Harper Woods, Michigan
Encyclopedia
Harper Woods is a city located on the eastside of suburban Detroit, Michigan
, United States
. The city is located in Wayne County
. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 14,236.
. A charter commission was elected, a charter prepared and adopted, and a city council elected. The City of Harper Woods came into existence on October 29, 1951, when the charter took effect and the first city council was sworn in.
According to the city's website, Harper Woods was so named because it was then a wooded area and because its main thoroughfare was Harper Avenue (named for Walter Harper, founder of the nearby Harper Hospital
in Detroit).
The fledgling suburb faced the usual problems confronting new cities: schools, streets, sidewalks, water systems, drains, etc. In 1956, Harper Woods was the subject of a community service study by the Bureau of Government, Institute of Public Administration, at the University of Michigan.
The development of Harper Woods reflected the growth of metropolitan Detroit. In 1955, the I-94 Expressway Route
(which bisects the eastern part of the suburb) was approved, and construction on the Eastland Shopping Center began soon after. Eastland Center
, one of the first outdoor malls in the Midwest
, opened in 1957. Harper Woods continued to develop and grow over the decades. In 2001, Harper Woods celebrated its 50th anniversary.
, the city has a total area of 2.6 square miles (6.7 km²), all land.
As of the census
of 2000, there were 14,254 people, 6,292 households, and 3,756 families residing in the city. The population density
was 5,521.1 per square mile (2,133.1/km²). There were 6,514 housing units at an average density of 2,523.1 per square mile (974.8/km²). The racial makeup of the population was 84.9% Non-Hispanic white, 10.2% African-American, 0.34% Native American, 1.0% Non-Filipino Asian, 0.7% Filipino, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.40% from other races
, and 1.39% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2% of the population. 14.4% were of German
, 14.0% Italian, 12.5% Polish
, 10.4% Irish
and 5.0% English
ancestry according to Census 2000. The city's black population saw a 345.2% increase in the last decade.
There were 6,292 households out of which 27.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.1% were married couples
living together, 12.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.3% were non-families. 35.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 16.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.24 and the average family size was 2.94.
In the city the population was spread out with 22.4% under the age of 18, 6.0% from 18 to 24, 32.8% from 25 to 44, 18.8% from 45 to 64, and 19.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 86.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.1 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $46,769, and the median income for a family was $55,065. Males had a median income of $46,747 versus $34,138 for females. The per capita income
for the city was $24,900. About 2.9% of families and 5.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.0% of those under age 18 and 7.1% of those age 65 or over.
In 2010 the racial makeup of the population was was 48.5% White, 45.6% African American, 0.2% Native American, 1.5% Asian, 0.1% Non-Hispanics reporting some other race, 2.7% reporting two or more races and 2.0% Hispanic or Latino.
.
For many years, the city was home to the East Side Drive-In (located at 19440 Harper Avenue, near 7 Mile Road), the first drive-in theater
in Metro Detroit and one of the very first in the Midwest. The East Side opened May 26, 1938, with The Big Broadcast of 1938, starring W. C. Fields
and Dorothy Lamour
. Automobile capacity in later years was listed at 970 vehicles. The East Side closed in 1977 and was demolished a year later.
The Hideout (located at 20542 Harper Avenue, at Beaufait Street) was a popular teen dance club in the mid-1960s. Many Detroit-area music acts - including some that would go on to national prominence - performed at the club. Among them were Bob Seger
, Mitch Ryder
, Ted Nugent
, Glenn Frey
(later of the Eagles), and Suzi Quatro
. One performance at the club by the MC5
was described by their manager John Sinclair
. The Hideout spawned a local record label, Hideout Records. A 2001 compact disc, Friday at the Hideout: Boss Detroit Garage Bands 1964-1967, documents the scene. One of the first bands to play at the Hideout, The Underdogs, wrote Friday Night at the Hideout.
