The new building, designed by Detroit architect Albert Kahn, began construction in 1916 but, due to wartime shortages, was not completed until 1922 at a final cost of $3.93 million (approximately $50 million today). I got along with everyone. Today. Cass Tech. Over 90% of the material in the building was recycled for other uses or as backfill. Named in honor of Lewis Cass, the school was located on the top floor of the old Cass Union School, a three-story brick building built in 1861 on a farm donated by Lewis Cass. All rights reserved. Scroll through the images below and let us know what you think of Detroiturbex's project in the comments section. Was a May Day Attack by Pilgrims a Practice Run for a Massacre? Like all stories told about a place by outsiders, those on the inside see things quite differently. Martindale appointed Comfort principal of Cass Technical School, and in 1907 the school opened with an enrollment of 110 students. (source), In the foreground, the desintegrating old Cass Tech High School that is often featured in media reports on Detroit, eclipsing the snazzy new Cass Tech located immediately next door. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? Organize, control, distribute and measure all of your digital content. Utilizing images of the school in its heyday transposed over photos of the neglected building, Detroiturbex succeeds in evoking a state of Detroit's decline. By Emily Badger 3 minute Read. Cass Tech Apparel - Cass Tech Shop casstechnicalhighschool photos on Flickr | Flickr Cass Tech (Detroit, MI) High School Sports - Football, Basketball (source). Heres where that careful what you wish for piece comes in. Between the move and the time when the building was torn down, the once majestic building was left to decay. A lot of people felt it was overwhelming with that many people. In the Spring of 2006 the new Cass Tech High School, being built next door (out of view to the right side of this photograph) opened its doors. First opening as Cass Union School, it moved to its Second Avenue location in 1922. In 2007, a large fire broke out in the old Cass Tech building and it was finally demolished in 2011. The CTMB (marching band), under the direction of Sharon Allen, has performed for Patti LaBelle, Sinbad, and Jay Z as well as various college and university homecomings. Part of HuffPost Entertainment. Mary Jean "Lily" Tomlin (born September 1, 1939) is an American actress, comedian, writer, singer and producer. After years of abandonment, the decay of Cass Technical High School has reached the point where familiar parts of the building are no longer recognizable. Cass Tech High School (old) - The bridge on the left connects to the High School of Commerce, which was the original Cass Tech. [20], The concert band program rose to prominence under the direction of Harry Begian, who led the Cass Tech bands from 1947 through 1964. Follow us on social media to add even more wonder to your day. The Main Building of the Detroit Public Library as it appears today. 2023 Getty Images. Boards are the best place to save images and video clips. Present-day Detroit from the same vantage point. Photos of Cass Technical High School in Detroit, Michigan, whose alumni include Diana Ross and Jack White School moved to new building in 2005 which left original facility empty and it. I have gone back recently and man. Prominent graduates from Cass Technical High School include celebrities, politicians, business people, athletes and more. Old Cass Tech and Michigan Central Station. Although my parents didnt attend, they understood about it being a college prep and pushed me to go. Sugar River Valley Regional Technical Center - Newport (Newport, NH) White Mountains Regional High School (Whitefield, NH) Wilbur H. Palmer Vocational Technology Center (Hudson, NH) Windham Regional Career Center (Brattleboro, VT) Winnisquam Agricultural Programs (Tilton, NH) Portable Document Format (.pdf) . 20th July, 2017. [Detroits] been here for years. Reminiscing with alumni about gorgeous former Detroit high schools Don't Call It a Comeback: Detroit's History in Photos [3] It was established in 1907 and is part of the Detroit Public Schools Community District. [21], Cass Tech's track and field history goes back to 1926 when Eddie Tolan and his teammate Loving won the interscholastic track meet at Northwestern University. [citation needed] The marching band was also a part of the 2007 Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, but was not televised. Jumping out the windows to get out of the classrooms, since it wasnt that far down. Ellen Burstyn (born Edna Rae Gillooly; December 7, 1932) is an American actress best known for her roles in films of the 1970s, such as The Last Picture Show, The Exorcist, and Alice Doesn't Live .more #29 of 77 The Best Actresses to Ever Win Oscars for Best Actress #7 of 100 The Best Living Actresses Over 80 #47 of 76 The Best Oscar Hosts Ever The rest of the story is familiar; mid-century found Detroit in full swing as Motor City USA, a modern metropolis, a shining light for the future of the midwest. Your culture and entertainment cheat-sheet. Cass Tech High School (old) - Old photos gallery - Historic Detroit She graduated in Home Economics with the January class of 1962 from Cass Technical High School in Detriot, Michigan. It had a capacity of 3,600 students and was connected to the High School of Commerce, which opened earlier the same year in Cass Tech's former building, by Victory Memorial Arch, a pedestrian bridge over Main Street that was a memorial to students killed in the war. They may have planned to take everything when the school was