08/01/06 - James McMillan School, Delray, Detroit, Michigan
Located in the Delray (Southwest) area of Detroit, you have the James McMillan School. Erected in 1894 to serve the booming area; it is a prototypical school design with 2 floors and 16 classrooms. In 1907, the Detroit school board took over the Delray school district and James McMillan went from an elementary school to a high school for the next 9 years. In 1916 it was converted back to an elementary school and continued on for quite some time.
The city of Detroit lists the school as joining the historic district on July 13, 1999 after an effort to keep the building open by parents & teachers failed.
The outside of the school has become a haven for graffiti artists as the area is very low key and very desolate.
This was the best
graffiti there in my opinion...Dems.
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The inside of the
school looked just like every typical high school movie you see churned out by
American movie creators.
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The stairs going
up...
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The stairs going
down...
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The hallway in natural light.
Also, we concluded that it had to be an elementary school by the size of the locker holes...it must have been rough for those high-school'ers for those 9 years.
I wonder how many
of those lockers were taken by the school board, by students who came back &
scrappers who wanted the metal...
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Throughout the
school, there was many unique spaces which artists used for their graffiti.
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Looking outside,
we can see the courtyard. Which has now become just a half-court and a tire
disposal site.
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The second floor
hallway. Not much was left behind, which made the building kind of boring;
but it was still interesting to explore a school.
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A makeshift route
outside. With my shoulder hurting, I got Donnie to climb up there; but he
said there was nothing. I imagine it would probably just be like the roof
at St.John's, and everyone I know has been up there anyway...
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Good thing there
was no emergencies...
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Looking down upon
where the former playground used to be; we now only see a few small remnants of
the former area...
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There was a few
places where the chalkboard had survived the 6 years of abandonment; but it
still wasn't in good shape...
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Even before I
researched into this place; we figured we knew about what time it closed...
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You could tell
that this place wasn't frequented as much as some of the more famous places by
the fact that not every light was broken.
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A paper airplane
that we speculated on whether it has been there since abandonment. Kayla
had to shoot our hopes and dreams down and say no way...but what does she
know...
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The building was
U-shaped and I stood looking out a window with both sides coming out...took 3
photos & photoshopped them together.
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When an abandoned
building is owned by a person, it usually is somewhat difficult to get into; but
when Detroit owns the building, it usually just sits with 5 openings...
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Donnie and I were
about to leave when I pointed out that we should try to find the gym before we
left. So we walked along the first floor and found this theatre room
instead.
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Although we did find the gym
eventually; with basketball nets still intact...
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...along with
swing ropes too...
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Sources: 1. Detroit1701.org
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JurajKolnikisElite@gmail.com
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