The Detroit Institute of Technology was a

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four-year

technical college An institute of technology (also referred to as technological university, technical university, university of technology, polytechnic university) is an institution of tertiary education that specializes in engineering, technology, applied science ...

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

that closed operations in 1981.

History

First called the Association Institute, the private school was founded in 1891 as a

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

evening school and later developed into a private engineering and science college, formalizing its evening adult education program. It undertook several name changes in the early 20th century, using the name Detroit Technical Institute by 1908 and changing it again to Detroit Institute of Technology in 1918. By 1920 it had six schools in operation. Out of these, four offered undergraduate degrees: The College of Law offered a four-year program. The College of Pharmacy was added in 1907 after separating from the School of Medicine. The College of Commerce offered four-year programs in accounting, marketing, management, finance, and production. The School of Engineering had electrical, mechanical, chemical, automotive, and machine trade programs leading to a B.S. degree. It also included The Hudson School, a high school offering a college prep program as well as training in business and technology for students who did not plan to attend college and the Detroit School of Religion. In 1922 the College of Liberal Arts was also added. In 1957, the pharmacy program merged with the School of Pharmacy at

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public university, public research university in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 375 programs. It is Michigan's third-l ...

. The college was accredited by the

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools The North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA), also known as the North Central Association, was a membership organization, consisting of colleges, universities, and schools in 19 U.S. states engaged in educational accreditation. It ...

(NCA). By 1979, a third of its students were Iranian citizens. As the

Iran Hostage Crisis The Iran hostage crisis () began on November 4, 1979, when 66 Americans, including diplomats and other civilian personnel, were taken hostage at the Embassy of the United States in Tehran, with 52 of them being held until January 20, 1981. Th ...

led to the cancellation of their visas, the college abruptly lost a large percentage of its students. This loss of income, paired with the

early 1980s recession The early 1980s recession was a severe economic recession that affected much of the world between approximately the start of 1980 and 1982. Long-term effects of the early 1980s recession contributed to the Latin American debt crisis, long-lastin ...

, proved too much for the Institute, which formally closed down in 1982. Registrar's Office Detroit Institute of Technology (D.I.T.) The

Lawrence Technological University Lawrence Technological University (Lawrence Tech, LTU) is a private university in Southfield, Michigan. It was founded in 1932 in Highland Park, Michigan, as the Lawrence Institute of Technology (LIT) by Russell E. Lawrence. The university moved ...

in Southfield, Michigan, was issued custody of the academic records of the Detroit Institute of Technology by the Michigan Department of Education. It also offers alumni programs.

Buildings

The first quarters of the college were a YMCA Building on the corner of Griswold and Grand River. Having outgrown the building, it moved to a large nine-story YMCA building on the corner of Witherell and East Adams that included reading rooms, a library, two gymnasiums, swimming pools, handball courts and five floors of residence rooms. That building was later razed to make way for

Comerica Park Comerica Park is a baseball stadium located in Downtown Detroit. It has been the ballpark of Major League Baseball's Detroit Tigers since 2000, when the team left Tiger Stadium (Detroit), Tiger Stadium. History Construction Founded in 1894, t ...

, the new home of the Detroit Tigers baseball team. In 1971, the S. S. Kresge Corporation, which was moving to

Troy, Michigan Troy is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. A northern suburb of Metro Detroit, Detroit, Troy is located about north of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 87,294, ...

, donated its downtown Detroit headquarters to the school. This

art deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

building which stands across from Cass Park in downtown Detroit was built in 1928 by famous Detroit architect Albert Kahn and was added to the National Register in 1979. After the college's demise, this building became a part of Wayne State University where it is used as an incubator for startup companies, and is currently referred to as the Metropolitan Center for High Technology.

Athletics

The Detroit Institute of Technology competed in basketball since at least 1921, when the first mention of their team, the Dynamics, is made. Between 1928 and 1950, with a break during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the college also fielded a football team. The team disbanded again at the outbreak of the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

, this time permanently. The college played in the NAIA College Division and its traditional colors were purple and white. In 1957, the college added a competitive swimming team that trained in the YMCA pool but never held competitions there as it could not accommodate spectators. During the first few years, the team competed in National N.A.I.A Championships never finishing lower than fourth, place but never winning a national team championship. It gave scholarships to local high school outstanding swimmers for a period of five years before reducing the team size and in 1966, dropped the sport entirely.

Notable alumni

Roy Brooks Roy Brooks (March 9, 1938 – November 15, 2005) was an American Jazz drumming, jazz drummer. Biography Early life Brooks was born in Detroit and drummed since childhood, his earliest experiences of music coming through his mother, who sang in c ...

– jazz drummer Astronaut Wally Schirra was on the faculty from 1968 till 1972 Detroit Free Press chief photographer Tony Spina.

References

Notes

Citations

{{Authority control Defunct private universities and colleges in Michigan Engineering universities and colleges in Michigan Midtown Detroit Universities and colleges in Detroit Universities and colleges founded by the YMCA Universities and colleges established in 1891 Educational institutions disestablished in 1982 1891 establishments in Michigan 1982 disestablishments in Michigan