Dunbar Hospital
Encyclopedia
Dunbar Hospital was the first hospital in Detroit, Michigan
for the black community. It is located at 580 Frederick Street, and is currently the administrative headquarters
of the Detroit Medical Society. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
in 1979.
Dunbar Hospital is a three-story home of mixed Romanesque Revival and Queen Anne
style. It is built of red brick and rough-cut ashlar. The entrance is through a recessed, arched first-floor porch and the second story has a double-arch brick balcony. The roof is slate with a bay-windowed gabled dormer surmounting the front facade.
, a graduate of both Straight University
and Howard University
, arrived in Detroit after a stint of teaching in New Orleans. He quickly became influential in both Detroit's white community and its then-small black community. Detroit's mayor at the time was Hazen Pingree. During his subsequent re-election campaign, Pingree actively courted the black vote, in part by supporting Ames's bid for election to the Michigan state legislature.
The nationally famous black poet Paul Laurence Dunbar
, popular in both the black and white community, visited Detroit and lent his voice to those supporting Pingree, penning the poem, "Vote for Pingree and Vote for Bread." Both Ames and Pingree won their respective elections, and Ames spent the next two years in the legislature. He was the last black elected until the 1920s.
Two decades later, in the years following World War I
, the black population of Detroit soared. In 1910, fewer than 6000 blacks called the city home; in 1917 more than 30,000 blacks lived in Detroit. The increase in black residents led to a crisis in health care. Hospitals were still segregated, and physicians like Ames were required to ask permission to admit black patients. Often black patients were simply denied care. The increase in the black population threatened to overwhelm the city's 30 black doctors.
In 1918, Ames led the group of 30 black physicians too form the Allied Medical Society. The area around Frederick street was at the cusp of becoming the center of social and cultural life for Detroit's black community, and the AMS purchased the Warren home on Frederick They opened their own non-profit hospital in the building, the first in the city to serve the black community, as well as an associated nursing school. The hospital was named for the poet Dunbar, who had died in 1906. The hospital had 27 beds and an operating room.
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
for the black community. It is located at 580 Frederick Street, and is currently the administrative headquarters
Headquarters
Headquarters denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the top of a corporation taking full responsibility managing all business activities...
of the Detroit Medical Society. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1979.
Building construction and description
The building housing Dunbar Hospital was built in 1892 by the Guy W. Vinton Company as a home for real estate developer Charles W. Warren. The home was constructed in a fashionable 19th century residential district.Dunbar Hospital is a three-story home of mixed Romanesque Revival and Queen Anne
Queen Anne Style architecture
The Queen Anne Style in Britain means either the English Baroque architectural style roughly of the reign of Queen Anne , or a revived form that was popular in the last quarter of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century...
style. It is built of red brick and rough-cut ashlar. The entrance is through a recessed, arched first-floor porch and the second story has a double-arch brick balcony. The roof is slate with a bay-windowed gabled dormer surmounting the front facade.
Founding of Dunbar Hospital
In 1894, Dr. James W. AmesJames W. Ames
James W. Ames was an African-American physician.Ames was educated at Straight University in New Orleans, and then received a degree from Howard University. He had taught school in New Orleans as well....
, a graduate of both Straight University
Straight University
Straight University, after 1915 Straight College, was a historically black college that operated between 1868 and 1934 in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was founded by the American Missionary Association.-Campus:...
and Howard University
Howard University
Howard University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...
, arrived in Detroit after a stint of teaching in New Orleans. He quickly became influential in both Detroit's white community and its then-small black community. Detroit's mayor at the time was Hazen Pingree. During his subsequent re-election campaign, Pingree actively courted the black vote, in part by supporting Ames's bid for election to the Michigan state legislature.
The nationally famous black poet Paul Laurence Dunbar
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Paul Laurence Dunbar was a seminal African American poet of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Dunbar gained national recognition for his 1896 "Ode to Ethiopia", one poem in the collection Lyrics of Lowly Life....
, popular in both the black and white community, visited Detroit and lent his voice to those supporting Pingree, penning the poem, "Vote for Pingree and Vote for Bread." Both Ames and Pingree won their respective elections, and Ames spent the next two years in the legislature. He was the last black elected until the 1920s.
Two decades later, in the years following World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, the black population of Detroit soared. In 1910, fewer than 6000 blacks called the city home; in 1917 more than 30,000 blacks lived in Detroit. The increase in black residents led to a crisis in health care. Hospitals were still segregated, and physicians like Ames were required to ask permission to admit black patients. Often black patients were simply denied care. The increase in the black population threatened to overwhelm the city's 30 black doctors.
In 1918, Ames led the group of 30 black physicians too form the Allied Medical Society. The area around Frederick street was at the cusp of becoming the center of social and cultural life for Detroit's black community, and the AMS purchased the Warren home on Frederick They opened their own non-profit hospital in the building, the first in the city to serve the black community, as well as an associated nursing school. The hospital was named for the poet Dunbar, who had died in 1906. The hospital had 27 beds and an operating room.