5505 Van Dyke Avenue
M. M. Rose School, Sister Clara Muhammad School
For ages, this school has been touted as one of the oldest Detroit Public School buildings still standing in Detroit. After researching it, I still believe that to be true. However, as anyone who has been inside or can fly a drone will tell you, it probably won’t stand for long.
M. M. Rose is somewhat of a mystery. She existed in an era of Detroit’s history that isn’t as well documented—and although we know a few things about her, a lot of her life has been lost in time.
Rose taught in Detroit for over 30 years. She became the principal of the Everett School in 1876, which stood at East Fort Street between Hastings and Rivard. After her death, her name was misreported as Mary Martha Rose.
After some research, help from other historians, and more research, it can be confirmed that M. M. Rose’s name was Melissa M. Rose. She passed away on January 21, 1892, from ‘brain cancer.’ She had an operation to try and fix the issue a few years prior, but it wasn’t successful.
Before her death, a school was named in her honor on Van Dyke Avenue. It was a small school that needed to be upgraded almost as soon as it was completed. Budget cuts and setbacks killed plans a few times, but work began at the end of 1897.
The structure was designed by Malcomson & Higginbotham, one of Detroit’s finest firms at the time. Because of budget cuts, the first floor was completed, but the second floor wouldn’t be until nearly a year later.
The school opened for the first time on January 10, 1898. The address is 5505 Van Dyke.
The M. M. Rose School was open until a new one was built behind Kettering High School around 1980. Shortly after, the Detroit Board of Education put it up for sale.
In February 1981, the price was $90,000, or just under $300,000 today. It didn’t sell in the first round of offers.
By April, the price was $45,000, or just under $150,000 today. I’m not sure whether they realized they had it priced too high or if they needed the money, but I believe it sold around that time because it wasn’t advertised again.
It was sold (or leased) to the Sister Clara Muhammad School, formerly called the University of Islam. It was founded by Elijah Muhammad in 1932. The Detroit Free Press reported that “the school in Detroit, for grades kindergarten through 12, is now in the old Rose Elementary School on Van Dyke near Gratiot.” The principal was Sister Malika Muhammad. Students learned the basics but also were taught Arabic and Islamic Studies.
By 1993, the school had moved to 11529 Linwood. I believe the school vacated its Van Dyke location before that, though.
Whenever it was vacated, it quickly fell into disrepair. Remember, the school was completed before the turn of the century—the construction was mostly wood. It might have had steel reinforcements if it had been built even a decade or two later. Not to say that steel wasn’t used at that time, but they were over budget already.
This has caused the roof to give way, leaving a gaping hole. This gave the elements, namely harsh Detroit winters, a one-way ticket into the structure’s second floor. By the time I explored it nearly a decade ago, the second floor had caved in directly below the massive hole in the ceiling.
The M. M. Rose school looks like a well-built tank from Van Dyke Avenue. It’s crafted from sturdy brick, and although it’s tattered around the edges, it feels like the kind of building that could withstand anything. Given the poor shape of the structure all those years ago, it feels like it’s only a matter of time before the school folds in on top of itself, taking the last remaining legacy of M. M. Rose with it.
The other Rose School, built around 1980, was recently demolished. It closed in 2006. Kettering, the high school next to it, closed in 2012. Both were slated for demolition so the land could be used as a part of the new Dakkota Integrated Systems facility, but Kettering still stands. I’ve seen at least a dozen articles stating that the new construction is on the former Kettering site when in reality, it was built on the site of its athletic fields, which were still used by the community. Rose was demolished for the facility’s retention pond. Kettering is still vacant and tattered.
Now, back to the original M. M. Rose School. At this point, I feel like a broken record. Guess who owns it? I won’t even play any games this time—records show that Southend Development Group, LLC owns this property. It’s headquartered at 1600 Clay and run by, you guessed it, Dennis Kefallinos. Records show that he purchased it in 2001 for $10,000.
The M. M. Rose School is too far gone to save, unfortunately. The damage has been done, and it’s just a question of when it’ll come down. Once it does, the final piece of M. M. Rose’s legacy will be gone, regardless of her real name.
A rendering from The Detroit Free Press in December 1897.
Melissa M. Rose’s death announcement in the Detroit Free Press on January 21, 1892.
Information on the Sister Clara Muhammad School, which used the Rose School in the 80s, from the Detroit Free Press.
