No one knows when it exactly happened, but sometime around the year 2015 it flipped. With over 100,000 of Detroit's homeowners falling into foreclosure since the Great Recession, roughly 53% of Detroit's population are now renters. For a majority African-American city that enjoyed some of the highest homeownership rates in the nation, it means fewer families can use their home as an asset. It means fewer families can pass their most valuable financial asset generationally down. It is yet another setback in the continuing struggle for African-Americans to build wealth.
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This map provided by the Detroit Future City Implementation Office shows the increase in rental housing in Detroit. The dark brown area on the perimeter of the city show where single-family homes have switched in recent years from owner-occupied to rental. The yellow areas show where rental units have declined due to population loss. Photo Credit |
Land Holding Families
The French explorer, Antoine Laumet de La Mothe Cadillac, the founder of Fort Ponchartrain, was the first European to claim land in Detroit. And he would grant ownership of land adjacent to the fort to families whose names today are attached to familiar streets: Brush, Campau, John R, Cass, McDougall, Abbott, Gouin, Meldrum, Dequindre, Beaufait, Groesbeck, Livernois, Rivard, Hamtramck, and Cadillac. What may be unfamiliar, is that everyone of these families owned slaves.
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| Detail from Aaron Greeley's Map of Private Claims on Lake St. Clair, the Detroit River and Lake Erie, 1810. Image courtesy Seeking Michigan. Photo Credit |
But a fire in 1805, that burned an entire city and displaced 300 of it's residents, opened an opportunity for its freed and enslaved African-American residents to become landowners. The US Congress guaranteed that in the re-built capital city, a free lot, not to exceed 5,000 square feet, would be given to any adult who was displaced by the fire. In order to fulfill this promise, the new Michigan Governor, William Hull, divided potential claimants into three classes: former property owners, heads of households who rented and everyone else. Lots were laid out using Judge Augustus Woodward's Land Board approved plan. And on December 31, 1806, the first two classes drew ballots to determine their lots. The last group drew ballots on Jan. 3, 1807.
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| "The Detroit Fire: June 11, 1805" painting by Robert Thom (1965) Photo Credit |
At least three free African-Americans (Tom Parker, Elizabeth Cooper and Hannah at Mrs. Coate's) and seven slaves (Harry, Hannah, Cato at Mrs. Dodemead's, London, Mary at Watson's, Margaret at Mrs. Voyer's, and Pompey at Mr. Abbott's) were included in this last class. Though each drew a ballot, only a handful would actually receive deeds to their property.
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| List of African-Americans eligible to draw ballots for land after the Detroit fire of 1805. Photo Credit |
Pompey at Mr. Abbott's
It's believed that Pompey was owned by James Abbott, Jr., a member of one of the wealthiest families in Detroit. On December 15, 1808, "a deed for lot 24, section 7, was ordered to be issued to Pomp [sic], a negro man." The deed, which was eventually issued on April 29, 1809, still survives in the Abbott family papers at the Burton Historical Collection. The lot is located at 1540 Woodward.
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| Deed for Pompey at Mr. Abbott's signed in 1809. Photo Credit |
The former slave Pompey died less than 5 years later with no heirs. And in one last act of injustice, James Abbott sold the lot unlawfully for $300 in 1836 (equivalent to almost $9,000 in today's dollars). Realizing the flaw in the title, he petitioned the court in 1846 to be appointed administrator of Pompey's estate on the grounds that his former slave owed him money. The courts obliged his request and allow him to validate the sale.
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| 1540 Woodward (Google Maps) |
Elizabeth Cooper
On December 19, 1808, a deed for Elizabeth Cooper was drawn up for lot 37 in section 7. Located at 1228 Woodward, the lot currently is part of a mixed-use development that will include Detroit's newest skyscraper. Having died before selling her property or leaving instructions within a will, on January 31, 1824 the Land Board relinquished her deed to a group of investors.
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| 1228 Woodward (Google Maps) |
Thomas Parker
On March 18, 1809, a deed for Thomas Parker was drawn up for lot 70 in section 7. Located at 1413 Farmer, it is the current home of the Shinola Hotel. The 1810 census shows Mr. Parker living in the town as head of a household of five free non-white persons. On April 9, 1816, future Detroit mayor John R. Williams purchased Mr. Parker's lot for $1,500 (equivalent to almost $30,000 in today's dollars). A plaque located in Parker's Alley commemorates his ownership.