Another venue for local bands in the 1960s and 1970s was Notre Dame High School
. According to various accounts, "All the Motown artists used to come and lip-sync to their records. Local neighborhood bands got to play live." Among the local performers of note who played dances and concerts at the school were The Amboy Dukes
(featuring Ted Nugent), Bob Seger and the Last Heard, Frijid Pink
, The Frost
, Salem Witchcraft, Toby Redd, The Almighty Strut, and other acts.
In the early 1970s, U.S. Poet Laureate Donald Hall
wrote a poem which referenced the city, "Poem With One Fact." Similarly, in 1986, the critically acclaimed crime fiction writer Loren D. Estleman
unflatteringly portrayed the city in his Amos Walker
novel Every Brilliant Eye. Among other works, the Detroit-area crime fiction writer Elmore Leonard
mentions the city in his 2000 novel, Pagan Babies. Jeffrey Eugenides
' bestselling 1993 novel The Virgin Suicides
as well as his Pulitzer Prize
-winning Middlesex
also reference Harper Woods.
Betty Bahr, an early local television personality, and Angela Ruggiero
, 2006 Olympics bronze medal winner (ice hockey), have been among its better known residents. Dave Coulier
, a popular television and voice actor, graduated from Notre Dame High School.
Dominating the cultural and commercial profile of the suburb is Eastland Mall, which sits at the intersection of 8 Mile Road and Beaconsfield Avenue. Eastland Center, as it is now known, houses a celebrated work of public sculpture, "The Lion and Mouse," by Marshall Fredericks
.
and the Grosse Pointe School District. The Harper Woods School District manages Beacon Elementary School (preschool-3), Tyrone Middle School (4-6), and Harper Woods High School, which includes the middle school (7-12). The Grosse Pointe School District manages Charles A. Poupard Elementary School. Harper Woods is also home to the charter schools of Chandler Park Academy Elementary and Middle Schools, Heart Academy High School, and Colin Powell Academy Middle School.
The Chandler Park Academy
, a K-12 charter school, is in Harper Woods.
During its history, Harper Woods was also home to the following (now defunct) parochial and private schools: St. Peter's Grade School, Our Lady Queen of Peace Elementary School, Lutheran High School East, Bishop Gallagher High School, Trinity Catholic High School, and Notre Dame High School
. In the fall of 2002, Bishop Gallagher and St. Florian High School
in Hamtramck
merged to form Trinity Catholic High School
in Harper Woods. In 2005 the archdiocese announced that Trinity and Notre Dame, an all-boys parochial school in Harper Woods, would close. The all-girls Regina High School http://www.reginahs.com/ once located in Harper Woods, moved to the nearby suburb of Warren
in the fall of 2007. It was one of 18 Detroit area Catholic schools closed by the Archdiocese of Detroit in 2005.
University Square campus is located within the boundaries of Harper Woods.
. The suit alleges that BAE Systems executives funneled approximately $2 billion to Saudi ambassador
Prince Bandar. The suit, which made news around the world, seeks governance changes to the BAE Systems board, and efforts to redress the losses due to this alleged corruption.
On December 29, 2009, the US Court of Appeals rejected the Scheme's claim. Representatives for the Scheme later said that they would consider appealing to the Supreme Court.
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The city is located in Wayne County
Wayne County, Michigan
-History:Wayne County was one of the first counties formed when the Northwest Territory was organized. It was named for the American general "Mad Anthony" Wayne. It originally encompassed the entire area of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, as well as small sections that are now part of northern...
. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 14,236.
History
Harper Woods was incorporated as a city on February 19, 1951 from what was left of Gratiot TownshipGratiot Township, Michigan
Gratiot Township was a civil township of Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. Located in the northeast corner of the county the township's eastern and southern border was with Grosse Pointe Township along Mack Road , the northern border was Macomb County, and the western border was with...
. A charter commission was elected, a charter prepared and adopted, and a city council elected. The City of Harper Woods came into existence on October 29, 1951, when the charter took effect and the first city council was sworn in.
