Joe and his three brothers all emigrated from Lithuania, although their parents remained behind. Records indicate that Bentsion died in 1926 and Brokha in 1937, prior to the outbreak

of World War II. Nearly all Jewish people in the region died in the Holocaust. In the 1960s, under Soviet rule, gravestones in the Panevezys’ Jewish cemetery were removed and used in construction. The cemetery was bulldozed and turned into a park, obscuring approximately 17,000 graves, erasing memory of the city’s Jewish history.

Joe Fine, as he was called in America, immigrated to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1913 where he worked in a factory. His brothers scattered across the globe; Solomon moved to South Africa, Sarka eventually lived in Israel and Samuel Fine (1889- 1950), settled in Marquette, MI.

Sam worked for their uncle, Abraham Fine (1873-1939), who lived at 625 N Fourth St, and owned a kosher slaughterhouse and grocery store at 1702 Presque Isle Ave., one of the first businesses on Marquette’s north side, located near where the Superior Dome is now. Abe was also a rabbi, possibly the first to live in Marquette, and helped to purchase a centuries-old Torah in Chicago, Illinois, still used by Temple Beth Sholom in Marquette. Joe moved to Marquette to join his brother Sam and his uncle Abe in 1916.

Joe joined the U.S. Army in April 1918, training at Camp Custer in downstate Battle Creek. Joe began in the 24th Company of the 160th Depot Brigade. He transferred to a machine gun unit in the 337th Infantry, before later serving as a provost guard, a kind of military police. Joe remained proud of his service in World War I throughout his life and was active in the local American Legion.

Joe Fine

After World War I, Joe worked with Sam and Abe Fine in the meat and grocery industry. They had a company called Cloverland Beef, located at 127 W. Baraga Ave., likely the space that is now Everyday Wines. The family then ran a grocery store at 412 W. Washington St., the site of the Ramada Inn. The Fine Food Store, primarily owned by Sam, later operated at 447 W. Washington St., presently the Room at the Inn Warming Center.

Joe entered the tavern trade. He owned two iterations of Joe’s Bar. The first was located at 221 and 223 W. Washington St. These are two different buildings, now the Upper Peninsula Supply Co., and Babycakes respectively and it is not clear why both addresses were associated with the bar, though it may have utilized space in both buildings. The second iteration of Joe’s Bar was located at 239 W. Washington St., now the Portside Inn.

Joe’s Bar was an unusual saloon. Around World War II, Joe decided it would only serve men, presumably to prevent fighting over women. He was quoted saying, “This way we get along pretty good.” Patrons stood, with the few chairs reserved for the elderly and infirm. The logic was that standing inebriates would be easier for bartenders to spot and eject, as drunkenness was not allowed.

Joe’s Bar had a very limited beverage menu, Blatz beer and whiskey. It was open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and was popular with workers coming off the night shift. Joe would cash workers’ paychecks, give the men some money to spend on drinks, and put the rest of the earnings behind the bar for their wives to pick up later for their grocery shopping. The joke was that’s how he kept his customers.

Joe temporarily quit keeping bar to run a hobby and cigar shop at Fourth Street and West Washington Street, but missed his patrons, and returned to working at Joe’s Bar until his death in 1969. At that point, it was taken over by John Garth Green (1940-2019), who ran it until 1980. Now the Portside Inn, Joe Fine’s old bar, remains a lively Marquette tavern and restaurant.

Joe Fine married Ruth Wolfe in Gladstone on April 2, 1933. The couple first lived at 429 W. College Ave., now a vacant lot. Later in life, they lived at 332 E. Ridge St., a politely designed ranch home on the south side of the street that preserves neighbors’ views of the harbor. They had two children: Bernard and Lithia Mae.

Patient and soft-spoken, Joe was a popular local politician, serving on the city commission. Joe Fine was elected mayor of Marquette in 1964, taking over from educator C. Fred Rydholm (1924-2009), who became one of the Upper Peninsula’s most celebrated historians. Joe was the chairman of the Marquette Board of Light and Power during the planning of the former Shiras Steam Plant on Lake Street in south Marquette.

Joe Fine was a generous supporter of local causes and sponsor of many sports teams. When asked by a friend why he always donated to the construction and upkeep of churches even though he was Jewish, he replied, “I figure as long as I am able to give something to help build a church- any kind of a church- it must be a good cause and this must be a good country.”

This Marquette patriot is buried in the Marks Memorial Section of Park Cemetery. Spare a kind though for Joe Fine. Stop by the Portside Inn and raise a glass to the workingman’s bar that it once was. The drinks menu has expanded dramatically and women are gladly served.