8200 Mack Avenue
Deutsches Haus, Maxwell Casino, Catholic Youth Organization Community Center, Greater Macedonia Baptist Church
In the early 1800s, the first significant wave of German immigrants arrived in Detroit. By the early 1900s, there were numerous German settlements across the city’s east side.
In 1926, construction began on a German ethnic hall on Mack Avenue between Maxwell and Seminole. Louis Kamper designed it, and it features a 1,600-seat auditorium, classrooms and offices, and a bowling alley. It would open by 1927.
First and foremost, the Deutsches Haus was a social hall, and Germans knew how to party. In December 1929, Martin Kaulfuss, then manager of the hall, was fined $1,500 for violating prohibition laws. Beer and liquor were confiscated when the structure was raided, and Kaulfuss, who was there, pretended that he was a chef in the kitchen.
By 1930, Rudolph Van Zee was managing the hall. In August, bandits broke in, locking the manager and night watchman in a rear room. Carl Mantey, the security guard at the time, sat alongside Van Zee as the bandits sped off with $110. In 2023, that’s roughly $2,050.
In November 1932, speakers for the Republican, Democrat, and Socialist parties spoke in a mass meeting at the hall. The Steuben Society and numerous other German organizations put the event on.
In addition to partying and political and community events, sports were commonplace. On January 10, 1934, Detroit amateur wrestlers competed for the city championship. The German-American Athletic Club sponsored it, and there was dancing after the event’s conclusion.
In the 1930s, boxing tournaments were incredibly common here. The German-American Athletic Club was responsible for many of them, but there were larger sponsors, too. At this point, recreational sports were still garnering large crowds in Detroit.
In October 1936, three men went on a drunken spree across the neighborhood with a homemade slingshot, firing rocks and other debris at buildings. Edward Krause, 25, Lawrence Krause, 18, and James Green, 19, were arrested after hitting the Indian Village Bakery, a restaurant at 4700 Van Dyke, and the Deutsches Haus.
Due to its large auditorium, the hall was home to political and community events over the years, too. Although the Deutsches Haus was German, it doesn’t appear that they discriminated against any kind of politician.
Starting around 1938, adverts to rent the hall became more frequent. It was common to see private parties and banquets here, as the capacity was 800 for such events. That same year, the space was opened to the public four days a week. It may have been open previously; however, it began seeing marketing around this time. The Jack McGay Orchestra played music, there was a cocktail bar, and you could have a full-course dinner for just three quarters, roughly $16.50 in 2023.
In October 1938. the Altes Lager Baseball Team, the year’s National Sandlot Championship winners, were honored in a banquet at the hall. More than 500 players were in attendance to celebrate their accomplishments. The team never lost a game. I assume that the team was comprised of Tivoli Brewery workers, as that was who made Altes Lager. The brewery was at Mack and Hurlbut, and Frantz Hector, a Belgian immigrant, founded it. Two years prior, the brewery had hosted a party for its distributors and sales department at the hall.
In January 1939, James Horlocker pleaded guilty to embezzling nearly $200 in funds from the Deutsches Haus Bowling League the previous winter. He was 31 years old.
In the 1930s, the hall’s New Year’s Eve event had become a big deal. For $3.50 per person, you had a ticket to the all-star floor show, party favors, noisemakers, souvenirs, a 6-course meal featuring squab chicken or filet mignon, and music by Don Rosso. It’s safe to say that it was a heck of a party. In 2023, that’s roughly $80 per person.
In early 1940, there were numerous events at the hall. In January, there was a testimonial dinner to honor Edward J. Jeffries, the recently sworn-in Mayor of Detroit. I-96 is named in his honor. That same month, the Bartender’s Union Local 562 hosted their annual ball. In February, a big game hunter nicknamed One-Shot George O’Neill gave a talk at the hall for the monthly meeting of the Detroit Sportsmen’s Congress.
At some point in 1940, the hall became known as the Maxwell Casino. It still hosted events and was available for rent. By this point, many settlers had started fleeing to the suburbs. This was evident in the neighborhood’s businesses and churches, like the Presbyterian Church of the Covenant, a short drive away.
Despite the name change, the structure was still used for sports, community events, and political happenings. In February 1942, the Tri-State Weight Lifting Championship was held at the Maxwell Casino. The region’s strongest men and women competed to earn the top spot.
Around 1943, the Catholic Youth Organization, or CYO Community Center, began utilizing the space. I’m unsure whether they rented or owned it; however, it was a significant player for families and kids of all ages in the neighborhood.
In November 1945, the hall hosted the State Table Tennis Meet. Two hundred of the best players in the midwest were set to face off against one another at the Catholic Youth Organization Community Center in what was billed as the largest state tournament in the country.
The following year, the structure hosted the 7th annual Corned Beef and Cabbage Dinner to support homeless children in Detroit. The event was run by the Home for Homeless Boys.
In December 1948, ten groups of Alcoholics Anonymous hosted a no-alcohol party at the hall for New Year’s Eve. The makeup of the Deutsches Haus had already changed dramatically, but it continued to serve the surrounding community. Its next life would do the same but through a different means.
