5209 McDougall Street
Victoria Cleaners, Cleaners & Dyers, Americans All President’s Office, Ziemba Residence
This structure includes 5209, 5211, and 5213 McDougall Street.
According to the 1910 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, this structure wasn’t built by that year. It was one of the few vacant lots on McDougall Street, as the thoroughfare began to reach capacity as more immigrants flooded into Detroit, many of them working at the nearby Packard and Dodge Main Plants. I believe that this structure was built by 1913, as its paper trail started that year.
In February 1913, a baby boy was born to J. Starzynski, listed at this address. The structure features a storefront on the main floor and a two-family flat upstairs.
By March 1913, the main floor was in use as a dry cleaner. That month, the business was hiring four tailors, two cleaners, and two pressers. Considering how many people they were hiring, this could have been when the company got off the ground. They were hiring throughout that spring and summer.
By October 1913, the structure was for sale. The listing boasted a brick building with a full basement, store, shop, two-family flat, steam heat, electricity, gas, machinery for dyeing and cleaning, and a delivery car. According to the ad, the owner was in poor health and moving to a farm so they would sell it cheaply. This was common marketing lingo then, so it’s hard to know when the claims were valid. The structure was still for sale in January 1914.
In April 1915, a business at this address was looking to hire a boy with a motorcycle. By August, they were looking for women to work as pressers. A month later, spotters. The business was listed once as Victoria Cleaners.
According to the 1915 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, the structure had a gasoline washing room and an electric motor on the first floor, with pressing facilities on the second floor.
According to an article in the Detroit Free Press, Barney Chamski was associated with the property by January 1942. A prominent figure in Polish Detroit and a well-known attorney, Chamski was elected as the first president of Americans All that month. The group was said to have been created to “unite Detroit’s many nationality groups under the banner of Americanism,” according to the Detroit Free Press, and stood up for the rights of immigrants and their fight to attain the American dream. In February 1942, the ‘President’s Office’ was said to be located here. Chamski’s address was later listed at 5229 McDougall, so one of the two may have been a misprint, or he may have been heavily invested in the neighborhood. Chamski died in September 1971. His funeral was at Frontzcak Funeral Home down the street, and services were at St. Hyacinth across the street.
By 1943, the Ziemba family had moved into one of the flats above the storefront, where they’d remain for at least a decade. Considering the length of time they resided there, it’s possible that they owned it.
In January 1943, the Detroit Free Press ran a daily article called The Inquiring Reporter, where people on the street were asked the same question, and their answers were published in the paper. Miss Marie Ziemba was asked whether she thought all the women who went to work for the first time during World War Two would be content with returning home when the war ended. She replied, “I suppose it’s just like any other question about what people might do. If the women have something to go back to, they will certainly go back into their homes. It will probably be a question decided by each woman worker. A lot of them only intend working as long as needed, but many will probably want to stay right on working because times have changed for them. I believe more will be working after the war than there were before the war.” She was correct in more ways than one.
In December 1950, Thomas Ziemba, the father of Maria and a resident of this structure, died at 65. His funeral was at the residence, and services were held at St. Hyacinth Church.
In May 1951, Mrs. Sophia (Sasnowska) Ziemba, widow of Thomas and mother of Marie, still lived here. Her son, Walter J. Ziemba, was ordained and was set to give his first mass at St. Hyacinth across the street on June 3, 1951.
After that, I’ve found little to no information on this structure. It appears to have seen work in recent months, and there was a for sale sign on it for some time last year. Activating structures like this could be huge for the landscape of McDougall and Poletown East.
St. Hyacinth, which has been in the neighborhood since before this structure was constructed, is hanging on by a thread across the street. If the parish were to close, it would be another devastating blow for a neighborhood that continues to roll with the punches, even though it’s been a punching bag for longer than many of the new residents moving into it have been alive.
Hopefully, the structure pictured here and St. Hyacinth can continue their friendship for another century.
