Art + Culture
Black Builders Honored for Work on Detroit Landmarks
October 4, 2022 · Updated October 4, 2022·By Joshua Andrei Bon
Thirty African American builders will be honored for their contributions to creating the many historic icons and landmarks of Detroit.
October 4, 2022 · Updated October 4, 2022
Thirty Black builders will be honored for their contributions to creating the many historic icons and landmarks of Detroit. The Pioneer Titan Awards, which will be held this Thursday, Oct. 6, will commemorate and celebrate the builders who helped shaped the city’s culture and history and who have made outstanding contributions to historic projects in Detroit.
While architects and sometimes engineers typically get recognition for their beautiful and grand structures, The Pioneer Titan Awards also hopes to honor those integral into turning ideas into a physical wonder. “Lifetime Achievement” honor will be received by those who continue to create and work to shape Detroit’s cityscape. Meanwhile, the “Legends” will be given recognition posthumously. These builders have worked on Detroit icons like the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Little Caesars Arena, and the Fox Theatre.
Some of the posthumous awardees include:
- Joseph Gough Jr., Gough-Johnson & Sons Construction
- Julian C. Madison, Madison International
- Howard F. Sims, SDG Associates
- Cornelius A. Steward, Steward Development Group
- Harold R. Varner, Varner & Associates
- Glenn Wash, G.E. Wash & Associates
- Eddie C. Williams, Sr., Williams & Richardson Company Inc.
The builders who will receive the “Lifetime Achievement” award include:
- Larry Brinker, CEO of Brinker Group
- Dave Burnley, president and CEO ofDevon Industrial Group
- J.L. Dumas, president of Dumas Concepts
- Mark English, senior architect of Mark English & Associates
- Rainy Hamilton, Jr., Principal, Hamilton Anderson & Associates
- Beverly Hannah, CEO of Hannah & Associates, Inc.
- Kent Jackson, vice president for the Detroit region of Rockford Construction Company
- Paul Jenkins, CEO of MIG Construction
- Bernard White, Founder of White Construction
- Jim Jenkins, Jenkins Construction, Inc.
- Bobby Johnson, L.J. & Sons Construction
- Wilfred Moore, Joy Construction
- Duane Perry, Perry Construction Services
- Charles Scales, Scales & Associates
- Ray Shull, Ekklesia Building Corporation
- Gayl Turk, Blaze Contracting
- Linda Turner, W3 Construction
- Joe Walker, Sr., Original Construction
- Isaac Washington, Ben Washington & Sons
- Walt Watson, W3 Construction (honored posthumously)
- Ernie Williams, Carlette Construction
- Jerome Williams, Detroit Ceilings & Partitions
Other Detroit-defining structures these builders have been instrumental in building include:
- The original Cobo Hall Expansion,
- The Detroit People Mover,
- Cass Technical High School,
- IRS Detroit Computing Center,
- MGM Grand Detroit,
- Greektown and Motor City Casinos, and
- The Riverfront Apartments
Filed under
Every question deserves a better answer than a search result — here's where this story leads.
Why Every Metro Detroit Nonprofit Should Be Thinking About AI
How a local workshop is helping nonprofit leaders turn curiosity into practical action. For many nonprofit leaders, artificial intelligence still feels like something meant for Silicon Valley or Fortune 500 companies. It isn’t. Whether your organization has three employees or three hundred, AI is quickly becoming another tool that can help teams spend less time […]
Althea Gibson’s Second Act
Most people remember Althea Gibson as a tennis legend. Fewer know she also became the first Black woman to compete on the LPGA Tour, breaking another barrier and opening doors for generations of Black women golfers.
Detroit Jazz Festival 2026 Guide
A local guide to navigating the Detroit Labor Day weekend jazz celebration.
Help Us Get It Right
This coverage is a community project.
Spot something outdated? Know a person, business, or organization this story should connect to? A story we should tell next? It goes straight to our editors — privately.