Hutchins Intermediate School

01 / The story of this place

Make time for these

Hutchins Intermediate School opened in 1922 on Woodrow Wilson Avenue, part of a wave of new junior high schools built as Detroit's population boomed in the early twentieth century. By the 1950s its classrooms and glee club had become an unlikely gathering point for future Motown talent: future singer and songwriter Barrett Strong started singing there, alongside classmates who included Aretha Franklin, Lamont Dozier, Smokey Robinson, and Martha Reeves, among other future stars of Detroit music and entertainment. The school later operated under other names, including Crosman Alternative School, before Detroit Public Schools closed it for good in 2009. Developer Ron Castellano's Herman Kiefer Development bought the building along with the adjacent former Herman Kiefer Hospital complex in 2016, and limited preservation work began in 2015, but a full renovation, at one point planned to include a skate park in the old auditorium, has stalled along with the rest of the surrounding redevelopment.

1. Opened in 1922 on Woodrow Wilson Avenue
2. Barrett Strong began singing here alongside classmates Aretha Franklin and Lamont Dozier
3. Later known as Crosman Alternative School; closed in 2009
4. Bought for redevelopment in 2016 alongside the Herman Kiefer complex; work has stalled