The Dunbar Hospital was the first hospital for the black community in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, United States. It is located at 580 Frederick Street, and is currently the administrative headquarters of the Detroit Medical Society. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1979.

Building construction and description

The building housing the Dunbar Hospital was built in 1892 by the Guy W. Vinton Company as a home for real estate developerDunbar Hospital
from the National Park Service Charles W. Warren.
from the state of Michigan The home was constructed in a fashionable 19th century residential district. The structure is a three-story home of mixed

Romanesque Revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended t ...

and Queen Anne style, ric J. Hill, John Gallagher, and the American Institute of Architects Detroit Chapter,''AIA Detroit: The American Institute of Architects Guide to Detroit Architecture,'' Wayne State University Press, 2002, , p. 182 built of red brick and rough-cut

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

. The entrance is through a recessed, arched first-floor porch and the second story has a double-arch brick balcony. The roof is slate, with a bay-windowed gabled dormer surmounting the front façade.

Founding of the Dunbar Hospital

In 1894, Dr. James W. Ames, a graduate of both

Straight University Straight University (known as Straight College after 1915) was an American historically black college that operated between 1868 and 1934 in New Orleans, Louisiana. After struggling with financial difficulties, it was merged with New Orleans U ...

and

Howard University Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...

, arrived in Detroit after a stint of teaching in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

. He quickly became influential in both Detroit's white community and its then-small black community. Detroit's mayor at the time was

Hazen S. Pingree Hazen Stuart Pingree (August 30, 1840 – June 18, 1901) was an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd mayor of Detroit from 1889 to 1897 and the 24th governor of Michigan from 1897 to 1901. A Yankee who migrated from New England, h ...

. During his subsequent re-election campaign, Pingree actively courted the black vote, in part by supporting Ames's bid for election to the Michigan state legislature.Vivian M. Baulch
"How Detroit got its first black hospital," ''The Detroit News,'' November 28, 1995. The nationally famous black poet

Paul Laurence Dunbar Paul Laurence Dunbar (June 27, 1872 – February 9, 1906) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in Dayton, Ohio, to parents who had been enslaved in Kentucky before the American C ...

, popular in both the black and white community, visited Detroit and lent his voice to those supporting Pingree, penning the poem "Vote for Pingree and Vote for Bread". Both Ames and Pingree won their respective elections, and Ames spent the next two years in the legislature. He was the last black elected until the 1920s. Two decades later, in the years following

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the black population of Detroit soared. In 1910, fewer than 6000 blacks called the city home; in 1917 more than 30,000 blacks lived in Detroit. The increase in black residents led to a crisis in health care. Hospitals were still segregated, and physicians like Ames were required to ask permission to admit black patients. Often black patients were simply denied care. The increase in the black population threatened to overwhelm the city's 30 black doctors. In 1918, Ames led the group of 30 black physicians to form the Allied Medical Society. The area around Frederick Street was at the cusp of becoming the center of social and cultural life for Detroit's black community, and the AMS purchased the Warren home on Frederick They opened their own non-profit hospital in the building, the first in the city to serve the black community, as well as an associated nursing school. The hospital was named for the poet Dunbar, who had died in 1906. The hospital had 27 beds and an operating room."Black-Owned and Operated Hospitals in the Detroit Metropolitan Area during the 20th Century,"
University of Michigan Medical School, ''Winter Newsletter 1998''

Later history

In 1928, demand led Dunbar Hospital to move from its first home to a larger facility several blocks to the east. The facility was renamed Parkside Hospital, and continued in operation until 1962. Soon after Dunbar moved from its home on Frederick,

Charles Diggs Sr. Charles Coles Diggs Sr. (January 2, 1894 – April 25, 1967) was the first African-American Democrat elected to the Michigan Senate, Senate of the State of Michigan. Born in Tallula, Mississippi, to James J. Diggs and Lilly Granderson, Diggs mov ...

, who was later the first African-American Democratic state senator, purchased the home. Diggs's son, Charles C. Diggs Jr., served in the

Michigan State Senate The Michigan Senate is the upper house of the Michigan Legislature. Along with the Michigan House of Representatives, it composes the state legislature, which has powers, roles and duties defined by Article IV of the Constitution of Michigan, Mi ...

from 1951 to 1954 and the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

from 1954 to 1980. In 1978, the Detroit Medical Society (the successor to the Allied Medical Society) purchased and restored the building. It now serves as their administrative headquarters and a museum.

References

{{authority control African-American history in Detroit Houses in Detroit Hospitals in Michigan Headquarters in the United States Houses completed in 1892 National Register of Historic Places in Detroit Hospital buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan Historically black hospitals in the United States 1918 establishments in Michigan Hospitals established in 1918