Tuesday, June 2, 2015

MASON COUNTY

North Amber District No. 5 School (??-1956)
North Amber School & Sign
LOCATION: 1048 Stiles Rd, Ludington in Amber Township
The school is on the east side of the road just south of Hansen Road
Current Use: Private Residence

Tallman (Branch #2) School (?-1956)
LOCATION:  On the southeast corner of Maggie St & Butters St, Tallman Lake in Branch Township
Current Use:  Private Residence

Resseguie School (1911-1966)
Resseguie School in August 2010 and April 2016
LOCATION:  Northeast corner of Custer & Wilson Roads in Custer Township (south of the Custer)
Current Use:  Vacant

Fern School District No. 3 (1906-1959)
 Fern School in August 2015 and April 2016
LOCATION:  Southwest corner of Anthony & Custer Roads in Eden Township
Current Use:  Abandoned
I was fortunate enough to have someone provide me with information on this school. Her father attended it before it closed in 1959. The second floor of this two-story school was an attic used for storage. On the main floor in the front of the school was a stage where the children put on plays. Toward the back wall (on the left side) were two terrariums covered with a screen mesh where the students could place insects and frogs. The bathroom was on the right side. There was a chalkboard at the front and another at the back of the school. Thank you, Tina for the information!


Jenks (Eden District No. 4) School (1906-1951)
LOCATION:  Southwest corner of Custer & Kinney Roads in Eden Township
Current Use:  Private Residence

Major (Eden District No. 2) School (1892)
Major School in August 2015 and April 2016
LOCATION:  Corner of Darr & Marrison Roads in Eden Township
Current Use:  Abandoned

LaSalle (Grant #3) School (?-1966)
LOCATION:  On the northeast corner of Hoague and LaSalle Roads in Grant Township
Current Use:  Private Residence

Locke District No 2 School (1908)
LOCATION: Southwest corner of Masten & Hawley Roads in Logan Township
(near 4455 S Masten Road)
Current Use: Private Residence

McCumber/Lake District No. 1 School
LOCATION:  Approximate address - 6001 South Masten Road in Logan Township
(northwest corner of Anthony & Masten Roads)
Current Use: Vacant
  
Marchido School (1895)
LOCATION:  Historic White Pine Village1687 S Lakeshore Dr Ludington

It was originally located at Bronson and Hesslund Roads.  Later, it was donated to the Mason Historical Society and moved to the Village in 1973.  
Current Use:  Museum

For more photos and information refer to my blog post on Historic White Pine Village by clicking on the following link:
Denice's White Pine Village Blog Post


Bachelor (Sheridan No. 4) School (1909-1944)
LOCATION:  Northwest corner of Sugar Grove and Larson Roads in Sheridan Township
Current Use:  Privately owned – Storage?

Elm Flats School (1876)
Elm Flats School in February 2011 and April 2016
LOCATION:  2872 N Scottville Road (aka US-31) in Sherman Township
Current Use:  Business

Reek School (District No. 4)
LOCATION2793 Sugar Grove Road in Sherman Township
Southwest corner of Sugar Grove and Reek – We were told by a local lady who is a long-time resident of the area that this school was moved to this location but she didn’t remember from where.  MORSA has a school listed at the corner of Sugar Grove and Tuttle Roads (none there now).  Could this be that school? 
Current Use:  Private Residence

French School (1913-1939)
French School April 2014 and April 2016
LOCATION:  South of Ludington on Pere Marquette Highway (east side of road) in Summit Township
Current Use:  Vacant

Nickerson School
LOCATION:  Northwest corner of Pere Marquette Highway and Meisenheimer Roads in Summit Township
Current Use:  Storage

Star (#4) School
LOCATION: 4017 Conrad Road at the Northwest corner of Conrad Road and Brye Road in Section 19, Amber Township
Current Use: Privately Owned – showing signs of remodeling interior and exterior

Marble (Eden District No. 1) School (1906)

LOCATION: Northeast corner of Darr Road and Kinney Road, Eden Township
Current Use: Privately Owned
I met the owner who stated that he hopes to rebuild the bell tower. Prior to his acquiring the property, he said this former school building had been used by the township for offices, as a church, and a private residence.

Some one-room schools have been altered beyond recognition.  They may still be there but without any markings or some semblance to a school it is difficult to know whether I found it or not.  So if buildings are in the proximity of the school location, and I can’t determine its existence, I mark the school as “Can’t Find”.  

While driving through Mason County, we noted the status of the following one room schools:
      -     Unknown School on SW Corner of Gordon Road and Johnson Road in Amber Township -  GONE (TD 2016)
       -   Grass Lake School on Barothy Road between Benson & Masten in Branch Township - Gone - Can't Find
-    Center School on Quarterline Road (Grant Twp) between Koenig & Treml Roads - Gone - Can't Find (maybe it should be LaSalle Road between Koenig & Treml Roads)
-     Wilson School (Custer Twp) on Wilson Road between Darr and Tuttle) - Gone - Can’t Find
-     Hamlin School (Hamlin Twp) - on the NE corner of Lincoln and Decker is a modern school attached to a brick bldg - is this the original school?
-    Victory Corners on Stiles Road (Victory Twp between Fisher and Groth) only saw a modern school on west side of road
-     Victory Unit on Stiles Road (1/2 mile south of Victory Drive in Victory Twp) – Gone 
-     Banner School (Victory Twp) on Dennis Road between Victory & Fountain Roads – Gone
-  Morton School (1883-1949) on SE Corner of Morton Road and Gerber Road in Section 4, Riverton Township - GONE  (per Guest Comment - there was a school here.  I did a Google Street View for this location and there was an abandoned school (complete with bell tower) here in 2009.  We visited this area in April of 2018 and no traces of the building remain)  
-  Unknown School in Section 20 Riverton Township (SW Corner of Morton Road and Blundell Road) - GONE (per Guest comment - this building was razed in the 1990's)

10 comments:

  1. We stopped today and looked in the school house on marrison rd and Darr rd....it really just looks like one day the children were there...the next day just gone! All of the school books and everything are just "there" if was really quite eerie does anyone have any information on this school house?

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  2. Kristen, Major School was probably the nicest school in our township. A place where Indian (native American) and white children went together. The area was once an Indian Reservation.
    The Fern school in the photo was the second one built. The original was built across the road.
    By the way, the school you have above as :Unknown School (Reek #4?) was called Reek School. And it was District 4 in Sherman township.

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  3. There were three Riverton Twp schools (at least) not mentioned. One on the SW corner of Morton and Blundell. Wooden structure, raized in the 90s. Another about 4 or 5 miles North on the SE corner of Morton and Gerber. Brick, abandoned afaik. The third is on the SW corner of Hawley and Schwass. It was an Amish school for the longest time, then vacant, now a residence.

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  4. That's not the original location of Eden no 1

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  5. Wilson School is now a private home...it's the white building on the northwest corner, and no longer resembles a school. I grew up on Tuttle Rd. and never knew that home was once a schoolhouse, until recently!

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  6. Wilson School, northwest corner of Wilson Rd. and Darr Rd. Figured I should clarify :)

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  7. We just discovered Fern School - this would be a terrific private residence.

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  8. Recently I bought a building at 313 S Amber rd , was built in 1900 and was told it was a school?

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  10. The "unknown school" formerly located on the corner of Johnson and Gordon Rpads was the Jones School. My father and his siblings were students there as was their father and his siblings the generation before them.

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