1500 Trumbull Street
Wayne County and Home Savings Bank, Santa Maria Community House, Metro Matrix Human Services, Matrix Human Services, Reyes Finn Gallery
If I’ve learned anything in researching the backgrounds of historically significant structures in Detroit, it’s that banks often have the most diverse occupants. This one has seen everything from banking to community services and pricey art galleries.
In 1927, the Wayne County and Home Savings Bank opened a new branch at 1500 Trumbull. At the time, the financial institution had 52 offices, including affiliates in Highland Park, Hamtramck, and Fordson. The latter was a community renamed from Springwells in 1925 and annexed into Dearborn in 1928. The bank was one of many in Detroit in the 1920s but was ultimately foiled during or after the Great Depression. Its main office was downtown at Michigan and Griswold and still stands, albeit shorter than it once was.
By 1940, their branch at Trumbull and Labrosse was no longer a bank. The Sons of Malta may have briefly used it, but there isn’t much information on that. However, within four years, it would have a new occupant.
On September 16, 1944, the League of Catholic Women opened the Santa Maria Community House in the old bank building. The organization was founded around 1906 and was incorporated with the state of Michigan in 1915.
The Community House was home to the League of Catholic Women’s youth programming and adult classes for decades. There were courses to help non-English speakers learn the language, programs to keep children occupied, and events for local non-profits and organizations. As the demographics of Corktown, or the neighborhood around Tiger Stadium, as it was often called, began to change, the programming continued to offer alternatives for the kids and adults who lived there.
In the 1960s, the organization held an annual Miss Casa Maria contest, where local kids could enter and spend a fun day dressed up. The winner from the year prior would crown the new queen, and it was a tradition for kids in the neighborhood. By this time, the Hispanic population in Southwest Detroit was notable. According to the Detroit Free Press, the center was still operated by the Archdiocese of Detroit through the auspices of the League of Catholic Women.
In 1979, a job posting in the paper was evidence of how much money was invested into youth centers in Detroit. Casa Maria Community House was hiring an executive director. They were looking for someone with a bachelor’s degree and experience with youth programming to work between noon and 8 PM. The League of Catholic Women was hiring for the position, paying $17,000 annually, or close to $70,000 in 2023. However, the days of ample funding were limited.
Casa Maria was set to close a the end of the summer of 1980. Michigan’s Department of Social Services delivered wholesale cuts to funding for twenty community centers across the state, including three others in Detroit. At the time, Casa Maria’s budget was $130,000 a year, or roughly $475K in 2023. Most of that budget came from the DSS, which meant the Community House needed a miracle in the form of a huge donor.
Ultimately, the center was only closed for a month, reopening in October 1980. Private and state funds, some of which came from within the League of Catholic Women, arrived to save the day. The funding was enough to keep the building open through at least September 1981. At the time, the director was Marsha Barber Clark.
In the 1980s, the center began focusing more on crisis intervention. Youth programming was still a hallmark of their daily work, but work with runaway teens increased, including offering a 24-hour runaway service to help kids in need. Community events still occurred at the structure but weren’t as frequent as before.
In 1994, The League of Catholic Women became Metro Matrix Human Services. Around that time, the Academy of Casa Maria opened. It was a charter school for at-risk children that operated out of the offices at the old bank building at 1500 Trumbull.
The school was primarily Hispanic and, in 1995, moved into St. Matthew Lutheran School at 4430 St. James Street, which had recently closed its doors. The school was rented for $2,000 a month, including utilities. There were some 70 students between grades six and nine, and, according to the Detroit Free Press, most students were two grade levels behind when they started at the school. At the time, Roseanna Pardo, a Columbian immigrant, ran the school.
In 1997, Casa Maria’s summer programs were still in full swing in Corktown. Kids aged four through 18 could attend field trips at little to no cost to their parents. Some programs included trips to the Detroit Zoo, Greenfield Village, Belle Isle Zoo, Detroit Science Center, Detroit Tigers’ games, roller skating, bowling, and to the movies. At the end of every summer, the organization made a trip to Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. Corktown would see investment within the next decade, but in 1997, these programs were essential for neighboring families.
In 1999, the organization changed names again, landing with its current one, Matrix Human Services. I haven’t determined when Casa Maria Community House moved out of the structure at the corner of Trumbull and Labrosse, but my best guess is the early 2000s.
Today, Matrix Human Services has numerous locations and partners across Detroit and the metro area. The organization, founded over a century ago, focuses on youth programming, persons at risk or living with HIV, head start school programs, and help for adults to be self-sufficient in their homes and communities.
Throughout the 2000s, I’m not sure what happened at 1500 Trumbull. However, it’s currently occupied.
Bridget Finn and Terese Reyes operate the Reyes Finn Gallery out of the space. Originally located in downtown Birmingham, their operation moved to Corktown in 2019. According to the Detroit Free Press, “the new location at 1500 Trumbull Avenue will integrate the character of its former tenant [the Rosa Maria Community House] — the basketball court and crown moldings are staying — into the design of the gallery” Reyes is the niece of MOCAD founder Julia Reyes Taubman. The gallery has hosted numerous events since opening, although it was hit by the pandemic like most local businesses.
The evolution of 1500 Trumbull is indicative of how Corktown has changed over the past two decades. There are high school students whose parents might have dropped off their kids at Casa Maria so they could go to work and earn a living. Some kids who can’t order a beer at a bar yet might have left the city and state for the very first time to ride the Millenium Force at Cedar Point with Casa Maria. Corktown has always been a somewhat healthy neighborhood, but its demographics, housing stock prices, and income have changed dramatically in a few short years.
In four years, this structure will be a century old. Hopefully, it’ll be open for another 100 years and can continue to serve the community, as it did when it opened, in unique ways for the rest of its existence.
