Arbor Hill, Albany, New York
Arbor Hill is a neighborhood in Albany, New York, generally defined as the area from Clinton Avenue north to Tivoli Hollow and the Livingston Avenue Railroad Bridge and from Broadway west to Henry Johnson Boulevard. Both Clinton Avenue and Henry Johnson Boulevard are signed as U.S. Route 9. It was outside Albany's first boundaries as set up in the Dongan Charter of 1686. The original name of the area was Colonie (which is applied now to the current town to the north), and the area was incorporated under that name as a village in 1804; it was annexed by Albany in 1815. There are two sub-neighborhoods in Arbor Hill, Dudley Heights and the Ten Broeck Triangle. "Arbor Hill" was the name given to the Ten Broeck estate; the Ten Broeck Mansion is still an important cultural and historical museum. The neighborhood has other historical and cultural sights such as the Palace Theatre and St. Joseph's Church. Demographically it is predominantly African-American.
Barton Hills, Michigan
Located within Ann Arbor Charter Township and adjacent to the city of Ann Arbor, the community was originally named "Huron Farms" and was established by the Detroit Edison Company in 1913. The company acquired land on both sides of the Huron River and built a series of dams for electric power production. Land owned by the company was also used for agricultural purposes, including farms, dairy cattle, and fruit orchards. As the area where the village is currently located was too hilly for farming, it was instead promoted by the company as an exclusive residential community for company executives. Membership in the Barton Hills Country Club was considered by many to be a mark of distinction. As homes were constructed in the 1920s, restrictions attached to each deed stipulated that the homes must be designed by a registered architect.
By the 1940s, through the economic and social turmoil of the Great Depression and World War II, the community had become an economic liability for a public utility. The company shareholders decided to make an outright gift of its holding to the residents of the community in exchange for assuming responsibility for maintaining the water system, roads, and other municipal services.