Benjamin Siegel Home
150 West Boston Boulevard in the Boston-Edison Neighborhood
Benjamin Siegel, born in Germany and educated in the elementary and secondary schools of Mannheim, came to the United States in 1876. He began his employment by working in or managing a merchandise store in Selma, Alabama. He later did similar work in retail trade in Arkansas, but he was much ahead of the wave with regard to South to North migration. He arrived in rapidly growing Detroit in 1881. He first managed the women’s apparel department in a Woodward Avenue store. His talents let him prosper. He purchased the store and changed the name to B. Siegel Company. By 1904, he located his store at Woodward and State, selling upscale women’s, misses and children’s clothes and furs to the silk stocking trade. Some young people today, may not realize that downtown Detroit, for the first half of the Twentieth Century, offered elegant shopping similar to what you might now find in Park Avenue, New York or Michigan Avenue in Chicago. After World War II, at least seven B. Siegel stores operated in the metropolitan area, selling expensive women’s clothes. The firm entered bankruptcy in 1981 and disappeared.
When it came to his choice of a residence, Benjamin Siegel was not modest. Albert Kahn designed an Italianate villa of 13,000 square feet. It compliments very well the impressive white S. S. Kresge home located next door built about one year earlier.This Benjamin Siegel should not be confused with another person of the same name, the nationally known Bugsy Siegel who was, apparently, deeply involved in the crime and violence during prohibition. Go to Domustoria.com/signup/ and get posts like this every week!