Midtown Detroit is a mixed-use area consisting of a business district, cultural center, a major research university, and several residential neighborhoods located along the east and west of Woodward Avenue, north of Downtown Detroit, Michigan, and south of the New Center area. The community area of neighborhoods is bounded by the Chrysler Freeway (I-75) on the east, the Lodge Freeway (M-10) on the west, the Edsel Ford Freeway (I-94) on the north, and the Fisher Freeway (I-75) on the south. The area includes several historic districts, the Detroit Medical Center and Wayne State University.
The Midtown area is a general mixed-use community area of neighborhoods containing successive waves of development that have transformed the area multiple times since it was first platted. The neighborhoods are dominated by the thoroughfare of Woodward Avenue, which runs north and south through the heart of Midtown. This neighborhood was previously known as Cass Corridor, and many Detroit, MI communities, continue to refer to it. Woodward Avenue, running north and south through the center of the neighborhood, is primarily inhabited by commercial businesses, public-oriented/cultural institutions, and religious buildings. The heart of the cultural center (the Detroit Public Library and the Detroit Institute of Arts) is located directly on Woodward in the northern part of Midtown.
The north part of Midtown west of Woodward Avenue is dominated by Wayne State University, whose campus subsumes nearly the entire northwest portion of Midtown north of Warren Avenue and west of Woodward. Wayne State University’s campus covers 203 acres (0.82 km2) in the northwestern section of Midtown. Wayne’s campus is irregular, and parts extend south of Warren (notably Old Main) and north of I-94, out of Midtown, and into the New Center neighborhood. Additionally, Wayne’s athletic facilities are west of the Lodge Freeway. Wayne is one of Michigan’s three research institutions and serves over 32,000 students.
The first portion of what later became Wayne State University was the Detroit Medical College, founded in 1868. The school of education was begun in 1881. In 1896, Old Main was built as Detroit’s Central High School. College classes were added in 1913, and these Liberal Arts classes evolved into Detroit Junior College in 1917. The school began offering four-year degrees in 1923, and graduate courses were added in 1930. In 1933, the previously disparate colleges were united under one administration at Wayne University. In 1956, the school was renamed Wayne State University. M&H Pest Control Detroit
Since the early 1940s, Wayne State University, backed by the City Planning Commission, has shaped the development of the surrounding area through its growth plan. The availability of urban redevelopment grants beginning in the 1950s became an important funding resource for the expansion of the university. The size of the campus has continued to expand, with the University constructing new buildings and repurposing older buildings in the area. As of Fall 2015, nearly 30,000 students were enrolled at Wayne State: over 18,000 undergraduate students and over 8000 graduate students, with the remainder enrolled in professional programs.
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