According to the city's website, Harper Woods was so named because it was then a wooded area and because its main thoroughfare was Harper Avenue (named for Walter Harper, founder of the nearby Harper Hospital
Harper University Hospital
Harper University Hospital is one of eight hospitals and institutes that compose the Detroit Medical Center. Harper offers services in a broad range of clinical areas, including cardiology, neurology, neurosurgery, organ transplant, plastic surgery, general surgery, bariatric endocrinology and...
in Detroit).
The fledgling suburb faced the usual problems confronting new cities: schools, streets, sidewalks, water systems, drains, etc. In 1956, Harper Woods was the subject of a community service study by the Bureau of Government, Institute of Public Administration, at the University of Michigan.
The development of Harper Woods reflected the growth of metropolitan Detroit. In 1955, the I-94 Expressway Route
Interstate 94 in Michigan
Interstate 94 is a part of the Interstate Highway System that runs from Billings, Montana, to the Lower Peninsula of the US state of Michigan. In Michigan, it is a state trunkline highway that enters the state south of New Buffalo...
(which bisects the eastern part of the suburb) was approved, and construction on the Eastland Shopping Center began soon after. Eastland Center
Eastland Center (Harper Woods, Michigan)
Eastland Center is an enclosed shopping mall located in the city of Harper Woods, an inner-ring suburb of Detroit, Michigan, United States. Opened in 1957, the mall has been expanded several times since. It currently features over 88 stores, as well as a small food court, with Macy's, Sears,...
, one of the first outdoor malls in the Midwest
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....
, opened in 1957. Harper Woods continued to develop and grow over the decades. In 2001, Harper Woods celebrated its 50th anniversary.
Geography and demographics
According to the United States Census BureauUnited States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the city has a total area of 2.6 square miles (6.7 km²), all land.
As of the census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 14,254 people, 6,292 households, and 3,756 families residing in the city. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 5,521.1 per square mile (2,133.1/km²). There were 6,514 housing units at an average density of 2,523.1 per square mile (974.8/km²). The racial makeup of the population was 84.9% Non-Hispanic white, 10.2% African-American, 0.34% Native American, 1.0% Non-Filipino Asian, 0.7% Filipino, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.40% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 1.39% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2% of the population. 14.4% were of German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
, 14.0% Italian, 12.5% Polish
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
, 10.4% Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
and 5.0% English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
ancestry according to Census 2000. The city's black population saw a 345.2% increase in the last decade.
There were 6,292 households out of which 27.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.1% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 12.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.3% were non-families. 35.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 16.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.24 and the average family size was 2.94.
In the city the population was spread out with 22.4% under the age of 18, 6.0% from 18 to 24, 32.8% from 25 to 44, 18.8% from 45 to 64, and 19.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 86.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.1 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $46,769, and the median income for a family was $55,065. Males had a median income of $46,747 versus $34,138 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the city was $24,900. About 2.9% of families and 5.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.0% of those under age 18 and 7.1% of those age 65 or over.
In 2010 the racial makeup of the population was was 48.5% White, 45.6% African American, 0.2% Native American, 1.5% Asian, 0.1% Non-Hispanics reporting some other race, 2.7% reporting two or more races and 2.0% Hispanic or Latino.
Cultural history
Though a relatively new city, Harper Woods has played a role in the cultural history of Metro DetroitMetro Detroit
The Detroit metropolitan area, often referred to as Metro Detroit, is the metropolitan area located in Southeast Michigan centered on the city of Detroit which shares an international border with Windsor, Ontario. The Detroit metropolitan area is the second largest U.S. metropolitan area...
.
