The Jews of Windsor, 1790-1990. Jonathan V. Plaut

by much laughter and apparently felt himself the hero of the hour.³⁷

      However, it was Aaron Meretsky’s avid concern for local small businesses that prompted him to urge City Council to take more interest in street maintenance, including the construction of curbs on the south side of Pitt Street between Windsor Avenue to Market Lane. In July 1911, he presented five other petitions for street paving and sewers. A month later, while chastising a fellow council member for objecting to the payment of $35 to cover the travel expenses for someone who wanted to attend a convention, Meretsky quipped,

      That’s all right . . . we all know you are an employee of the Railway and get passes whenever you want to travel. You have just returned from a trip to Toronto and your Railroad fare didn’t cost you a cent. When the question of granting the Windsor and North Essex Agricultural Society a per grant of $3,000 with which to erect fair buildings came up, you were right there in supporting it.³⁸

      Stories were told about Aaron Meretsky falling asleep during Council sessions and, even though he missed quite a few around the 1911 High Holiday season, he was present and paying attention when the time came to announce his intentions to again run in the next election.³⁹ Once nominated, he appealed to his constituents to vote for a candidate who stood for the people’s rights and was progressive enough to support certain worthwhile building projects.⁴⁰ Yet he was frugal enough to oppose expenditures he considered unnecessary, such as the $17,000 earmarked for some fire hall equipment.⁴¹

      A Liberal Party supporter who had also sat on the dais at a Conservative Party convention, Aaron Meretsky handily won his City Council seat. Mayor Hanna, also re-elected by a big plurality, immediately appointed him to the fire and light committee, as well as making him chairman of the market and property committee.⁴² Regrettably, the mayor died early in 1912, leaving a big gap in Windsor’s political hierarchy.

      Meretsky continued to make strides promoting Windsor as a good place for industry to grow by supporting motions such as granting bonuses to companies interested in locating there. In his attempt to improve the market, he proposed that a new building be erected. However, to make the project financially more viable, he suggested to the police commissioner that, while the market would be housed on the ground floor, the upper level could be used for a new police headquarters. In that connection, the Evening Record carried the following report on the front page of its July 20, 1912 edition:

      I am going to try and have a fine building put up, one that will be a credit to the city of Windsor,” stated Ald. Meretsky. “I would like to see a market building here as good as they have in Chatham, or better. If I can get the council to back me up, I will arrange for a building with police cells in the basement and a police court room upstairs for the magistrate. The cells over at the city hall are in no condition for anybody. It is not right to ask our Police Department to remain in that place. The Chief and his men should have decent accommodation. As things are now, they are cramped for room and vermin play tag with them.

      Then, the magistrate is not satisfied with conditions in the police courtroom, also in the basement. The air is damp and the ventilation is not as good as it might be. We ought to provide the right kind of accommodation for our officials.⁴³

      Although Meretsky’s market concept was rejected, his civic pride emerged in a number of other ways. He requested that repairs be made to the City Hall, that more money be spent on paving and curbing streets, that the water main be extended, and that the city help finance projects such as Emancipation Day celebrations. On the other hand, he showed displeasure with aldermen who used municipal funds to finance out-of-town excursions that were not entirely in the public interest. He himself felt uncomfortable about charging his own trips to the public purse unless they led to the growth and development of his city.⁴⁴ At one point in his colourful career, he even introduced a motion for a by-law whereby a $100 license fee would be imposed on any theatre proprietor who refused admission to children under 15 years of age — an unusual proposal believed to have been the result of an argument Aaron had had with his son Simon who, by then, owned all the movie houses in the city.⁴⁵

      Meretsky lost the 1913 election but he regained his seat the following year.⁴⁶ Named to a committee specially set up to administer a $1,000 relief program for the unemployed and starving people of Marion Avenue, he also was reappointed to the public works, fire, and market committees.⁴⁷ Since a new market remained his favourite project, he promoted another by-law that would authorize expenditure of $75,000 for a new building, arguing that the ultimate profits and receipts from such a venture would cover all construction costs. Well received by the public, the proposal was temporarily pre-empted by other issues, and eventually dropped altogether in favour of a new City Hall.⁴⁸ Undaunted by the setback, Meretsky championed other projects that could help the local business community and improve conditions in the city. Opposing the early-closing law for shops and trying to enforce licensing of all wholesale meat dealers, he even attempted to stop the use of American-made baskets in the market.

      In December 1914, Aaron Meretsky began to campaign for re-election. Despite attempts to publicize his achievements on a far more grandiose scale than before, he was defeated by Alderman William Weir.⁴⁹ Yet, his political career was far from over. Relying on his ability to stay on as parks commissioner, a position he continued to fill intermittently until one year before his death, he not only sponsored a plan for a municipal golf course, but also actively promoted other recreational facilities, as well as ways to beautify the town.

      Those interests formed the major part of Aaron Meretsky’s contributions to the City of Windsor. A highly visible and influential member of both the outer circle — city government — and of the Jewish community, Meretsky was a portly man, whose manners, apparently, were quite crude. Whatever he lacked in social graces, he made up with his willingness to help others. Apart from performing numerous charitable acts, he participated in the affairs of Windsor’s first synagogue and, even before becoming its president, liked to share with its members the warm and familiar Sabbath and holiday observances they all had enjoyed in the old country. There is no doubt that he passed on to children his love for Jewish tradition as well as his social conscience, since they all became respected members of the Windsor community.

       Abraham, Jacob, and Michael Meretsky

      Abraham, Aaron Meretsky’s older brother, stayed in Windsor only for a short while. He then moved to Detroit, where he worked as a tailor. Little is known about him, except that he arrived at Aaron’s house every Friday afternoon to spend the Sabbath with him and his family. On those occasions, the two brothers, apparently often shared a bottle of whiskey.

      According to some newspaper articles, Aaron’s brother Jacob, who was five years older than he, had arrived in Windsor as early as 1875. However, it is more likely that he came later than Aaron.⁵⁰ He first ran a boarding house, maintaining a “bottle” yard at the same time, while his later business ventures seemed to have included the buying and selling of real estate.⁵¹ In 1909, he also tried his luck in city politics, but failed in his bid to get elected.

      Jacob and his wife, Shaney (Jenny), née Doniel, whom he had married in the old country, had eight children — Herman, Fanny, David, Bella, Libby, Clara, Peter, and another offspring who had died in early childhood. Herman, the eldest, born in 1878, eventually opened a furniture store on Pitt Street; he died in 1932. Fanny married Gilbert Weingarden in 1896, later divorcing him to become the wife of a man by the name of Komar.⁵² David, the second son of Jacob Meretsky, was born in 1884, attended medical school but never completed his studies. He went into business in 1903 and later became president of Meretsky & Gitlin, a firm that had started as a small second-hand store.⁵³ David married Max Bernstein’s daughter, Goldie, and they adopted two children⁵⁴ — Jerry, a son, about whom nothing is known, and Lillian, a daughter, who was married twice — first, to a Dr. J. R. Rogin and then to a Mr. Ouellette. Jacob and Jenny’s daughter, Bella, married Isaac Weingarden. Libby became the wife of Joshua Gitlin, Clara that of a Mr. Gutenberg from Detroit and, their youngest son, Peter, born in 1880, became a peddler at the age of 16. Jacob Meretsky died in 1925.⁵⁵

      Aaron Meretsky’s brother, Michael, born in Sztabin