Alex Klaus

Alex (she/her) is an urban studies and public history student at Wayne State University and a Detroit Documenter. She has a special interest in researching Metro-Detroit history and seeks to connect current issues with historical context to find solutions. She believes we must understand our past to create a better future that serves everyone. When she isn’t documenting Board of Police Commissioner meetings, she’s exploring local nature preserves or grabbing tacos at Honeybee Market.

Cars driving at nighttime with snow covering the ground, roads are plowed.

Detroit opened its first warming center in the 1980s. It’s the temporary fix that never went away

by Alex Klaus November 17, 2023November 17, 2023

Warming centers are not new in Detroit, and neither are calls to provide permanent housing for people experiencing homelessness.

Yellow, red, white and black illustration of three people lined up to vote.

Rewind: How Michigan got its voter ID laws

by Alex Klaus November 3, 2023November 2, 2023

Tree branches with red leaves surround the top of a black lamppost, illuminated at night.

Streetlight Detroit

🎃 Devil’s Night — and the firm grip it had on Detroit

by Jena Brooker, Alex Klaus and Outlier Staff October 20, 2023October 19, 2023

Night scene with glowing fire and smoke in the distance. Outlines of trees and house with bright windows are barely visible in the darkness.

Rewind: A history of Devil’s Night in Detroit

by Alex Klaus October 20, 2023October 19, 2023

An old map of the Detroit metropolitan area from the 1930’s where different neighborhoods are overlaid with blocks of different colors. The map was commissioned by the federal Home Owners Loan Corporation and served as a guide for banks and other lenders making mortgages. Loans should not be made to neighborhoods marked in red on the map. The map is a visual representation of the practice of “redlining.”

Rewind to when residency requirements said police officers had to live in Detroit to work here

by Alex Klaus October 6, 2023October 5, 2023

Explained: Facial recognition in Detroit

by Alex Klaus September 22, 2023September 22, 2023

Safety and Policing

Rewind: How safe did riding the school bus used to be?

by Alex Klaus August 25, 2023August 24, 2023

Two white police cars with “Detroit Police” and blue stripes painted on the side. They are parked in an unpaved lot behind a chain-link fence near several tall buildings.

Rewind: Community policing in Detroit over the decades

by Alex Klaus July 28, 2023July 27, 2023

Cars drive by a retail block

Rewind: A hot July day in Detroit, 50 years ago

by Alex Klaus July 14, 2023July 13, 2023

Headline reads “The Vote Changes Nothing,” above an article detailing the attitudes of mayoral candidates John Nichols and Coleman Young toward the LGBTQ+ community.

A short history of anti-LGBTQ+ policing in Detroit

by Alex Klaus June 16, 2023October 11, 2023