Michigan One Room Schoolhouses: MACKINAC COUNTY

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

MACKINAC COUNTY

Military Post Schoolhouse (1879)

LOCATION: Fort Mackinac on Mackinac Island

An entrance fee to the Fort is required to see the schoolhouse
Current Use: Museum

Old Brevort School

LOCATION: N4415 Schoolhouse Rd (formerly Ozark Road), Moran Township
(just off US-2, near Brevort)
Current Use: Business - the sign says the last use was the Keg 'n Anvil Gallery

If anyone has information on this school, please leave a comment following this post.

Ozark School (1922-1938)

LOCATION: W3695 Lovegrove Rd, Moran

(Southeast of Trout Lake at the corner of M-123 and Lovegrove Rd in Moran Township)

Current Use: Museum.

Pines (Bois Blanc District #1) School (1936)

LOCATION: According to the Internet, the address is 100 Sioux Avenue, Pointe Aux Pins in Section 31, Bois Blanc Township on Bois Blanc Island

The school is on the main road that goes through this little town (the rather sketchy island map shows a name change from Lime Kiln Point Road to Bob-Lo Road somewhere in this area). The school is located at the corner of Comanche Avenue and the main road.

At one time, there were as many as five schoolhouses on Bois Blanc Island. Today, the Pines School is the only remaining school on the island.

Current Use: Active (K-8 grades) - it is one of only 20 actively operating one-room schools in the Michigan. .

No comments:

Post a Comment

Michigan One-Room Schoolhouses

I enjoy traveling and history and I document everything through another hobby – photography. Among my favorite subjects to photograph are one-room schoolhouses.

Okay, I am going to date myself but I attended a one-room school (Price School in Victor Township, Clinton County). The building was sold a long time ago and a field of corn now grows where the schoolhouse once stood. If anyone has a photo of Price School I would love to receive a copy!!

Those schoolhouses that have survived may now serve as museums through preservation efforts by local historical societies. Some have been converted into private residences, businesses, or are used by local government units. Unfortunately, most have been torn down or have been left in a state of decay. These disappearing structures represent a piece of history and looking for them is like going on a scavenger hunt.

Most schools were named after the land owner who provided the land for the school, a nearby town, or a local natural feature. Price School was named after its location (northeast corner of Price and Chandler Roads).

Everyday I walked about a mile to Price School – uphill, in the snowy winter, carrying my books … okay, during good weather I rode my bike. Since children walked to school back then, these one-room schools were built every few miles – depending on available funds and population of school-age children. Often the one-room schools were located in the township’s sixteenth section because that was the center of the township.

Like most one-room country schools, Price School had one front entry door but a few schools had separate doors – one for the boys and one for the girls.

Generally schoolhouses were painted white (cheaper) but there are some schools painted red. In Michigan, wood was plentiful and it was the most often used material for building the school. However, brick (and a few stone) schoolhouses were built too.

So, when we travel through each county in Michigan, I always keep watching and hoping to photograph these buildings before they disappear from the rural landscape that is part of our American history.

This blog site will be a work in progress. Each time I discover and photograph a historic schoolhouse, I will add that photo and whatever information I have on the school by editing the blog post that corresponds to the Michigan County the schoolhouse is located.

Please respect private property and view those former schoolhouses from the public right-of-way.

Some information (e.g. school names or dates) contained in this blog was obtained from Historical Societies, the Michigan One-Room Schoolhouse Association, or County Equalization Departments.