Famous people's places / Detroit – Near East Side
Brewster-Douglass Housing Projects
Closed – archive entry · 2008
The nation's first federally subsidized housing for African Americans, home to Diana Ross, Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard, Joe Louis and Smokey Robinson; demolished 1991–2014.
01 / The story of this place
Make time for these
Groundbreaking for the Brewster-Douglass Housing Projects took place in 1935, attended by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and the first units opened in 1938 as the nation's first publicly subsidized housing built for African Americans; by 1941 the complex, bounded by Mack, Beaubien, Wilkins and Hastings streets, held 941 units and eventually housed up to 10,000 people. Boxer Joe Louis and singer Smokey Robinson both spent parts of their childhoods there, and in the late 1950s the towers and low-rises became home to Diana Ross, Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard, teenagers who met and began singing together in the complex before forming the Primettes, the group that became the Supremes. Decades of disinvestment left the projects largely vacant by 2008, and the buildings came down in stages: the low-rise Brewster Homes in 1991, and the Frederick Douglass Homes towers between 2003 and 2014. New mixed-income housing has since begun rising on parts of the site.
- Opened in 1938 as the first federally subsidized housing for African Americans in the United States
- Childhood home of boxer Joe Louis and singer Smokey Robinson
- Diana Ross, Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard met here and formed the group that became the Supremes
- Demolished in phases between 1991 and 2014; new housing is being built on the site
Famous Detroiters
Famous people tied to this place 5
Lexicon entries for the people who lived, worked, performed or liked to spend time here.
- Diana Ross born 1944 · singer, actress
Lived here
The public housing complex east of downtown where her family moved in 1958; Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard also lived here. The towers were demolished in 2013–2014.
- Mary Wilson 1944–2021 · singer, author
Lived here
Public housing complex where the future Supremes grew up and met; the low-rises came down in 1991 and the Douglass towers in 2003–2014. New housing is under construction on the site.
- Florence Ballard 1943–1976 · singer
Lived here
Public housing complex where her family settled when she was about 15 and where the Primettes took shape; demolished in stages between 1991 and 2014.
- Loni Love born 1971 · comedian, television host, actress, author
Lived here
Love grew up in this historic public housing complex, also home in its time to Diana Ross and other Motown figures; the towers were demolished in 2013–2014.
- Joe Von Battle 1915–1973 · record store owner, record producer
Lived here
The public housing project near Hastings Street where Battle lived with his family; the towers were demolished in 2013–2014.
Sources & fact check · Checked: 2026-09-25
An independently written bilingual guide. This collection is not an attendance-based ranking.
03 / Events
Events at this place
Published events automatically linked from our event guide. Times are local to the venue.
We have no published upcoming events linked to this place yet. That does not mean the venue has no events; check its official calendar too.
Source and former website ↗