COLUMBUS — For two decades, a group of Toledo residents has been working to develop a revitalized Dorr Street Corridor.
Columbus did it. And while it took two decades, a dilapidated area once known as Bronzeville was given new life with efforts led by Boyce Safford, Larry James, and Michael B. Coleman, a former Columbus mayor and Toledo native.
In the aftermath of demolishing Black neighborhoods and businesses in the name of urban renewal, lots along the once-vibrant Dorr Street have remained underutilized since the 1970s.
“There's been enough plans on Dorr Street. I’ve read all those plans,” said Mr. Safford, who served as deputy chief for then-Mayor Coleman during the revitalization span. “Now it's time to move — and everybody's not going to move with you.”
With countless meetings and conversations already had, Robert Smith, president of African American Legacy Project of Northwest Ohio, activated the saying “I can show you better than I can tell you” by inviting a diverse group of leaders to learn firsthand how Columbus pulled it off.
Once as a hub of Black wealth, entertainment, and culture, the historic Columbus neighborhood was divided from downtown by I-71. The split brought on displacement of more than 10,000 people, underdevelopment, and the usual unmet promises of urban renewal. But by using its history, the area now known as the King-Lincoln historic district, was successfully transformed from a decaying former cultural heart of its African-American community, into a strong and thriving district.
More than 40 Toledo leaders took a day trip to Columbus Wednesday to tour the revitalized district. The goal was to inspire and “understand what possibilities exist,” while “inviting the community to have a voice in the development of a Dorr Street Historic District,” organizers said.
“We invited the leaders on the bus because of a particular degree of discernment and experience to interpret this experience for us and for our immediate and wider community,” Mr. Smith said. The riders’ ages ranged from the youngest at 19 to some in their 80s.
Onboard the bus was representation from current and former Dorr Street-area residents, Toledo’s religious community, media, Lucas County commissioners, the Ohio Senate, Toledo City Council, the NAACP, the University of Toledo, the Toledo Design Collective, urban planners representing the city on the Raise Grant, as well as others with interest to the cause.
The tour started as the bus took the group across the Long Street Bridge, which boasts a cultural wall designed by local artists and made up of 60 panels that display 139 images of people connected to the history of the neighborhood. The bridge pays homage to the area while also serving to reconnect the King-Lincoln District.
“We met with [Toledo Design Collective] and talked about a couple of things,” Mr. Smith said. “We’re considering doing their Raise Grant, and we're certainly now interested in replicating that wall that we saw.”
The group toured the King Arts Complex and the Lincoln Theatre that both serve as the anchors of the project.
The Lincoln Theatre is a 582-seat performing arts venue that originally opened in 1928 as a landmark in African-American and jazz history, regularly hosting musical artists including Nancy Wilson, Count Basie, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Cab Calloway. After sitting vacant for three decades, the theater suffered a great deal of damage and was slated for demolition in 1991. After renovation, the theater reopened in 2009 as Columbus’ only urban performing arts and education center.
The Martin Luther King Jr. Performing and Cultural Arts Complex, built in 1925, renovated in 1987, and restored as an arts center in 2021, is now an oasis for cultural and educational activities and community events and houses an array of art and exhibits that work to preserve, produce, and present the cultural expressions of African-Americans.
Also sitting in the heart of the district is Adelphi Bank, the first black-owned bank in Ohio. The institution’s goal is commitment to creating economic opportunities and promotion of financial empowerment.
The leaders had the opportunity to ask questions and hear directly from key players in the effort on how Toledo can move from talks to action, unify efforts, and push past roadblocks such as challenges in securing funding and redlining.
Challenges
"The Black community has always been subjected to redlining. This was a bombed-out place — it’s now ‘The Miracle on Long Street.’ We took the red line and turned it into a Black line," Mayor Coleman said, referencing the role redlining played in the destruction of many flourishing businesses in areas like Columbus’ King-Lincoln Bronzeville area. “We’re well beyond those lines.”
Mr. Safford, who is currently executive director of the Columbus Next Generation Corp., said that while they had many hurdles and even a “lot of horror stories,” they pressed forward.
“We went to Kansas City. We heard about an area called 18th and Vine, that's where the Negro Baseball headquarters is, and they were doing something similar. They had a theater, a museum, they were bringing in housing,” he recalled. “We talked to leadership, we came back, we understood, put forth and executed. It can be done.”
Plans and leadership
“There’s a three point plan: leadership, vision, and capacity,” said Mr. Coleman, who served four terms in the role and was the city’s first African-American mayor. “You got to start with the one up top — who's going to lead the effort, and leadership requires followers.”
The trio emphasized that leadership should possess integrity and have a clear vision of the effort to increase the chances of success.
“You just have to put the right people in the right place, and have a roadmap of how to get it done,” Mr. Safford said. “That's what we hope to inspire when folks talk about leadership — as far as the mayor, city council, the commissioner — what resources can you contribute?
“It's going to be that leader that has the ability to go on both sides of the railroad track, that the broader community. [The one] that believes in and gets behind the city and its leadership to support for resources and policy changes,” he said. “That's how it gets done.”
Funding the cause
“Our hope is that the folks from Toledo looking at this neighborhood will understand what it takes and what partnerships you have to develop to make it happen, what is going to be the structure to execute, how are you going to get it done and who's going to do it,” Mr. Safford said. “And then, what type of funding needs to be in place from the public side and hopefully to attract the private side to come in and do what the community desires the outcome to be.”
