USA > Michigan > Allegan County > A twentieth century history of Allegan County, Michigan > Part 71
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In 1881 the legislature provided for a county board of school exami- ners. This board consisted of three members, and were elected for three years by the chairmen of the township boards of school inspectors.
In 1887 the constituency of the board of examiners was changed. Two county examiners were chosen for two years by the chairmen of township boards of inspectors. These two examiners, with the judge of probate, appointed and employed a secretary for a term of one year, who became ex-officio a member of the county board and its executive officer. The secretary visited schools and received a salary of $800 per annum. The following are the boards of county examiners under this act :
1887-88-P. A. Latta, Sec., J. W. Humphrey, Mr. Taylor.
1888-89-P. A. Latta, J. W. Humphrey, Mr. Taylor.
1889-90-P. A. Latta, J. W. Humphrey, Mr. Taylor.
1890-91-P. A. Latta.
In 1891 the law still in force was passed. This required that the board of supervisors should appoint a county commissioner of schools who should hold office until July 1, 1893, at which time the commissioner regularly elected by the people the preceding April should begin his duties. At the same ineeting the supervisors should appoint two school examiners, for one and two year terms respectively, and the board should thereafter appoint one examiner at each annual meeting. The county commissioner and the two examiners constitute the board of school examiners. By a law passed in 1903, the county commissioner holds office four years.
The county commissioners who have served in Allegan county since the act of 1891 have been the following :
Commissioners-1891-93, P. A. Latta ; 1893-95, J. W. Humphrey ; 1895-97, J. W. Humphrey; 1897-98 (resigned December 31st). J. W. Humphrey ; January, 1899-99 (elected by county board of school inspec- tors, July Ist), O. S. Flanagan; July 1, 1899-1903 (two terms), J. E. McDonald: 1903-1907, Ira G. Thorp.
Examiners-1891-93, Mrs. D. V. Pursell, J. Warnock; 1893-95. Mrs. D. V. Pursell, Benjamin Neerken ; 1895-97, Mrs. D. V. Pursell (died Feb- ruary, 1897), Benjamin Neerken ; 1897-98. Mary Bassett, Benjamin Neer- ken : 1899, Mary Bassett, (1898) C. F. Bacon: 1899-1903, Mrs. Wilder, C. F. Bacon (resigned) ; May 19, 1902 (appointed), Ralph Spague, Mrs. Wilder ; October, 1903, Volney Stuck, R. Spague.
1891-93-P. A. Latta.
1893-95-J. W. Humphrey.
1895-97-J. W. Humphrey.
1897-98-J. W. Humphrey.
At the end of 1898 Mr. Humphrey resigned to enter the legislature, and for the existing vacancy to the following July the county board of school inspectors chose O. S. Flanagan.
1899-01-J. E. McDonald.
1901-03-J. E. McDonald.
1903-07-Ira G. Thorp.
The county examiners in this time have been: Mrs. D. V. Pursell and J. Warnock, the first appointees. Mrs. Pursell served till her death in
516
HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY
February, 1897. Benjamin Neerken was examiner from 1893 to 1899. Mary Bassett succeeded Mrs. Pursell and served two terms. C. F. Bacon served from 1898 till his resignation in May, 1902. Ralph Sprague, appointed in his stead, has since been on the board. Mrs. Wilder followed Mary Bassett and was in turn succeeded, in October, 1903, by Volney Stuck, present examiner.
