Brewster-Douglass Housing Projects

Hastings Street was the center of Black culture in Detroit between the 1920s and 1950s.[2] Located at the southern edge of the future Brewster-Douglass Homes, the street was the home of innumerable salons and entertainment venues. With the addition of the high-rises and an influx of people moving into the housing, Hastings Street was billed as the place one could fulfill any conceivable need. Hastings Street was most famously referenced in the John Lee Hooker song "Boogie Chillen'".

Frederick Douglass tower in 2007

The Brewster Project and Frederick Douglass Apartments were built between 1935 and 1955.[3] They were designed by Harley, Ellington & Day of Detroit. The Brewster Project began construction in 1935, when First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt broke ground for the 701-unit development. The first phase, consisting of low-rise apartment blocks, was completed in 1938. An expansion of the project completed in 1941 brought the total number of housing units to 941.[4]

The Frederick Douglass Apartments, built immediately to the south of the Brewster Project, began construction in 1942. Apartment rows, two 6-story low-rises, and six 14-story high rises were completed between 1952 and 1955. The combined Brewster-Douglass Project was five city blocks long, and three city blocks wide,[5] and housed anywhere between 8,000 and 10,000 residents at its peak capacity.

The Brewster-Douglass Project were built for the "working poor". The Detroit Housing Commission required an employed parent for each family before establishing tenancy. As the Commission became less selective, crime became a problem in the 1960s and 1970s, and the projects fell into disrepair. The Frederick Douglass Apartment towers were converted to senior housing.

In 1991, the low-rise apartment blocks north of Wilkins Street, the original Brewster Project, were demolished. By 1994 were replaced with 250 townhomes. This new public housing, administratively distinct from the Frederick Douglass Homes project, was dubbed the "Brewster Homes", and still exists today.[6]

The remaining housing on the project site continued to deteriorate. Two of the six 14-story Frederick Douglass Apartments towers, 303 and 304, were demolished in 2003, in an effort to consolidate living space and reduce maintenance costs. By 2008, only 280 families remained in the Frederick Douglass Homes complex, and the decision was made to shut down the housing entirely. The buildings south of Wilkins street were left abandoned after that date.[7]

On July 29, 2013, 23-year-old French artist Bilal Berreni was found dead from a gunshot wound on the property of Brewster-Douglass, having last been seen the day before. Found without identification, Berreni's body was not identified for 7 months. Jasin Curtis and Drequone Rich each pled guilty to second degree murder and received 25–30 year prison sentences in 2015. Dionte Travis received a 60-year prison sentence in January 2016.[8]

Demolition of the remaining buildings of the Frederick Douglass Homes began in September 2013.[9] Demolition was substantially complete by the end of August 2014.

From historic marker on the site of Brewster Homes

Between 1910 and 1940 Detroit, Michigan's African American population increased dramatically. In 1935, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt broke ground for the Brewster Homes, the nation’s first federally funded public housing development for African Americans. The homes opened in 1938 with 701 units. When completed in 1941 there were 941 units bounded by Beaubien, Hastings, Mack and Wilkins Streets. Residents were required to be employed and there were limits on what they could earn. Former residents described Brewster as 'community filled with families that displayed love, respect and concern for everyone in a beautiful, clean and secure neighborhood.' The original Brewster Homes were demolished in 1991 and replaced by 250 townhouses.