Dr. Zina Pitcher Elementary School

01 / The story of this place

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Detroit Public Schools opened this elementary school in 1928 on Stahelin Avenue near Pembroke, in a neighborhood that later organized itself as the O'Hair Park community. The school honored Dr. Zina Pitcher, a physician who settled in Detroit in 1836, served three terms as the city's mayor in the early 1840s, helped found the Detroit Medical Society, and spent sixteen years as a University of Michigan regent helping shape its medical school. Declining enrollment led the district to close Pitcher Elementary in 2007, and the empty building sat deteriorating for over a decade despite neighborhood hopes it could become a community center. After years of pressure from local residents, the city finally demolished the building in 2019, salvaging some of its decorative Pewabic Pottery tiles for reuse, and folded the cleared land into the adjoining O'Hair Park.

1. Opened 1928, named for Dr. Zina Pitcher, three-term Detroit mayor and physician
2. Pitcher helped found the Detroit Medical Society and served as a University of Michigan regent
3. School closed in 2007 due to falling enrollment
4. Demolished in 2019 after years of neighborhood advocacy
5. Pewabic Pottery tiles from the building were salvaged for reuse
6. Site is now part of the adjoining O'Hair Park