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I understand that from the 1920's through 1945 or so, there was a gambling operation called the Chesterfield Club, operating in Chesterfield Township.

The club was operated by Dutch Weinbrenner, Danny Sullivan, and Lincoln Fitzgerald. It had slot machines and table games such as craps.

Does anyone know anything about the history of the club? Where specifically was it? Does the building still stand? Is anyone still around who knew the Club and may have stories about it?

Thanks,
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I lived in the Chesterfield township area, as well as the Clay Twp area back in the '80's. While I dont recall ever hearing about the Chesterfield Club, there was a place similar in description at the end of Anchor Bay Dr in Clay, on the St Clair county side. It was called "Decker's Landing" IIRC. Basically a place where rumrunner's would bring in illegal liquor from the Canadian side, and all form of additional "illegal" escapades would take place. Being close in proximity to Chesterfield, it may be the place, or may be a good place to start some research that may lead you to some info on the Chesterfield operation.....HTH

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Hmmm, you got me curious, and I found the following info at the link below.

The Club was named for one of the founder's favorite brand of cigarettes...Chesterfield. It was actually located in the city of East Detroit (now Eastpointe), not in Chesterfield Twp. It closed circa 1928-29. Betting you'd have a tuff time finding anyone alive that could remember it. But there might be some records at the city level if you did some digging......... I just love researching history...let us know what you find....

the info you're looking for is on the second page, second and third paragraphs in the left most column.

http://cctn.ccgtcc.com/wills.pdf (broken link)

[sunzeri]

I'd read that article by Mr. Herz before. The only item that gives me pause is that he states the Club closed aournd 1929. However we know from a court case that took place in 1947, that the Club was in operation until at least 1940.

Maybe we're dealing with two Clubs - one in East Detroit, and another in or around Chesterfield.

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Back in the 1940's there really wasnt much in Chesterfield Twp. The "Big" towns nearby would have been Mt Clemens, (the county seat) and New Baltimore on the Macomb/St Clair county line. The rest of the area to the north was pretty rural in character. Even the areas a bit to the west, and just north of Detroit, was still, mostly farmland.......

Have you tried newspaper archives to find an article or perhaps some advertising for the club? Macomb Daily might be a start. I dont know where you are posting from, so forgive me if some of the info here is obvious in nature.....

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You're info has been very helpful. The article which states the Club was in the Detroit area is probably correct given the rural nature of Macomb County at that time. I think I'll post a message on the Detroit board.

I'm posting from the northern California area, and that's proving to be difficult for me. Access to Michigan area newspapers, and other records are limited due to the geographical distance.

I know that given access to the local papers of the time, as well as some court records from the '40s all would become more clear.

[sunzeri]

I've recently come upon information from the Benton Harbor News-Palladium concerning the Chesterfield Club.

The Club was definitely in Macomb County, "just over the Macomb county line from Detroit". Fitzgerald and Sullivan also ran clubs in Detroit, Riverside Ont., and Ecorse.

There was a trial concerning a number of Michigan luminaries in Macomb county in the late 40's concerning this Chesterfield Club and charges of bribery, conspiracy, and so forth, including the mayor of Flint, and State Police officials.

It would be nice to know what came of the place.

[MICoastieMom]

This is the Detroit Historical Museum
Detroit Historical Society

The Henry Ford (aka henry Ford Museum and Grennfield Village). This site is directly to the Benson Ford Research Center.
Contact Us

Bentley Historical Library, U-M, Ann Arbor
Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan

Michigan Historical Museum and Library, Lansing
MHAL - Michigan Historical Center (http://www.michigan.gov/hal/0,1607,7-160-17445_19273---,00.html - broken link)

These last two are maybe longshots. Since I suspect rum-running from Canada and gambling went hand-in-hand, you might find a source at one of these.

Lake Erie Metropark sits where the mouth of the Huron River empties into Lake Erie. The area is very marshy, lots of little tributaries, close to Canada, etc. It is historically known for duck hunting. The park's museum is dedicated to migratory birds; however, there is a display that talks about how the area hunting guides used their boats to run rum and supplement thier family incomes. If you scroll down on the site to the museum, you might find the director could help you. He is very knowledgeable
Metro Parks - Lake Erie (http://www.metroparks.com/parks/pk_lake_erie.php - broken link)

Grosse Ile was often a stop on the rum run from Canada to Chicago. I couldn't find a website for the museum/historical society, but I did find a phone number.
Grosse Ile Historical Museum - Grosse Ile, Michigan (MI) | Company Profile

Hope this helps.

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I decided to do a little snooping myself thru some newspaper archives. It seems that Danny and Lincoln got around, and made a few enemies in the process.......

An interesting article regarding Lincoln Fitzgerald can be found at

www.reviewjournal.com/lvjr_home/2004/May-17-2004/news/23875266.html (broken link)

there are other references from newspapers in late 1949 reporting that Fitzgerald was the victim of a "hit" likely ordered by Detroit's "purple gang" on Nov 18, 1949. At that time he, and long time partner, Danny Sullivan were operating the "Nevada Club" in Reno, Nevada. Fitzgerald survived the attack, but moved into his casino, and rarely, if ever left the premises, and never allowed any photos taken of himself, until his death in 1981. The article also states that he was found guilty of illegal gambling operations in Detroit and paid $52,000 in fines. This might suggest that some records may be found in Wayne county (Detroit) archives.

This led me to an article in the St Petersburg Times (Florida) dated August 3, 1946. In which Danny Sullivan, Linc Fitzgerald, and Mert Wertheimer, and former Flint mayor Wm H McKeighan, were indicted for illegal gambling operations. Also named were Michigan state senator, and former macomb county prosecutor Ivan Johnston, former Macomb County prosecutor Wilber Held as co-conspiritors, as well as a couple of state police officers.

This took me to a court case, People v. Held, decided by the Michigan state Supreme court on 10/01/51, but the documents are pay per view. Enough of a teaser was provided to show that this case is clearly linked to Fitzgerald and Sullivan.

Also found a newspaper article,(Chicago Times Tribiune) linking AFL "Boss" Jimmy Hoffa to the Fitzgerald/Sullivan partnership, dated May of 1952, another pay per view article.

Looks like a lot of tangents could be researched here. But there were no references to a Chesterfield Club made in any of these articles. Maybe some research on the "Purple Gang" starting in the 1920's is in order.....

EDIT: On reviewing my post here, I would simply have to believe that as big of a story as this was at the time, and considering the characters involved, The Macomb Daily would have to have covered it fairly extensively. Unfortunatley, their online archives appear to only go back about five years. I would consider contacting them for info on accessing their archives from the late 40's. HTH .

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This has become somewhat of a challenge for me.....I spent a little more time, and was able to track down a picture of the Chesterfield Inn. The picture is from a book titled "Detroit's infamous purple gang" by Paul R Kavieff.

Simply google "Chesterfield Inn 1924" the second link down will take you strait to the photo on page 45 of the book. The caption under the photo should confirm it is what you are looking for. Unfortunatly there is no address given, but from the background it appears to be a sparsely populated area, likely Gratiot Ave, in 1924. As that would have been the only major road heading north out of the city of Detroit, thru East Detroit, at the time. The billboards advertising a prominent jeweller located on Grand River Ave in downtown Detroit at the time suggests it is probably not to far north of 8 mile rd.

A bit of research on the author finds he is an authority on gangland era Detroit, and has authored several other books on the subject. He is likely as good a source for a possible address as anyone.