Go West--and Visit Circle City
Jewish Life In America
The Workmen’s Circle Call | May 1960
Aricle
E-S Director Will Stern returned the west coast, singing the praises of he came away singing the praises of Circle City, the community presently being built outside of Phoenix, Arizona, under the auspices of the Workmen's Circle. Ben Schleifer, who is building Circle City, is patterning it after Youngtown, a now famous community of some 1100 homes in the same Arizona desert. The new town, fronting on the highway, showed a restaurant, a community house, a general store, and a motel, among the front row structures, and 36 completed homes, 5 being built, and a 14-apartment hotel on the inside.
The hotel apartments were fully occupied. Each apartment is a 3-room unit. The occupants are vacationers and people who may be testing the climate to see whether they want to settle permanently in Circle City. The entire community, including those in the motel, the apartments, and the homes, consists of about 100 people. Within one hour after Stern and Schleifer arrived, a reception in honor of the visitor from New York was organized, with sixty-two persons attending. Mayor Weiss, recently elected as the second presiding officer of Circle City, opened the gathering and welcomed Friend Stern, after which he introduced Ben Schleifer as toastmaster.
The latter is an extra-ordinarily colorful personality, full of folklore and wit, and obviously a man greatly admired by the Circle City residents. After Friend Stern delivered a greeting from the National Executive Committee of the W.C., he invited some comments on life in the budding city. This is what he heard: "If only the whole world were like this!" ( Chernoy , a temporary resident). "Fourteen months ago we came here , with our doubts and our ailments, and never dreamed we could live here with our limited means. Now we bless the day the Workmen's Circle and Ben Schliefer created Circle City. Our community is a baby, but it will grow. We have patience." ( Hertzberg ) ''My wife could hardly walk when we arrived here on July 15, 1959. She is much better now. I had sciatica, and that disappeared." { Karsch ) ''I was the third home owner in Youngtown, and things looked there in the early days the same as they do now in Circle City. I transferred from Youngtown here because I do not at all mind being a pioneer again." (Wagman, age 76) "Despite some dissatisfaction with conditions that require patience, we are still better off than in the cities we left. In my home town of Cleveland it took me over 40 minutes to get to a doctor or a hospital. Overe here it takes only 15 minutes to get to the hospital in Wickenburg, where we get immediate attention." {"Mayor" Weiss) "Although we do not yet have all the things we would like to have, the climate is wonderful, we like each other, and our mental attitude is excellent." {Mrs. Folkson, appointed first editor of a Circle City paper) It was quite obvious that this is a happy community of people who have found relief from their ills and are now concerned with decorating their homes, seeding their lawns, and literally building new lives for themselves. The attractive and well-built homes sell for less than $8000, and are being built constantly. Visitors to Circle City are always welcome. For applications or information, write to Ben Schleifer, Circle City Development Co., 444 West Camelback Road, Phoenix, Arizona.
Read Article in it’s native format in The Call Archive
Link
““Fourteen months ago we came here , with our doubts and our ailments, and never dreamed we could live here with our limited means. Now we bless the day the Workmen’s Circle and Ben Schliefer created Circle City. Our community is a baby, but it will grow. We have patience.” ”