The Slate

Newsletter of the Michigan One-Room Schoolhouse Association

Town Hall School  1895-1958

 Snuggled on a gentle hillside in amongst the campus buildings of Eastern Michigan University stands a proud reminder of early rural education in America.  Town Hall School was originally located in Pittsfield Township, Washtenaw County, just south of Ann Arbor, on the corner of Morgan and Thomas Roads.  It was moved to EMU campus in 1987 after being donated to the university by the Geddes family, the original land owners.

The wood-frame building, built in 1895, was not the first school building for District #3.  The first  schoolhouse was also a wood-structure, but was built on a different location than that on which this building had stood.  Replaced in 1852 by a brick schoolhouse and at a new location—the farm of William Geddes in Pittsfield Township—the first schoolhouse was still being used as a cattle shed as late as the 1940s.

After 43 years of use, the brick schoolhouse was subsequently replaced by a new wood-frame schoolhouse in 1895. A recent archaeological excavation at that site has unearthed bricks used in the construction of that early school.

Across Morgan Rd. from the school stood the township hall, hence the name Town Hall School.  That building, built in 1853-54  still stands and is used as a personal residence.

Now restored as  a historical building and a museum piece, Town Hall School  is often visited by school children and used as a classroom by EMU history of education students.

Town Hall School served as the first annual conference site for the newly formed Michigan One-Room Schoolhouse Association in 1993 and will again serve that purpose at the 10th Anniversary conference on May 10th, 2003. 

 A working one-room school:

Strange School

Oneida School District No.3

Eaton County, Oneida Township 

A few miles north of Grand Ledge in Eaton Co. –where for over one hundred twenty years children have come daily, twenty children from kindergarten through fifth grade arrive at eight forty-five to begin their school day.

The desks face the entrance.  In the back corner of the room is a library and across the back there are three  Mac computers.  There are bulletin boards on the left side of the room and across the back.  The right side of the room has six large windows.

The day starts with the Pledge of Allegiance and then the day’s work begins.  All morning three children at a time worked with the computer teacher while the classroom teacher and aide worked with the remaining children in small groups.  They worked on reading, arithmetic and ended the morning listening to a story being read to them.  The kindergarten children went home at the end of the morning.

Lunch was eaten in the room with children changing seats and eating in small groups. Being a cold winter day, lunchtime was spent inside playing games.

Following lunch it was back to work, working on reading, social studies and English.  A high school student was the teacher helper in the afternoon.  Mid-afternoon the Spanish teacher arrived and spent an hour teaching the children Spanish.  The remainder of the afternoon was spent in lessons and checking to make sure work had been completed.

At the end of the day the children did their chores, sweeping the floor, washing the blackboard, passing out papers and then getting ready to go home.  They were dismissed from their seats when their rides arrived.

The first school for Oneida District No.3 was a log school built in 1838 or 1839. The log school was replaced with a frame building in 1855, and the frame building was replaced with a brick building in 1879.  The frame building was sold to the highest bidder and moved off the grounds within ten days.

The school year was made up of the winter and summer terms.  The winter term was generally taught by a man and the 16-week summer term which began in May was taught by a woman who received $48  for the term.

The first term in the new brick schoolhouse began the end of December and ran until mid-March.  The cost of the new school was $992.94. In 1880-81 a woman teacher received $104 for the winter term.  In 1887 a man teacher received $120 for the winter term.  In 1891 the school year began in September and ran to June for the first time.

School consolidation was actively promoted by the state superintendent in the 1940’s, and in the 1950’s many of the country schools did close their doors.—Source Unknown

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Schoolhouse Bulletin Board

10th anniversary Michigan One Room Schoolhouse conference

 The 10th Anniversary One-Room Schoolhouse Conference will be  held May 10, 2003, on the campus of Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Michigan, with Town Hall School as the centerpiece. The Michigan One-Room Schoolhouse Association was founded in May 1993 at Eastern Michigan University.

The 2003 conference will be held on Saturday in EMU’s new college of education building, John W. Porter Hall, named after former EMU president and former State Superintendent of Public Instruction John W. Porter.

 An opening reception will be held Friday evening, May 9, in the restored Town Hall School on EMU’s campus.  Participants will see at first-hand how an historic one-room school can be restored and the many uses it can be put to.

On Saturday’s agenda for discussion will be many interesting topics, including the moving of Town Hall School, teaching today in a one-room school, an archaeologist’s presentation on excavations of one-room schools , an information swap, videos, an old fashioned spelling bee and many more subjects.  Welcoming remarks will be presented by Dr. Jerry Robbins, Dean EMU College of Education, Dr. Scott Westerman, , Dean Emeritus EMU College of Education, and Larry Wagenaar, Executive Director, Historical Society of Michigan.

Registration fee for the conference is $35 per person. A box lunch will be provided.  For information on conference registration,  please contact Sue Daniel at the following address or phone:

Greenmead

20501 Newburgh Rd.

Livonia,  MI  48152-1098.

