Cass Technical High School

Lewis Cass the High School (former Cass campus)
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
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Location	2421 Second Avenue, Detroit, Michigan, United States
Coordinates	42°20′15″N 83°3′36″W
Built	1922
Architect	Malcolmson and Higginbotham, Albert Kahn
Demolished	July 2011
MPS	Public Schools of Detroit MPS
NRHP reference No.	10000644[5]
Added to NRHP	March 29, 2011

The school was founded on the third floor of the old Cass Union School in 1907. Its historic landmark building on Second Avenue in downtown Detroit was built in 1917.[6] To the south of it an addition was built in 1985. The new, modern facilities of the school were built in 2004 in an adjacent lot to the north of the original building on Grand River Avenue.

In 2007 there was a large fire in the old structure. Complete demolition of the vacant Cass Tech building began in June 2011 and was finished by November. Pictures of the old historic structures, both from the outside and the abandoned inside floors and classes, can be seen here . In addition, a 3D floor-by-floor interactive map of the old building is available here as well.

Following the fire in the old structure, it was demolished and removed by Homrich Demolition.[7] At time of demolition, the school building was approximately 830,000 square feet (77,000 m²) and weighed more than 100,000 short tons (91,000 t). Over 90% of the material in the building was recycled for other uses or as backfill.

In 2008 some classes that were not very popular with students were removed due to reduction in teacher staffing due to declining enrollment.[8]

Based on current enrollment information, there are approximately 2,468 students that attend Cass Technical High School. There are 728 students in the ninth grade, 585 students in the tenth grade, 585 in the eleventh grade, and 570 in the twelfth grade.[9]

Of the 2,468 students that attend Cass Technical High School, 2,035 (82.5%) of them are Black or African American, 233 (9.4%) are Asian American, 147 (6.0%) are Hispanic or Latino, 12 (0.5%) are White, 28 (1.1%) are Arab, and 7 (0.3%) are American Indian or Alaska Native.[10]

In 1984, Cass Tech was honored by the U.S. Department of Education among 262 schools that should "shine as inspirational model for others," a list that included public and private schools.[12]

In 2006, Cass represented DPS at the National Academic Games Olympics and won the Team Sweepstakes award.

The school's Harp program was established in 1925.[13]

There are beginner, intermediate, advanced and jazz band classes, as well as a marching band. The CTMB (marching band), under the direction of Sharon Allen, has performed for Patti LaBelle, Sinbad, and Jay Z as well as various college and university homecomings. The marching band was also a part of the 2007 Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, but was not televised. In 2008, the band performed at Texas Southern University. In 2010, the CTMB participated in Norfolk State University's Homecoming and won first place in the McDonald's Battle of the Bands. In 2013 CTMB went to the 2013 inauguration for President Barack Obama.[14]

The concert band program rose to prominence under the direction of Harry Begian, who led the Cass Tech bands from 1947 through 1964. Under his baton, the concert band performed twice at the Mid-West Band and Orchestra Clinic, and played literature at a level far beyond that normally performed by a public high school band, including the Symphony in B-flat by Paul Hindemith and La Fiesta Mexicana by H. Owen Reed.

Cass Tech helmet.

The Cass Tech Technicians football team (also referred to as the Technicians) is a high school football program in Division 1 Public School League, representing Cass Technical High School.

Cass Tech won the 2011, 2012 and 2016 MHSAA Division I state championships.

• 1956 Boys Class A State Champions[15]
• 1975 Boys Class A State Champions[16]

Cass Tech's track and field history goes back to 1926 when Eddie Tolan and his teammate Loving won the interscholastic track meet at Northwestern University.[17] Tolan came to be known as the "Midnight Express". He set world records in the 100-yard dash and 100 meters event and Olympic records in the 100 meters and 200 meters events. He was the first African-American to receive the title of the "world's fastest human" after winning gold medals in the 100 and 200 meters events at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. In March 1935, Tolan won the 75, 100 and 220-yard events at the World Professional Sprint Championships in Melbourne, Australia to become the first man to win both the amateur and professional world sprint championships. In his full career as a sprinter, Tolan won 300 races and lost only 7.[18]

• March 1926: 1st Place – National Champions[19]
• March 1927: 3rd Place[20]
• March 1928: 3rd Place[21]