Following the passage of the general school laws in 1837, the organ- ized townships chose their school inspectors, who proceeded to divide the territory under their control into convenient districts and organize schools in each. There were at the time only four townships in Allegan county. The total population was less than 1,500 persons, distributed mainly about the four settlements along the Kalamazoo-at Saugatuck, Allegan, Otsego and Gun Plains. It is hardly to be expected, therefore, that a complete school system would spring into existence at once. Unfortunately com- plete data is not at hand to describe the organization of the various dis- tricts, though the reports for Allegan are better preserved than in many counties of the state. From the meagre reports filed with the county clerk in the fall of 1837, the schools organized in the county the first year were as follows :
In Plainfield township, comprising the east tier of townships, nine and one fractional districts had been organized-extending partly into the pres- ent Martin township, but for the most part in the present Gun Plains town- ship. Only two districts reported. No. 2 gave 17 children in attendance, $25 raised for support of the school, while district No. 4 reported 29 schol- ars, a nine months' school, and $90 raised for support of the school.
Otsego township in 1837 reported four districts organized, two mak- ing reports to the inspectors. In No. I there were 30 children of school age, and a six months' school. In No. 2 were 35 scholars and a six months' school.
Coming to Allegan township, in reality Allegan village, where the pop- ulation was concentrated at the time, we find but one district, that being the village school elsewhere described. There were 96 of school age in the district, 60 of whom attended school, a five months' term was taught, and $500 had been raised for a schoolhouse and $200 for the pay of the teacher.
This is all the information the reports of 1837 give us. It is probable that in Newark township no district was legally organized the first year, though the children at the mouth of the river must have been provided with some private-school instruction. In 1838, however, one district is reported in that township. District No. I contained 42 children of school age, 30 of whom attended school some part of the three months' term. Ninety dollars was raised for building a schoolhouse. By the following vear three districts had been formed, and No. I had voted a tax of $500 for a schoolhouse.
In 1840 the report made to the state superintendent of public instruc- tion names the six townships of which the county was then composed- Martin and Manlius having been organized, though no districts had as yet been formed in Manlius. Plainfield (Gun Plains) had ten districts, Otsego 5, Allegan 5, Martin 4, and Newark 3. Of these only ten districts
517
HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY
reported, in which were 268 scholars, and $1,071.72 had been raised for school purposes.
As population increased and was distributed over the townships, new districts were formed. Often an entire township contained but a single district, and then as settlement proceeded new district areas were formed and the old lines changed. Even if the records were complete, it would be impossible to follow in detail the formation of these various districts. During the last fifteen years the number of districts in the county, as also in the state, has remained substantially the same, and the tendency hence- forth will be, as we have stated, to a decrease rather than increase in the number of districts.
Thirty years ago, Mr. P. A. Latta, then superintendent of Allegan township, published some statistics regarding the schools of the county that form a good basis for comparisons. The important items in his sum- mary -- for the school year ending September, 1877-were:
Number school districts in Allegan county. 178
Number children between 5 and 20 years. 11,846
Number of children that attended school. 9,532
School buildings-frame 169, log 6, brick 9. 18.4
Number men teachers employed .. 106
Number women teachers employed.
286
Amount 2-mill tax.
$17,121.35
Amount primary school fund.
5.810.00
Amount district taxes for all purposes. 34.574.21
Since then six districts have been added to the total. The number of school population remains almost the same. The log buildings have all disappeared. The amount of the primary interest has increased more than seven-fold. Altogether, educational resources make a much better show- ing now than thirty years ago.
A school district is often more than a mere township subdivision. As above stated, a school is a central point of a community. Children grow to adult life with the old schoolhouse as the most common meeting place. not only for purposes of instruction, but for social and religious gather- ings. These associations around a school are strong ties in binding a community together, and very often we find the people's social life defined quite distinctly by the same limits as the school district in which they live. With greater facility of communication, brought about by better roads, telephones and other improvements, this will become less apparent as the years go by. But the instances are many in which a neighborhood is best known by the name of its schoolhouse-as the "Prouty school" neighbor- hood in Trowbridge, or the "Sand Hill school" in Salem. For purposes of permanent reference it has been considered advisable to tabulate the school districts of the various townships and designate each by its popular name as far as that is possible.
Distriet No. Name. Distriet No.
Name.
ALLEGAN.
LEIGHTON.
1
Allegan
1. Hooker
3.
