April 11, 2025
An early-19th-century house that was home to a future U.S. president and is inextricably tied to the emergence of a burgeoning Black neighborhood is getting a fresh take from a new collaboration. The Michigan History Center, an agency of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, and Black Bottom Archives, a Detroit community organization, are working together on the historical interpretation and educational development of the Julia and Ulysses S. Grant House in Detroit – and the potential is promising.
The Grants rented the house, which was built on East Fort Street in 1836, in 1849-1850. In 1936, the house was saved from a first wave of urban renewal and moved to the Michigan State Fairgrounds. In 2012, state legislators made moving and preserving the house a part of the transfer and sale of the State Fairgrounds property. As the state's history agency, the MHC was given responsibility for preserving and interpreting the house.
The MHC moved the house to its current location, at the corner of Wilkins and Orleans streets in Detroit’s Eastern Market District, in 2020 and has been working with the Michigan History Foundation to raise funds to rehabilitate it for public use. Once opened, the Grant House will serve as a public historic site managed and maintained by Black Bottom Archives.
“For a decade, Black Bottom Archives has been committed to preserving and amplifying the stories of Black Detroiters,” said Lex Draper Garcia, co-executive director of BBA. “That commitment has always been shaped by our community —how we show up, what we document and where we gather. Again and again, we’ve heard the call for a physical space rooted in the city. This partnership is a step toward honoring that vision and deepening our connection to the communities we serve.”
The house’s historical significance is not only in its connection to Ulysses S. Grant, but for its connection to the Black Bottom neighborhood in which it spent its first century. Beginning in the early 1830s, Black Bottom was a neighborhood that welcomed newcomers to the growing city of Detroit. By the 1920s, the neighborhood – on Detroit’s near east side and loosely bound by Gratiot Avenue, Brush Street, Jefferson Avenue and St. Aubin Street – was one of the only areas where city officials and white residents allowed African Americans to live. Shut out from shopping and services downtown, the residents of Black Bottom built their own thriving residential and business community.
See a historical neighborhood map on BBA’s website.
Black Bottom was destroyed for urban renewal and freeway development between the late 1950s and early 1970s and replaced by Lafayette Park and the Chrysler Freeway (I-375). Today, the Grant House is one of a few remaining residences from Black Bottom left in the city. BBA began collecting and sharing the history of the neighborhood in 2015; the house will provide its first physical headquarters.
“We have a lot of work ahead of us,” said Sandra Clark, director of the MHC. “It will take time to get the Grant House ready to be a public resource, but we are excited to collaborate with the Black Bottom Archives to discover a new, vital life for a house that has been part of Detroit’s story since Michigan became a state.”
While plans are still in development, the MHC and BBA have agreed to work together to interpret the history of the house, its original neighborhood and the Grants’ connection to it. The two organizations are creating an overarching narrative that incorporates the Grants into the broader story of Detroit’s Black Bottom neighborhood.
“Our partnership will combine local Detroit expertise with the statewide reach of the Michigan History Center,” said Clark. “Among the exciting future opportunities is the ability to share stories of Grant’s changing relationship with African Americans and of Detroit’s thriving Black neighborhoods with Detroit’s children in person and students across the state online.”
Along with historical interpretation, the Grant House will provide a space for discussions about topics that matter to the community. The organizations will also work together on educational programming.
“This house has been preserved because of its connection to Ulysses S. Grant, yet it also carries the memory of Black Bottom — a neighborhood erased by urban renewal,” said Marcia Black, co-executive director of BBA. “While none of the homes of its Black residents remain, this space offers a rare opportunity to reckon with that loss and honor what was built there. We see this as a place to center Black voices, illuminate overlooked histories and build toward a future where Black Detroit’s legacy is rightfully preserved and celebrated.”
The Michigan History Center, part of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, fosters curiosity, enjoyment and inspiration rooted in Michigan’s stories. Our Michigan History Museum in Lansing and 11 museums and historic sites across the state provide family-friendly places where people of all ages can have fun actively learning about their heritage and the history of Michigan through exhibits, special events and diverse programming. For more information, visit Michigan.gov/MHC.
Black Bottom Archives, founded in 2015, is a living community archive that preserves and amplifies the voices, experiences and perspectives of Black Detroiters. Through preserving local Black history and archiving our present, we create space for intergenerational storytelling — where elders, youth, and everyone in between can share, learn and build together. BBA nurtures a lineage of Black memory-keepers committed to honoring the past, documenting the present and shaping a liberated future for our communities.
Our work comes to life through oral history projects, community fellowships, neighborhood exhibitions and public gatherings that invite Detroiters of all ages to participate in preserving and passing down our Black Detroit stories. For more information, visit BlackBottomArchives.com.
Media Contact:
