The Slate Spring 2013 Newsletter - Michigan One

The Michigan One-Room Schoolhouse Association Newsletter
The
_
Slate
Vol. XIX, Issue I
Spring Conference, 2013
WHY?
MORSA To Celebrate 20th
Anniversary
at Annual Conference at
CMU
Six years ago my wife Jane and I were motoring
up Grand River Avenue (old U.S. 16) between Howell and Fowlerville when we saw a one room schoolhouse with a state historic marker. We stopped and
learned that it was the Fleming School built in 1882,
replacing an earlier log school on the same site. It
closed in 1957, was restored in 1993 and the state
historic marker was awarded in 1994. We could see
from the exterior that it was a beautiful restoration.
We were soon joined by a woman who introduced
herself to us as Cynthia Toomey. She stated that she
lived across the road and had gone to school there.
She participated with a volunteer group in the restoration and now in the maintenance of the school.
She took us through the school and we were impressed with the fact that it had many of the essentials appropriate for a one room schoolhouse of this
era. These included a teacher's desk, a recitation
bench, a regulator clock, turn-of-the-century desks
and school books of that era. She further stated that
it was being used by the Howell public schools to
offer a one room schoolhouse experience to grade
school students.
Saturday, May 18, is the date. Central Michigan
University in Mt. Pleasant is the place.
The Michigan One-Room Schoolhouse Association is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. It
was founded in 1993 at Eastern Michigan University and has held an annual conference every year
since 1993.
Focus for the 2013 conference is on the 20 oneroom schools still operating in Michigan. All 20
schools are invited to have a teacher and a school
board member at the conference. A highlight will
be a morning presentation by the teachers at Excelsior Township School near Kalkaska on the topic
“Teaching in a One-Room School in 2013: How
We Do It.” In the afternoon there will be time for
teachers from all 20 of the schools to get together
and talk about common issues.
Another morning session will focus on restored
one-room buildings that now offer “A Day in a One
-Room School” to classes from nearby school districts. Mary Hendricks will describe how her 2nd
grade students get into the experience at Celery
President’s Column
By Tom M. Johnson
By Larry Schlack
(Continued on page 2)
(Continued on page 4)
The school after the fire.
Fleming School before the fire.
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The Michigan One-Room Schoolhouse Association Newsletter
my grandparents’ friends and neighbors, my parents’contemporaries and names so familiar to me.
By Rochelle Renwick Balkam
These are families still living in the community and
How things have changed; how they stay the
my cousins, now, of course, are still part of the
same! I was surrounded by tales of deeds and misBlanchard school family.
deeds in school. My grandparents and father were
My Grandfather was a Blanchard school board
students in Isabella County’s one-room schools.
member for many years. ( Rolland Rural Agricultural
My father, Jack Renwick, attended the Miller
School District.) I remember the huge log books he
School ( Rolland District # 2) through its last full
would bring home. I believe it was ” in my genes” to
year in 1925.
become an educator.
My grandfather told tales of “ pranks” he and
his fellow students played like the time they tipped
President’s Column
over the outhouse with the teacher in it. The boys
considered it “good clean fun.” Of course, today,
(Continued from page 1)
students would be suspended or expelled for such
Although I have passed the school many times
a heinous deed. He also bragged about graduating
th
since then, the next I heard of it was in the January
4 in his class. What he neglected to tell us was
26, 2013 issue of the Lansing State Journal. The
there were only 4 in his class!
headline read Historic schoolhouse a ‘TOTAL
When I was a little girl I accompanied my
grandmother as she took “school census”. We vis- LOSS’ and there was a picture of the burned out
school with two of its beautiful arched windows
ited each house in the Blanchard district. Some of
remaining. Initially it was thought to be a suspithose scenes have stuck indelibly in my mind; one
cious fire, but now has been classified as arson.
house with many children underfoot, the mother
The Howell Fire Chief stated that there had been
filling wash tubs with water, leaking out as fast as
three other suspicious, but small fires in the area
it was poured in, another with dogs yelping as we
that evening.
walked to the door. I stood behind her shoulder in
The next week I went down to the Fleming
the front seat of the ’39 Ford, as we drove those
school and was able talk to Cynthia and her husroads of the district.
band Don. On behalf of the board of the Michigan
The schools she interlaced her stories with
One-room Schoolhouse Association I expressed
were the Doxie School, Pony Creek School and
our condolences
Reynolds School. I attended the Oberlin School ,
WHY?
