Hosmer Intermediate School was designed by McGrath, Dohmen & Page, and opened in January 1923, on the east side to address the immense uptick in Detroit's population as the city's factories lured more and more people to the city for work.
Superintendent Frank Cody recommended at a Nov. 10, 1921, meeting of the Board of Education that a new school be built on the block bounded by Canfield, Eastlawn, Newport and Waveney streets. The neighborhood at the time was mostly of Belgian decscent. The site was approved March 9, 1922, and the go-ahead to erect the new school was approved March 23, 1922. Six single-family houses and a garage were torn down in May 1922 to make way for it. The school was to cost $145,000 to build, or about $2.9 million in 2026, when adjusted for inflation.
On Nov. 10, 1921, Cody made the recommendation that the new school be named for Judge George S. Hosmer, who had died earlier that year on March 2. Hosmer was educated in Detroit's public school system and graduated from the University of Michigan in 1889. He became a member of the law firm Griffin, Dickinson, Thurber & Hosmer before serving as a Circuit Court judge for 27 years.
"He was a leader in civic affairs, devoted his time and energy to forwarding the best interests of the great growing city of Detroit," according to "Histories of the Public Schools of Detroit.
Detroit artist Percy Ives painted a portrait of Hosmer that was presented to the school by other Circuit Court judges and hung in the school.
The first unit of Hosmer opened with 13 rooms and served Kindergarten through eighth grades. It had a capacity of 600 pupils, but it wasn't enough for the booming Detroit of the Roaring Twenties. On Aug. 23, 1924, Cody recommended to the school board that an addition be built at Hosmer. Architect J.A. McGrath - whose firm had designed the original school - was charged with this work. The total cost was $252,000 - about $4.9 million in 2026 valuation - and increased its capacity by 520 students, bringing it to 1,120 and giving the school 31 rooms. It was completed in 1925.
An article featuring the school in the May 23, 1926, issue of the Detroit Free Press said that "the new Hosmer Intermediate School is one of the most modern in Detroit, and is a model of construction and appointments."
In 1928, the Andrew Jackson Intermediate School opened less than half a mile away, and Hosmer's seventh- and eighth-graders were transferred there, making it a K-6 school.
During World War II, the school's students embarked on an impressive effort to lend a hand. The students collected and crushed tin cans. Hosmer Girl Scouts collected grease that was used in making explosives. Hosmer kids collected books and records to send to troops. Bond drives totaled more than $100,000, or about $1.9 million in 2026.
By 2004, the school's students were struggling academically, the neighborhood around Hosmer was clearing out, and enrollment was dropping. As Detroit Public Schools was wracked with debt and careening toward being taken over by a state-appointed emergency financial manager, the district closed Hosmer in 2005 and transferred its students to other schools.
It has been abandoned ever since, and ravaged by the elements and vandals alike.