  Detroit_stylin Member Username: Detroit_stylin Post Number: 5578 Registered: 10-2003 |
As a Central HS alum, I had always been interested in what is IMO the most beautiful school in the city. One thing I have never really been clear on is it's history. The one thing I do know is that it is the oldest HS in the midwest. Does any one else have any more historical details or facts? | ||
Neilr Member Username: Neilr Post Number: 669 Registered: 06-2005 |
Central HS along with Roosevelt Elementary and Durfee Middle School were built as an educational park in the 1920's. For many years that area was one of the centers of Detroit's Jewish community and the schools' population reflected that demographic. 25-30 years ago, IIRC, Roosevelt was torn down and the elementary students were consolidated into the Durfee building. I agree with you about the beauty of the campus. It was even grander when Roosevelt was still standing. Like many of our beautifully designed DPS buildings, it suffers from years of deferred maintenance. I don't think the building could be our oldest HS. Could you be thinking of what is now Old Main on Wayne's campus? | ||
Evelyn Member Username: Evelyn Post Number: 156 Registered: 02-2005 |
I was going to ask... the former Central High on Cass and Warren, or Central High on Tuxedo? I think the school itself was started even earlier than that, in the 1850s. The place where the school was held was moved several times over the years. | ||
Chuckjav Member Username: Chuckjav Post Number: 433 Registered: 09-2007 |
Neilr...that's the same thing I was thinking (old Central high school goes way, way back). Detroit_stylin...Yes, Central is a beautiful building. One more thing; I very much enjoyed the fine sandwiches from the Muslim Restaurant across from CHS. Another wonderfully magnificent DPS school building is Cooley High. Of course, Good Old Mackenzie is a mighty fine structure too. | ||
Gazhekwe Member Username: Gazhekwe Post Number: 1647 Registered: 08-2007 |
Here is some history: Old Main began as the home of Detroit Central High School in 1896. Because of its Ludowici glazed tile roof, magnificent vestibule, columns, terra cotta arches,maple floors, oak doors, ornate stairways, tower clock, and elevator cars with "neat design" and "great power," it soon became the city´s educational showplace. The original "T" shaped building had 103 rooms and over 1,600 students. A basement area stored about 500 bicycles. The auditorium, one of the largest rooms, seated over 2,000. Some criticized the broad corridors which were 24 foot wide north/south and 20 foot east/west. The architects replied the road corridors facilitated the heavy traffic flow and actually saved students 90,000 hours per school year in travel time. In 1903, David Mackenzie resigned as superintendent of Muskegon schools. A year later at age 44, with 23 years of public school experience, he chose the principalship of Detroit´s Central High School over a position at the University of Michigan. Under his innovative leadership, Central High School achieved a national reputation as one of America's best and largest high schools. Mackenzie also changed the shape of Old Main from a "T" to an "H": a large Second Avenue back wing was added in 1908 for gymnasiums, laboratories, and shops. http://www.reuther.wayne.edu/e xhibits/oldmain.html | ||
Chuckjav Member Username: Chuckjav Post Number: 435 Registered: 09-2007 |
Right-On Gaz. Big Dave Mackenzie...always the innovator, was head-honcho of Detroit Junior College at the same time he was Principal of Central High School. No wonder DPS named the greatest high school in the World after this guy! | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 6405 Registered: 08-2004 |
Ironically the Queen Anne style so named "David MacKenzie House" on Cass just south of the Hillberry Theatre (just south of Old Main) was going to be torn down in 1975 for a storm drain (how pathetic!). It started a WSU student protest that coalesced into Preservation Wayne. PW still has their offices in that house, and is Detroit's oldest historic preservation group. Before "new" Central High was built on Cass/Warren, they occupied an older building.... The 1828 built wooden Michigan Territorial Court House in Capitol Park became the Michigan State Capitol from 1837-47, after which the Michigan Capital was moved to Lansing. Sometime after 1847, the old state capitol became Central High School. It was much changed, clad in stone and brick in a high Victorian style, and much expanded. By the time it burned down circa 1893, it didn't look anything like the original 1828 structure. After old Central High School burned down, it was rebuilt at Cass/Warren... and the rest is history. | ||
Evelyn Member Username: Evelyn Post Number: 158 Registered: 02-2005 |
A little more history: Before Capitol High burned down, the graduating class was photographed on the steps of the school. The last year, the tradition held- only the charred building could be seen behind the students. The first proposed location for Central High was on the other side of Woodward, near Alexandrine and Brush. Mayor Hazen Pingree didn't like the idea of students being so close to hospitals, and thus, diseases, so the construction site was moved. But the cornerstone of Old Main still bears the 1894 date, although it wasn't laid until 1895. After 1913, Central High housed both high school and college students. Principal David Mackenzie started offering colleges classes, to serve as the Detroit College of Medicine's pre-med courses (the forerunner to WSU's medical college.) Those classes grew into Wayne State's liberal arts college. After the school became unbearably overcrowded, the high school was moved to its present location, much to the chagrin of Central's alumni association. The last high school classes at Cass and Warren were taught in 1926, the same year that Central High was renamed the Main Building. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 6409 Registered: 08-2004 |
Thanks Evelyn (and everyone else), you answered the question I was going to ask on how to reconcile the fact that David Mackenzie was both the head of Central High School AND the head of the forerunner of Wayne State University. It's threads like this that bring out the best in the DetroitYES forum. It's like everyone has their own historic pieces to the puzzle that makes up Detroit, and we all contribute to the big picture! | ||
Chuckjav Member Username: Chuckjav Post Number: 436 Registered: 09-2007 |
Right-On Gistok! Here's a little something I put together on D-Mack for the folks at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D avid_L._Mackenzie | ||
Patrick Member Username: Patrick Post Number: 5255 Registered: 10-2003 |
Did Donaldson and Meier design the Tuxedo schools? | ||
Detroit_stylin Member Username: Detroit_stylin Post Number: 5581 Registered: 10-2003 |
Thank you forumers. I knew I could count on the knowledge base here...  | ||
Detroit_stylin Member Username: Detroit_stylin Post Number: 5582 Registered: 10-2003 |
Another question...aside from Bill Bonds (news anchor) and Antonio Gates (current NFL player for the Chargers), what other notable alumni came from there? | ||
Patrick Member Username: Patrick Post Number: 5256 Registered: 10-2003 |
Carl Levin and James Lipton | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 6418 Registered: 08-2004 |
This year marks the 140th anniversary of Wayne State University's founding... the WSU medical school goes back to 1868 under the Detroit College of Medicine name. | ||
Bearinabox Member Username: Bearinabox Post Number: 541 Registered: 04-2006 |
Unlike most threads entitled "X High School," this one is quite interesting, even for those who did not attend X High School. I'm pleasantly surprised. You would think, though, that DPS would have renamed "Central" High School when they moved it further north than "Northern." | ||
W_6_mile Member Username: W_6_mile Post Number: 63 Registered: 01-2008 |
Anita Baker attended Central High. |