Rolland Twp.( two room school) for several days
Why? Why would someone feel it necessary or
one Fall when our family was between moves. My
thrilling to burn down a noted historic structure that
mother, my Uncle Jim and my Aunt Barbara atwas being used to benefit the community? I matended Blanchard schools. Aunt Barbara later
jored in psychology in college and in medical
taught chemistry at the high school after being
school had classes and hospital rotations in psywidowed at age 19 during WWII.
chiatry. Still I cannot fathom what would drive
In looking through the pages of Jack Westsomeone to do something like this. I equate it with
brook and Sherry Sponseller’s book, Yesterday’s
the Taliban destroying the beautiful Buddhist
School Kids of Isabella County-A History of Onemonument in Afghanistan or more recently Al
Room Schools in Isabella County, Michigan, the
Qaeda burning historic scrolls in Timbuktu. What
familiar names leap from the pages. These were
does it accomplish?
I have been told that arson is one of the hardest
crimes to solve; however, I hope that they are able
to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice.
Cynthia told me as much as possible will be salvaged from the school by the local volunteer group,
the Fleming School Agency. There is serious talk
of building a replica school on the present site by
the Howell schools, using those portions of the
school that are salvageable. The one room school“The Miller School was located in the extreme SE corner house in Brighton and our Branch School in Wilof Section 6 at the northwest corner of the intersection of liamstown Township have been offered to Howell
Sherman Road and Walton Road, just south of the South Schools so that they may continue the one room
Branch of the Pine River. The school closed in 1935.”
schoolhouse experience for their students.
~Yesterday’s School Kids of Isabella County (used by permisWe are all saddened by this loss.
sion)
We are all angered by this senseless act.
Back to My Roots
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The Michigan One-Room Schoolhouse Association Newsletter
The year 2013, being the 20th anniversary year
for MORSA, we are republishing the following
article that appeared in the first issue of The
Slate newsletter—15 pages long(!), published in
the spring of 1994. It describes the founding and
very first Michigan One-Room Schoolhouse Association conference in May of 1993.
One-room Schoolhouse
Enthusiasts Organize
By Marilyn Kisly
Associate Editor
The Slate
Michigan one-room schoolhouses were the topic
of discussion at a conference held in McKenny Union on the campus of Eastern Michigan University
on May 14, 1993. Co-sponsored by the University
and The Historical Society of Michigan, the program
drew 185 enthusiastic participants.
Coordinated by Jennifer Tucker, graduate student
in EMU's Historical Preservation Administration
program, the conference featured sessions on past
and current experiences in teaching and living in one
-room schoolhouses, researching and interpreting
these structures, and using them for exhibit or historical interpretive educational purposes.
"Registration exceeded our expectations,"
said Tucker, "and bodes well for the continued success of the statewide movement to
preserve and interpret these fascinating structures which were so much a part of the landscape of the 19th- and early 20th-century
Michigan. That 700 have been registered so
far with the Society reflects the sheer number
of country schools that once stood, as well as
the abiding interest that remains among their
friends and supporters."
Registrants at the conference were able to
tour EMU's own one-room schoolhouse, the
Town Hall School, built in 1895, and moved
to the campus and restored in 1988. According to Dr. Jerry Robbins, dean of EMU's
School of Education, the Town Hall School
is a symbol of the University's legacy as the
oldest teachers' college west of the Alleghenies.
Before the conference closed, registrants
were invited to become charter members of
the Michigan One-Room Schoolhouse Association, to be administered by The Historical
Society of Michigan at its headquarters in
Ann Arbor's historic Tuomy House. HSM
Executive Director Thomas L. Jones agreed
to serve as the organization's secretarytreasurer. Russell Gregory, Editor Emeritus of
the Ionia Sentinel-Standard, agreed to serve as
the Association's first president, while Robert
Donohue, Director of Rochester (Mich.)
Downtown Development Authority, will serve
as Vice President. Gregory and Donohue both
live in converted one-room schoolhouses.
