Politics / Business & brands
Albert Cobo
1893–1957 · businessman, city treasurer, mayor of Detroit
Burroughs executive and city treasurer who as mayor (1950–1957) drove freeway building and urban renewal, blocked public housing in white neighborhoods and gave his name to Cobo Hall.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Died
Detroit, Michigan
aged 63- Birth name
- Albert Eugene Cobo
- Also known as
- Albert E. Cobo
- Detroit years
- 1893–1957
- Field
- Politics, Business & brands
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Albert Cobo was born in Detroit in 1893, ran two candy stores while studying accounting at night, and worked his way up to an executive post at the Burroughs Adding Machine Company. In 1933 Burroughs lent him to the bankrupt-looking city to fix its books; he stayed, was elected city treasurer in 1935 and won praise for a seven-year plan that let tax-delinquent homeowners keep their houses. Elected mayor in 1949 over the liberal UAW-backed George Edwards, he campaigned against 'Negro invasions' through public housing and, once in office, halted or relocated projects in outlying white areas and appointed real estate and builder allies to the housing commission. He pushed urban renewal and the new freeways that cut through Black neighborhoods such as Black Bottom, and backed the Civic Center and Medical Center. He died in office in 1957 and is buried at Woodlawn. Cobo Hall, the riverfront convention center, carried his name until 2019.
Highlights
- Mayor of Detroit, 1950–1957; died in office
- Detroit city treasurer, 1935–1949
- Blocked public housing in outlying white neighborhoods
- Namesake of Cobo Hall, now Huntington Place (renamed 2019)
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Memorial · 1960–2019 (as Cobo)
Cobo Arena
Riverfront convention center built and named in his honor; renamed TCF Center in 2019 and Huntington Place in 2021. It hosts the Detroit Auto Show.
Buried here · 1957
Woodlawn Cemetery
He is interred at Woodlawn Cemetery.