Upon discovering a copy of the 1952 Booker T. Washington Trade Association Directory of Black-owned businesses at the Detroit Public Library, Rod Arroyo started mapping them to create a public platform to share the names, business categories, and locations of these businesses. “In my 40+ years as a city planner, I have learned that telling the story of a city often requires more than words and numbers. In this case, when someone can see a map of these businesses and can read the names, see the addresses, and learn the types of businesses that were located there, it is a much more powerful way to tell the story of that place.”
The new map is the result of hundreds of hours of work documenting the 2,500+ Black-owned businesses that existed in the city in 1952 in a spreadsheet and also mapping those located within a focus area, which includes Black Bottom, Paradise Valley, Brush Park, Medical Center district, and the Cultural Center district. In addition to a static map, this map is available in an online interactive format: clicking or tapping on a data point will reveal the name and type of business that was there. In addition, Rod Arroyo hopes that historical information and photos from these businesses can be added to make the online map even more helpful and informative. Brief business histories and photos can be emailed to him for potential inclusion in the online resource.
The following summarizes the map of 1952 Black-owned businesses in Detroit (Online Link):
Black Bottom, predominantly a residential area with some local retail and service businesses and institutional/religious organizations, had at least 60 Black-owned businesses.
Paradise Valley, a predominantly business and entertainment district with residential uses, had at least 310 Black-owned businesses.
The Medical Center district and the western part of Brush Park had at least 272 Black-owned businesses.
The Cultural Center district had at least 200 Black-owned businesses.
These four subareas had at least 842 Black-owned businesses. Of these, 167 businesses had a Hastings Street address. Hastings Street was a significant business thoroughfare that originated as a Jewish business hub in the late 1800s and became a Black business hub in the 1920s. Most of the 100+ blocks of Hastings Street were removed to construct I-75 and I-375.
Another key finding from this research is that one location had the highest number of Black-owned businesses in Paradise Valley, and the building still exists today. The Breitmeyer-Tobin Building, built in 1905 and located at the corner of Broadway and Gratiot, had 27 Black-owned businesses in 1952, 9% of all Black-owned businesses in Paradise Valley.
The lower Paradise Valley area, north of Gratiot and south of I-75, had a concentration of Black-owned businesses in 1952. For example, the area currently occupied by Comerica Park and associated parking structures once contained 10 Black-owned businesses. One of them was the 450-room Fairbairn Hotel (opened 1924; demolished 1983), a men-only hotel that was located close to where the third base is today. The area occupied by Ford Field and associated parking structures once was home to 56 Black-owned businesses, including the Norwood Hotel and Club Congo, where Detroit be-bop jazz legend Howard McGhee played in the orchestra, the Lucy Thurman YWCA (opened 1932; demolished 1998), and the Detroit Tribune. The largest concentration of businesses was near the intersection of E. Adams and St. Antoine. The segment of E. Adams no longer exists and is now part of the Ford Field complex.
This same general area had a high concentration of jazz clubs during the 1940s and 1950s, including the El Sino club, where Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie played, the Three Sixes Club, the Band Box, Sportrees, and Jess Faithful’s Rhythm Café. Charlie Parker discovered Betty Carter, who was a chorus girl at El Sino, and helped launch her career (Bjorn, Lars and Jim Gallert, Before Motown: A History of Jazz in Detroit, 2001, The University of Michigan Press).
“I hope that fans attending games and concerts at Comerica Park and Ford Field will remember this is hallowed ground for the Black-owned businesses that once existed in this area of Detroit. For jazz fans, this area should be held in esteem. This historical context should be celebrated and considered when future development and redevelopment decisions are made in this area, including freeway improvements planned in this area (I-375 reconstruction and planned pedestrian crossings over I-75),” stated Rod Arroyo, FAICP.
Map locations are approximate and intended to show general locations. The static map image is on a 1940s-era base map. The online map has a modern street base map; therefore, Hastings Street is not shown on the online map; rather, the I-75 service drive is shown where Hastings Street once existed. St. Antoine, Brush, and Beaubien—and others—have been modified in alignment and continuity since the 1940s.
For more information, including links to other interactive maps and information, visit: https://www.city-photos.com/detroit-history.
About Rodney L. Arroyo, FAICP, President, City Photos and Books, Inc.
Rod Arroyo is a city planner and photographer researching Detroit’s planning history, jazz clubs, and Black-owned businesses in Detroit’s Paradise Valley and Black Bottom neighborhoods. This work is a passion project, as his goal is to add to the body of knowledge about the history of these important historical neighborhoods. He was inspired by listening to and reading the works of Ken Coleman, Jamon Jordan, Marsha Battle Philpot (Marsha Music), June Manning Thomas, Lars Bjorn, Jim Gallert, Tiya Miles, Mark Stryker, and many more.
“As a photographer, I tell visual stories. As a city planner, I am also a storyteller: my job is to research the history of cities, analyze data, gain public input, and help communities create a vision of the future. Combining my professional background with being a jazz enthusiast and a supporter of my favorite city, Detroit, established an initial foundation and interest. I was inspired to create this work after discovering cultural stories from other Detroit writers and researchers. He is now sharing this information and more in a presentation entitled “Rhythms of Resilience and Change: Looking Back at Detroit’s Paradise Valley and Black Bottom,” which is offered live in various community settings.
Rod has a Master’s degree in City Planning from Georgia Tech and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of South Florida, and he is a member of the
College of Fellows of the American Institute of Certified Planners. He has worked as a city planning consultant in the Detroit region for over 35 years, retiring as Partner Emeritus from Detroit’s Giffels Webster in 2022, and he served as an adjunct professor in the graduate urban planning program at Wayne State University. Rod has also owned his own photography business since 2000, and he is the featured photographer in the 2018 book, A History Lover’s Guide to Detroit from History Press, and over 40 of his images are featured in the 2024 Documentary, The Best of the Best: Jazz from Detroit. based on Mark Stryker’s book.
The Booker T. Washington Trade Association and Housewives League of Detroit were founded in 1930 by Rev. William H. Peck and his wife, Fannie B. Peck, respectively, to honor and promote Black businesses in Detroit. Rev. Peck was the Pastor at the Bethel A.M.E. Church, formerly at the corner of Napoleon and Hastings in Detroit. The 1952 Directory was the source of the mapping data points.
Map Online Link: https://bit.ly/1952-ParadiseValley-Map
Media Contact
Rodney L. Arroyo, City Photos and Books, Inc., 1 248-403-9500, [email protected], https://www.city-photos.com
SOURCE City Photos and Books, Inc.