going to be demolished, added Duce, but after the demolition got pushed back months, and then years, the items left behind lost all value and werent worth salvaging.. Follow us on Twitter to get the latest on the world's hidden wonders. The Bishops Mansion, Detroits largest residence, sells for $2.7M. The classrooms were left full of desks and other supplies when the district abandoned the building. In an NPR interview, Jack White of the White Stripes, one of the schools most famous alumnus, articulated this sentiment: Going to school there at 14 was like all of a sudden you were going to Harvard or something, he said. What Ill always take with me is basketball, the camaraderie and cheering. (source). One of its recent projects focuses on Cass Technical High School, a building damaged by a fire in 2007 and later demolished in 2011. Photo from 1910-1920. The hallway would be packed, the lunchroom would be packed, but you loved it. Wow my high school is gone, they tore it down. In the words of the inimitableLL Cool J: Dont call it a comeback. The Getty Images design is a trademark of Getty Images. Taken between 1900 and 1920, this photo shows the reading room in the Detroit Public Library. But over the years, the building just got older and older. Advertisement Students are required to choose a curriculum pathroughly equivalent to a college "major" in the ninth grade. Luckily it was not only a place of tranquility and learning, but a safe zone. A 3D look inside the 1922 building. Demolition began in December 2010 and was completed in August 2011. Cass Tech High School (old) Students work on engines in a Cass Tech shop class. Historic Briggs mansion in Boston-Edison lists for just over $1M. History of Cass Tech High school from its founding to the present day. We regret the error. In March 1935, Tolan won the 75, 100 and 220-yard events at the World Professional Sprint Championships in Melbourne, Australia to become the first man to win both the amateur and professional world sprint championships. 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A 1,000-seat auditorium was added in 1930. Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Ross rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, The Greatest Actresses Who Have Never Won an Oscar (for Acting), The Funniest Female Comedians of All Time, The Greatest Singers of the Past 30 Years. Under his baton, the concert band performed twice at the Mid-West Band and Orchestra Clinic, and played literature at a level far beyond that normally performed by a public high school band[according to whom? Pictures from the demolition of the school in 2011. This directory is not just composed of graduates of this school, as some of the famous people on this list didn't necessarily earn a degree from Cass Technical High School. Despite the demolition of the old building, Cass Tech lives on in a new building. The Detroit Boat Club, located on Belle Isle, was the first poured concrete building ever erected. An aerial view of Cass Tech on April 17, 2009. In the Cass Tech project, images Duce took of the destroyed school were layered with photos from the 1980s and 1990s that came from a box of negatives found in the old yearbook room. Cass Technical High School placed in the top 50% of all schools in Michigan for overall test scores (math proficiency is bottom 50%, and reading proficiency is top 20%) for the 2020-21 school year. Sep 20, 2021 - Cass Tech High School (old) - Old photos gallery Historic Detroit. In July 1942, the top of Detroits city hall was dwarfed by the more modern Penobscot Building in the background. Celebrate the year you became a full-fledge Cass Technical High School CASSmate! Share your memories by posting photos or stories, or find out about your next class reunion! Looking north up Grand River on April 17, 2009, at Cass Tech and its 1980s addition. Additionally, signs of new life in Detroit continue to spring up right along side the reminders of the citys blighted past, such as in the case of the new and old Cass Tech High Schools. Welcome! The first class graduated in 1910 with only six or seven students, but by 1909 enrollment jumped to 700 students and a new wing was added to the Cass Union School to accommodate the increased enrollment. In Detroit, A Fight Over Iconic School's Future | WBEZ Chicago Then they put the pictures of the buzzing life from the . [25], A new campus opened in May 2005 in an adjacent lot on Grand River Avenue to the north of the original building. [4], Until 1977, Cass was Detroit's only magnet school and the only non-neighborhood enrollment school in Detroit. The school also had an indoor pool and facilities for fencing, table tennis, indoor track and field, and ice skating and hockey. [7] The 1922 building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in March 2011. I was amazed at the school. After that school was mostly destroyed by a fire, a building for Cass Tech was built on the site and opened in October 1912, but was soon overcrowded. In the foreground, the desintegrating old Cass Tech High School that is often featured in media reports on Detroit, eclipsing the snazzy new Cass Tech located immediately . [24] Tolan came to be known as the "Midnight Express". Remembering Cass Technical High School - Legacy.com At the beginning of the Twentieth Century, the automobile hadnt been invented. Odessa Career & Technical Early College High School ECISD Home. Yearbook photos of Diana Ross from Cass Technical High School Diana Ernestine Earle Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. Transcending: Detroits monument to the labor movement. Crumbling Houses Show the Sad Decline of