The Greenfield Union School is a school located at 420 West 7 Mile Road in
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...
,
Michigan
Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...
. A part of
Detroit Public Schools
Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) is a school district that covers all of the city of Detroit, Michigan, United States and high school students in the insular city of Highland Park. The district, which replaced the original Detr ...
(DPS), the school building was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
in 2011.
History
Greenfield Union School was built by Greenfield Township for its District #1. The school was designed by Van Leyen & Schilling, and construction began in 1914. The school was completed in 1916 at a cost of $40,000, and the school opened its doors to elementary through high school students. That same year, Greenfield Township was annexed by the city of Detroit. Archive As more residents moved to the area, the school became too crowded. High school students were transferred to other buildings, and in 1931, an addition containing several classrooms, an auditorium, and a gymnasium was constructed. This addition was also designed by Van Leyen & Schilling. In 1944, middle school students were also transferred. In 1971, another addition was constructed. An addition for early childhood learning was built in 2002.
As of 2011, the school is used by the
Detroit Public Schools
Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) is a school district that covers all of the city of Detroit, Michigan, United States and high school students in the insular city of Highland Park. The district, which replaced the original Detr ...
for elementary and middle school students. The school serves
Chaldean Town
Chaldean Town was a historically Chaldo-Assyrian neighborhood in Detroit located along West Seven Mile Road in a segment in between Woodward Avenue to the west and John R St. to the east.Henrich and Henrich, p81
Two Georgian Revival wings, built in 1931, flank the main block of the school, giving it an overall H-shaped plan. These wings are identical, brick, flat-roofed structures. The side elevations of each wing features two-story, round-arched windows. A single-story 1971 addition is connected to the rear of the building.
The interior of the school features an entry vestibule beyond the main doors, leading to a corridor housing administrative offices. Stairs on either side of the corridor lead upwards to classrooms, and to the two-story gymnasium wing (to the west) and the two-story auditorium (to the east). The
gymnasium has tall Palladian windows with wood trim and exposed masonry walls. The auditorium contains a stage with decorative plaster trim, with a relief framing the windows wrapping to the rear of the auditorium. The original kindergarten room is now the library, and contains a protruding bay window with wood seats below, as well as a fireplace with a decorative Pewabic tile surround and a drinking fountain niche with Pewabic tile on all three sides.
Demographics
In 1994 about 65% of the students were of Arab origin, 30% were black, and 5% were non-Arab white. The school initiated a 20-day long summer program to improve
Michigan Educational Assessment Program
The Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) was a standardized test. The test was taken by all public school students in the U.S. state of Michigan from elementary school to middle/ junior high school from the 1969–70 school year to th ...
(MEAP) test scores and English ability, catering to Middle Eastern communities. Clipping from
Newspapers.com
Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites.
In November 2018, ...
.
See also
*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Detroit, Michigan
This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Detroit, Michigan.
This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Detroit, Michigan, United States. La ...
Elementary school 2012-2013 !--Same as 2011-2012: https://web.archive.org/web/20120722161417/http://detroitk12.org/schools/docs/school_boundaries_elementary.pdf-->
2007-2008Archive
Detroit Public Schools
Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) is a school district that covers all of the city of Detroit, Michigan, United States and high school students in the insular city of Highland Park. The district, which replaced the original Detr ...