History of M. M. Rose School

The M. M. Rose School is Detroit's oldest public school still standing. Formerly, this title was held by the Beard School in Southwest Detroit until it was destroyed by an arson fire and demolished in 2022. The Rose School at 5505 Van Dyke St. was built in 1897, making it over 127 years old. An original one-classroom building was constructed in 1892 on the site of the school and was closed and abandoned shortly after the M. M. Rose School opened, this original one-classroom unit was later demolished. The name of the school comes from Melissa Margaret Rose (1833-1892), who was originally a 2nd grade teacher in 1858 at Bishop Union School and later a principal of Abbott Street School in 1865. This gives her credit as the first female principal within Detroit Public Schools. She went through several schools and became the principal at Everett School from 1872 to 1889. When she took a leave of absence to battle brain cancer, Miss Rose died in 1892 at Grace Hospital from that same cancer . She rests today at Woodmere Cemetery in Southwest Detroit. The Rose School was built in Detroit before the boom of the automobile era, at a time when Detroit was known for its cigar production. This would last until around the end of World War I when the automobile dominated the market and the economy of Detroit. The Rose School was constructed when Detroit was primarily recognized for its port along the Detroit River on the Great Lakes and for those cigars. Much of the later population boom in Detroit was still over a decade or two away. During this period, Henry Ford was making prototypes of his Quadricycle. It would still be over another five years until Ford was founded. The school features all wood framing, reflecting the era of buildings it was constructed in before steel became commonplace in construction. The second floor of the building was completed in 1898, and into the 20th century, the school was severely overcrowded. An addition was supposed to be built in 1923 but was instead replaced by a playground due to declining enrollment at the school as early as 1920. This was likely due to more schools opening nearby, such as Copper Elementary and Lynch Elementary, rather than the downsizing commonly found in the decline of most abandoned Detroit schools. The school would later experience spikes in the 1940s as Detroit's population reached its peak. In the 1960s, the Rose School underwent extensive renovations, likely due to its age of around 60 years at that time. However, by this point, the school was very outdated and small compared to many of its neighboring schools. In 1979, a new Rose School was built behind the Kettering High School located near the M. M. Rose School. This would be the ultimate replacement for a school that had been built very early in Detroit's history. The new Rose School, named Rose Elementary, caused the M. M. Rose School to close in 1980, just short of 100 years of serving the community. However, this would not be the last of the M. M. Rose School, in 1981 the school would be sold to the Sister Clara Muhammad School, which at the time had around 30 schools in Detroit, The principal at the Van Dyke location was Sister Malika Muhammad. Students learned the basics but also were taught Arabic and Islamic Studies. The area around Van Dyke however was in significant decline at that time as many auto manufacturers outsourced jobs to overseas bidders, leaving the East Side of Detroit, which had relied on auto jobs, in heavy decline. By 1993 the Rose School was abandoned for good. In 2001, the school was sold to controversial Detroit landlord Dennis Kefallinos, which owns over 300 buildings around Detroit including the Southwest Detroit Hospital although the building sale was completed, it never underwent renovation just like many of Kefallinos properties. Rose Elementary, which replaced M. M. Rose, closed in 2005 and was leased to a neighborhood group who used it until 2010, when Rose Elementary was closed for good. As the years of harsh Michigan weather hit the M. M. Rose School, the condition of the school took a toll. By the late 2000s, major damage had been reported as the roof began to give way in spots. This exposed the wood frame construction to the elements. Preservationists in 2010 attempted to get the school, along with many other Detroit Public Schools, on the National Register of Historic Places, but ultimately, the M. M. Rose School was never added to the list. Today, in 2025, much of the floor has collapsed, and the remaining wood supports are unstable in places, with many of the wood supports used to build the original flooring dangling from lower floors. Though it appears the owners has been required by the city to fix the roof and some of the floors as new material appears to be in the building from years past also a new coat of paint has been applied to the outside of the building as recent as 2019. Although the brick exterior remains in acceptable condition, the building is one of Detroit's best examples of history hidden within. However, this title is likely not to last, as the school is in very poor shape and is the worst condition building that Abandoned Commercial Detroit has ever explored, alongside Chene Liquor. Nevertheless, this should not diminish the building's significance, as it has outlasted even its replacement, which was demolished in 2020. The future of this building doesn't look bright, but for now, we can observe how the building displays its history of Detroit and stands as Miss Rose's last piece of history dedicated to her in the city.