History of Cooley High School

Cooley High School is an abandoned school on the west side of Detroit that was built in 1927 and opened in 1928. The initial design of Cooley followed an E-shaped floor plan, with classrooms in the outer sections of the school and common areas such as the auditorium, gymnasium, and library toward the middle. Both inside and outside, Cooley was an architectural masterpiece. The auditorium was not completed until 1930, but upon completion, it stood as one of the most elaborate auditoriums in Detroit and was modeled after the Fox Theater in downtown Detroit. The gymnasium was also a later addition, built in 1931 along with the pool. After many expansions, the school grew to accommodate a student capacity of 3,400; this large number and its square footage of 302,000 sq. ft. make it, even to this day, the biggest high school in Detroit still standing and one of the largest in the state of Michigan. Many notable people attended Cooley High School, including Little Caesars Pizza founder Mike Ilitch and numerous athletes. During the 1950s and into the early 2000 ,Cooley High School had an exceptional athletic program, winning countless state gold medals. In 1961, Cooley High School was a 99% white school however, boundaries changed in the district in 1967, and that same year, the school became 52% black. Before the change, white students would steal from and fight black students however, when the balance shifted to an almost 50/50 mixed pool, these fights were subsequently labeled racial fights in a 1969 interview with students at Cooley. Gangs began to form at Cooley into the 1970s as black people teamed up as a minority against the white students, Shortly after this, the white student population began to leave Cooley in droves in an effort of white flight, as white parents and students feared integration in public schools. Due to this, many black parents and students feared they would receive a subpar education as the school became increasingly black, however Cooley would be expanded significantly in 1972 with the "Cooley North" addition-a massive two story expansion that added mostly science classroom space. Still, white students continued to leave in droves. By 1980, the student population was 94% black and 6% white, and racial issues remained very common at Cooley. Gangs contined to be a issue at Cooley into the 80s, however, the student body remained steady at 3,400 throughout all this. Principal Walter Jenkins, a graduate of Miller High School and former defensive end for the Detroit Lions football team, took over and began steering the school in a different direction. He cracked down on gang issues inside Cooley and sought to improve test scores. This improvement made Cooley one of the best schools in Detroit. However, as Detroit Public Schools continued to decline into the 1970s and 1980s, so did the Cooley student body, dropping to 2,500 by 1989 and to a mere 1,400 by 1997 over half of Cooley's designed capacity. This decline was a talking point for Cooley's Class of '49 alumni when they returned for their 50-year reunion and saw obvious changes in the school they remembered. For one thing, there were almost 4,000 students in 1949, whereas there were only 1,600 students in 1999. Although the alumni were all white, they received a warm welcome and were interested in the challenges that Cooley and its students now faced. Detroit Public Schools continued to improve the school even into the 2000s, though the student population still dropped steadily. In 2004, the auditorium was renovated. The towers were renovated in 2006 alongside a roof replacement a total of $12.6 million in improvements to the school. Much of Cooley North was transformed into a special needs wing. Cooley received a boost in student numbers when Redford High School closed in 2007, however, the decline continued to plague the school. By 2010, the school was set to close due to the low student population alongside the high maintenance costs now afflicting the school for such a small student body. DPS decided to close it the same year. Initially, Cooley was very well secured and was a major player in Detroit Public Schools effort to secure their vacant schools. Cooley had almost all top of the line security measures and monitoring from Detroit Public Schools Police to keep out vandals, and most importantly for a school the size of Cooley, scrappers. For over two years after closing, Cooley remained in remarkable shape; however, by 2012, the Michigan weather began to take a toll on the school, and vandals and scrappers started accessing the building more frequently. By 2016, major scrapping occurred nearly daily, and in 2017, the final hope of saving the school was extinguished when an a arson fire struck the auditorium on September 27, 2017. All the chairs in the once glamorous auditorium burned, and what was once an architectural marvel was reduced to metal frames. Efforts in 2025 by Detroit Public Schools revealed plans to restore Cooley. In early May 2025, the Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) announced a $25 million plan to redevelop the Cooley site into a sports facility for not only the school district but the community. DPSCD stated that the new complex would help close the opportunity gap when competing for athletic college scholarships. Superintendent Nikolai Vitti also stated in a press release, "Ever since Cooley High School closed in 2010, the community has wanted us to do something special with this legendary site."