Abandoned Southwest Detroit Hospital

WARNING: Under no circumstances should you enter this property. By doing so you risk bodily harm and/or prosecution for trespassing on private property.

Whether you wanna call it the United Community Hospital in Detroit or its original name, Southwest Detroit Hospital, it was quite the impressive sight in its day.

Now abandoned, looted by scavengers, vandalized by intruders, and deteriorating, the Southwest Detroit Hospital took three years to complete: 1971 thru 1974. According to Detroit Urbex, the facility was specifically built for African-American patients, as most other hospitals were segregated in Detroit’s early years into the 1960s. Black patients were more likely to pass away from curable ailments and diseases, and some hospitals did not employ black physicians.

So Southwest was erected at the corner of Michigan Avenue and 20th Street after four minority hospitals were merged: Boulevard General, Burton, Delray, and Trumbull. The hospital accepted and welcomed not just African-Americans, but all minorities including Arabic and Hispanic.

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When Southwest opened on October 10th, 1974, most hospitals had already accepted integrated patients, so the need for a minority-only hospital became a moot point. Thus, financial problems started at Day One. Patients went elsewhere, and after less than 20 years of struggle, Southwest declared bankruptcy and shut down in 1991.

In 1996, the property was purchased and re-named the United Community Hospital, re-opening in 1997. That didn’t last very long, and the hospital did not get good press, with descriptions like “dilapidated..…in dire need of immediate renovation”.

By 2006, it was closed again.
Power was shut off.
Maintenance was halted.
The basement flooded.
Bags full of biohazard waste were discovered.

In 2010 it was proposed to be renovated into a senior housing facility…it didn’t happen.

Decaying, gutted, and creepy, in 2021 Southwest Detroit Hospital/United Community Hospital was announced to be demolished. Now take a look at the gallery below for a look inside.....