8411 East Forest
Hillger Elementary School, Detroit Urban League Eastside Center
On September 14, 1912, the Detroit Free Press reported, “The new school on Forest Ave between Chippewa and Seneca Aves is to be named after William Hillger.” Though that statement seems pretty straightforward on a surface level, there are a few things to unpack.
First, there is no Chippewa Avenue today. The street was renamed Iroquois in the mid-1910s, but I haven’t determined why. There’s no strong connection between the Iroquois and the Chippewa, so the name change was likely for appearances.
Second, who is William Hillger, and why was a school to be named after him? Hillger was a City Councilman who represented the 17th Ward for ten years. Additionally, he was on the Detroit School Board. At the time of his death, he had been in the real estate business in Detroit for 35 years, significantly impacting the development of Detroit’s east side and eastside suburbs like Grosse Pointe. He pushed heavily for the annexation of portions of Detroit on the far east side today and helped divide those neighborhoods after the push for the annex was successful. His real estate company, the William Hillger Land Co., was highly successful, and his wife Alice was the vice president.
Though his stature in the real estate business wasn’t nearly as strong as it would become when the school was named after him in 1912, there was sufficient cause for a school to bear his name. In 1931, Hillger was admitted to a sanitarium after suffering from a nervous breakdown. On May 18, 1932, he shot himself in the head with his pistol while inside his office on Jefferson Avenue. The present-day location of that office is one of the retention ponds for the Jefferson North Plant. His company posthumously existed into the 1940s.
Back at the corner of Chippewa and East Forest, the elementary school was completed and open. The building was designed by Malcomson & Higginbotham, and Henrietta Robinson was the principal. Early on, the school was known for its sports teams, particularly its youth soccer squad.
The 1915 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map is somewhat shocking compared to the makeup of the neighborhood today, which is the inverse of what happens typically. Pingree Park didn’t exist yet, but there was no development there. Seneca Street still ran through both parcels in the modern-day park, and very few homes were built in the neighborhood by this point. The Hillger School was there; however, it stood mostly alone in the neighborhood’s landscape. That would soon change as development spurred here quickly.
In July 1918, the Detroit Recreational Commission and the Chamber of Music Society put on a recital at the Hillger School. Students performed “The Spirit of the Allies” and other patriotic songs. The United States’ involvement in the World War had ramped up, so this patriotism wasn’t uncommon for the era.
In September, the United States Selective Service was still ramping up registration for the war. All men 18 and older and under 46 had to register, and there were dozens of locations to do so around the city, including the Hillger School.
Though most often in the paper for sports, the Hillger School had its own newspaper by 1921. It was called the Hillger Herald and run by students. That year, there was a photograph of the paper’s editors in the Detroit Free Press. A few months later, Freep features a picture of the Hillger School’s Baseball team, champions of League 11. The caption read, “They wish it to be known that Miss Quinn is their manager.”
In 1922, Henrietta Robinson was promoted from principal at the Hillger School to Joyce, an elementary school just down the road at Sylvester and Iroquois. Today, that school is occupied by Detroit Prep.
In 1926, the school was featured in the Detroit Free Press while training for the Belle Isle Meet. Detroit’s youth met on Belle Isle for annual races and athletic events. In 1925, little kids aged six through eight were invited to join for the first time. The piece showed a photograph of children racing outside the Hillger School, and the article stated that “Practice races between the girls and the boys are frequent occurrences at Hillger, where the playground consists of several acres, is carpeted with grass and shaded with trees. Not all schools are so fortunate in their physical environment.” Even today, the Hillger School has a unique position within Pingree Park.
In 1928, the Hillger School Pageant was held at nearby Barbour Intermediate School. Because of all the schools in the area, parents had significant choices when deciding where to send their children, and the neighborhood’s public schools could share resources. The Hillger School, Joyce School, Barbour Intermediate School, Salem Lutheran Church School, and St. Catherine School were within a two-by-two-block radius. When comparing that to the modern equivalent, you won’t find as much opportunity anywhere, even in areas like Midtown.
In April 1932, the Hillger School Fete (or celebration) was held. It included a performance of “The Kitchen Clock,” gymnastics exhibits, dances, and a concert by the kindergarten band.
In August of that year, John Klozkow, 63, died while working at the school. He was a window washer and fell off a ledge at the school, dying an hour later at Detroit Receiving Hospital.
In 1934, the principal was Miss Jennie Clow.
The school was often the site of PTA meetings and presentations. In 1935, Boyd Walker from the YMCA discussed “What Camping Means to Your Child,” and in 1936, S. W. Shoults from the Detroit Police Department Bureau of Public Safety showed motion pictures and discussed safety measures.
In 1944, Charles “Chuckie” Reed was hit by a car on the way to school. He was just six years old, breaking his left leg and sustained head injuries. The accident inspired his classmate, 11-year-old Doris Schultz, to enter the Detroit Free Press Fox Theatre Traffic Safety Contest. When interviewed by the Detroit Free Press, she said, “I saw Chuckie lying on the street after he was hit and he was screaming something awful. I hope there will be a lot of good things come out of the essay contest so that no other children will be hurt like Chuckie was. I sure feel sorry for him having to stay in that bed on Thanksgiving.” These contests were semi-frequent, and students being hit by cars and trains wasn’t uncommon.
In 1945, the students at the Hillger School organized a wastepaper collection program for neighborhood residents.
In 1950, there was a Hillger School Mothers’ Club. They hosted various events, including an Easter Fashion Show, at the school and other places in the neighborhood.
The 1951 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map shows a much denser neighborhood, though Seneca Street still runs right through the modern-day park. I’m unsure when that road was decommissioned and removed.
