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The Breathtaking Then-and-Now Photos of an Abandoned Detroit High School

Dec. 10, 2012 11:42am Liz Klimas

Some would argue the city of Detroit has experienced a boom and bust like no other in the last century. With the automotive and factory industry in the 1920s and onward spurring the city’s population, infrastructure to support it followed. But industry changes led to economic downfall that depressed the city, causing much of the population to leave, while its infrastructure remains, crumbling.

The website Detroiturbex.com is featuring the dilapidated state of the city. It states that “Detroit has no other option but to change.” The project is on hand “documenting that change.”

One of its projects is of the abandoned, original building of Cass Technical High School. Detroiturbex put together eerie then and now images. Here are just a sampling of those:

The old building was torn down officially in 2011. Here’s a time-lapse video showing some of the demo:

The group also takes you through an interactive photo tour of the building’s 10 levels (a cool feature is as you click each each level it builds the school up higher). The imagery for the interactive Cass Tech model was created with Google Sketchup Pro. Detroiturbex constructed it using blueprints, student records and a survey of the buildings in 2010 when they photographed each room.

Detroiturbex Features Eeery Then and Now Photos of Cass Tech School in Detroit

(Image: Detroiturbex.com)

The entire get-up took more than a year to finish. Be sure to take the interactive tour through the school on Detroitturbex’s website here.

The school itself was founded in 1907 with the original building being completed in 1919. The new Cass Tech building was constructed in 2004 and the old school experienced a fire in 2007. Detroiturbex states that just five years after opening, the new school suffers from “shoddy workmanship and poor planning.”

You can see more of Detroiturbex’s photos of the school in a then-and-now slideshow format here.

The Detroiturbex project as a whole is intended to “raise awareness of the social and economic challenges the city of Detroit faces through photography.” The artist acknowledges that many of the places documented, like many urban exploring adventures, have not been accessed legally.

Detroiturbex has cased churches, neighborhoods, parks, schools and other buildings extensively. Find more about them here.

This story was updated to include that the building was officially demolished in 2011.

(H/T: Business Insider)

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Comments (278)

Jack76
Posted on December 10, 2012 at 1:12pm
Did anyone ever think they would see this kind of ruin in an American city?
These images are like the ones they used to show in horror movies when I was growing up and now they’re real.

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Marsh626
Posted on December 10, 2012 at 1:09pm
You should look up the “Race Realist” movement headed by people like the much maligned Jared Taylor.

They look at IQ statistics, violent crime statistics, statistics on social problems, economic statistics, etc, in order to come to objective scientific conclusions on which races are intelligent, competent and civilized (on average) and which aren’t.

They make a very convincing case that essentially only Whites and East Asians are capable of founding, developing and maintaining advanced, prosperous and safe societies since they’re the only racial groups with average IQs over 100.

And they’ve also made a pretty strong case that left-wing Marxism is the only socioeconomic system that holds these 2 racial groups back. Which explains perfectly why Eastern Europe, Russia, North Korea and China are relatively backwards compared to Western Europeans and countries like South Korea and Japan.

I’ve yet to find major flaws in the concept…

This explanation also seems to explain the decline of Detroit quite well.

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DREDGE
Posted on December 10, 2012 at 1:05pm
Let’s see, who can we blame . . . .

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iamnotu
Posted on December 10, 2012 at 1:01pm
I fail to see where this takes my breath away? Lets see, was built in the day and was a beacon of the city, until the democratic leadership was voted in by the masssive influx of takers unlike anything seen before. These takers drained the city coffers and sent their miscrant children to this school. Of course with so many people now not working and only taking from the cities titty there was no money to keep this school afloat. Anyone that had money took their kids out of this school becaue all the takers kids were ruining it. Just as they have ruined city upon city, region upon region.

You need only look no further than entitalments, democratic policies and the tribal mentality!

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- drs1969
  Posted on December 10, 2012 at 11:46pm
  Those takers originally came from the South where they were ‘oppressed’ and ‘held back’ by the racist white man. Now they can achieve their full potential.
  