Lois Porter and Thomas Gwaltney of Ypsilanti, Joe Kilpatrick of Grawn, Judy Shehigian
of Portage, Robert Dean of Grand Rapids, and
Peggy Kurpinski of Kalamazoo agreed to serve
with Gregory, Donohue and Jones on the Association/s Executive Committee/Board.
The Association/s agenda includes publication of The Slate, a bi-annual newsletter, as
well as planning and arranging the 1994 Michigan One-Room Schoolhouse Conference, set
for May 13, in beautiful downtown Ionia.
The executive committee is also exploring a
statewide registry service, a marker program
for one-room schools in Michigan, and archival
acquisitions.
Membership is. open to all with payment of
annual $10 dues. A membership blank is elsewhere in this issue.
For more information, call The Historical
Society of Michigan at: (313) 769-1828.
The first issue of The Slate, published in the spring of 1994
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The Michigan One-Room Schoolhouse Association Newsletter
MORSA To Celebrate 20th
Anniversary
The Peachbelt and the Golden
Gate Bridge
By Dawn L. Stafford
(Continued from page 1)
Flats school in Portage. Richard Cripe will describe the restoration of Nottawa Stone School
near Centreville and how it has hosted area students for over thirty years. (See picture of Nottawa School on pg.8)
After a scrumptious lunch humorist Warren Lawrence will enlighten participants on “What We
Really Learned in the One-Room School.” The
annual business meeting will then reveal the winner of the third annual Schoolhouse of the Year
award. The winner will be chosen from among
several outstanding nominees. The business
meeting will close with a tribute to the MORSA
founders and the foresight they showed in 1993 to
establish the new organization.
A visit to CMU’s restored Bohannon School led
by emeritus professor Allen Quick will be offered
in the afternoon in addition to the round-table
discussion for the 20 operating one-room schools.
All sessions except for the Bohannon School visit
well be held in the Park Library Building, 250 E.
Preston St. on the CMU campus
Conference registration materials will be mailed
to MORSA members and may also be found on
the MORSA website www.one-roomschool.org.
The story of a country schoolhouse, a
schoolboy, and the world’s longest bridge.
On the rural corner of M89 and 63rd street in
Ganges Township sits the little brick Peachbelt
Schoolhouse (ca 1867) named for the peach trees
which were the predominate crop along the lakeshore
during the late 19th century. In fact, the one-acre parcel donated for the school was originally part of the
Paine Orchards, one of the predominate local peach
growers of that time whose homestead is still located
just across the road.
It was young Clifford Paine (1887-1983) who attended the school from kindergarten through 8th
grade, who arrived early in the morning to start the
fire in the round oak stove which stood in the center
of the school room. “I had the job . . . I got four dollars for doing it all winter long. I usually brought my
own kindling along so it was easy to start, and then
brought the day’s supply into the entry. The season’s
supply was back by the shed.”
There wasn’t a well at the school in those days so
Clifford with one of his classmates would fetch a pail
of water from his house, or the LaDick’s farmhouse
across the road. “We were tickled to death to do it!”
reminisced Clifford. “We had one common dipper or
a tin cup. Everyone would drink out of that dipper.
Terrible, but they did.”
Back in those days the four corners was actually a
small settlement which included the schoolhouse, the
Peachbelt Post Office, Gordon Spencer’s general
store, LaDick’s blacksmith shop, an old fashioned
(Continued on page 6)
Games We Used to Play
(from an article by Janet Stevens, “How
Many of These Did You Play?)
Do you remember?…
Hop-Scotch
One Little Elephant Went Out to Play
Monkey in the Middle
Mumblety Peg
Jump Rope games:
Playing School
Teddy Bear
Johnny
High Water
Chinese Jump Rope
Peachbelt School, a wood frame building before it
was brick.
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The Michigan One-Room Schoolhouse Association Newsletter
School House Bulletin Board
Chalk Boards for sale
School House Notes From the Past
by Author Cheryl Vatcher-Martin, M.A.
The Grosse Pointe Woods Michigan
Historical Commission has two 4 feet by 6
feet chalk boards it does not need.
My Notes from the Past is now available in limited
edition and will be compiled in book form later on.