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| 1413 Farmer (Google Maps) |
Hannah at Mrs. Coate's
On October 3, 1809, Judge Woodward ordered that "Hannah, a negro woman and Thomas, a mulatto boy" be recognized as free persons and not slaves, despite the claims of ownership by a Detroiter named John Dodemead. Twelve years after drawing her ballot, and currently working for Mrs. [Jane] Dodomeade [sic], Hannah made application for a lot located at lot 51 in section 6 (currently the northeast corner of Farmer Street and Monroe). But this lot was no longer available. So the Land Board instead ordered a deed be drawn up for lot 11 section 12. Finally, on March 18, 1822, after a second order, a deed was drawn up for "Hannah, a woman of colour living with Mrs. Dodemead". The lot is currently home to a six-story office building at 1922 Cass Avenue.
Six years later, after the deaths of both John and Jane Dodemead, Hannah sold the property to lawyer George A. O'Keeffe for $40 (equivalent to almost $1,200 in today's dollars). The deed notably does not refer to the seller as "Hannah, a woman of colour" or "Dodemead's negro", but as Hannah Ashley.
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| 1922 Cass (Google Maps) |
The Others
There were at least 10 other African-American survivors of the 1805 fire that did not receive property. Six drew lots, but did not apply for deeds. Four individuals did not even draw for a lot. A $1 fee enacted by the Land Board may have been an insurmountable barrier for some. Others may have been under the age of 17 and therefore considered minors.
It's interesting to note that several Detroiters of mixed race received lots. John Burnett, whose mother was Potawatomie, received lot 83 in section 6 (currently a vacant lot on Bates Street west of Randolph). Mrs. Ann Hall and Miss Nancy Hall received lots 79 and 75 in section 8, respectively (kitty-corner lots at the southwest and northwest corners of Griswold and State Street).
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| Lot locations for Deeds given to African-Americans after the Detroit Fire of 1805. Photo Credit |
Present Day Opportunities
The availability of cheap vacant land offers new opportunities for ownership in Detroit. And there are no longer Land Boards judging who is allowed to participant. But present day Detroit is faced with a different set of challenges. Homes on average were built in 1939 and are in need of significant improvements. Insurance premiums are typically unaffordable, meaning a catastrophic fire or theft can cause the loss of ownership. African-American mortgage applications are disproportionally rejected when compared to all applications. Water and sewer infrastructure, spread over an area built for a population of 2 million, is funded by a population of 700,000 and is over 100 years old and in need of significant upgrades. Finally, the lure of suburban schools, relative safety, jobs and retail opportunities add to the challenges.
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| Photo Credit |
Though the City has found ways to offer African-Americans ownership opportunities, without addressing these new challenges, there will be slow progress towards the true goal: To give more African-Americans like Thomas Parker, Hannah Ashley and Elizabeth Cooper, the pride of owning property. And more importantly, the ability to pass their financial security down to the generations that follow.
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| The Shinola Hotel and Bedrock welcomed guest to Parker's Alley, a walkway behind the Shinola Hotel in Detroit on Thursday, June 24, 2021. A lot located near the alley was originally owned by Thomas Parker, Detroit's first Black landowner, who the alley is named after. The event started with the unveiling of a plaque dedicated to Thomas Parker mounted on the alley wall. Rodney Coleman-Robinson, Detroit Free Press Photo Credit |
Sewick, Paul, "The story of how four black Detroiters became property owners after the Great Fire of 1805", Detroit Metro Times, February 1, 2018.
Hillmer, Davis B., Photographic Print, Catalog Number 182.144.651, Detroit Historical Society.
Fournier, Gregory A., Detroit's Great Fire of 1805, Fornology.com, March 30, 2018.
Detroit Free Press, "How Detroit Looked 103 Years Ago Today", Newspapers.com, June 11, 1908.
"History of Detroit", Wikipedia.
Gallagher, John, "In Detroit, more people rent hones than own them", March 19, 2017.
Stitt, Chanel, Parker's Alley plaque highlights some of Detroit's first Black landowners, Detroit Free Press, June 25, 2021.
McGraw, Bill, Detroit's Forgotten History of Slavery, essay taken from Detroit 1967, WSU Press, 2017.
Wilkinson, Mike, Whites get half of mortgages in Detroit, nation's largest majority black city, Bridge Michigan, June 13, 2019.
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