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That one guy
Posted on December 10, 2012 at 1:01pm
Dear Blaze Staff and Blazers,

I’m from Detroit. Cass Technical High School’s old building was torn down in 2011. The new facility, built in 2004, is right next door to the former. A simple Google search would have done your story headline some justice. That said, there are MANY schools and structures in Detroit and the surrounding suburbs that are abandoned awaiting new life or demolition due to the rapidly changing demographics in Michigan. In Detroit there are many early 20th century structures that are completely faded from their former glory (as is seen on Detroiturbex’s website). That’s what happens when you have a population loss of 1.2 million in Detroit alone since 1950. Many can try to claim the cause of the downfall, from unions to “white flight”, but the truth is, Detroit is a microcosm of the United States. If things stay on track, many more cities just as large will fall just like Detroit with a few strongholds Like NYC and LA. This is corporatism (far from capitalism) at work amid a global economy. Politics in Washington mixed with big business interests, and a Federal Reserve creating currency disparity are the leading causes for the decline of the “American Standard” and the loss of industry. Make no mistake, the Democrat AND Republican establishments have no concern for you. Don’t believe me? Look at their lifestyle changes before, during, and after politics, then look at yours during their 10, 20, 30 (57 in John Dingell’s case) year term in offi

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- 48Straights
  Posted on December 10, 2012 at 1:08pm
  TheBlaze do research before reporting? Heck they dont even report real news. Dont be so hard on them.
  
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Wiseone1w
Posted on December 10, 2012 at 12:58pm
Detroit, as a city, is finished. It is a ghost town. It is time to tear it down, bulldoze it into a politically correct recycling facility and make a park complete with wild animals and predators forest, bears, mountain lions, coyotes, and wolves. Then the easterners can have their own nature preserve and they can leave the western states alone.

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PatrickHenrysGhost
Posted on December 10, 2012 at 12:55pm
BREATHTAKING?!?!?! Really, Blaze?

When will you stop the over-the-top hyperbole when writing a headline or is everyone on your staff a bunch of 14 year olds never exposed to anything before in their lives so something like this generates excessive emotion?

Yes, the school may have been large and full of kids. Yes, it is now abandoned. But many schools get abandoned with time. But “breathtaking?” PUH-LEASE!!!!

Try for a bit more professionalism will you?

Or be like the Huff-Po and ban this comment because you do not like it.

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plastinoid
Posted on December 10, 2012 at 12:51pm
……………and these photo’s represent the nicer places in Detroit! :)

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Truthbeliever2
Posted on December 10, 2012 at 12:50pm
It’s not sad. I’ts the funniest **** I’ve seen all day. They need billions of more dollars to fix this! Even though this is exactly what billions spent has gotten them. Absolute freakn cesspool.

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Redmanblackdog
Posted on December 10, 2012 at 12:46pm
If I was the security guard, I would be cleaning up the place instead of sitting in a pile of filth. They must be union? Or they are on the taxpayers dime. Fairly typical of government.
Government isn’t the solution to the problem, Government is the problem! Where I hear that?

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blackfeather
Posted on December 10, 2012 at 12:45pm
this is how slums are made….and how your property value can go into the sewer.

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danbarlinmar
Posted on December 10, 2012 at 12:43pm
it reminds me of that scene in titanic when it goes from the wreckage to the way it used to be.

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norml1
Posted on December 10, 2012 at 12:42pm
I thought,after the 60′s that we could figure it out. Sorry, kids. Shooting and cussing each other isn’t Actually, most of the slavers who trapped, bought, sold and delivered slaves out of Africa were BLACK. Crap we’ve been through this before. Obama is getting off on this because his mentor was right. Magic! Just keep “em off guard, get ‘em fighting amongst themselves, the idea of being an American will be lost when they quit praying, saying the pledge of allegiance, breaking down the pride of a job well done, letting aliens in who can’t speak
read, or have any thought of joining America as a contributing citizen and assimilating into our culture.That;s the real danger of illegals.
When the shtf I hope that Bill Maher, Harry reid and Nancy Pelosi are at the top of the” TO DO” list.
But just remember that hating the whites by the blacks is hating 75% of you’alls forefathers and relatives(check it out)
America, LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT!!!!

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Gary_K
Posted on December 10, 2012 at 12:42pm
Ahhh Detroit, a communist utopia.