For information on ordering a copy, please contact
The chalk boards are not slate. They
were removed from a school that was built me at: peroinc5@comcast.net or via regular mail.
in the 1960’s. One is a brown color the other Cost to order with shipping will be $20.00. To order
is green (except for a foot square section we Haiku For You: With Some One Room School House
History, Please send $32.00 for this book. This intried blackboard paint on).
cludes shipping. There are more historic works in
progress for future compilations both in limited ediThey are free to anyone who wants to
tion formats and book form.
pick them up.
Contact John Parthum at
(313) 882-3296
The One-Room Schoolhouse
of the Year Award.
This award is limited to one-room
schoolhouses that have not been converted
to other uses, such as homes or businesses.
A cash award of $250 and a plaque designating the school as the One-Room
Schoolhouse of the Year will be given at
the annual meeting in May 2013.
See the application for the One-Room
Schoolhouse Award inserted inside this
newsletter.
Applications must be received by February1, 2014.
Regarding my page Michigan One Room
School Houses on facebook, the growth of this page
is tremendous. There are over one hundred likes on
this page. Many other visitors stop by too to check it
out. Those who check like can receive post and picture updates via their newsfeed on facebook. I post
pictures and other commentary, and many others do
the same. It truly is a page that records some of the
history of one room school houses here in Michigan.
This page reaches a national audience which helps to
promote MORSA. MORSA's information has been
provided on this page as well, where I encourage people to join this fine organization. You will find links
to other school house links on this page as well. The
more people of varying ages and professions that join
us will help to make MORSA grow.
In the Winter 2013 Romulus Historical Society
Newsletter, MORSA’s annual conference is noted,
and where it is located too. Two of Romulus Historical Society members attended the very first conference 20 years ago. With this upcoming conference
on May 18th, I am hopeful that others who are interested in one room school houses will be attending. It
will be a good conference for all to attend.
Schoolhouse Stamps for SALE
MORSA continues to offer schoolhouse stamps
for sale. The most recent stamp will be of
Bohannon School, located on the campus of
Central Michigan University in Mt. Pleasant,
MI. The cost is $20 for a sheet of 20 stamps.
Contact Larry Schlack:
lawr@net-link.net or by
phone: (269) 385-1502 or
by mail: 2906 Woodgate
Lane, Kalamazoo, MI,
Memories to share? Please send them to us at:
hannah47_c@yahoo.com
or via US mail:
Hannah Geddes Wright,
4209 N. Dearing Rd.
Parma, MI 49269
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The Michigan One-Room Schoolhouse Association Newsletter
The Peachbelt
(Continued from page 4)
cider mill and knitting factory. The hill to the east of the
school was a popular sledding hill. One student recalls,
“On a good day, you could slide all the way onto 63rd
street”. There was also an enormous elm tree that stood on
the front corner. “It was actually two or three elms grown
together” says Clifford. One day around 1898 Clifford’s
father, John Crane and Mr. Truax, who were all on the
school board, met a building contractor in front of the
school to discuss the addition of the Veneclausen Brick
veneer “U.S. Crane and I were climbing the big elm tree.
U.S. was above me and he called down and said; I bet you
wish you were up here! Just then he stepped out on a dead
limb and came crashing down, knocking him out. The
men hurried, picked him up, gave him mouth to mouth
resuscitation, and brought him to.”
Peachbelt had an annual enrollment of 20-30 students
and a single teacher taught all grades and subjects. “When
I first started school the blackboards weren’t slate, but
boards painted black. We used paper, but handed in work
on slates sometimes, too” recalls Clifford. “They taught
arithmetic, physiology, spelling, authography, civil government, history, and elocution, to name a few. I don’t
think they overlooked anything. There might have been 6
students in a class and they would assemble in empty seats
in the front of the room. Meanwhile, the other students
would study. This was a rule. Its hard to see how they
[teachers] got through the day with all these classes. They
had only six minutes to a class, although not all classes met
every day. During class the teacher would present a lesson/
assignment, hear recitations, hand in assignments, and answer questions. The older students never worked with the
younger ones”
The school bell was used just like everyone used their
bell in those days. “When I was out in the field [orchard]
about ten minutes to noon the dinner bells would ring, and
I could tell [by the sound] whose bell was ringing. At
school they rang the bell five to ten minutes before [class
started].” according to Clifford.