Hudson Corners
2 fr. Weber
4.
Whetmore
3 .. .
Green Lake
518
HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY
District No.
Name. District No.
Name.
ALLEGAN.
LEIGHTON.
5
Bronell 4.
6 fr.
Van Keuren
7.
Babylon
9.
Miner Lake
10 fr
King
8.
Sanger 10.
CASCO.
McDowell 1
Farnum 2.
1
Manlius
2 fr
Fennville
3
Middaugh
4.
Gidley
5 fr
Colf
7 fr
. E. Saugatuck
8
Lacy
MARTIN.
1
Martin
Walker 2.
3 fr
Base Line
4.
Marble
6
Rowe
7.
Noble
8.
Moon
9 fr
Kaylor 4
CLYDE.
1.
Bravo
2 fr
Ikler
3 ..
Pearle
Jackson 4
5 fr
Tracy
Pritchard 6 fr
DORR.
1
2 fr.
Jones
3.
Bartz
4.
5.
Dorr
6.
7
8
9.
Moline 10.
FILLMORE.
Ruscher 1
Garvelink 2.
Fillmore
3.
Pleasant Valley 4.
5 fr
Klomparens
Lohman 6 fr
GANGES.
1
fr
Peach Belt
3
Darling
7
L. New Salem
4. .
Glenn
8 fr
Diamond Springs
1
Lindsley
Brown 4.
Monteith
5 fr
Blossom
6.
Crittedon
MONTEREY.
1
S. Monterey
3
Lay
5.
Pickle St.
6 fr
Hoyer
7
Dallas
9
Belden
OTSEGO.
1
White
3
4
Pullen
5.
6.
7
Star
8
Pratt
9
Lewis
OVERISEL.
1
Overisel
Hawthorn
3.
Kooman
4.
Albers
Butler
6.
Masselink
SALEM.
2
Sand Hill
3.
Burnip's Corners
4.
5.
6
Goodman
4
Crow
Rice 5.
Hadaway 6.
7
Berry
8 fr.
Kibby
9.
5.
6 fr
7.
MANLIUS.
Iddles 3
CHESHIRE.
Ferris 5.
Monterey
Otsego
519
HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY
District No.
Name.
SALEM.
District No.
10.
Mellish
SAUGATUCK.
Saugatuck 3.
Douglas 4.
Mack's Landing
5.
Chase
6 ..
Barrager
TROWBRIDGE.
White 1. Prouty
2 fr
Blackman
Wilkinson 3
Foster 4
5.
Hicks
6.
Clifford
Harper
8 fr
Ross
VALLEY.
1 fr
Mill Grove
Crill
4.
Parkhurst 3
5.
Hamilton
6.
Burton
HOPKINS.
1
Ohio Corners 2.
3.
4.
5.
Tishhouse
6 ..
Hilliards
7.
9.
Wicks
10.
11 fr
Frohm
LAKETOWN.
1
Brinkman
2.
Gibson
3.
Lugers
4.
St. Clair
LEE.
2 fr
Burrows
3 fr
Smith
4.
Horseshoe
5 ..
Pullman
6 ..
Hilton
7.
Wildwood
11.
2.
Plainwell
3.
4 fr
5.
Viers
6 ..
Bellingham
7.
Doster
8.
9 fr
Hooper
10 ..
Hooper
HEATH.
1
Dunningville
Lemoin
Frayer
3.
Braninger
4 fr.
Hill
5.
Messinger
WATSON.
1
Miner
Watson 2
3 fr
Page
Wicks 5.
6.
Anderson
7
8.
Swan
9
Burhan
10.
Abronia
11
WAYLAND.
1
2
Wayland
2 fr
Bradley
3
Gregg
5 ..
6 fr
7.
Angell
8 fr
Shelbyville
10
Reed 9.
Union (or Ganges) 6. .
7 ..
Orr
Bowles
8.
