Charles F. Kettering High School
In the 1950s, Detroit Public Schools was growing rapidly. Many of the district's schools were old and in need of repair or replacement. In 1959, voters approved a $90-million program that included funds for 21 new elementary schools, five junior high schools, and three new high schools.
There was a critical need for a new high school on the city's east side, close to the automobile plants and their workers. Eastern High School would be replaced with a new building, but still faced overcrowding. In May of 1960, the district announced that a high school would be built along Van Dyke and the Edsel Ford Freeway, filling a gap between Eastern and Denby High Schools. The new school would be named after Charles Kettering, co-founder of DELCO and head of research at General Motors for 27 years, who passed away in 1958.
Kettering High would be a modern school, built in phases as money and resources allowed. Clearing out the houses on the site began in March of 1961, and by June the land for the first phase had been leveled and surveyed. However, even as the district was racing to build schools as enrollment approached 300,000 students, Kettering and other projects were delayed by strikes and cost increases. It wasn't until 1963 that the design of the $5-million-dollar school was finalized, by which point the district was already setting aside money for the first of several additions to increase the size of the building.
This long forgotten clock is only tells time two times a day.
As the start of the 1965 school year approached, workers scrambled to finish Kettering, Eastern, and Murray-Wright high schools. Even as the school opened in September, some classes were held in the gym because classroom furniture hadn't arrived. Workers continued to install lights and tiles throughout the first week, and at least for a few days, all of the clocks were frozen at 10:30.
The first unit of Kettering included two-story classroom wings connected in the center by a library and a cafeteria. The Detroit Free Press noted, "Classrooms are grouped to divide students into 'houses' of about 600 students each to reduce the feeling of floating about in a gigantic educational factory. The Kettering High School is purposely designed to break up great vistas and provide a homelike atmosphere, with soft, pastel color and controlled light... Two small courts help light the library and lunchroom at the Kettering High School and give the impression that one is looking out a living room window toward a garden." The school was built without an auditorium or swimming pool, which would be added when funding became available.
Work on the second unit of Kettering, which included additional classrooms and a gymnasium, started in 1967 and finished in 1969. A third unit, which included a pool, was planned but delayed as the school district found itself in the middle of a landmark school desegregation case.
Like many other high schools in Detroit, Kettering was highly segregated. In 1970, 89% of Kettering students were black, while nearby Denby High was 93% white. As part of a court-ordered integration program, white students who would have ordinarily been assigned to Denby were instead shifted to Kettering, touching off protests that shut down several schools. The NAACP sued to stop school construction, which favored majority white schools, and it wasn't until 1975 that the 4.3 million dollar pool and classroom addition was built at Kettering.
Gang violence had also become a significant issue in many high schools. In 1975, only 10 to 20% of Kettering's 2,000 students had gang affiliation, but the fights, stabbings, and shootings reverberated throughout the community.
Chairs set in one of ketterings many courtyards, waiting for students who will not show.
Ground was broken on the final addition to the school in 1978 - a 4 million dollar performing arts center that would include a 1,200-seat auditorium and expanded cafeteria space. The addition was designed by Detroit architect Roger Margerum. The sharp, angular design was meant to inspire students. "If we had given those kids a dog of a building, they would have torn it up. But we made it nice, hoping it would inspire them to not tear it up," he told the Detroit Free Press. The addition included a 14-foot-tall "K" in front of the school. "We needed a physical symbol that the students could relate to. The 15-ton reinforced concrete letter is rugged, a sort of permanent battering ram of the school's identity. And the students react to it, too."
The Leonard Sain Auditorium was dedicated in 1981, two years behind schedule. But the addition did little to stop the bleeding. The 1980's were a period of turmoil in the school district and the city, as officials struggled with how to respond to the decline in population that came with the loss of industrial jobs and white flight. High school students, in particular, were vulnerable to the lure of gangs, which provided a sense of family that was often lacking. Rivalries often turned deadly. In 1989, the football team's quarterback was shot and killed for his Nike shoes and jacket by gang members.
Despite the negative headlines in the newspaper, some students carved out a stable, productive school life. In 2001, students converted an overgrown courtyard into a wildlife oasis, building ponds and a butterfly habitat. Kettering maintained a strong level of school pride, which remains to this day in the active alumni association. But the east side continued to empty out, and by 2003, enrollment had fallen to 1,673 students, and there were plenty of empty classrooms.
In 2004, the school district established a new school within the school. The single-story 1969 classroom addition was extensively renovated. It became "Kettering West," a program for special needs students, while the high school continued in a reduced space. Still the school continued to lose students. Kettering was conspicuously absent from a list of schools scheduled to be renovated or replaced in 2009, leading students and parents to wonder if the school would remain open much longer as a wave of building closures swept the district.
In 2010, DPS announced that both Kettering programs would close and relocate due to low enrollment. While the building had a capacity of 2,100, only 878 students were enrolled. Ultimately the school was taken off the closure list due to concerns about gang violence if students transfered to Southeastern High, a rival school. But the reprieve was brief.
Kettering was again listed for closure in 2012. The district cited "an immediate need for roof, window, and HVAC replacements totaling more than $5 million" as part of the reason for closing, despite having invested nearly $7 million to renovate the west wing and the swimming pool just a few years before.
Kettering High School closed for good in June of 2012. In March 2014, DPS announced that Kettering would be converted into an urban farm called the Kettering Urban Agricultural Campus to provide local schools with fresh food. Early phases would involve building hoop houses on the parking lot and football field and planting crops where the baseball fields were located. Later phases would renovate the auditorium and athletic wings of the building for food production. In contrast, the classroom wings and administrative wings would be demolished. Though some early site preparation work was completed, including fencing off the property and installing security cameras, the project stalled as the district fell into financial crisis.
In 2019, automotive parts supplier Dakkota Integrated Systems announced that it bought Kettering for $2.6 million. Dakkota initially planned to demolish the school and build a 55 million dollar factory to supply the Chrysler plant on Mack, which was expanding to build Jeeps. A few months later, however, the plan was scaled down as the company believed it would take too long to demolish the school, opting to build it on the athletic field instead. Work began on the plant in 2019, and the big blue K that stood in front of the school was moved to the corner of Van Dyke and Hendrie. A plaque next to the K reads:
This property sits on the land that housed one of the most beloved high schools in Detroit's history, Charles F. Kettering High School. It was affectionately called 'The Big KE.' A major symbol of the school pride is the 30,000 lb 'K' made of solid concrete that was proudly designed and cast by Kettering students. Standing 14 feet tall, the 'K' symbolizes a strong tradition of academic and athletic achievement of the proud Kettering Pioneers. Since the inception of Kettering in 1965 until its closing in 2012, the 'K' remains a symbol of the school's (sic) legendary history and the unwavering pride of all teachers, staff, and their committed alumni. The school mottos, 'Go Hard or Go Home' and 'We're a Winner', are words we lived by and will never be forgotten. Long live the memory of the 'Sweet Blue and White.'