16187 Hamilton Avenue
American State Bank of Highland Park, Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW Hall), Muhammad University of Islam, Muhammad Temple No. 1
This structure has interested me for years, yet I still haven’t been able to find out as much information about it as I’d like to. Here’s what I’ve found so far;
Built in the 1920s, this building was originally an American State Bank of Highland Park branch. There were branches at Woodward & Windemere, Manchester Avenue, and Hamilton and Moss, pictured here.
Numerous banks folded, were sold, or merged during the Great Depression, including the American State Bank of Highland Park, which was absorbed into the Highland Park State Bank, a bank set up by Henry Ford and Co. that would later fail, too.
After the bank crises and the Great Depression ended, I’m unsure what happened to this structure. In the 1950s, it was a VFW hall that hosted events for veterans, their families, and the community at large.
After that, it became associated with the Nation of Islam. Muslims had been immigrating to Detroit since the decline of the Ottoman Empire, and Highland Park had one of the United States’ first proper mosques in 1920. Although the original house of worship would be shortlived, Detroit’s Muslim heritage was only beginning.
In the early 1920s, the Poole family migrated from Georgia to Hamtramck. The seventh oldest of the Poole’s thirteen children was Elijah Robert Poole, and the youngest child was named Herbert. Shortly after the Poole family arrived in the Detroit area and around the same time this bank building was spinning tumultuously, a man named Wallace Fard Muhammad moved to Detroit.
Muhammad played a vital role in the Allah Temple of Islam. He garnered thousands of followers in the Detroit area before being kicked out of the city and changing the group’s name to the Nation of Islam. During his time in the Motor City, he met Elijah Robert Poole. As Poole became more involved, his surname was changed to Karriem. He rose up the ranks in the organization, and Wallace Fard Muhammad eventually insisted that he change his name again. With the name Elijah Muhammad, he would become one of the most famous black leaders of the era.
In the 1930s, Fard disappeared, and his whereabouts are still unknown. Elijah Muhammad took over in Detroit and expanded the Nation of Islam, including creating the Muhammad University of Islam, which, at one time, occupied this structure. There were dozens of these institutions nationwide, but the program was pioneered in Detroit and Highland Park.
At some point, this structure housed Muhammad Temple No. 1. I’m not sure of the interplay between the Muhammad University of Islam and Temple No. 1, but the building was still in use as the latter in 1999.
Earlier, I mentioned Elijah Muhammad’s brother, Herbert Poole. Born in 1910, he was in his young teens when his family moved to Detroit. Like many of his siblings, Herbert became involved in the organization his older brother had become a large part of. He changed his name, too, and lived in Detroit as Supreme Minister John Muhammad for most of his life. He, too, studied Islam under Wallace Fard Muhammad and continued to learn from his older brother after the former’s disappearance.
Unlike his brother, John stayed in the Detroit area, mainly in Highland Park, and helped run the Muhammad University of Islam and other things relating to the Nation of Islam. While trying to get his school accredited, his children were taken away and put into foster homes because the state believed they weren’t attending school. His children were returned once the organization sorted out its paperwork with the state. All the while, like many Detroiters, he worked a regular job at Chrysler.
After retirement, he focused on the school at Hamilton and Moss, pictured here. In 1996, he received the Spirit of Detroit Award, which is given to people or organizations that go above and beyond to improve Detroiters’ lives. John Muhammad died on May 3, 2005. He had 14 children.
Since then, the structure has sat empty. As time continues to pass, there are fewer and fewer structures dotting the landscape of Hamilton Avenue. The demolition of this structure seems inevitable; however, that would be an absolute disaster.
Despite having a current membership of less than what Highland Park’s population peaked at decades ago, the Nation of Islam is a critical piece of the history of the United States of America, and this structure played a role in that story. Detroit and Highland Park were incredibly influential in the emergence of the Nation of Islam and its ability to send out the shockwaves that shook the foundation of the Civil Rights Movement.
I disagree with many things that the Nation of Islam stands for, including but not limited to its upholding traditional gender roles and harsh stance against LGBTQ+ people. However, I still believe this structure should be preserved for its historic value.
That said, this building is absolutely stunning and should be saved even if its historical significance isn’t considered. The bones appear to be in good shape, and they’ll genuinely never make a structure like this again. The City of Highland Park currently owns it.
