Jewish Ann Arbor

The earliest Jewish settlers arrived in Michigan during the mid-18th century. Primarily traders associated with the burgeoning fur industry, few of these entrepreneurs remained permanently. During the early 1840s, the five Weilbrothers, farmers and tanners from Germany, became the first prominent Jewish settlers in Washtenaw County. By the end of that decade, a Jewish cemetery was established on what is now the site of the Horace Rackham Building on the University of Michigan campus. Though...