Overview
Photo from Historic Detroit. http://historicdetroit.org/galleries/brewster-douglass-projects-photos/
Before their demolition in early 2014, the Brewster-Douglass housing projects existed as a symbol of blight and crime. Their empty rubble-filled apartments and broken windows stood sentinel for six years over downtown Detroit’s north side and the thousands of daily commuters that passed by them along Interstate 75. Despite their ominous association, the Brewsters - as they are called locally - prospered for a number of years and housed thousands of working class Detroiters before their eventual abandonment. Their decline and dereliction was in many ways a direct result of the many economic, social, and racial adversities that have plagued Detroit over the past several decades.
Construction
The construction of the Brewster-Douglass projects took place in multiple phases over a number of years. The project was funded by federal subsidies and was part of a massive urban revitalization initiative that constituted the movement and concentration of working class black families into a mixture of homes, townhouses, and apartment buildings in Detroit’s lower east side.1 The construction of the projects met protest from the black community who resisted being moved around at the city's whim but, as with most of the rest of the country in the 1930s, African American citizens did not have much of a voice when it came to public matters and were largely ignored2. Upon completion, the projects drew tenants mostly from the historically African American neighborhood Paradise Valley, in Detroit’s near-east side. This neighborhood, a cultural mecca for jazz and blues in Detroit, went on to be demolished in the 1960s to make way for the construction of Interstate 75 and Lafayette park3. On September 9th 1935 First lady Eleanor Roosevelt was in Detroit to kick off the demolition of the Paradise Valley neighborhood citing a 95% tax delinquency and a crime rate that was 6 times above the city average as justification for it’s removal4. The Brewster homes were the first structures to be built as part of the Brewster projects and were opened in 1938 with 701 units. They were built on the property that was once Paradise Valley. By the time construction was completed in 19415, the residential blocks bordering Beaubien, Hastings, Wilkins streets, and Mack Avenue consisted of 943 individual housing units6. In 1942 construction continued as two six-story apartment buildings were built. Nine years later, the original Brewster homes were demolished and replaced with a series of row houses that increased the project’s capacity and density. Also at this time, the six, fourteen-story apartment buildings that have since become iconic of the failed housing project, were also added to the property7. At the peak of the Brewster Douglass Project’s tenancy, they were home to anywhere between 8,000 and 10,000 Detroiters8.
A community of music lovers
Living in the Brewster Douglass projects meant being a part of a tight knit community of families and individuals. Many residents were working class Detroiters receiving low salaries. It was not uncommon for neighbors to help each other out financially when times were tough. People came from all walks of life and many different backgrounds, a fact that contributed to a diverse community full of eclectic and memorable personalities. “They [the Brewster Projects] were a school of life. you had to learn to get along with a lot of different kinds of people,” stated Mary Wilson, founding member of the Supremes in her autobiography Dreamgirls9. Indeed, the high concentration of people coupled with childhood dreams and aspirations made the projects a perfect place for a group like to Supremes to form and prosper.
Arriving at varying times, Mary Wilson, Florence (Flo) Ballard, and Diana (then known as Diane) Ross, would later become the Supremes of Motown fame. However, they were far from the only aspiring singers populating the Brewster Project’s crowded playgrounds and hallways. Young children growing up in the projects, inspired by the latest rock and roll hits blaring over the radio and their parents’ record collections, saw music as their way out of the projects and into the spotlight. “No matter where you went, or what your age, music seemed to be everywhere in Detroit” mused Wilson10.
The older generation of the Projects played a large part to the children’s love for music. Florence Ballard, one of fourteen children, was first exposed to music by her father’s love to sing and play his guitar. The entire family would regularly gather in their two-story row house apartment to sing together and share their love for music. The inside of the houses and apartments were not the only places music reverberated. Walking through the hallways and stairwells of the Brewster projects, one would come across many aspiring superstars harmonizing their favorite tunes. Often, the places with best acoustics, the stairwells especially, were hotly contested practice venues. The right to sing in such a spot was something that had to be fought for in the form of informal singing competitions, onlookers and tenants acting as the judges. The loser would sulk away amid nasty taunting to a less desirable practice ground while the winner, reveling in their victory, echoed their tunes throughout the concrete causeways of the towers11.
To the children of the Projects, the implied lack of financial security that came with living in such a place was often overlooked. The large community of children meant that each individual had many friends. What they lacked in material wealth, they more than made up for in social wealth. “Cliques” of children would often be so large that it was impossible to know everyone intimately. For example: Mary Wilson and Diana Ross had the same group of friends, numbering in the upper twenties, but they never really knew each other until they were brought together in their high school years to form the Prime’s sister quartet, the Primettes and began performing at small venues. However, performing at bars and nightclubs was out of the question, a stipulation made by their parents to the members of the Primes, two of whom, Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams, would later earn fame as members of another Motown powerhouse, the Temptations12.
Abandonment and Demolition
Walking through the hallways of the Brewster Projects in the years following their abandonment in 2008 would mean navigating the rubble strewn hallways, graffiti covered walls, and plaster filled apartments.The joyful songs of aspiring young stars have since been replaced by the periodic bang from someone’s old front door slamming in the wind. An archaeological examination of the ruins following their abandonment reveals little to suggest their once, very musical past. Only the fond memories of its tenants and the legacy of the Supremes is left to convey these stories.
Demolition of the Brewster Douglass projects began in September 2007 with the rowhouses and six-story apartment blocks13. The demolition was ordered by Mayor Dave Bing as a part of his campaign to reduce blight in the city. “For many people, these towers have become nothing but a symbol of blight and decay for the city of Detroit.” Duggan addresses a small crowd of onlookers at the kickoff of demolitions. “We are not demolishing for the sake of demolishing. We are demolishing for the purpose of rebuilding.” Duggan cites crime issues and the project’s existence as an eyesore to the Detroit skyline as justification for their removal. Ironically, like their construction, their demolition was funded by federal subsidies. The Detroit Housing Commision was awarded $6.5 Million by the The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Capital Fund Emergency Grant Program for the demolition operation. The four remaining fourteen-story towers (originally six but downsized to four in 2003 to combat low tenancy) were the last to fall to the demolition crew’s machinery in early 2014.
1. Martelle 2012
2. Shaw 2009
3. Historic Detroit
4. Martelle 2012
5. Historic Detroit
6. Shaw 2009
7. Historic Detroit
8. Neavling 2014
9. Wilson 1999
10. Wilson 1999
11. Wilson 1999
12. Wilson 1999
13. Helms 2012
Sources:
Martelle, Scott. Detroit: A Biography. Chicago, IL: Chicago Review, 2012. Print.
Shaw, Todd Cameron. Now Is the Time!: Detroit Black Politics and Grassroots Activism. Durham: Duke UP, 2009. Print.
Austin, Dan. "Historic Detroit." Brewster-Douglass Projects -. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
Wilson, Mary, and Mary Wilson. Dreamgirl ; & Supreme Faith: My Life as a Supreme. New York, NY: Cooper Square, 1999. Print.
Helms, Matt. "Demolition Begins on Brewster-Douglass Housing Complex in Detroit." Detroit Free Press. N.p., 4 Sept. 2012. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
Guillen, Joe. "Brewster-Douglass Projects' Last 4 Towers Go under Wrecking Ball; Development Planned." Detroit Free Press. N.p., 10 Mar. 2014. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
Neavling, Steve. "Demo Begins on Storied High-rises at Brewster-Douglass Housing Projects | Motor City Muckraker." Motor City Muckraker. N.p., 10 Mar. 2014. Web. 29 Mar. 2014.