On the fourth Friday of Lent, 1963, Greater Macedonia Baptist Church’s building at 1501 St. Aubin was demolished. The structure, designed by Arthur L. Wilson, was razed to make way for a relocated and widened St. Aubin Boulevard. The neighborhood, which had a significant black population, had already been dramatically changed by the construction of the highways but would continue to be displaced by the widening of St. Aubin and Lafayette. An article in the Detroit Free Press from June 1968 said the St. Aubin project was nearly complete.
The congregation of Greater Macedonia Baptist Church moved to a new, larger space at 8200 Mack, the former Deutsches Haus, pictured here. The church, already large in size, utilized the auditorium for services.
Over the years, numerous famous city officials, reverends, and civil rights activists spoke at the church. Coretta Scott King was the keynote speaker at the church’s women’s day service on May 30, 1965.
Later that year, on August 22, 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King Sr. was a guest speaker at the church. Seven hundred ninety-one days prior, his son had led 125,000 people down Woodward Avenue alongside Reverends Clarence L. Franklin and Albert Cleage, Detroit Mayor Jerome Cavanagh, UAW president Walter Reuther, Michigan Governor George Romney, and others to Cobo Hall, where he would give his first iteration of the now famous I Have A Dream Speech. Dr. Martin Luther King Sr. would speak here again in January 1969, less than a year after his son was shot in Memphis.
In 1970, then-pastor Reverend John Jay Barfield III was called on to become the pastor of First Baptist Church in Birmingham, leaving Detroit behind.
In 1972, the church held a public seminar titled ‘Farewell to Fat’ to teach Detroiters how to eat healthy and the bad things that can happen to your body if you don’t. In 1973, there was a clinic at the church for free vaccines. No appointment was necessary, and you could get your child vaccinated for polio, measles, rubella, DTP, and TD. In the 1970s and 1980s, a WeightWatchers group also ran out of the church.
In 1974, the location was chosen as a Food and Friendship Site. The program was a part of a federal grant to help Detroiters. The program provided a hot meal five days a week to more than 1,700 elderly Detroiters. It wasn’t a soup kitchen but offered meals and conversation to seniors who might otherwise be in isolation.
That same year, there was a rally to protest the proposed closure of the Jefferson Avenue Assembly plant roughly a mile and a half down Mack. I believe the plant ended up closing in 1990, with Jefferson North opening a year later, but I’m not sure which plant the rally was in reference to.
In March 1988, Reverend Jesse Jackson stopped at the church to host a rally during his presidential run. By the time the voting came around, Jackson was the only opponent of Dukakis in the Democratic Party, which the latter won in a landslide. Other candidates were Richard A. Gephardt, Richard H. Stallings, and Joe Biden. The following year, Coleman A. Young spoke at the church during his reelection campaign. He won.
In 1990, the Grand Court Order of Calanthe hosted a Flashback to the ‘30s Fashion Show and their annual scholarship event at the church. By this point, the structure had become a one-stop shop for families in the area, similar to when it was built. Mack Avenue still had some businesses at this time, but the former Deutsches Haus was a shining light for many Detroit families. In 1992, the church celebrated its 75th anniversary, dating back to 1917. On paper, the state has records as far back as 1942.
In October 1994, the church held a Family and Friends Homecoming Day Celebration. The guest speaker was Kym Worthy, assistant prosecuting attorney for Wayne County. Today, Worthy is the Wayne County Prosecutor.
The following year, the church hosted an event titled “Positive Images: How To Obtain Positive Press Coverage for Our Community.” It was sponsored by Mack Alive, a local nonprofit that still operates today, and was free to attend.
In the late 1990s, things began to slow down. Detroit was hitting hardships never seen before, and many churches and neighborhood organizations began to close their doors. Still, Greater Macedonia Baptist Church pushed on.
In May 2001, Reverend Dr. Sandra A. Fox was installed as pastor. In 2006, the Detroit Youth Choir and Performing Arts Company performed a Christmas production at the church. Seventeen years later, the same organization would get the gold buzzer on America’s Got Talent. The church was a polling place in 2007, 2008, and 2009. After that, I haven’t found much online about the church.
I’m not confident when the congregation moved out of the space, but the last filed paperwork is from 2013, and the nonprofit was dissolved in 2016. Since then, the structure has been empty.
In 2011, the structure was for sale. The advert listed it as having a 1,600-seat auditorium, kitchen, classrooms, and a bowling alley. It was listed for $325,000, a price tag that won’t afford you most of the mansions in the neighborhood that backs up to it today.
Deutsches Haus, LLC, a company with ties to the former Bank of Detroit Branch at Mack and Parker nearby, currently owns the structure. I haven’t ever seen anyone working here, but the building is well-maintained and appears to be looked after. It may currently be for sale.
I spend a lot of time in the neighborhood across Mack from the structure, and I’m surprised there hasn’t been more development in this part of Detroit. Indian Village has always had a strong population; however, adjacent neighborhoods like West Village, Pingree Park, and Gratiot-Grand are seeing rising housing prices and more investment from outside the area. Whereas I oppose gentrification, it’s shocking that no restaurants, grocery stores, or other shops have popped up on this stretch of Mack. The Commons, a combination laundromat coffee shop, and Detroit Body Garage, a gym, are the only two that come to mind.
Hopefully, new investments in the area will mean this structure will be reactivated soon as a place for the public. After all, it was paid for by the neighborhood, and it should remain in its hands.
