George E. Parker Elementary School was built in 1927, taking up a city block along Elmira Street at Meyers Road in the Barton-McFarland neighborhood.
In September 1925, the only school buildings for the wide area extending between West Chicago to the south and Grand River Avenue to the north and Schaefer Road to the west and the railroad to the east were two groups of portable and temporary buildings. One was at Wyoming and Morley streets - known as the Pinehurst-Wyoming School - and a cluster of four structures at Pinehurst and Elmira streets, known as the Ruthruff Annex. By the following September, the portable school buildings were all overcrowded, leading to many of the kids in this part of the city had to attend Noble or Monnier schools, forcing them to cross Grand River.
Something had to be done.
Parker to the rescue
The Detroit Board of Education bought 6.36 acres along Meyers Road south of Plymouth Road in 1924 for $80,000, about $1.5 million in 2026 valuation. Because of the need for a school to serve the community, Parker School began as a pair of temporary wooden structures on the site. Ground would be broken for a large permanent school building on the site in January 1927. Its price tag would be $385,000, or about $7.3 million in 2026 money.
This new school was designed in the Collegiate Gothic by the architectural firm McGrath, Dohmen & Page. William McGrath and Anton G. Dohmen had previously been with the firm Malcomson & Higginbotham, which had designed a number of schools for the Detroit Board of Education. McGrath, Dohmen & Page used a similar set of plans for the Atkinson and Stellwagen schools.
The building would be named after George E. Parker, a principal for 34 years in the Detroit public school system and was one of its best-known figures. He was born in 1868 and attended local schools before getting his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Detroit. Parker became principal of the Russell School in 1891 before moving to the Columbian School in 1893. While serving as principal at Columbian, he got a law degree from the Detroit College of Law and was admitted to the bar, though he never practiced. He would go on to serve as principal at Bishop, Jefferson and Poe schools.
He also worked on behalf of the retirement fund board, "where with deep interest and untiring efforts, he worked on behalf of the retired teachers," according to the "Histories of the Public Schools of Detroit," and when the teachers pension fund was established, Parker was made secretary of its Board of Trustees. He held that position for 25 years until his death at his home at 5474 Trumbull Ave. on Aug. 11, 1925. He was just 57 years old and principal of the Poe School at the time.
"Everyone was so anxious to get into the new building that it was opened the latter part of September 1927, one room at a time as soon as soon as the workmen were finished, even though there was no equipment for several days," according to the "Histories of the Public Schools of Detroit."
The finished school comprised 55,363 square feet and had 32 classrooms, a gym and an auditorium. Its capacity was officially 1,325 pupils, and 1,095 were enrolled in first through eighth grades by the end of that first September. It would reach its peak enrollment in the 1934-35 school year with 1,540 students.
The gym was 40 feet by 60 feet with 19-foot ceilings, the same height as the auditorium. Its cafeteria could seat 150 at a time. The school was fairly modest in decoration but did have Pewabic Pottery.
In 1956, Parker added junior high school levels to its offerings.
In addition to serving the educational needs of the community, the school also was where the Bethel Presbyterian Church held its services in the school's auditorium in the middle of the 20th century.
The decline
In 1973, a one-story, gabled-roof wing was added to the rear of the school, to Parker’s north side.
As Detroit’s fortunes and population began a half century of decline, so, too, did the Detroit Public School System’s. Adding to the district’s financial turmoil were aging schools in need of expensive repairs and the legalization of charter schools in 1994. By 2010, DPS was placed under emergency financial management as it was crippled by a $363,000 deficit, and had lost about half its enrollment in that same time frame, being down to about 85,000 pupils. That led the district to close more than 150 schools since 2000, including Parker in 2012. In an attempt to avoid creating more competition for itself and losing even more students, DPS adopted a policy of refusing to sell empty schools to charters.
In October 2014, Mayor Mike Duggan’s administration and the Detroit Public Schools (DPS) announced a deal to wipe out $11.6 million in district debt in exchange for 57 vacant school buildings and 20 vacant lots. DPS was burdened by a $127 million deficit at the time. The City said it would secure or tear down the buildings and attempt to market the least-dangerous buildings for sale, but found few takers - including, as of August 2026, none for Parker.
In 2020, an assessment by Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates estimated that it would take about $13 million to breathe new life into Parker, though the school has suffered severely from both scrappers and the elements.
“Although initial appearances of the existing conditions are concerning based on the magnitude of the failure of the finishes, the main building is in a good condition,” the assessment report said. “The roof and windows require replacement. Failed and missing roof drains and missing mechanical rooftop units are allowing a significant amount of water to collect on the top of the second-floor corridor and drain to the first-floor corridor.”