History of Southwest Detroit Hospital

The Southwest Detroit Hospital, later named the United Community Hospital, is an abandoned hospital located in the Mexicantown neighborhood of Southwest Detroit. It is credited as the first hospital in Detroit to hire and accredit African American doctors and nurses, which was uncommon at the time of the hospital 's opening in 1973. The hospital was a merger of several smaller black-owned hospitals that operated throughout the 1960s, which all worked together to open Southwest Detroit Hospital. Hospitals owned by Black individuals were often seen as subpar, and within a couple of years of opening, a doctor was caught selling illegal forms of amphetamines. Later, 86 additional doctors would be found involved in similar medical malpractice cases. Many of these hearings would go to the state, including a 1990 case that found the hospital had released a patient in an unstable condition. Luckily for the hospital, the state ruled in favor of the hospital. Even though it was still open , the public was aware of the horror stories inside. In 1991 , the original Southwest Detroit Hospital closed. In 1996, a startup company owned by Harley K. Brown bought the building and spent $6 million on renovations to reopen the hospital under the name United Community Hospital. The new hospital opened in 1997. Unfortunately , this would not be a positive development, as Brown's company was found mismanaging funds and owed claims to patients . Instead, money was spent on high- class vacations to various locations, and by 2006, Brown's company, Ulitmed, owed $ 2.5 million in unpaid claims. This led the state of Michigan to determine the hospital was unable to pay debts owed to patients, and shortly thereafter, Ulitmed was dissolved as a company, and the hospital closed in 2006. Since then, it has been abandoned, and in 2017, it was gutted under orders from the City of Detroit due to the blight the hospital had taken on since abandonment. In 2024, the Detroit City Football Club acquired the building and plans to demolish it and build a soccer stadium on the site of the hospital. Today , the hospital is preparing for the early stages of demolition, which have not yet been announced.