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Detroit once had nearly two million people and plenty of kids who needed classrooms. The reality today is that Detroit's shrinking population and high drop-out rate means plenty of surplus schools that now sit empty. The photo at right is Thomas School, located on Concord Street across from the abandoned Packard plant complex. Like the empty factory buildings, this school building too is empty. The surrounding streets are full of vacant lots and abandoned houses. |
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Wilbur Wright SchoolWilbur Wright School is located on Rosa Parks Blvd, just off Grand River Avenue, not far from downtown. It is abandoned. The grafitti artists have been at work on the empty school building, painting pictures and messages both inside and outside. All the glass is gone from the windows, and the building is open to the elements. Its sturdy construction has helped it survive the ravages of weather and vandals. The building still bears its orange "Fallout Shelter" sign. |
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This is the school parking lot. |
 A building across the street from the school. |
St Rita Catholic Church and School
St. Rita takes up an entire city block, with its school and church buildings and playground. The buildings are solidly built, and still in relatively good condition, with far less vandalism than many other Detroit empty school buildings. This once active Catholic parish is less than two miles from the suburbs. | |
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The houses across the side street from St. Rita are in poor condtion and some are abandoned. One house had a pile of household items heaped on the sidewalk when we visited, as if the residents had left recently. | |
Grayling School |
But there are no students and the building is too far gone to be reclaimed. Parts of the hallways are filled with the acrid smell of burned and hosed-down wood, no doubt the result of small fires probably started by the usual arsonists and vandals that plague Detroit's abandoned buildings. | |
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 |  Littered floors, no students | |
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It's not just public schools that have been abandoned because of population loss. Detroit once had many Catholic parishes with grade schools and high schools. St Rita's, located on State Fair St. on the Northeast Side, was one of these. Today the school is no longer in use and the church is being used by a Baptist congregation. The surrounding streets have many unoccupied homes.
