Thank you for my parking lot

In 1985, the Afro-American Museum and the City of Detroit formed a partnership to build a new facility in the city's University Cultural Center, securing the funding to complete the $3.5 million facility.

The name of the International Afro-American Museum was changed to the Museum of African American History and ground was broken for a new facility on May 21, 1985. Two years later, the doors of the Museum of African American History were reopened to the public at 301 Frederick Douglass.

Once again the museum outgrew its facility and grander ideas for a new museum took shape. In 1992, Detroit voters authorized the City of Detroit to sell construction bonds to finance a larger building and ground was broken for the third generation of the Museum in August of 1993. In April of 1997, a 120,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art facility opened, making it the largest African American historical museum in the world.

One year later, the Museum was renamed the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in honor of its founder.

That original building, the new facility opened in the University Cultural Center has since become part of the College for Creative Studies. This story focuses on that building, the 1985 facility, and its beginnings.

The land was prepared and the signage went up, the new International Afro-American Museum was coming. There was lots of building activity, and we watched as it all happened. We could see this grow from our office windows and from our parking lot. It was a good thing to have another museum next door.

Our president watched and was worried. There was something wrong and it was bothering him. It wasn’t clear but I sensed a problem.

He would stand and look at the men working and puzzle.

He had been told stories when he came to Detroit in 1976 and they focused around the new building and how it grew and how it was to be in the future; where we were and where we were going. But yet, something didn’t fit. The City of Detroit must know their land areas. They couldn’t be that off, but weren’t they building that parking lot on our property?

Our lawyers finally contacted the City to thank them for the lot, and discuss when we could begin to use it.

A deal was struck and rights of ways were granted and yes, maybe the city hadn’t really searched the land titles very well……

It no longer matters as the College owns the buildings and grounds today, but at the time all we could do was say, “Thank you for my parking lot.”