For many years, the city was home to the East Side Drive-In (located at 19440 Harper Avenue, near 7 Mile Road), the first drive-in theater
Drive-in theater
A drive-in theater is a form of cinema structure consisting of a large outdoor screen, a projection booth, a concession stand and a large parking area for automobiles. Within this enclosed area, customers can view movies from the privacy and comfort of their cars.The screen can be as simple as a...
in Metro Detroit and one of the very first in the Midwest. The East Side opened May 26, 1938, with The Big Broadcast of 1938, starring W. C. Fields
W. C. Fields
William Claude Dukenfield , better known as W. C. Fields, was an American comedian, actor, juggler and writer...
and Dorothy Lamour
Dorothy Lamour
Dorothy Lamour was an American film actress. She is best remembered for appearing in the Road to... movies, a series of successful comedies starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope .-Early life:Lamour was born Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton in New Orleans, Louisiana, the daughter of Carmen Louise Dorothy...
. Automobile capacity in later years was listed at 970 vehicles. The East Side closed in 1977 and was demolished a year later.
The Hideout (located at 20542 Harper Avenue, at Beaufait Street) was a popular teen dance club in the mid-1960s. Many Detroit-area music acts - including some that would go on to national prominence - performed at the club. Among them were Bob Seger
Bob Seger
Robert Clark "Bob" Seger is an American rock and roll singer-songwriter, guitarist and pianist.As a locally successful Detroit-area artist, he performed and recorded as Bob Seger and the Last Heard and Bob Seger System throughout the 1960s...
, Mitch Ryder
Mitch Ryder
William S. Levise, Jr , better known by his stage name Mitch Ryder, is an American musician who has recorded over two dozen albums in more than four decades.-Career:...
, Ted Nugent
Ted Nugent
Theodore Anthony "Ted" Nugent is an American guitarist, musician, singer, author, reserve police officer, and activist. From Detroit, Michigan, he originally gained fame as the lead guitarist of The Amboy Dukes, before embarking on a lengthy solo career...
, Glenn Frey
Glenn Frey
Glenn Lewis Frey is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and actor, best known as a founding member of the Eagles. Frey formed the Eagles after he met drummer Don Henley in 1970 and the two eventually joined Linda Ronstadt's backup band for her summer tour. The Eagles formed in 1971 and...
(later of the Eagles), and Suzi Quatro
Suzi Quatro
Susan Kay "Suzi" Quatro is an American singer-songwriter, bass player, and actor.She scored a string of hit singles in the 1970s that found greater success in Europe and Australia than in her homeland, and had a recurring role on the popular American sitcom Happy Days.-Music:Quatro began her...
. One performance at the club by the MC5
MC5
The MC5 is an American rock band formed in Lincoln Park, Michigan and originally active from 1964 to 1972. The original band line-up consisted of vocalist Rob Tyner, guitarists Wayne Kramer and Fred "Sonic" Smith, bassist Michael Davis, and drummer Dennis Thompson...
was described by their manager John Sinclair
John Sinclair (poet)
John Sinclair is a Detroit poet, one-time manager of the band MC5, and leader of the White Panther Party — a militantly anti-racist countercultural group of white socialists seeking to assist the Black Panthers in the Civil Rights movement — from November 1968 to July 1969...
. The Hideout spawned a local record label, Hideout Records. A 2001 compact disc, Friday at the Hideout: Boss Detroit Garage Bands 1964-1967, documents the scene. One of the first bands to play at the Hideout, The Underdogs, wrote Friday Night at the Hideout.
Another venue for local bands in the 1960s and 1970s was Notre Dame High School
Notre Dame High School (Harper Woods, Michigan)
Notre Dame High School was a Catholic, all–male, non–residential college preparatory school in the Detroit suburb of Harper Woods, Michigan...
. According to various accounts, "All the Motown artists used to come and lip-sync to their records. Local neighborhood bands got to play live." Among the local performers of note who played dances and concerts at the school were The Amboy Dukes
The Amboy Dukes
The Amboy Dukes were an American rock music band of the late 1960s and early 1970s from Detroit, Michigan, best remembered for their hit single "Journey to the Center of the Mind", and for launching the career of Ted Nugent...