9.
Loomis
10.
Grange Hall
GUN PLAINS.
1 fr
Silver Creek
GANGES.
Name. 5
Osburn
CHAPTER IX. VILLAGE SCHOOLS.
ALLEGAN.
Allegan did not have the first school in the county, but education began as soon as the first considerable group of settlers had located here. A school term was held by a Miss Hinsdale, of Kalamazoo county, in 1835, and in 1836 the district was organized and the first important public building in the village was erected. A frame building of rather generous proportions for the time, its ground dimensions being 26 by 40 feet, this schoolhouse, which stood on the south side of Trowbridge street just east of Pine, was the first court house and church edifice. The bell in the cupola called the children together in the morning, and in the evenings and during vacations it rang to summon the officers of law to duty or called the people to town meeting or social event; while on the Lord's day it solemnly con- voked to religious observance. The subsequent history of this first public building in the village has been described in connection with the account of the court house and other county buildings.
Some of the early teachers in Allegan, besides Miss Hinsdale, were Miss Eliza Littlejohn, Miss Mary Parkhurst, Miss Lavia Bingham, Spencer Marsh, G. Y. Warner, E. Parkhurst, and Harvey Munger, all well known names in the pioneer history.
The union or graded school did not find a place in Michigan's scheme of education until during the forties, and the Allegan union school was not organized until 1867. In the meantime the population of the village was about 2,000, and several institutions had been established to supplement the work of the district school. One was the Allegan Academy, organized in 1846, and conducted for several years by Elisha B. Bassett, a man of thor- ough education and ability, who is also known through his connection with other phases of the county's history.
Most noted of these schools was Pine Grove Seminary, which was built in 1857 by Judge H. H. Booth, in his time one of the most liberal and public-spirited men of Allegan. He donated the use of this building to teachers who would maintain a school of primary and academic grade. Rev. L. F. Waldo was one of the teachers who used it for this purpose. The structure stood in a pine grove, whence its name, on the eminence where the high school is now located. When the movement to organize a union school took shape, Judge Booth sold the building to the school
520
ALLEGAN HIGH SCHOOL
521
HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY
district, and it served for a number of years as the central school of the village. It was a frame building, containing six rooms.
Twenty-five years ago the public school buildings in Allegan were the following: The Central school, which was the old seminary building : the north school, on Race street opposite Water street: the west ward school, occupying the campus with the Central school : and the south ward school, near Fifth and Bond streets. The three smaller buildings, cach containing two rooms, were of brick.
Since then have been added two excellent modern buildings to the school architecture of Allegan. The high school building, on the hill where the old Central school stood, is a two-story brick building, with good equipment and accommodations for the older pupils, while the Dawson building contains besides the rooms for the grades an auditorium seating several hundred persons and used for many public purposes, meetings and entertainments.
The list of superintendents from the organization of the union school to the present are :
1867-68-William H. Stone.
1868-71-Silas Wood.
1871-74-Albert Jennings.
1874-77-Daniel P. Simmons.
1877-81-Edmund D. Barry.
1881-82-W. E. Bellows.
1882-83-Margaret Morton.
1883-87-WV. B. Garvin.
1887-88-W. L. Lawrence.
1888-90-H. A. Simonds.
1890-92-E. N. Brown. 1892-94-Mr. Wixon.
1894-95-W. H. Coburn. 1895-H. W. McIntosh.
The graduates of the Allegan high school, named by years of gradua- tion below, are 386 in number. Many of them are well known and influ- ential people both at home and abroad.
ALLEGAN GRADUATES.
1876-Isabel V. Partridge, Ella Williams, Isabel M. Barclay, Hattie S. Smith, Minnie B. Franks, Lizzie Eager. Chas. Wilkes, Frank B. Lay, Chas. F. Bingham.
1877-Will Oliver, Kate Dreher, Lizzie Smith.
1878-Mary Smith.
