East European Jewish Detroit in the Early Twentieth Century

Judaism, Summer, 2000 by Kenneth Waltzer

These observers who entered the "strange land" in Detroit wrote reassuringly and positively about the Jews for readers in the city. Already in 1903, the Detroit Free Press published an article on "Russian Jews in Detroit" that noted Jews were "making their way upward" and were an "intelligent, sensible, hardworking people, sober and religious, of good moral character and determined to get ahead in the world." [15] The Detroit Free Press in May 1909 and April 1911 repeated similar sentiments. The Jewish ghetto was filled with people who acculturated quickly, engaged in productive commerce, and quickly realized the opportunities that were available in Detroit. They "are quick to realize the advantages that come from a knowledge of American customs and the language of their land of adoption," reporters noted. They speak English poorly but recognize in learning English that there is "opportunity." They are also willing to "work hard." It is only a matter of time before they acquaint themselves with the city and are "up and away in quest of that fortune" they anticipate if they just work hard enough. Typical Jews might start modestly with pack, pushcart, and a few dollars worth of goods. They might go door to door seeking rags, rubber, or old iron. But each Jew quickly pushes toward affluence, said the reporters, with a "skill (that is) proverbial of his people." [16]

The reporters described a Detroit enclave whose members appeared to inhabit a special economic niche in the industrial and commercial economy of the growing automobile city. The Hastings Street district catered to the needs of the nearby population, offering fish, poultry, butcher, and bakery shops, furniture marts, and steamship ticket agencies that served the ethnic Jewish population, met their dietary needs and tastes, and linked them to the lands of their emigration. It also served as a staging area from which East European Jewish traders ventured out, permeating Detroit's other ethnic neighborhoods, "scattering far and wide, invading the utmost parts of the city, with pack, with pushcart, or with wagon, buying and selling." The Detroit Free Press described a wave of East European peddlers who pushed outward each morning, invading other neighborhoods, then returned each night, trooping back in droves to homes that represented "their all." These people, the reporter noted, "are a domestic lot and lay much store by the family circle." [17] In addition, hidden away from reporters' eyes, was an additional small layer of Jewish artisans, craftspeople, and workers, many of them new Yiddish-speaking arrivals, who engaged in tailoring, capmaking, fur and dressmaking. DiDetroit Yiddishe Directory (1907), from which Robert Rockaway draws effectively, reported Jewish clerks and peddlers on the east side but also tailors, capmakers, dressmakers, and others. [18] Immigrants who arrived between 1909 and 1914 often worked in the small garment trades--but largely until they established themselves, set aside money to enter business, and became owners, or, if they were women, until they married.