Brewster-Douglass: From Eleanor Roosevelt's 1935 Shovel to 2025 Rebirth

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In 1935 First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt broke ground in Detroit on the Brewster Homes, described in the episode as the first federally funded public housing in the United States built for African Americans. The site sat beside Hastings Street, once the center of Detroit's Jewish community and later the heart of Black Detroit nightlife that John Lee Hooker sang about in Boogie Chillen'. Early tenants had to meet a working poor standard with an employed parent and set income limits. The original 701 low-rise units grew to 941 by 1941, and the Frederick Douglass Apartments, begun in 1942 and finished in 1955, added six 14-story towers designed by Harley, Ellington and Day.

At its peak the complex housed 8,000 to 10,000 people, including Diana Ross, Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard, Betty McGlown, Smokey Robinson and Loni Love. Rent caps under the Brooke Amendment, the end of tenant screening and Detroit's economic decline drained maintenance money. The low-rises were razed in 1991, two towers fell in 2003, and the last 280 families left in 2008. The remaining towers were demolished in 2013 and 2014. Bedrock Detroit agreed to buy the 22 acres for $23 million, and a groundbreaking for the Brewster Wheeler Apartments took place on November 14, 2025.

• The episode argues the concentration of talent came from segregation that confined Black families to a few blocks, not from the architecture.
• In 2013 the body of 23-year-old French street artist Bilal Berreni lay unidentified on the abandoned site for seven months.
• The buildings inspired the animated series The PJs and appear in the background of Dreamgirls.
• Ryan Gosling filmed copper scavenging scenes in the ruins for his 2014 film Lost River.
• The planned $300 million mixed-income development calls for more than 900 units, starting with 211 affordable apartments.