Att: Sue Daniel

Ph: 248-477-7375

Fax: 248-477-6921

Space is limited, so register early.  Registration deadline is May 5, 2003.

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Rural School

Conference Comes to Michigan in 2003

 NOT TO BE CONFUSED with the Michigan One-Room School Conference which will occur in May, the Country Schooling Conference is a national conference of one-room schools.  It is scheduled for June 26-28, 2003 and will be held at Greenmead in Livonia, MI.  Send inquiries to the following location:

Greenmead

20501 Newburgh Rd.

Livonia,  MI  48152-1098.

Att: Sue Daniel

Ph: 248-477-7375

Fax: 248-477-6921

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 Schoolhouse Bookshelf

One-Room Country Schools: History and Recollections From Wisconsin by Jerry Apps, Amherst Press, c.1996

Call Amherst Press: 1-800-333-8122

Or FAX: 715-824-5806 or visit our website: www.AmherstPress.com

Symbols: Viewing a Rural Past by Jerry Apps, Amherst Press, c. 2000

Call Amherst Press: 1-800-333-8122

Or FAX: 715-824-5806 or visit our website: www.AmherstPress.com

A History of the Albion Public Schools by Frank Passic, E. Weil Publishing Services, Albion, MI, c. 1991

Down The Myrtle Path: The History and Memories of Town Hall School by Hannah Geddes Wright. Send $12+$2 shipping and handling to: Hannah Geddes Wright, 4209 N. Dearing Rd. Parma, MI,  49269

To purchase a book described in Schoolhouse Bookshelf, contact the publisher or sponsoring organization directly using the addresses or phone numbers provided. 

This listing of books is provided as an informational service to our newsletter readers.  The Michigan One-Room Schoolhouse Association does not benefit monetarily from the sale of these books.

MYSTERY SCHOOL!!

The name of this school, located in the Coldwater area, Branch County, Michigan, is a mystery to us.  Can you identify it  by name,  township and crossroads? If you are the first  with the correct answer, you will win one year free membership in The Michigan One-room Schoolhouse Assoc.  Please send your answer to:  Sue Daniel, c/o Greenmead, 20501 Newburgh, Livonia, MI  48152.

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1890s Schoolhouse Restored in vicksburg

By Larry Schlack

 “It takes a village to raise a school”

That’s a true statement, as members of the Vicksburg Historical Society will emphatically tell you.  Pictured below, standing proudly in the Vicksburg Historical Village in Kalamazoo County, is the Strong School dating from the late 1890s.  Pictured also below is the building as it was three years ago when it was donated for restoration by the owner.

Now, $14,000 dollars and hundreds of hours of volunteer labor later, the pristine building hosts visitors and schoolchildren for a look at a past feature of Michigan education.

The building was moved to the village from its 100-year home about three miles south of Vicksburg.  It had been used to educate children until sometime in the 1960s – and had sat derelict in the intervening years.

Dedication was held on Memorial Day 2002 and was attended by children and adults from the community and the Vicksburg Community School District.  During summer school 2002 Vicksburg Schools housed a reading program staffed by two teachers in the building.  The six old-time cast iron and wood desks were perfect for the smaller-sized summer school classes.

Also part of the Vicksburg Historical Village are a railroad warehouse, a printing and newspaper office, at a 1905 railroad depot, and a late-nineteenth century farmhouse which is being restored.  Visitors may phone the Historical Society (269/649-1733) for information on visits.

MORSA member Warren Lawrence played a role in the moving and renovation of the school.  Warren, who is also a member of the Vicksburg Historical Society, notes that the Vicksburg Community Schools were consolidated in the 1940's.  Strong School was one of 21 rural schools involved in that consolidation.

"Our restored building," Warren says, "will offer people an opportunity to  see first-hand a part of educational history."

Before:                                                                                                              After:

The Reunion

by Helen Garn

I read the announcement on the postcard: ”The Nixon School reunion will be held July 6, 2002.  Potluck lunch at noon.”

My mind was made up immediately—I would go, but I must have transportation.  My niece took me to the party, and as we drove into the school yard, memories came back in a flood.

The first thing I noticed was the one window on the east side of the building facing us.  I recalled how the letter from the authorities had arrived for my father, who was the director when I was in the 5th grade.  It stated that all school windows should be placed so the light would shine over the left shoulder of each student.  The windows were put to the west side, with one lone window remaining on the east.

In front of the school was the same old pump I had used as a child/pupil and then as a teacher, starting at age 18 in August, 1933, after 4 years of High School and 1 year at County Normal.

I noticed the changes as I entered the door at the south.  When I was a student, open cloak rooms on each side had provided places for wraps and dinner pails.  Since then the little rooms had been walled up, and toilets added.  I had noticed both outhouses behind the building had disappeared.

Entering the classroom, I began greeting people—all old friends.  I counted 8 ‘kids’ I had taught and realized they were in their 60’s and 70’s, with the oldest one being 82.

What a wonderful day! Old acquaintances and a lunch together! I hope to go again next year.

(Nixon School is located on the corner of Section 20 in Cherry Grove Township, Wexford County.)