By 1920 there would be 46,500 residents, a staggering 1,000% increase in population over just 10 years. The new building was scheduled to formally open in September, but even before then school administrators were facing an unanticipated problem: overcrowding.īetween 19, the population of Highland Park grew from 4,100 to 28,000. Construction on the high school had progressed far enough that by June of 1915, the auditorium was used for graduation as work on the rest of the building continued. The cornerstone was laid down in October of 1914. Dedicated classrooms included sewing, carpentry, machine tooling, botany, chemistry, and drawing. Inside the school were long hallways of Caen stone and ornamental carved oak. The exterior was done up in quarry-faced gray limestone, with mouldings and detail work of dressed Bedford stone. In the center were school offices, a library, and recitation rooms. The east wing had a 1,100-seat auditorium, and the west wing featured a three-story gymnasium and basement swimming pool. The first unit of Highland Park High School was of English type architecture, laid out with a central mass three stories tall, with two end wings linked by classrooms. It could comfortably seat 1,000 students, though it was believed that it would be quite a few years before the school reached capacity. In 1914, a contract for construction of the new building designed by Wells D. Excavation at the site began as the first high school class of 14 students graduated from Ferris School in 1913. Though the high school would take up only a small part of the land, school officials wanted additional space to expand the school if needed. Initially the board of education wanted to build the new high school east of Woodward Avenue, at Farrand and John R Streets, but instead settled a large rectangular parcel of land along Glendale Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues. Demand for higher education was enough that by 1912, plans were underway to build a dedicated high school building. The next year 11th and 12th grades were introduced. Starting in 1911, high school courses were introduced, with 42 students enrolled in 9th and 10th grade levels at Stevens Elementary, then moved to the new Ferris School when it opened in November. Like other early school districts, Highland Park Schools taught from Kindergarten to the 8th grade level, at which point young adults were expected to join the workforce. The factory opened in 1909 a year later the population of Highland Park had risen to 4,120 as workers quickly built up neighborhoods around the Ford plant. In 1907, Henry Ford began to move his automobile production from the Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit to a new, much larger factory located in Highland Park. Through the early 1900’s, the city grew as Detroit developed north along Woodward Avenue, spurring residential development. In 1900, Highland Park was just a small village north of Detroit, population 427. Right at the center of the neighborhood is the old Highland Park High School and Junior College, a block-long slab of quarry-faced limestone that played an important role in the development of Highland Park from an obscure village into an industrial boomtown. In this densely populated neighborhood one could be born, baptized, attend nursery school, elementary school, high school, and college, all without going more than three blocks in any direction. Along Highland and nearby streets were five schools, three churches, two hospitals, and the main library, mixed in with ornate high-rise apartment buildings. Budget cuts have led to the closure of most of Highland Park’s fire stations, libraries, and schools.Ī three-block stretch of Highland Street running west from Woodward Avenue was one the civic center of the city.
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And today, both cities are struggling with how to provide the same city services to fewer people with less tax revenue. Both cities lost population after the auto industry left. Both cities experienced tremendous growth as a result of the automobile industry, and built up their city services to meet demand. In many ways, the histories of Detroit and Highland Park – a separate city located within the borders of Detroit –are very similar. Highland Park High School / Junior College / Career Academy
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