Roosevelt Warehouse

The Roosevelt Warehouse , more commonly known as the Detroit Public Schools Book Depository, is a vacant building in Detroit on 14th & Marantette street. It is understood to have been designed by Albert Kahn and that it was originally a Post Office before being used as the Public Schools' surplus equipment depository.[1] It is currently owned by Ford Motor Company who have plans to renovate it, as part of its new Ford Corktown Campus.[2]

Roosevelt Warehouse
The Roosevelt warehouse Detroit school book depository building in August 2000, after being damaged by fire and abandoned. View from a taller adjacent building at night. Small trees are visible growing on the third floor beneath a hole in the roof.
Alternative namesDetroit Public Schools Book Depository
General information
TypeWarehouse
Location14th & Marantette street, Detroit, Michigan
Coordinates42°19′42″N 83°4′32″W
Completed1926 (1926)
Renovated2019 - 2021
OwnerFord Motor Company
Design and construction
ArchitectAlbert Kahn

History

The building caught fire in 1987. The fire and efforts to extinguish it heavily damaged much of the supplies inside, which included science and sports equipment, scissors, crayons, and books, many still unused and in their original wrapping. After the fire the building was abandoned, along with all of its contents. The reason why the building's contents were not salvaged by Detroit Public Schools is unknown.[3]

Over the years the building and its contents has been heavily vandalized and further damaged by scrappers. The building remains standing.[4]

In 2009 a frozen human corpse was found in the basement in a lift-shaft. It took 24 hours before the authorities attended to the scene. Previously easy to enter, the building has since been boarded up. The contents of the warehouse were removed over the summer of 2012 in preparation for possible conversion into a parking garage.[5]

The only remaining and existing access point to the building exists by way of a tunnel which runs under 15th Street, between the book depository (prior post office), and the property of the Michigan Central Station, which was used back when the post office was using the railway services. Both are now owned by the Ford Motor Company.

References
  1. "Roosevelt Warehouse - Detroit".
  2. "It's official: Morouns sell Detroit train station to Ford". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved 2018-06-13.
  3. "The knowledge of what happened and what will".
  4. "The knowledge of what happened and what will".
  5. "Detroit Public Schools Book Depository / Roosevelt Warehouse".
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