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Ozonekiller
Posted on December 10, 2012 at 12:40pm
This headline is a dog whistle…I’m sorry, you can not use the word “abandoned and Detroit” in the same sentence.It’s too racist. As a matter of fact “Breathtaking” should be eliminated as well. To remove one’s breathe would be to suggest one’s permanent demise. What are you suggesting there?…hmm?

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RightThinking1
Posted on December 10, 2012 at 12:37pm
Actually Government DID build that. It is a sad thing that public buildings are often poorly maintained. There is no sense of ‘ownership’ by bureaucrats, and thus public building rarely receive proper maintenance. It is particularly sad when it is a building constructed in a time when architecture was something that the public cared about. It is one of the great contrasts with Europe that buildings (and particularly public buildings) are given more care than here.
Frankly, I find most contemporary structures indistinct in any meaningful sense,

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Robert Hawk
Posted on December 10, 2012 at 12:36pm
Just more proof that applying Marx and Engels dialectic of materialism, always ends in failure. When you drive out the wealthy by forceful possession of their assets, eventually they move away and leave the remains. Most major metropolitan cities in the United States will look this way within 5 years time. They are ALL bankrupt essentially, only the federal taxation is being redistributed to them now, but soon that is going to fail as well, then they will have only themselves to blame for their plight.

All the major cities will become ghost towns or gang holdouts. They have been on the decline for the past 3-4 decades and people are surprised? Overrun with corruption and violent crime, its no wonder they are all failing, I personally avoid them for these very reasons. Once we observe their demise, we can get on with rebuilding our Republic… I look foreword to that day…. Until then… Higher Taxes for those who are working and more income redistribution to the freeloaders.

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valiant1776
Posted on December 10, 2012 at 12:35pm
If only every city in the US had 100% socialist Democrats run their city also, just like Detroit. We can only hope…

I mean, look at Baltimore City, another great example. They know what change really looks like. Baltimore City, back in the mid 1900′s, was the city to imitate. It had factories, a well established harbor, good music, and over 60% of its residents were prospering. And now that Liberals have taken over, well, it must be doing even better…

What am I saying? I almost forgot the unions! Let’s hope that every major city in the US is also run with the biggest labor Unions present, so that we too, like Detroit, can protect our jobs…

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Sheriff Joe Rocks
Posted on December 10, 2012 at 12:34pm
Seriously blaze? Industry changes let to the economic downfall? Is that ALL you can come up with?
How about the job killing NAFTA first introduced by ex-cia Geroge Bush Senior then implemented by Bill Clinton?
Just like Ross Perot said with his tiny stature and his squeaky voice and his pointing stick, you will hear a great sucking sound as the jobs leave America if NAFTA is passed.
Now the slave labor in other countries (Mexico is one of them) have all the manufacturing jobs.
As an excample, Lexmark (the printer company) had their slave labor in Mexico until they figured that it wasn’t cheap enough to pay people $40.00 a week in the maquiladoras and left to the Phillipines.
Wow, and the only thing the blaze can come up with is industry change?

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- 48Straights
  Posted on December 10, 2012 at 3:39pm
  The editors at TheBlaze just cut and paste entertainment. Actual thought about anything more than what happened last night on Saturday Night Live is beyond them.
  
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McgarnaglesLunch
Posted on December 10, 2012 at 12:33pm
I think Detroit should get a Nobel peace prize

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Atrocities
Posted on December 10, 2012 at 12:32pm
The leftist progressive socialist blame this on big business, while those who give a crap know that its the socialist progressive liberals policies of the welfare addicted racist government of the city that is to blame.

This is your socialist utopia. Welcome to it America.

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M24
Posted on December 10, 2012 at 12:32pm
Trash In -Trash Out

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Guitar Master
Posted on December 10, 2012 at 12:28pm
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
From THE REPORTER
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Get ready folks, this is what’s coming to a neighborhood near you in the not so distant future. It’s the new plan for the United States of America. By golly they done finally did it.

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Chrisrob63
Posted on December 10, 2012 at 12:28pm
Progressive……….just waiting for keaton to call me a racist too.

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702TruthSeeker
Posted on December 10, 2012 at 12:27pm
The problem with GIVING people something is that they will never take care of it. Unless you work hard and EARN what you have, you will not take care of it and it will end up looking like most of Detroit, Chicago, Buffalo, or any other city destroyed by “free stuff” and those who live their life depending on it. This is why socialism has never and will never work

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