Physicians, Educators, and Organization Leaders of the Boston-Edison Historic District
Albertus Darnell
Albertus Darnell was born in Illinois in 1868, and came to Michigan in 1894 to attend the University of Michigan. After graduation, he began work as a mathematics teacher, first in Bay City and later Detroit, being named head of the Mathematics Department at Detroit's Central High School in 1902. When Detroit Junior College was organized in 1917, Darnell became head of its Mathematics Department. In 1923, Detroit Junior College was replaced by the City College of Detroit,and Darnell was named Assistant Dean. He continued in this position until City College merged with other institutions to become Wayne (later Wayne State) University in 1934, when he was named Dean of the College of Liberal Arts of the new University. Darnell continued in this position until his retirement in 1939. Albertus Darnell lived at 1216 Edison.
Read some of Albertus Darnell's papers in the archives at Wayne State University.
Wendell F. Cox
Wendell F. Cox was born in 1914 in Georgia. In the same year, his family moved to Charleston SC, where Cox spent his boyhood. He received an undergraduate degree from Talladega College in 1936, then went on to receive a degree in dentistry from Meharry Medical College in 1944. While at Meharry, he met and married Iris Bell of Detroit, daughter of the famous Dr. Haley Bell. After graduation, Cox served in the US Army through the rest of the war, being discharged as a Captain. After the war, Bell moved to Detroit, where he went into practice with his father-in-law. Within a few years, he had opened up his own successful practice in Hamtramck. In the early 50s, Cox and Bell again partnered to work on opening a radio station. In 1956, the two men launched the nation's first Black-owned and operated radio station built from the ground up: WCHB AM (the call letters come from the two men's initials: Wendell Cox, Haley Bell). A few years after, WCHD (later WJZZ) FM was added. Cox, served as Vice President, then General Manager and Chairman of the Board of the Bell Broadcasting Company.
Dr. Cox also sustained a deep connection with Meharry Medical College throughout his life. He served on the Meharry Board of Trustees for 22 years and was elected a Lifetime Trustee in 1989. In 1998, he donated $1.5 million to Meharry in the names of Iris B. and Wendell F. Cox, D.D.S. Wendell F. Cox lived at 1961 Chicago Boulevard.
Read an obituary of Wendell F. Cox in the Michigan Citizen.
Beth DunCombe
Beth DunCombe was appointed chair and CEO of the Detroit Economic Development Corp. During this time, she headed a number of major construction initiatives in Detroit, including Comerica Park, Campus Martius, and the building of the casinos. She resided at 1642 Longfellow, along with her sister, Trudy DunCombe Archer.
Hugo A. Freund, M.D.
Hugo Freund was born in Detroit in 1886. He received his medical degree from the University of Michigan, and in 1909 joined the staff of Harper Hospital. In 1927, Freund became chief of Harper's Department of Internal Medicine; he was also Professor of Clinical Medicine at Wayne State University. He also was a member of the Detroit Board of Health, Detroit Welfare Commission, and the Board of Trustees of Oakland Hospital; and was the president of the Children's Fund of Michigan (established by his good friend James Couzens) and of Child Research Center. Hugo A. Freund lived at 52 Chicago Boulevard.
Read more about Hugo Freund in this scanned document (large file!) from the Jewish Historical Society.
Elijah Mark Houghton, M.D.
E. Mark Houghton was born in New York in 1867. He came to Michigan in 1889 to attend the University of Michigan, obtaining degrees in both pharmaceutical chemistry and medicine. After his graduation in 1893, he began practice in Ann Arbor and continued to pursue research at the University. In 1895, Parke-Davis hired Houghton and Charles McClintock to establish a biology research lab, with the aim of developing and producing an anti-toxin to diphtheria, then a major public health scourge. They succeeded within a few months, and Houghton remained as director of production, as well as lecturing at Detroit Medical College and the University of Michigan. In 1905, Houghton moved into 680 Longfellow, one of the first residents to live in Boston-Edison.
Dr. James J. McClendon
James McClendon was born in Georgia and graduated from Atlanta University and Meharry Medical College. In Detroit, he spearheaded the NAACP's membership drive, and became president of the Detroit chapter in 1937. He later held a position on the National Board of the NAACP. Dr. McClendon lived at 2341 W. Boston Boulevard.
Dr. David C. Northcross
David C. Northcross was born in Alabama in 1915. His parents, both doctors, operated a hospital in Montgomery, but were forced to flee the Ku Klux Klan and moved to Detroit in 1916. In 1917, they opened the first Black-owned and operated proprietary hospital in Detroit, Mercy General Hospital. Northcross grew up in Detroit, and attended the University of Detroit before going to Nashville, Tennessee to attend Meharry Medical College and Fisk University. As a student, he served in WWII with the Medical Corps of the Army; he was later called to serve during the Korean war. After his military service was complete in 1955, Northcross returned to Detroit to help run Mercy General with his mother. He eventually ran the hospital himself, overseeing its operation for over twenty years. David C. Northcross lived at 2314 Longfellow.
Read an interview with Dr. David C. Northcross from the University of Michigan.
William H. Oliver
William Oliver was born in Tennessee in 1915 and came to Detroit in the late 1937 as part of a singing group sponsored by Ford Motor Company. When the group was disbanded two years later, he got a job at Ford's Highland Park plant. In 1942, he became the recording secretary for the plant local, one of the first African-Americans to hold such a position. In 1947, Walter P. Reuther appointed Oliver co-director of the UAW's Fair Practices and Anti-Discrimination Department. In 1971, Oliver was named the sole director of the department, and held that post until his retirement in 1980. Oliver also served as vice president of the NAACP National Board. William H. Oliver lived at 1743 Edison.
Victor A. Rapport
Victor Rapport was born in 1903. In the 1930s, he took a position as a professor of sociology at the University of Connecticut. WWII interrupted his career, and he served in the US Army from 1940-1946, leaving as a major. After the war, Rapport came to Detroit, taking the position as dean of Wayne State University's College of Liberal Arts (the same position held by Albertus Darnell), where he served from 1946 - 1960. Victor A. Rapport lived at 2234 Chicago Boulevard.
Walter P. Reuther
Walter Reuther was born in Wheeling, West Virginia in 1907. After an apprenticeship in tool and die work, he left for Detroit and eventually became a die leader for Ford, but was eventually fired in 1932 for socialist activity. He left Detroit for a while, but eventually returned and became involved in the organized labor movement. By 1937 he was president of the United Auto Workers local and a member of the UAW executive board. He organized several successful strikes against the automotive companies in Detroit.
During WWII, Reuther was instrumental in converting unused automobile factories to the construction of planes. Although he turned down several positions offered him by the Roosevelt White House, he became lifelong friends with Eleanor Roosevelt. Walter Reuther was elected president of the UAW in 1946; in that position he continued to fight for higher wages for automotive workers. Reuther remained president of the UAW until 1970, when a plane crash ended his life.
Walter P. Reuther lived at 2292 Longfellow.
Read more about Walter Reuther from Wayne State's Reuther library, and Time Magazine; also read his obituary in the New York Times.
Remus G. Robinson, M.D.
Remus Grant Robinson was born in 1904, and graduated from the University of Michigan with a medical degree in 1930. He spent his career as a surgeon at Grace and Providence hospitals, and as chief surgeon at Parkside. In 1955, Robinson won a seat on the Detroit School Board, the first African-American to do so. He held the seat until his death in 1970, spending much of the time as the Board's president. Robinson also served as president of the Detroit Urban League. Remus G. Robinson lived at 664 Chicago Boulevard.