As Detroit was entering the 20th century, the city was seeing tremendous growth, jumping from 116,340 in 1880 to 205,876 just 10 years later - a 77 percent jump. This put incredible strain on the school district, which forced it to rush construction of five new schools in the span of a few years.
The Columbian School was one of them.
The site for Columbian - at West Warren and McKinley Street on the city’s west side - was purchased Dec. 3, 1891, for $3,200 (about $117,000 in 2025, when adjusted for inflation). It was hoped that a new school there could relieve overcrowding in what was then the far western reaches of the city.
While most schools in Detroit were named either for their geography or in honor of some luminary, Columbian’s came from the hullabaloo around the Columbian Exposition of 1892, which was commemorating the 400th anniversary of the discovery of North America and garnering national excitement. The resolution to adopt the name was approved June 20, 1893. The district tapped the Detroit firm Malcolmson & Higginbotham to design it, as it often did.
The new two-story school was built for $32,000 (about $1.2 million in 2025). It was initially just 125 by 92 feet and made of brick with stone trim and topped with a slate roof. Each of the 12 classrooms were large enough to accommodate 45 pupils, both a symptom of the era and also of the crunch the district was facing at the time.
Columbian was to be completed in time for the start of the school on Sept. 5, 1893, but the contractors were, well, tardy. The delay forced 150 students to miss the first week of classes. On top of that, the Board of Education found that “the work has not been done in strict accordance with the specifications and was not completed inside the specified time,” the Detroit Free Press wrote Oct. 13, 1893. Nevertheless, rather than delay the opening of the school any further, the Board decided to take delivery of the building without dragging out the process by trying to recoup costs or seek refunds from the contractors.
Despite the new schools being built, there were still worries mounting that the district's facilities would be inadequate, with 21,000 pupils expected. For this reason, Columbian received an addition just two years later, in 1895, that added two more classrooms.
Its first principal was George E. Parker, who would later have a school named after him thanks to a renowned 34-year career in the district. He would stay at Columbian until 1901.
In 1908, another addition was built, this one far more substantial, giving the school a total of 18 classrooms and upping the capacity to 790 students. At the same time, the school also got a sprucing-up renovation. The tab for all this was $25,000, or about $911,000 in 2025).
By 1912, enrollment was still growing faster than the district could keep up with, leading the Board of Education to rent four rooms over a store on Warren Avenue and McKinley Street that served as classrooms for 200 Columbian pupils.
When Condon Intermediate School opened in September 1915, Columbian’s seventh and eighth grades were transferred there, and Columbian became a kindergarten through sixth-grade school.
In October 1917, the Board of Education bought even more land to enlarge Columbian yet again. This addition, which featured a gym, an auditorium and four more classrooms, was completed by 1919. The area around the school kept growing, however, and there were 1,394 students enrolled at Columbian in 1938.
During World War II, Columbian, like most Detroit schools, held paper, scrap-metal and clothing drives, as well as raised money for the Red Cross.
The 1950s saw modernizations at Columbian, such as the old hall closets being replaced with lockers, fluorescent lighting installed, and updates to the art room, main office and library. During this time, Wayne University’s College of Education used Columbian for training student teachers. In 1956, there were 1,230 students, which led to up to 40 kids being in each class, and the boys’ locker room converted into a classroom. Columbian’s fifth-graders were transported to O.W. Holmes School, and the sixth-graders soon followed in February 1960.
The school district finally decided that after nearly 70 years of trying to jerry-rig Columbian to fit its needs, it was decided to just replace it with a newer and larger building. On Aug. 23, 1960, the Board of Education approved a site and began the process of acquiring land for a replacement for Columbian and an addition for Condon Junior High. A year later, on Aug. 9, 1961, a Recorders Court condemnation jury awarded $762,000 – $8.5 million in 2026 – for a number of parcels in the area bounded by Vinewood, Buchanan, Hancock and McKinley streets. Old Columbian would stick around for more than a decade, but its days were numbered nonetheless.
On June 19, 1976, a Free Press reader named Addie Mae Freeman wrote a letter to the editor saying, "Columbian school is integrated and is one of the best-operated schools in the city or anywhere. The school is located in the heart of the inner city. If you wish to witness quality education, go to Columbian School."
But that didn’t stop DPS from closing the aging school.
In early 1979, the Board of Education placed classified ads in the papers looking to sell Columbian and the Kennedy School at 2311 Selden St. The minimum bids were just $28,600 and $11,000, respectively, the equivalent of $137,000 and $53,000 in 2026. Nevertheless, Columbian found no takers, and a demolition permit was pulled for the school on Nov. 30, 1979. The school came down the following year.
In 2007, a new housing development was built on the site.
Twelve-year-old Mae Clark wrote a poem about bidding farewell to her soon-to-be alma mater that was published in the July 3, 1943, edition of The Detroit News. It read:
Columbian, the dear old school. Is where we learn the Golden Rule. It's where we were taught to work and play. Until we cannot go to Columbian another day. Some are proud to leave the school, But I am sad and blue To leave this dear old Columbian School, Because it is so true.