(featuring Ted Nugent), Bob Seger and the Last Heard, Frijid Pink
Frijid Pink
Frijid Pink is a Detroit area blues rock band formed in 1967, best known for their version of "House of the Rising Sun," released in 1969.The initial line-up of the band included drummer Richard Stevers, guitarist Gary Ray Thompson, bassist Tom Harris, lead singer Tom Beaudry , and later added...
, The Frost
The Frost
The Frost were an American rock band from Alpena, Michigan in the late 1960s, led by singer-guitarist Dick Wagner, who went on to play with Ursa Major, Lou Reed, Alice Cooper, David Bowie, Dan Page and Kevin Ulgenalp in the 1970s....
, Salem Witchcraft, Toby Redd, The Almighty Strut, and other acts.
In the early 1970s, U.S. Poet Laureate Donald Hall
Donald Hall
Donald Hall is an American poet. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 2006.-Personal life:...
wrote a poem which referenced the city, "Poem With One Fact." Similarly, in 1986, the critically acclaimed crime fiction writer Loren D. Estleman
Loren D. Estleman
Loren D. Estleman is an American writer of detective and Western fiction. He writes with a manual typewriter....
unflatteringly portrayed the city in his Amos Walker
Amos Walker
Amos Walker is a fictional character in a series of books by sometime western author Loren D. Estleman. He is a private detective who lives in Hamtramck and works in Detroit, Michigan. Amos is a traditionalist when it comes to film and music. Claiming to "dress like the late show," he is definitely...
novel Every Brilliant Eye. Among other works, the Detroit-area crime fiction writer Elmore Leonard
Elmore Leonard
Elmore John Leonard Jr. , better known as Elmore Leonard, is an American novelist and screenwriter. His earliest published novels in the 1950s were westerns, but Leonard went on to specialize in crime fiction and suspense thrillers, many of which have been adapted into motion pictures.Among his...
mentions the city in his 2000 novel, Pagan Babies. Jeffrey Eugenides
Jeffrey Eugenides
Jeffrey Kent Eugenides is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and short story writer. Eugenides is most known for his first two novels, The Virgin Suicides and Middlesex . His novel The Marriage Plot was published in October, 2011.-Life and career:Eugenides was born in Detroit, Michigan,...
' bestselling 1993 novel The Virgin Suicides
The Virgin Suicides
The Virgin Suicides is the 1993 debut novel by American writer Jeffrey Eugenides. The story, which is set in Grosse Pointe, Michigan during the 1970s, centers on the suicides of five sisters. The Lisbon girls' suicides fascinate their community as their neighbors struggle to find an explanation for...
as well as his Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
-winning Middlesex
Middlesex (novel)
Middlesex is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Jeffrey Eugenides published in 2002. The book is a bestseller, with more than three million copies sold as of May 2011. Its characters and events are loosely based on aspects of Eugenides' life and observations of his Greek heritage. It is...
also reference Harper Woods.
Betty Bahr, an early local television personality, and Angela Ruggiero
Angela Ruggiero
Angela Marie Ruggiero is an American ice hockey defenseman. She is a member of the United States women's national ice hockey team. She is also the author of a memoir about her hockey experiences and a former contestant on the NBC reality show The Apprentice...
, 2006 Olympics bronze medal winner (ice hockey), have been among its better known residents. Dave Coulier
Dave Coulier
David Alan "Dave" Coulier is an American stand-up comedian, impressionist, television and voice actor, and television host. He is well-known for his role as Joey Gladstone on the ABC sitcom Full House, which ran from 1987 to 1995....
, a popular television and voice actor, graduated from Notre Dame High School.
Dominating the cultural and commercial profile of the suburb is Eastland Mall, which sits at the intersection of 8 Mile Road and Beaconsfield Avenue. Eastland Center, as it is now known, houses a celebrated work of public sculpture, "The Lion and Mouse," by Marshall Fredericks
Marshall Fredericks
Marshall Maynard Fredericks was an American sculptor.-Biography:Fredericks was born of Scandinavian heritage in Rock Island, Illinois on January 31, 1908. His family moved to Florida for a short time and then settled in Cleveland, Ohio, where he grew up...
