The Nellie Leland School is a school building, originally built to serve handicapped children,
from Detorit1701.org located at 1395 Antietam Avenue in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

(the former location of the Detroit Barracks, where Lieutenant

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union A ...

served from 1849 to 1851). It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 2002. The building has been renovated into loft space.

History

Henry M. Leland was a Detroit automotive pioneer who founded both the

Cadillac The Cadillac Motor Car Division () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada, and China. Cadillac models are distributed ...

and

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

automotive companies. His wife, Nellie Leland, was active in the philanthropic community, focusing on the hardships of poor citizens with

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, ...

and promoting the scientific search for a cure. Nellie Leland died in 1910, but two years later, Henry built an open air school to serve children in the early stages of tuberculosis, naming the structure after his wife. At the time, there was no requirement for school systems to adapt to the needs of handicapped children. Leland encouraged Detroit school officials to build a school to serve the special needs of physically handicapped children, and in 1917 the Detroit School Board built the current structure at a cost of $111,495,Leland Lofts
history transferring the name, Nellie Leland, from the earlier school. The Nellie Leland School contained innovative structural features that allowed handicapped children to learn, including such things as wheelchair ramps. The school proved popular, and in 1920, an addition was constructed to accommodate children awaiting admission; an elevator was added at the same time.Nellie Leland School for Crippled Children
from the city of Detroit The Detroit school board operated the Leland school until 1981, when it was sold to a developer. In the mid-1990s, it was planned to use the building as a

charter school A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...

, but it has instead been turned into loft space.

References

External links

Leland Lofts
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leland, Nellie, School School buildings completed in 1918 Schools in Detroit School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan National Register of Historic Places in Detroit 1918 establishments in Michigan Detroit Public Schools Community District