Famous people's places / Detroit – West Side
Mackenzie High School
Closed – archive entry · 2007
West-side Detroit high school (1928–2007) trimmed in Pewabic tile, alma mater of Tom Skerritt and Marge Piercy; demolished in 2012.
01 / The story of this place
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Mackenzie High School opened in September 1928 on Detroit's west side, on land the city had only recently annexed from Greenfield Township. It was named for David Mackenzie, a former Central High School principal who became the first dean of the college that grew into Wayne State University. The three-story building was trimmed in blue and yellow tile from Detroit's own Pewabic Pottery. For nearly eighty years Mackenzie produced a remarkable list of graduates: actor Tom Skerritt, later of Alien, Top Gun and Picket Fences, finished here in 1951, and poet and novelist Marge Piercy went here in the early 1950s. Later came jazz saxophonist Kenny Garrett, NFL Hall of Famer Jerome Bettis and Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Marilyn Kelly. As enrollment shrank, the high school closed in 2007, and the building came down in June 2012. That same year a new school for the youngest grades through eighth grade opened on the old athletic field at Wyoming and Chicago, keeping the Mackenzie name alive.
- Opened in September 1928, named for educator David Mackenzie
- Decorated with blue and yellow Pewabic tile
- Tom Skerritt graduated in 1951; Marge Piercy studied here in the early 1950s
- Closed in 2007 and demolished in June 2012
- A new Mackenzie Elementary-Middle School opened on its athletic field in 2012
Famous Detroiters
Famous people tied to this place 6
Lexicon entries for the people who lived, worked, performed or liked to spend time here.
- Tom Skerritt born 1933 · actor, director
Studied here
Skerritt graduated here in 1951. The school closed in 2007 and was demolished in 2012; a new Mackenzie Elementary-Middle School stands on the site.
- Marge Piercy born 1936 · novelist, poet, activist
Studied here
Her high school, decorated with Pewabic tile; it closed in 2007, was demolished in 2012 and replaced by a K-8 school that kept the Mackenzie name.
- Kenny Garrett born 1960 · jazz alto and soprano saxophonist, flutist, composer
Studied here
West-side public high school with Pewabic tile decoration, from which he graduated in 1978. It closed in 2007 and was demolished in 2012; a new Mackenzie Elementary-Middle School stands on the site.
- Jeremiah Massey born 1982 · basketball player
Studied here
His west-side Detroit high school; the school has since closed and its building was demolished.
- Jerome Bettis born 1972 · American football running back
Studied here
His west-side Detroit high school, where he starred at running back; the school has closed and its building was demolished.
- Roz Ryan born 1951 · actress, singer, comedian
Studied here
The northwest Detroit public high school from which she graduated in 1969; the school closed in 2012.
Sources & fact check · Checked: 2026-09-25
An independently written bilingual guide. This collection is not an attendance-based ranking.
03 / Events
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