Albert Eugene Cobo was an American politician. He was born on October 2, 1893, and died on September 12, 1957. He served as the mayor of Detroit from 1950 until his death in 1957.
Early and personal life
Albert Cobo was born in Detroit on October 2, 1893. He married his childhood sweetheart, Ethel. The couple had two daughters, Jean and Elaine.
Early career
Cobo owned and operated two candy stores in Detroit while taking night classes to learn about business and accounting at the Detroit Business Institute. After finishing his education, he sold his stores and began working for Burroughs Corporation, where he eventually held an executive position. In 1933, during the Great Depression, the Burroughs Adding Machine Co. sent Cobo, an accountant, to the city for six months to help fix its financial records. He later ran for and was elected Detroit City Treasurer in 1935.
As treasurer, he helped people who owed taxes stay in their homes by offering a seven-year payment plan. This action gained the support of voters, and after serving seven terms as treasurer, he was elected mayor of Detroit in 1949.
Career as mayor
Albert Cobo became the mayor of Detroit in 1949 after winning an election against George Edwards, a member of the Liberal Common Council. Edwards was an activist for the United Automobile Workers (UAW), a public housing administrator, and a supporter of the New Deal, which was a set of policies aimed at helping people during tough economic times. Cobo, on the other hand, was a Republican, a corporate executive, and a real estate investor. He focused his campaign on issues like race and public housing. Cobo believed in spending money carefully and trusted the free market more than government programs. He opposed public housing projects that he thought would bring Black families into white neighborhoods, a situation he called "Negro invasions." Many white neighborhood groups supported Cobo because they feared public housing would change their communities. He won the election in a city that was mostly Democratic and even gained support from union voters. Cobo was re-elected in 1951 and 1953, with the second term lasting four years.
After becoming mayor, Cobo promised not to allow public housing projects to be built in areas with single-family homes, even if the federal government provided money. He claimed this was to protect the rights of people who lived and invested in those areas. When Cobo was mayor, 12 public housing projects were being considered in Detroit. He opposed all but four, which were built in city centers where many Black people lived. By slowing down public housing construction and putting Harry J. Durbin, a single-family home developer, in charge of the Detroit Housing Commission, Cobo limited housing choices for poor families in the 1950s. He once said in a radio interview that people who pay taxes want better services for their money, and that private property owners, not public housing supporters, paid most of the city’s taxes. Real estate groups and leaders like Roman Ceglowski and Orville Tengalia supported Cobo’s position. Between 1937 and 1955, only 8,155 public housing units were built in Detroit. The largest projects were Jeffries, Brewster, and Douglass Homes, which were high-density buildings in the city’s center. Detroit ranked 18th out of 25 cities in the ratio of low-rent housing to total housing starts. Cobo’s actions made Ralph Smith, a leader of the Michigan Council of Civic Associations, believe that groups fighting for minority rights would lose influence.
Cobo filled key positions in his administration with people who had business experience. His decisions caused James Inglis, who had previously led the Detroit Housing Commission, to resign. Cobo then reorganized the housing office to be led by people with real estate and construction backgrounds. He appointed Harry J. Durbin, a former president of the National Association of Home Builders, and Walter Gessell and George Isabell, both real estate experts. Cobo also included members of the Housing Commission who were also leaders in the Detroit Building Trades Council. In 1951, he appointed Alan E. MacNichol, president of the Federated Civic Association of Northwest Detroit, to the City Plan Commission. Cobo continued to support private interests by including real estate and neighborhood groups in decisions about city zoning. He strongly opposed public housing because he believed that helping poor people through government programs was not as good as allowing private developers to own property.
One of Cobo’s most controversial decisions was appointing John Laub as head of the Commission of Community Relations (CCR). The CCR was created after the Mayor’s Interracial Committee (MIC) faced criticism from white Detroiters for supporting civil rights, desegregation, and ending discrimination. Laub was a leader of a group that supported Cobo and had experience as a high school coach. Cobo did not choose Beulah Whitby or John Field for the CCR because of their opposition to segregated public housing.
A major part of Cobo’s work involved urban renewal, which aimed to improve an aging city. He supported projects like the Civic Center, Medical Center, and apartment buildings in the inner city for middle-income families, many of whom were Black.
Cobo also stopped plans for the Schoolcraft Gardens Cooperative, a housing project on Detroit’s far Northwest Side. The project was privately funded and designed as a model for modern townhouses for workers. It was supported by the UAW, which wanted to show that Black and white people could live together without problems. However, many white residents and real estate groups opposed the project, calling it a "socialistic" challenge to private property rights. They sent protests to city officials, and Cobo agreed with them, vetoing a plan to allow the project to begin.
Cobo also pushed for expanding the city’s expressway system. Many of his supporters were wealthy people from the suburbs who wanted easier and faster commutes into the city.
In 1952, Cobo served as president of the National League of Cities.
Later life
In 1956, Cobo ran as a Republican candidate for governor of Michigan but was easily defeated by G. Mennen Williams. This was his first loss after winning ten previous citywide elections. He did not run for a fourth term as mayor in 1957. Cobo held the position of president of the American Municipal Association and served as a trustee for the United States Conference of Mayors.
Legacy
In 1950, Cobo was mayor when the city had a population of about 1.8 million people. He passed away from a heart attack on September 12, 1957, shortly before his final term as mayor would have ended. A building called Cobo Center (originally named Cobo Hall) was constructed and named to honor him. On August 27, 2019, the building was renamed the TCF Center. Cobo is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Detroit.