The Highland Park Mosque was one of the first mosques built in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, located in Highland Park,

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. It opened in 1921 but closed a few years later.

Background

Mohammed Karoub immigrated to the

in around 1912 from

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

. He moved to the Detroit Metro area to work in the

Highland Park Ford Plant The Highland Park Ford Plant is a historic former Ford Motor Company factory located at 91 Manchester Street (at Woodward Avenue) in Highland Park, Michigan. It was Ford's third factory, it was the second American Model T production facility ...

, like many other Muslim immigrants. He then became a real estate developer and became prosperous. As a result of Highland Park's growing Muslim population, which was an estimated 16,000 at the time, Karoub used his money to purchase land for a mosque.

History

Karoub employed architect Theodore Degenhardt to design the mosque, which, built near the Highland Park Ford Plant, served many of the Muslims working at the plant. It was reported that Karoub received funding for the mosque from "every section of the United States and from foreign lands." The mosque opened on June 8, 1921. The mosque was subject to several issues. The ''

Detroit Free Press The ''Detroit Free Press'' (commonly referred to as the ''Freep'') is a major daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest local newspaper owned by Gannett (the publisher of ''USA Today''), and is operated by the Detro ...

'' reported in 1924 that the constant traffic and noise in the area made the location unsuitable for a mosque. The lack of sufficient funding may have also been a problem, and people had varying visions for how it should have been built. Due to the issues, Karoub sold the mosque to Highland Park in 1926. As of 2016, the land is currently being used by the John E. Green Company, a mechanical contractor.

References

{{Religion in Metro Detroit Arab-American culture in Michigan Highland Park, Michigan Former mosques in the United States Islam in Metro Detroit Mosques completed in 1921 Mosques in Michigan 1921 establishments in Michigan Syrian-American culture