Charles F. Kettering High School

01 / The story of this place

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Named after inventor and General Motors research chief Charles F. Kettering, this east-side Detroit high school opened in the 1960s to serve a neighborhood near I-94 and Van Dyke Avenue. Among its students in the late 1980s was James Stinson, who graduated in 1989 and went on, together with Gerald Donald, to found Drexciya, one of the most influential and mysterious groups in Detroit's underground techno scene. Like many Detroit Public Schools buildings, Kettering struggled with shrinking enrollment in the 2000s, and in February 2012 the district announced it would close, citing both low student numbers and the cost of badly needed roof and HVAC repairs; its roughly 900 remaining students were rezoned to Pershing High School. The empty building then sat abandoned for twelve years, stripped and deteriorating, until parts supplier Dakkota Integrated Systems bought the site in 2019 and finally demolished the school in 2024 to build a new factory.

1. Opened in the 1960s on Detroit's east side
2. James Stinson of Drexciya graduated here in 1989
3. Closed in June 2012 for low enrollment
4. Stood empty and abandoned for twelve years
5. Demolished in 2024 for a new factory site