.
Primary and secondary schools
Harper Woods is served by two public school districts, the Harper Woods School DistrictHarper Woods School District
Harper Woods School District is a school district headquartered in Harper Woods, Michigan, United States.In 2003 the district twice attempted to pass a $42 million bond that called fr replacing all three school buildings. Both attempts failed, with the first failing by 25 votes and the second...
and the Grosse Pointe School District. The Harper Woods School District manages Beacon Elementary School (preschool-3), Tyrone Middle School (4-6), and Harper Woods High School, which includes the middle school (7-12). The Grosse Pointe School District manages Charles A. Poupard Elementary School. Harper Woods is also home to the charter schools of Chandler Park Academy Elementary and Middle Schools, Heart Academy High School, and Colin Powell Academy Middle School.
The Chandler Park Academy
Chandler Park Academy
Chandler Park Academy is a well renowned charter school in Harper Woods, Michigan. Founded in 1775, it is a college preparatory elementary, middle, and high school offering grades K-12....
, a K-12 charter school, is in Harper Woods.
During its history, Harper Woods was also home to the following (now defunct) parochial and private schools: St. Peter's Grade School, Our Lady Queen of Peace Elementary School, Lutheran High School East, Bishop Gallagher High School, Trinity Catholic High School, and Notre Dame High School
Notre Dame High School (Harper Woods, Michigan)
Notre Dame High School was a Catholic, all–male, non–residential college preparatory school in the Detroit suburb of Harper Woods, Michigan...
. In the fall of 2002, Bishop Gallagher and St. Florian High School
St. Florian High School
St. Florian High School was a Catholic high school in Hamtramck, Michigan of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit. The school opened in 1940 and was located in the same building as St. Florian Elementary School....
in Hamtramck
Hamtramck, Michigan
Hamtramck is a city in Wayne County of the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 22,423. Hamtramck is surrounded by the city of Detroit except for a small portion of the western border that touches the similarly surrounded city of Highland Park...
merged to form Trinity Catholic High School
Trinity Catholic High School (Michigan)
Trinity Catholic High School was a coeducational Roman Catholic high school in Harper Woods, Michigan, of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit....
in Harper Woods. In 2005 the archdiocese announced that Trinity and Notre Dame, an all-boys parochial school in Harper Woods, would close. The all-girls Regina High School http://www.reginahs.com/ once located in Harper Woods, moved to the nearby suburb of Warren
Warren, Michigan
Warren is a city in Macomb County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The 2010 census places the city's population at 134,056, making Warren the largest city in Macomb County, the third largest city in Michigan, and Metro Detroit's largest suburb....
in the fall of 2007. It was one of 18 Detroit area Catholic schools closed by the Archdiocese of Detroit in 2005.
Community colleges
The Wayne County Community CollegeWayne County Community College
Wayne County Community College District is a community college district with its headquarters in Downtown Detroit, Michigan...
University Square campus is located within the boundaries of Harper Woods.
Pension fund lawsuit
In September 2007, the City of Harper Woods Employees’ Retirement Scheme filed suit against UK-based defense contractor BAE SystemsBAE Systems
BAE Systems plc is a British multinational defence, security and aerospace company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that has global interests, particularly in North America through its subsidiary BAE Systems Inc. BAE is among the world's largest military contractors; in 2009 it was the...
. The suit alleges that BAE Systems executives funneled approximately $2 billion to Saudi ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
Prince Bandar. The suit, which made news around the world, seeks governance changes to the BAE Systems board, and efforts to redress the losses due to this alleged corruption.
On December 29, 2009, the US Court of Appeals rejected the Scheme's claim. Representatives for the Scheme later said that they would consider appealing to the Supreme Court.