Voigt-Kreit House / Voigt on Public Education

William Voigt Jr. is thought to have designed this house as a summer home in the early 1900s. In 1889 his parents, who ran a butchering business, purchased the property for $1,850. French settler Joseph Tremble was granted the land by President James Madison in 1811. Paul Trombley later had title to the site. Voigt Jr., a city engineer, owned the Home Brewing Company, and had studied architecture in Germany. As a member of the Detroit Board of Education, 1887-1893, he was instrumental in strengthening the compulsory education law and introducing physical culture into school programs. Voigt’s sister Christine and her husband, Herman Kreit, D.D.S., were deeded the home in 1907. Dr. Kreit became a trustee and president of the village of Grosse Pointe Park. Christine taught German and science at the Liggett School from 1882 to 1900. The home remained in the family until 1969. Voigt on Public Education As a member of the Detroit Board of Education from 1887 to 1893, William Voigt Jr. supported compulsory education laws and advocated providing free text books for students. Serving as president of the board in 1889 he defended the cost of public education in his annual report: “While the estimates asked by the Board of Education are undoubtedly large sums, and should be expended by the body with the utmost care and scrutiny, still . . . there is no purpose for which money should be so willingly given by the taxpayer as for our public schools, the one, of all our American institutions, which is the very foundation and base of the structure of our form of government . . . American patriotism can well be measured by the love for our public schools.”