Hello all, I hope you are having a fantastic week. TGIF right? Anyways, with all this stuff going on with regards to the Detroit Public School system, I thought it is about time that I share some of my experiences with them. If you aren’t familiar with what I am talking about, basically Detroit fucked over their school system so bad that we are something like over a half million dollars in debt. There are very few actual DPS actually open these days and the ones that are have a very low enrollment rate. My uber driver the other morning informed me that his wife is a teacher and that they might have to close early due to lack of funds and enrollment. Shit is real. Also, these places are impossible to get into now so I’m very happy I stumbled across them this summer. Fun fact: DPS has their own police force. These places are now boarded up and may possibly be up for auction.
Here are pictures from Greenfield Park Elementary. I can’t find much history on it other than the fact that it was opened in 1916 and closed 91 years later in 2006 due to lack of funding (surprise!), steep decline in enrollment, and problems with heating/cooling system. I am also hearing it is slated for demolition in the near future. There was not much in this school that was still intact.
Next piece here is my absolute all time favorite exploration I have ever done. My partner and I spent two hours here the first day we discovered it and then came back the next day to spend even more time. This place was built in 1924 and was closed in 2012 after merging with two other nearby high schools. I visited it last summer which is when these pictures are from. This school had two gyms, a pool, a photo lab and more. It is absolutely huge. The amount of vandalism and decay that happened in those three years is outrageous. One of my sources informed me that this school is now boarded up and is shockingly not one of the schools that DPS is auctioning off. I wish I had more background on the building for you, but I cannot find more than the fact that it was previously a middle school before it became the technical high school. Enjoy the pictures because this is one that I absolutely loved to do and I wish I could go back for. Happy Exploring xo.
Alice in Detroit 