In 1958, Detroit School Superintendent Samual M. Brownell proposed a sweeping budget to improve and replace old school buildings. The priority was hazardous buildings and structures known as ‘fire traps’ due to their old construction. The Detroit Free Press reported that “Brownell’s priority list for construction starts with a four million dollar project to complete the Ford High School and ends 129 projects later with replacement of the Hillger Elementary School.” Henry Ford High School wouldn’t be completed for four years, opening in 1962, so it isn’t a shock that Hillger remained open a while, too. Brownell served the Detroit Public Schools as superintendent until 1966 and previously was the U.S. Commissioner of Education in the 1950s.
Though it was proposed to close in the late 1950s, the Hillger School would remain open for another two decades. The paper trail gets murky around this era, but it was still mentioned in newspapers a handful of times.
In April 1970, 6th graders made a recipe book for a history project focused on African history and recipes. Area residents could get the cookbook by sending 50 cents to Mrs. Hollings at the Hillger School. Additionally, this is a nod to the changing demographics of the neighborhood.
The last mention of the Hillger School I’ve found came in 1975. The school hosted a Little Mr. and Mrs. Hillger Contest to raise money to purchase television sets for the school’s primary grades to show educational videos. For every 10 cents a student’s parent collected, the pupil got one vote. The fundraiser was able to wrangle nearly $750, over $4,500 in 2024. Oria McClain, 8, and Tanya Clark, 5, were crowned Mr. and Mrs. Hillger.
I estimate the Hillger School closed in the late 1970s or early 1980s. With another elementary school down the street (Joyce Elementary), it was a no-brainer to close the older, fire-trap school than the newer, larger one. The Joyce School would close in 2009 alongside nearby Barbour Intermediate School.
After closure, I’m not sure what immediately happened to the Hillger School. In the mid-to-late 1980s, the Detroit Urban League utilized the second floor.
The organization, dating back to 1916, had a footprint in the neighborhood in 1983, and the Detroit Free Press printed photographs of students riding unicycles outside of what appears to be St. Catherine School.
I believe the center inside the Hillger School was called the Detroit Urban League Eastside Center. I haven’t found any record of that; however, I have found some information by searching for the phone number on the sign that is still stuck on the Forest Avenue side of the building.
In 1988, that number was listed for College Club and Adult Basic Education and General Equivalency Diploma programs. In 1989, it was listed as the number for Ruth Diaz, who was helping host a Black History Month Quiz/Essay Contest. In 1991, the number was credited to Lisa Fuller, the non-profit’s Education Director, and listed under ads for scholarship opportunities offered by the Detroit Urban League.
I’m unsure how long the Detroit Urban League utilized this structure; however, I’d guess the group was gone by the mid-to-late 1990s. I don’t think the non-profit owned the structure and was likely not the only group in the former Hillger School. The Detroit Urban League is still around today, offering metro Detroiters services relating to education, quality of life, civil rights, and other issues.
The school was very tattered by the early 2000s, and the windows looked shabby into the 2010s. A small outbuilding in the parking lot was demolished around 2010. Bushes and landscaping were flanking the Forest Avenue side entrances, but those were chopped down by the 2020s. An apple tree near the corner of Iroquois and Forest is still standing strong.
The Hillger School was up for sale in 2018 for $799,999. I’m unsure who owned it.
In 2021, the Pingree Park Urban District Trust, an LLC I can find zero information on, purchased the former Hillger School for $410,000. I believe they boarded the school up, which is likely a positive for preserving the structure but makes it look much worse, in my opinion. Though the lawn is still mowed, the weeds against the side of the school have been allowed to flourish under the new ownership, completely covering the school’s marker.
The LLC’s address is listed on the Detroit Parcel Map and Regrid as Anaheim, California. I’m unsure if this means that someone from California owns the structure, a lawyer from California did the paperwork, or whoever owns it used a virtual address for their LLC. Regardless, I wish the owner wasn’t being so secretive. If you mean well, why are you hiding?
Regardless of current ownership antics, I’m glad this structure is still in somewhat good shape. Detroit’s Pingree Park neighborhood has seen an upswing in population and housing prices in recent years. Thanks to non-profits like MACC Development, the neighborhood remained stable when others in the area slid exponentially. Now, the neighborhood is seeing an influx of transplants, which is likely why the Hillger School was purchased in the first place.
Pingree Park is in a unique position, and if appropriately redeveloped, the neighborhood can become one of a kind. Detroit Prep, a charter elementary-middle school, renovated and currently occupies the former Joyce Elementary site. Putting the ethics of charter schools aside, having a school in the neighborhood is a good thing. Barbour Intermediate School hasn’t been torn down and is awaiting redevelopment. It’s currently owned by a Dennis Kefallinos-affiliated LLC, which isn’t great for redevelopment, but it likely won’t be torn down any time soon, either. I’ve never seen anyone work on the Hillger School; however, given how much was recently paid for it, the structure likely won’t be demolished, either.
The redevelopment of Barbour Intermediate could be massive for the neighborhood. There’s enough space for housing, commercial space (think a grocery store and a restaurant), and offices. Pingree Park (the park, not the neighborhood) is one of the finest in Detroit, and it will continue to anchor the neighborhood. Though much smaller in scope, the Hillger School could be transitioned into 25+ apartments, adding to the neighborhood’s density, which, in turn, makes projects like a mixed-use Barbour development more viable. Similar to how these schools shared resources in the early to mid-1900s, they could share in turning Pingree Park into a dynamic neighborhood in the 2020s. Additionally, the neighborhood is serviced by three major bus lines (Mack, Warren, and Van Dyke/Lafayette). The Gratiot line isn’t far, either.
That’s enough blabbering for today. Hopefully, the owner will, at the least, continue to maintain the Hillger School in the coming years. I’m hoping for more, though!
