Famous people's places / Detroit – East Side
Eastern High School
Closed – archive entry · 1967
Detroit's original 1901 Eastern High School building on Mack Avenue, where journalist Helen Thomas studied in the 1930s; demolished in 1982.
01 / The story of this place
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Eastern High School opened in September 1901 in a building at Mack Avenue and Grand Boulevard on Detroit's east side, one of only three high schools serving the city at the time. Journalist Helen Thomas, later the pioneering White House correspondent who covered ten presidents for United Press International, attended Eastern in the 1930s and later said it was here that she decided to become a reporter. The district moved Eastern's students into a new building at East Lafayette and Mount Elliott in 1967, and a year later, after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., renamed the new school Martin Luther King Jr. Senior High School. The original 1901 Eastern building on Mack Avenue stood empty afterward and was demolished in 1982.
- Opened in September 1901 at Mack Avenue and Grand Boulevard
- Journalist Helen Thomas attended in the 1930s and decided here to become a reporter
- Students moved to a new building at East Lafayette and Mount Elliott in 1967
- Renamed Martin Luther King Jr. Senior High School in 1968
- The original 1901 building was demolished in 1982
Famous Detroiters
Famous people tied to this place 1
Lexicon entries for the people who lived, worked, performed or liked to spend time here.
- Helen Thomas 1920–2013 · journalist, White House correspondent, columnist
Studied here
She decided to become a journalist while at Eastern High on Detroit's east side; the school later became Martin Luther King Jr. Senior High School.
Sources & fact check · Checked: 2026-09-25
An independently written bilingual guide. This collection is not an attendance-based ranking.
03 / Events
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