1879-Dora Chaffee. Della Town. Lillian Grimes, Luella Scott, Leon Chichester, Theodore Williams.
1880-Nellie Coleman, Tinnie Chaffee, Jennie Whitmore, Will L. Edmunds, Burtis Wood, James A. Latta.
1881-Delia Cook, Eva M. Dryden, M. Jennie Mabbs, Ettie C. Col- burn, A. Louise Walter, Mary E. Goodrich, Frank H. Williams, Fred M. Sisson.
1882-Chas. E. Bassett, Austin A. Colburn.
522
HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY
1883-Zella Leighton, Ella Colburn, Minnie Eisenberg, Anna Young, Ellen Hudson, Chester Wetmore.
1884-Franc Arnold, Fred I. Chichester, Grace Hart, Jennie R. Latta, John A. Mckeever, Alice H. Lilly, M. Gertrude Porter, Clara B. Sher- wood, Lillian Nelson, Will E. Ryan, Frank E. Semon.
1885-Guy Burton, Florence Lonsbury, Pearl Town, Bertha Pritchard, Rubie Sherwood, Minnie Bucher, Wolcot Butler, Kate Whitmore, Myron Moore, Isabel Stegeman.
1886-Nellie N. Blackman, Augustus S. Butler, Tillie Waddell, Alfred Calkins, Jessie Thew, Bessie Bell Thew, Oscar Swift, Mabel Dunn.
1887-Edith Foster, Maud Howe, Chas. Calkins, Lavinda Nichols, Florence H. Pope.
1888-Lulu H. Williams, May B. Starr, Bess Wetmore, Adah M. Giles, Fannie E. Giles, Will Saunders, Flora E. Williams, Selia A. Ryan.
1889-Alice Bingham, Kate Murphy, Nellie Van Middlesworth, Emma Knapp, Lizzie Madison, Pearl Chaffee, Agnes Ingerson.
1800-Mary Coney, Ina Bailey, Maud Powers, Kittie Wells, Dora Bailey, Nina Carter, Della Youngs, Rebecca Spears, William De Lano, Grace Williams, Frank Giles, William Colburn.
1891-N. Ella Van Aiken, Lenora Porter, Nettie Bigelow, Fred P. Austin, Nellie Smith, Hettie Spraw, Mina Rumery, Marion Cook, Belle Buyce, Dwight Calkins, Will Follett, Alexander Heringer.
1892-Ira Montague, Eva O. Cook, Florence Leweke, Maud Nelson, Orrel Grigsby, Hattie Weeks, Cora Hove, Adah McLaughlin, Ina Moore, Fred Coney, Elwin Spears, Samuel Stegeman, Edna Town, Mary Hirner. 1893-Mary Robinson, Adah Hoffman, Maud Lonsbury, Mabel A. Cackler, John W. Arnold, Morris E. Harvey.
1894-Alvie Weeks, Nellie Coney. E. Estella Oliver, Eva Philips, Grant Goodrich, N. Mae Burton, Clifford Manwaring, Anna Wilson, Mary Wilson, Judson Baker, Orcena Luade Spears, Mame Bailey, Bernath Sher- wood.
1895-Agnes Langshaw, Edith Perrigo, Howard Stuch, Aban Weeks, John Bills, Floyd Fuller, Clayton Hoffman, Chas. Spafford, Mae McKin- non, Rena Schuman, Jessie Smith, Minnie Smith, Bernie Woodworth.
1896-Harlan Lindsley. Hiram Cornell Clapp, Ned Bassett Killian, Albert A. Stegeman, Belle Lewis Barton, Roie C. Seerey, George Stege- man, Park Whitmore, Leon B. Stratton, Clarence Billings.
1897-Clara Covkendall, Herman Priebe, Ethel Mclaughlin, Gertrude Young, Nellie Bailey, Bess Adams, Clifford Russell, Gracia Cook, Idabelle Hullinger, Charles R. Stewart, Grace Morse, Guy Hale, Charlotte Coney, Arcell Spears, Etta M. Hurst, M. Everett Dick, Belle M. Lidsley.
