8480 South Street
John K. Szollosy Funeral Home, John K. Solosy Funeral Home, Axemen M/C Chapter #1
Kalman Szollosy incorporated the West Side Funeral Home in April 1935. By 1938, the name had changed to John K. Szollosy Funeral Home, named for Kalman’s son, John. The young man would run the funeral parlor for decades; however, he was drafted in the summer of 1942 to go to war. The family lived at and operated the funeral home out of 8027 West Jefferson. Today, that plot of land is vacant, sitting between Cary Street and West End.
The funeral home legally changed its address to 3206 Fort Street in Lincoln Park in 1962; however, the family had opened an operation there by at least 1957. Around that same time, the family shuttered their building on Jefferson and opened a new funeral home at 8480 South Street in Delray, near Holy Cross Hungarian Church. That funeral home is pictured here.
Given all of that, there’s already a lot to unpack. Funeral homes often succeed when engrained in the surrounding community, and the Szollosy family’s move to Lincoln Park shows where Delray’s population was heading, even in the 1950s. Their choice to move their Delray location closer to Holy Cross made a lot of sense, too. Although Delray was still a bustling community in the 1950s, positioning a funeral home across the street from a church is a smart business move. If a service is being held at the church, having other funeral arrangements nearby makes sense so people can walk to and from. Saint John Greek Catholic Hungarian Church is also a short walk down the street.
In addition to the shuffling of locations, the funeral home also changed names again around this time. The family name, Szollosy, was dropped for an easier-to-pronounce Solosy. This wasn’t too uncommon in this era. Saint John, mentioned above, was initially known as Szent Janos Görög Katolikus Magyar Templom, but later was shortened and translated. John K. Solosy Funeral Home was the new name and still exists today.
John, the funeral home’s namesake, died in 1990. However, the business continued to operate. Even as Delray’s population dwindled, the South Street location still hosted funerals for community members in the neighborhood and for those who had moved away. Sometime in the early to mid-2000s, the business closed. The operation in Lincoln Park on Fort Street remained open and continues to operate.
In 2007, a motorcycle club purchased the property for $50K.
The Axemen M/C was formed in the late 1990s as a club exclusively for active and former IAFF (International Association of Fire Fighters) members. The original chapter was based in Detroit and currently resides in the former Solosy Funeral Home location.
The Axemen have grown to have 35 chapters in over 15 states, including four in Michigan. The clubhouse in Detroit was modified to have a large fire door and painted red to look like a fire hall. The group has events throughout the year, hosts national conventions, and looks after the surrounding neighborhood.
The Axemen M/C is one of Delray’s only active commercial buildings. It may not be the same tight-knit community that existed when the Szollosy family opened shop in 1935 or moved near Holy Cross in 1962; however, it’s a community that looks after one another all the same.
If anyone has any information about what preceded the John K. Solosy Funeral Home on this plot of land, I’d love to hear it!