Detroit. Melded together, the kaleidoscopic photos of Detroit reveal a true ghost town. Detroiturbex.com - Cass Technical High School: Now and Then It was hugeit took almost a whole square block. The Child-Eating Bunyip Haunts Australias Wetlands, Detroit Lives: Part 2 - Music, Motown and Mansions. As a child, he proved himself an apt learner . Millions of high-quality images, video, and music options are waiting for you. Cass Technical High School (simply referred to as Cass Tech) is a magnet high school in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, United States. Cooley High School was built for a growing Detroit population in Detroits northwest side. Of course, nostalgia makes you think mine was better, but the children of today need a beautiful school with windows and air conditioners that have all the modern features that a school in Birmingham or Grosse Pointe has. RM 2HTHMAD - 1970's photograph of children queuing with baggage luggage for school coach trip, Sweden. Pictured are three murals comprising the Spirit of the Northwest, by artist Gari Melchers. The Cass Tech auditorium in 1930. (source). I was never fearful going to school because all of them respected Cass Tech as place of higher learning and knew that us kids came from miles away in the dark to go to school each day. The police never bothered us. ALUMNI Registration Like Atlas Obscura and get our latest and greatest stories in your Facebook feed. He set world records in the 100-yard dash and 100 meters event and Olympic records in the 100 meters and 200 meters events. Patrick Krupa (www.patrickrupa.com) for HistoricDetroit.org. Famous Cass Technical High School Alumni - Ranker RM JJJGNY - Benneckenstein, Germany. Diana Ross Yearbook Photo & School Pictures | Classmates A lot of memories come back when I go past it. Please also read our Privacy Notice and Terms of Use, which became effective December 20, 2019. Photo Essay: Senior year in the age of COVID - Chalkbeat Detroit Although I hated to see it demolished, the building isnt what makes us great. In March 2000, Detroit Public Schools announced plans to build an entirely new building directly north of Cass Tech. Group, a Graham Holdings Company. Cass Technical High School | Detroit Historical Society [citation needed], The school's Harp program was established in 1925. Everything from Diana Ross to Lily Tomlin is included on this list. Built in a style of gothic construction at the beginning of the 20th century, Cass Tech was a symbol of success for one of Detroits only magnet schools; it was demolished in 2011. While the new building was set to cost $98 million, the old schools restoration was expected to total $117 million. (source). The past few decades haven't treated Detroit well. Cass Tech was abandoned by the school districts with tons of school supplies, computers, musical instruments and more left behind. Cass Tech was a proud educational landmark in downtown Detroit. And, in the words of the former principal George Cohen, nostalgia doesnt fix the cracks.. Many locally and nationally known figures are counted among its graduates including Diana Ross, John DeLorean, Ellen Burstyn, Sean Anderson (aka Big Sean), Lily Tomlin, Peter Karmanos, and David Alan Grier. The largest residence in Wayne County is now the most expensive sale in Detroit this year. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. As a result schools and homes which were quickly built to support a growing industry in the 20s and 30s have since been abandoned, subject to arson or demolished. Explore. Now Detroit and its citizens are boldly setting the standard for reinvention, showing how a city can be changed not just for the better but for the different, considering the previous ideal didnt pan out so well. To get a sense of what it was like to go to some of these closed or demolished schools, we spoke with alumni who attended three of them. Students work on engines in a Cass Tech shop class. Slate is published by The Slate In 2000, the Detroit Public School District announced plans for construction of the current modern Cass Tech building, which was built in 2004. Comedian, Theatrical producer, Television producer, Record producer, Television producer, Film Producer. 163 Cass Technical High School Premium High Res Photos - Getty Images Cass Technical High School (simply referred to as Cass Tech) is a magnet high school in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, United States. [19], There are beginner, intermediate, advanced and jazz band classes, as well as a marching band. Translate Language. Named in honor of Lewis Cass, the school was located on the top floor of the old Cass Union School, a three-story brick building built in 1861 on a farm donated by Lewis Cass. SIGN IN. (source). Photo from the Walter P. Reuther Library. In 2005 the main building was abandoned with the remaining students occupying an adjacent addition. Then-and-Now Photos of Abandoned Detroit School | Bored Panda Due to budget cuts, student population shifts, and building deterioration, around 200 public schools have closed in Detroit since 2000. Watch. To "raise awareness of the social and economic challenges the city of Detroit," the folks at Detroiturbex decided to tell the story about an abandoned Lewis Cass Technical High School with the help of superimposed then-and-now photos. Streamline your workflow with our best-in-class digital asset management system. ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----. I enjoyed school, being able to go there with my siblings. Detroiturbex is attempting to bring attention to these ghostly remains through a photo project highlighting the city's abandoned buildings. They had a lawn area and we use to gather around over there. By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. People on this list must have gone to Cass Technical High School and be of some renown. This CASSmates special edition t-shirt is available in sizes small to 3x. Comments (-1) SPIRIT Club Minutes. Detroits copper and brass rolling mills. Entrance is based on test scores and middle school grades. . Detroits 10 best social media accounts for architecture and homes, Locations in Detroit with ties to Inside the Actors Studio host James Lipton, Pope designates Ste. In 2008, the band performed at Texas Southern University. [14] Cass Tech students' strong academic performances draw recruiters from across the country, including Ivy League representatives eager to attract the top minority applicants. How Cass Tech has changed over the years. Yet there sat Detroit, perfectly situated as a trading point of goods from the first wave of the Industrial Revolution. Population and industry in Detroit has declined remarkably in recent years. First, they photographed every room the old Detroit school, which was abandoned after a 2007 fire. This list of distinguished Cass Technical High School alumni is loosely ordered by relevance, so the most recognizable celebrities who attended Cass Technical High School are at the top of the list. But slowly, the world caught up and Detroits city of tomorrow became more and more a relic of the past. We depend on ad revenue to craft and curate stories about the worlds hidden wonders. Check out more photos at historicdetroit.org. Tomlin started her career as a stand-up comedian as well as performing Off-Broadway. Even if your parents were dogging you, you had your friends at school that you could hang out with and would always look out for each other. Also, many of these schools were architectural gems designed by some of the citys most renowned firms and designers. Student Life. OCTECHS Top Ten 2023. A victim of globalization, corporate greed, and the collapseof the industrial belt, Detroit was in rough shape by the 1970s. Abandoned Detroit School Given Life Through Photos Lewis Cass Technical High School, demolished in 2011, was one of Detroit's largest high schools. The venerable Second Avenue facade of Cass Tech High School. Tap into Getty Images' global scale, data-driven insights, and network of more than 340,000 creators to create content exclusively for your brand. Cass Tech High School (old) - Photos gallery Historic Detroit Register as an alumni from Cass Technical High School and reunite with old friends and classmates. 2023 Atlas Obscura. In 2017, when I came back, a piece of me died inside. Classrooms were left full of desks when the school district abandoned the landmark. At that time, we were the only school with a gymnastics program so I got very involved with that. The school board argued that it would cost more to renovate the structure than to build a brand-new one, citing problems with the buildings outdated electrical, heating, and plumbing systems, the undersized gymnasium and library, as well as the leaking roofs. Sign up for our newsletter and enter to win the second edition of our book. Unless otherwise noted, all images in this post are used courtesy of theLibrary of Congress Digital Collection. It was established in 1907 and is part of the Detroit Public Schools Community District.It is named after Lewis Cass.. Until 1977, Cass was Detroit's only magnet school and the only non-neighborhood enrollment school in Detroit. Cass Technical High School Alumni, Class Reunions, Yearbooks, Technicians Classmates, and more! The area was like, Did our parents really love us? There were drug dealers, hookersit was skid row. "Red, White, and Cool", Learn how and when to remove this template message, Detroit Public Schools Community District, U.S. National Register of Historic Places, "Search for Public Schools - Cass Technical High School (260110304669)", "Whitmer strips name of slave owner Lewis Cass from state office building", "Cass Technical High School After Closing", "WEEKLY LIST OF ACTIONS TAKEN ON PROPERTIES: March 28, 2011 THROUGH April 1, 2011", "Michigan MPS Cass, Lewis, Technical High School", "Cass Tech will lose some less popular classes", "The 78 Michigan public high schools with best results on 2019 SAT", "Drum roll: Cass Tech marchers raise enough money to play D.C.", http://michigan-football.com/bb/casstech.html%7C, https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=taMxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=XKwFAAAAIBAJ&pg=894,4865755&dq=cass+tech+football&hl=en%7C, https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=QCNAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=i1gMAAAAIBAJ&pg=1499,5915116&dq=cass-technical&hl=en%7C, "Old Cass Tech catches fire: Blaze can't douse hopes of those who want to save it", "The Life and Death of an Iconic Detroit High School", "Cass Tech High School Detroit, MI: Total demolition/abatement", "Modern Furniture & Contemporary Designers, Furniture Store", "Iconic textile designer Ruth Adler Schnee going strong", "Why the Whitney's Humanist, Pro-Diversity Biennial Is a Revelation", "Funeral Details for Arthur Fields - Ira Kaufman Chapel", http://www.trombone-usa.com/rosolino_frank.htm%7CFRANK, "Pat Ivey Strength and Conditioning coach at Mizzou", Cass Tech High School at Detroiturbex.com, Cass Technical photos circa 2009 at Silentbuildings.com, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cass_Technical_High_School&oldid=1152682443, March 1926: 1st Place National Champions, This page was last edited on 1 May 2023, at 17:30.