6921 West Fort Street
Southwestern High School, Nordstrum Intermediate School
Over the past two weeks, a quiet demolition of Southwestern High School has been ongoing. Don’t get me wrong—while taking these photographs, the wrecking crews were extraordinarily loud. However, there have been so many architecturally significant demolitions in recent months that there hasn’t been much coverage here.
Southwestern High School was completed in 1922 and was designed by Malcomson & Higginbotham. It was built next to Nordstrum High School, which would be turned into an intermediate school after Southwestern was completed. The complex would peak at nearly 3,000 students around the tail end of the Great Depression. In the 1960s, an addition that modernized the school would be completed, including a basketball court that would be home to some of Detroit’s best-ever athletes.
A decline in enrollment caused the school’s closure at the end of the 2011/2012 school year, despite numerous upgrades to the building over the past two decades. Within two years, the school had been scrapped, vandalized, and suffered a fire—pushing the school closer to the point of no return.
In 2015, the complex was purchased by Sakthi Automotive, an auto components supplier based in India. They planned to construct a manufacturing facility south of the school and renovate Southwestern into a training center. The manufacturing facility was completed, but no work was done at the school besides covering the windows with painted plywood.
In 2019, the plant they built south of the school closed, and Southwestern continued to fall into disrepair. Dan Gilbert’s Bedrock purchased the two buildings in September 2020 and leased the newer space to LM Manufacturing two years later.
To my knowledge, the property is still owned by Bedrock. In contrast to many of my pieces on demolitions in Detroit, I don’t blame the current owners much for this one. Detroit should never have shuttered Southwestern—even if it wasn’t a school anymore, it shouldn’t have been closed without a plan to protect its investment.
After that, the city should have had a written guarantee that Sakthi Automotive would redevelop the property. Although it wasn’t in impeccable shape when they purchased it, the structure was far better off than when Bedrock bought it a half-decade later.
As always, hindsight is 20/20.
That said, Southwestern was savable in 2012, 2015, 2020, and a few weeks ago when demolition began. Bedrock and similar developers have proven that no building is too far gone. The surrounding area was becoming increasingly industrial before Southwestern was completed a century ago, and the land is far more valuable without the school.
Southwestern was adorned with ornate details that were common in schools of the era. The decorative plaques on the doorways appear to be identical to those on Levi Barbour Intermediate School in Pingree Park. Once again, I’m shocked these details were not preserved before demolition.
I’ll miss cruising down Fort Street, noticing the ornate details out of the corner of my eye. I’ll never forget exploring it in 2015, doing my best to take a photo of the basketball court Jalen Rose donated to the school. Every few weeks, Detroit loses another iconic piece of its history.
Once more, we’re left wondering if there is anything we can do to save these structures from a city that’s hell-bent on tearing them down.
A few notable Prospector alumni include politicians Rashida Tlaib and Ben Carson, NBA players Howard Eisley, Voshon Lenard, Tony Robertson, and Jalen Rose, NFL player Luis Sharpe, and MLB players Barney McCosky and Stan Lopata.
