Detroit
In 1915, Niebuhr was ordained a pastor. The German Evangelical mission board sent him to serve at Bethel Evangelical Church in Detroit, Michigan. The congregation numbered sixty-six on his arrival and grew to nearly 700 by the time he left in 1928. The increase reflected his ability to reach people outside the German American community and among the growing population attracted to jobs in the booming automobile industry. In the early 1900s Detroit became the fourth-largest city in the country, attracting many black and white migrants from the rural South, as well as Jewish and Catholic immigrants from eastern and southern Europe. They competed for jobs and limited housing, and the city's rapid changes and rise in social tensions contributed to the growth in numbers of Ku Klux Klan members in the city, which reached its peak in 1925. During that year's city election campaign, in which the Klan publicly supported several candidates, including for the office of mayor, Niebuhr spoke out publicly against the Klan, describing them as "one of the worst specific social phenomena which the religious pride of a people has ever developed." Only one of their several candidates gained a seat on the city council, and Charles Bowles, the mayoral candidate, was defeated. to his congregation.
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