mention the 
Standard Club, a number of them relate 
to the Standard Club of Chicago, found-
ed in 1869. This was the granddaddy of 
Standard Clubs in America, and there are 
many references to Detroiters, especially 
prior to 1934, holding weddings 
and receptions there. In the midst of 
declining membership and revenue 
in recent years, it closed in May 2020.
The heyday of Jewish and non-Jew-
ish social clubs and fraternal organi-
zations has passed. Nevertheless, the 
Standard Club, the Phoenix Club and 
other clubs played important, historic 
and, I might add, very interesting, roles 
in the growth of Jewish Detroit and 
America. 

Want to learn more? Go to the DJN Foundation 

archives, available for free at www.djnfoundation.

org.

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