Dunbar Hospital

The building housing the 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. 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 façade. ==Founding of the Dunbar Hospital==

In 1894, Dr. James W. Ames, a graduate of both Straight University and Howard University, arrived in Detroit after a stint of teaching in New Orleans. 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". ==Later history==

In 1928, demand led Dunbar Hospital to move from its first home to a larger facility several blocks to the east. The facility was renamed Parkside Hospital, and continued in operation until 1962. Soon after Dunbar moved from its home on Frederick, Charles Diggs Sr., who was later the first African-American Democratic state senator, purchased the home. Diggs's son, Charles C. Diggs Jr., served in the Michigan State Senate from 1951 to 1954 and the U.S. House of Representatives from 1954 to 1980. In 1978, the Detroit Medical Society (the successor to the Allied Medical Society) purchased and restored the building. It now serves as their administrative headquarters and a museum. ==References==