1898-Lucy Sheffer, Agnes Sheffer, Claudia Lowe, Glen Kent, Lizzie Campbell, Will Sawyer, Fred Sawyer, Elroy Bidwell, Bertha Sisson, Julia Wilson, John Wilson, Harlan Wilson, Dan Arnold Killian, Frank Stege- man, Maud Roberts, Lula Lockard, Mildred Reed, Harrison Weeks.
1899-Roy B. Fairfield, Elisabeth May Streeter, Niel L. Goodrich, Chas. W. Hullinger, William A. Peck, Walter H. Bidwell, Elsie Orr, Fred Hanchett, Paul Lidner, Flora Mary Koons, Clara Belle Gibson, Hedwig Brenner, Ines Baker, Myrtle Knapp, Grace Louise Howe, Harriette Esther Cook, Novie Iven Lonsbury, James A. Butrick, Roy L. Adams, Myrtle L.
523
HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY
Perrigo, Nellie Coydendall, Emeline Ruth Coney, Myrnie E. Malloy, Mame E. Malloy.
1900-Laura May Fouch, Hugh S. Calkins, Will L. Davis, N. Fern Haynes, Ethel H. Hickok, Alice Ida Liechts. A. Pearl Lilly, Amah A. Nichols, Dessie Priest, Lena B. Sawyer, Bernice Van Kuren, Hazel Van Ostrand, William Weeks.
1901-Charlotte Smith, Ada Coney, Glenn DeLano, Louise DeLano, Bessie Hicks, Edith Barnes, John Bidwell. Anna Newell, Maggie Wynne, Margaret Arnold, George Horan, Lizzie Moon, Frank Peck, Berthia Mead, Ada Wager, Wayne Stuch, Ethel Langshaw, Clarence Smith. Alvina Becker.
1902-Harriet Barrett, Florence Barrett, Mabelle Elenger. Bruce Leighton, Scott Lilly, Amy Lowe, A. Lorraine Oliver, Lura Patrick, Bertha Nuger, Harold Weeks, Eldon Soper, George Barney, Grover Tripp. Edwin E. Allett, Jessie Mckinnon, Lottie Moon, Harvey Buck, Arthur Maskey, Clara Post, Joseph Griffith, Harold Fritz.
1903-Matie Blaisdell, Bessie Brown, Ruby Buck, Grace Clock, Harlow Clock, Margaret Campbell, Earl DeLano. Harold Fish, Harry Griffith, Edward Horan, William Kennedy, Maud Maxfield, Altine McKee, Etliel Miner, Fred Moore, Louise Nelson, May Perrigo, Maurice Post, Clara Smith, Frances Sterling, Bess Torrey, Alice Van Henlen, Laura Wise, Jolin LaDue.
1904-Clinton Mark Walter, Francina J. Slaghuis, Marion Almira Bills. Nellie Mary Stratton, Hazella Letta Cook, Gertrude Louise Nichols, Eva M. Clock, Clare D. Wilbur, Chas. F. Weeks. Russell C. Furber, Elsie Pauline Gitchel, Kittie Bell Nelson, Margaret Netah Barrett, Mary A. Wil- son. Grace Louise Williams, Chas. H. Freyer, Roy E. Gibson, Richard B. Van Dusen, Edwy B. Ried. Ray Perrigo, Laura Engle. Grace E. Miner, Bessie M. Barber, Grace Coney. Herbert A. Wood. George F. Wilson, V. Pearl McAlpine, Bessie May Kidwell, Rachel V. Wilson.
