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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