One of Clifford’s favorite teachers at Peachbelt was
Nellie LaDick whose family lived across the street from
the Paine Farm. “She seemed to have the knack of inspiring her students to do their best. “Whatever I did, I
thought; I hope Nellie will like this. I hope I’m doing this
the way Nellie wants it. My, she was a wonderful teacher.
She lived just short of a week of being 100 years old when
she passed away. I used to go and see her at Birchwood in
Holland right up to her last years. . .”
Sometimes discipline was a problem in a country
school. “Up on the hill was Chancy Richard’s place and he
had two sons who attended the Peachbelt. In the wintertime those boys were pretty rough. One winter it got so
bad they hired a male teacher. Will Hawley by name. He
6
had to fight these boys . . . it would end up in a
fist fight. I saw some of the fights. . . ”
Country schools were the backbone of
American education for almost 250 years, and
in spite of mixed perceptions of the quality of
the education as either too primitive or too idealized, Clifford testified that his 8th grade examinations prepared by the State of Michigan
were “. . . pretty tough . . . I think they were
tougher examinations than the 8th grade students in the city schools had.”
After graduating from Peachbelt Clifford
became an honored alumnus of Hope College,
and 1911 graduate of the University of Michigan School of Engineering. His first wife
Myrtie Johnson died in 1957. He later married
a former Peachbelt schoolmate Ethelyn Cole
(Crane) who died in 1972. In World War I he
served as captain with the Army Corps of Engineers and was employed by the Navy Department early in 1942 to help rebuild facilities
in Pearl Harbor. He was associated with the
design and construction of a variety of bridges
from Boston to Sacramento, and Quebec to
New Orleans, but most noteably he supervised
the design and construction of the Golden Gate
Bridge which was the longest bridge span (one
mile) in the world, completed in 1937, connecting suburban Marin County - the gateway
to the scenic Redwoods, to the city of San
Francisco. In 1941 he received a citation from
U of M reading, “From his creative genius
have come new designs and apparatus for lift
bridges; devised and built by him, huge structures, sound in principle, and pleasing to the
eye from the Potomac to the Golden Gate.”
Today the schoolhouse is the only building that
remains of the Peachbelt settlement. It operated as a school for 100 years, and is the oldest
and best restored one room schoolhouse in Al(Continued on page 7)
The Michigan One-Room Schoolhouse Association Newsletter
The Peachbelt
(Continued from page 6)
legan County that has never been changed or
moved from its original site. In 1977 it was
bought by Phil and Miriam Van Eyl and restored
into a living space, then sold and used by the
Sharrard Family as a summer retirement home for
23 years. In 2003 it was bought by local artist
Dawn Stafford who has transformed it into her yearround painting studio, and is open to the public every
weekend Fri, Sat, and Sun 11-5pm May-October, or
by appointment. Phone 269-857-3929
www.peachbeltstudio.com
Sources:
C. E. Paine Obituary / Holland Sentinel 7-13-83
Transcript of an Interview by Phil Van Eyl with Mr. Paine
on 7-7-1977
Peachbelt schoolgirl’s drawing showing the big elm and the old post office and orchard sledding hill mentioned in the article
School House Notes From the Past*
by Cheryl Vatcher-Martin, M.A.
Revisiting school house ledgers from the 1800's
gives me some perspective as to how individual
schools were governed back then. Each school house
had its own ledger and a certain way of record keeping. Even though the notes may have different spelling and syntax in them, the meaning for the most part
is understandable. I feel this information is important
to preserve and share with a diverse audience. I am
including some excerpts from Hayti's One Room
School House from the 1800's.
Here are some notes from Hayti's Record of Proceedings of District School Meeting Dated Sept 3,
1866. This is the second written entry in it as the first
is dated from 1865 (spellings are original):
On Sept 3, 1866 Anual School Meeting caled to
order by the moderator H.M. Stoneburner. Bussness
examined The Books found to be all write.
Voted to have three monts winter school and to
have a Female teacher for the winter term
Voted to have three monts summer school and left
optional with the Board to hier for four monts
Voted to let the wood ten cords to the lowest bider
half seasoned and half green to be delivered by the
first of December hardwood, taken by Patric
McConalogue and James M. Orr at 187 ½......
Here are some exerpts from Hayti's Sept 7, 1868
Annual School Meeting:
7
Cald to order by the Moderator H.M. Stoneburner school expenses and read and excepted
Voted Albert S. