Sugar Hill Historic District

About this property

The Sugar Hill Historic District is a historic district in Detroit, Michigan. It contains 14 structures located along three streets: East Forest, Garfield, and East Canfield, between Woodward Avenue on the west and John R. on the east. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. The area where this district is now located was originally settled by Detroit's wealthier citizens in the 1880s, seeking suburban homes near Woodward Avenue and well out of downtown. Early residents included Detroit Edison Company president Alex Dow; Herman Kiefer Hospital founder Dr. Guy L. Kiefer, and Detroit College of Medicine professor Dr. Nathaniel Webber. Around 1900, the area was a major center for Jewish Detroiters, as well as medical staff working at the hospitals nearby. The neighborhood remained substantially Jewish through the 1930s. As population pressure increased, however, apartments were constructed and what once were large single family homes were subdivided. In 1936, the first nightclub in what is now the Sugar Hill District opened, the Harlem Cave. Meanwhile, Detroit's first African American residents settled in Black Bottom and Paradise Valley. As the black population grew into the 1930s, the Paradise Valley area expanded up Hastings Street to Warren Avenue, and developed onto the parallel streets of St. Antoine, Beaubien, and Brush. Rebuilding caused many residents living near downtown to move northward. However, the areas where black residents could move were limited due to enforced housing restrictions and covenants, and the areas on John R and westward remained segregated. In 1941, however, Ernest White purchased the Gotham Hotel at the corner of John R and Orchestra Place just south of this district. Although the purchase was apparently a case of mistaken racial identity, it set a precedent, and more African-Americans began moving and establishing businesses in the area. At the same time, more clubs opened in the Sugar Hill district, some Jewish-owned, but an increasing number owned by African-Americans. By 1950 what had been a quiet residential neighborhood became a thriving entertainment district. The area east of Woodward where the Detroit Medical Center now stands became the center of the nightlife jazz scene in Detroit. Some of the greatest musicians of the time stayed in hotels and played in clubs in the area. These included Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Muddy Waters, B. B. King, Dinah Washington, and John Lee Hooker. In addition, the entertainment world became gradually integrated as "black and tan" clubs - nightclubs open to patrons of both races - opened in the 1940s.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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