1905-Floyd Holland, Edmund M. Cook. George Updyke. Dana C. Post, Vernice E. De Wright, Harry Lee Barnum, Edna A. Schuman, Nina E. Wynne, Charles DeLano, Otto J. Armstrong, Claude Firestone, Dolly Gibson, Clyde Smith, Fred Bradt, Matilda Swanty. Avis Calkins, Florence C. Kolvoord, Hollis Baker, Anna J. Koons, Eugene Naslı, Gertrude Strab- bing, J. Ford Stratton, Pearle Bracelin, Reine Conway.
1906-Florine May Barrett, Emma Irene Priebe, Will George Cooper. John A. Sommers, Gertrude W. Slaghuis, Lilly B. Dannenberg. Pansy May Lemoin, Elizabeth J. Wearne, Pearl Julia Kolloff. Leon A. Kolvoord. Clarence W. Messenger. W. Clare Fear, George E. DeLano. Guy E. Fair- field, Gertrude H. Langslaw, Emily Seymore Wise, Grace B. Thompson, Lida Calkins, Bernice E. Morgan, Claude V. A. Whitbeck. Mabel F. Sackeiter. Mildred M. Fish, Florence Augusta Ried, Winifred B. Holmes, Alice P. Cook, Charles E. Stone.
PLAINWELL.
The history of the educational facilities of this village go back to the spring of 1834, when the first schoolhouse for the Gun Plains neighborhood was built on section 20. A log structure, such as was common at the time, this "Gun Plains schoolhouse" was the meeting place for the early Baptists
524
HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY
and Congregationalists as well as the first educational center. Miss Sabra Ives, who afterwards married Dr. L. B. Coates, the first schoolmaster and long a prominent citizen of Otsego, taught the first term of school, the first teacher employed being unable to carry on her duties on account of illness.
When the school system, elsewhere described, was formulated by the first state government, the school commissioners elected for the township in 1837 met in September of that year and divided the town into nine districts. Districts 2 and 3, which were consolidated in February, 1841, as district No. 2, contained originally the territory embracing the present village cor- poration, namely, sections 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33. For several years the school population in this area was found on the north side of the river, and in 1838 the apportionment of school money was made to only ten children of school age in this district. At the same time there were nineteen school children in district No. 4. in which was located the old Gun Plains school- house, while in district No. 1, in the Silver Creek neighborhood, were twenty-three of school age. District No. 2 had twenty-five pupils in 1843, which showed a relatively larger increase than in the adjoining districts just mentioned.
The first red schoolhouse was built about 1843, and stood where Dr. Woolsey's house now stands. It was a small frame structure used for schools during the week, for religious services on Sunday, and public meet- ings, such as singing-schools, spelling-schools and school-meetings on appointed evenings. Some time about 1855 the white school house, then a one-story building, was constructed, and the old red building was moved down Allegan street, and still exists as a part of the house owned by Mrs. George A. Brown. The Junction, as it was then called, grew so rapidly that in the late fifties or early sixties a second story was added to the white building, and two departments were organized. In 1867 the small building. now used for office at the Dewey livery barn, was built beside the white building for the primary pupils and there existed the primary, intermediate and grammar departments. In two more years the intermediate was divided and a grade was seated in a room of the present opera house.
After much deliberation and frequent calls for special school meetings the present brick building in the southeast part of the village was completed and occupied in September of 1870. The south projection was extended in the year 1886, the amount of contract being $1.574.28. It seemed then that there would be sufficient room for years to come, but at this writing the demand is "more room." The present valuation of the school property is $20,000. Leading citizens whose names appear in the records are Giles Sherwood, J. W. Hicks, George Mills, J. V. Rogers, George H. Anderson, A. H. Hill, N. P. Kellogg and O. J. Woodard. It is a matter of interest to find the records full and carefully recorded during the administration of Mr. Woodard, he having been continued on the board for twenty-seven years.
District No. 2 was organized under a board of trustees into a graded school by vote at the regular school meeting of September 7, 1868. There were then three departments. The high school had its beginning in 1869, under the tuition of Miss May Wright.
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