7 iconic Detroit buildings that are gone, but not forgotten
These buildings are no longer with us in physical form, yet their memories still linger.
- The recreation center, once abandoned and where Joe Louis trained, is being redeveloped by MHT Housing.
- Kronk Gym’s original location closed in 2006, and the program has moved several times since.
The historic and formerly abandoned Brewster Wheeler Recreation Center in Detroit’s Brush Park has sprung back to life and is now home to the legendary Kronk Gym.
The renowned boxing gym officially opened its new 3,500-square-foot location inside the rehabbed rec center building, 670 Wilkins St. off of I-75, on Wednesday, Dec. 10.
The two-story brick building dates to 1929 and is where boxing legend Joe Louis once trained and generations of young Detroiters learn to swim.
The center had been closed since the early 2000s and once faced the possibility of demolition. The property was acquired about two years ago by MHT Housing, which has been fixing up portions of the building as interested tenants step forward.
Last month, MHT Housing broke ground next to the rec center on a four-building, 211-unit affordable housing development dubbed The Sanctuary that is scheduled to open in 2027. The development is also near the former site of the demolished Brewster-Douglass public housing projects.
For Kronk Gym, which has a five-year lease, the new location marks the boxing program’s return to Detroit after several years in Westland.
The original Kronk Gym was situated in the city-owned Kronk Recreation Center at McGraw and Junction on the city’s west side.
That site became world famous after boxing trainer/manager Emanuel Steward took over the center’s boxing programs in the early 1970s and produced numerous amateur and pro boxing champions, including Tommy (The Hitman) Hearns.
The original gym closed in 2006 as the city of Detroit struggled to maintain its recreation centers and vandals ripped out the building’s wiring and copper pipes. Steward then moved the Kronk program to West Warren Avenue. (The original Kronk Gym location was later destroyed by fire in 2017.)
Kronk Gym closed for about three years following Steward’s death in 2012 at age 68. It reopened in 2015 on Mettetal Street on the west side, and closed again in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic and a building flood.
Kronk then merged with the Emanuel Steward Champions of Tomorrow program, or ESCOT, and operated in Westland as mostly a youth development program, according to John Lepak, Kronk Gym’s chief operating officer.
The newly opened Brush Park location represents a Detroit homecoming for Kronk Gym.
“Like thousands of other kids, Emanuel Steward was like a father figure to me,” Lepak said in a statement. “Opening these doors again is a tremendous honor and responsibility. KRONK is more than a gym, it’s a community.”
MHT Housing didn’t respond to an inquiry for comment Wednesday and full details about the recreation center’s redevelopment were unavailable. However, much of the building appears to still be available for potential future tenants.
The name “Wheeler” was added to the rec center’s name in 1969 to honor Leon Wheeler, Detroit’s first Black recreation worker and the center’s longtime director. Former Detroit Mayor Coleman Young described his amateur boxing debut in the Brewster Wheeler Recreation Center’s ring in his 1994 book, “Hard Stuff: The Autobiography of Mayor Coleman Young.”
Kronk Gym now offers general fitness classes and memberships from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. during the week, with its amateur and pro boxing development program starting after 4 p.m.
“That is traditional amateur and pro boxing,” Lepak said, “where we are looking to recreate the magic of yesteryear with a championship amateur team and build a professional stable as well.”
Contact JC Reindl: 313-378-5460 or [email protected]. Follow him on X @jcreindl
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