Anita Lopez, Lucas County commissioner, asked how county funds for Columbus’ district plans were prioritized and disbursed, citing how a great deal of Lucas County funds are routed toward Toledo’s new jail.
While county funds were not a part of the initial King-Lincoln historic district endeavors, Mayor Coleman said, “I think you have to do both. You can't do one or the other. That's the difficulty of parceling out public funds. You can't make that kind of choice, this or that. You're going to have to do both.
“That's why I've created my own organization,” he said of Columbus NextGen, which he created in 2012 to identify underutilized property in core neighborhoods that have the potential to thrive. “I created an organization, funded it, gave it power and authority.”
When the ball is rolling and people see something happening, others tend to want to get on board, the leaders said in concert.
“Once the private sector sees that, and money is in place, they will come,” Mr. Safford said. “Because trust me, in their space — let's be truthful — it’s ‘how am I going to make money?’”
Larry James, attorney and architect of the King-Lincoln District, said the Black community has to be the example before others join the effort.
“If we, our people, are not going to take the lead, then the rest of the community is not going to follow,” Mr. James said. “We have to step up to give that demonstration.
“I knew at the beginning it was going to be small baby steps,” he said. “People didn't come to the district so we had to convince — particularly Black folks — that this was worth the investment. And what I said to a number of people was ‘If we can press our folks, the rest of the community will come.’ And that's exactly [how] we started.”
Fund-raising efforts began with community block parties. The parties are now going into the 26th year, he said. “On a bad day you'd get 600. On a good day, you would get 2,000 people.”
Unifying efforts
In agreement, Councilman Cerssandra McPherson, Doris Greer, and Debra Sue Pearson, vice president of Toledo Design Collective, said that with Black business owners and causes scattered all over Toledo — all with separate ideas and goals — there will never be another Dorr Street Corridor and sought insight on collaboration.
The Columbus leaders encouraged Toledo leaders to not focus on what was, but rather incorporate history into something new, a concept seemingly well received.
“Even though we have separate thinking and come from different venues of thinking, as a community and as a unit, we can do this in a collective way working together with all our ideas,” Ms. Greer said.
“We know we learned from the past; we're not going to forget it. It will come into our thinking as we develop,” she said. “But don't focus on what isn't there, focus on what we want it to be. Even though we know there’s politics, funding, and all that, we want it to be a community and a unified effort representing who we are as a culture of Black community and as a whole part of Toledo.”
Councilman Brittany Jones said Toledo should look at how to “best utilize our blank canvas,” and, even though it came from a very disastrous past, we can develop a “Dorr Street 2.0.”
While there are currently developers seeking out properties in the Dorr Street district that are not connected to the African American Legacy Project’s Dorr Street Corridor revitalization efforts, Mr. Smith said he thinks that is a plus as there’s opportunity for all and is thankful there’s a model to follow.
Sen. Paula Hicks-Hudson, a former Toledo mayor, was inspired by the King-Lincoln’s creation of a total package that not only provides a benefit to the community, but also creates funding streams to be self-sufficient.
“When I'm looking at this in this experience today, I think about what [resources] I can get out of the state, or at least get to think about because everything's more political, and they want to be able to make inroads into the Democratic stronghold.”
Including youth
Ms. Lopez said she walked away with the strong realization of the need for young elected officials that can “commit to a 20-year project for economic growth in the city.”
Tessa Scott, program manager for multicultural programming at the University of Toledo, brought two students along to inspire them to “invest in the city, help them professionally, but also impact them personally.”
“The money part [is important], but it’s also that you need Black commitment,” said Madison Glover, 19, a senior at UT. “No matter how many people you have on board, you have to find a group of Black people that's committed and willing to put in the work.”
Business major Aiyona Brownlee, 24, who was especially inspired by Adelphi Bank said, “I have dreams to have my own Black-owned bank so seeing that was really exciting for me — knowing it's possible.”
As future leaders, Mr. Smith said it was important for young people to have a seat at the table, a vote, and be a part of these conversations.
“I'm all about my community. I actually live in the area that is supposed to be redeveloped,” Ms. Brownlee said. “So it's really exciting to me to actually have input and actually be able to hear everything that's going on. Also, listening to all of my grandmothers and great-grandparents talk about how Dorr Street was really popping back in the day, it was like this was a full-circle moment for me because I can be a part of bringing their memories back.”
Lera Doneghy, educator and wife of the late Judge Charles J. Doneghy, said she plans to continue her support for the area where she lived as a child and hopes the endeavor can “recapture some of the flavor of what was there” while looking and moving forward.
“I'm not there yet,” said community leader Patricia Page. “It takes more than just that thought process. We're just one small segment and they've always fought us. I don't know why we would think they would roll over and want to give us a community or a designated area. I'm 79 years old, so I don't know if in my lifetime it's going to happen.”
The trip deemed an overall success, Mr. Smith said he was “pumped” and looking forward to an experience debrief meeting set for 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the African American Legacy Project headquarters, 1326 Collingwood Blvd. “And it's pretty much ironic that we sit there where the early beginnings of the Dorr Street business district occurred.
“We certainly are excited about all the possibilities to lift the community, but to also contribute to viable overall economic growth and development city wide, not solely our community,” he said. “We have a global view.”
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