History of Mcfarlane Elementary School

Mcfarlane Elementary School was built under the Greenfield Township District in 1925. That same year, the City of Detroit annexed Greenfield Township and acquired the school. Over the course of the first year, enrollment stood at 300 students, with a capacity of 420 students. Unlike most Detroit Public Schools, Mcfarlane's gymnasium was part of the original building plan. As the neighborhood around Mcfarlane grew, the school did too; a new addition to the school was constructed in 1931, adding many new classrooms and increasing the capacity of the school to 720 students. With many families moving to Detroit's west side in the post-WWII era, the school grew exponentially again, and a new addition was built in 1951. This addition included an auditorium, a library, and several new extracurricular rooms. With the new addition, Mcfarlane had 1,007 students in attendance, though throughout the 1950s and into the 60s, a shift to the suburbs was taking a toll on the school. The student population had dropped to 840 students. This decline can be attributed to the predominantly white student body at Mcfarlane, along with the fact that most families who moved to the suburbs early on were of white race, commonly referred to as "white flight." Around this same time, Mcfarlane would shift its mix of students, combining many students from the nearby overcrowded, mostly Black Sherrill Elementary School into Mcfarlane. This shift prompted the district to consider converting Mcfarlane into a junior high school, though white parents opposed this plan. By 1969, the mix of students was 489 white students to 820 Black ones. The last addition to Mcfarlane would come very late for a Detroit Public School, occurring in 1999. However, this addition was small and only added four new classrooms and two new bathrooms. In 2010, after the new McKenzie Elementary/Middle School was announced, it opened in 2012. This school was built on the site of Mackenzie High School, which was demolished in 2012. In 2015, Mcfarlane was sold to the land bank. Today, it stands as one of the best conditions among abandoned Detroit Public Schools.