History of Yost Elementary School

Yost was built in 1925 under Redford Township, before being annexed by Detroit in 1926. Yost was named for Eber W. Yost, a career educator and administrator with a career in Detroit Public Schools for over 30 years, up to the point when Yost was named for him. While many things are named for people in remembrance after death to avoid political backlash or similar, it was decided to name the school after Yost during his living years as a sitting official. Under a consensus choice of the community, it represented the modernization efforts he had given to the district, almost as a reward for his hard work in his older age. For just over 10 years, he would live out his accomplishment before passing away on May 16th, 1938, at age 76. Yost remained a school on the outer limits of the city and wouldn't receive another addition until 1961 under the 1960s building program millage. Compared to many schools built or expanded in the 1960s, Yost follows more of a design of the 1950s in the hallways, however, the classrooms are like those of the other 1960s school counterparts. By 2000, the school had been renamed E.W. Yost Academy, however, due to its location and declining enrollment, tied with its 1925 age, it faced an early closure within the district, closing in 2005. Even to this day, the area around Yost remains quiet and lacks the urban rush of the rest of the city, being located off a dirt road. Yost was granted a second chance, though, when it was leased to New Genesis Baptist Church, which turned the school into the Siena Literacy Center, teaching adults to read, study for their GEDs, and master English as a Second Language. The church would lease the building until 2016, when it was then returned to the ownership of DPS. Since then, it has remained abandoned. In the summer of 2022, a fire burned the full section of the 1925 original building of the school, leaving just the 1961 addition to act as the school.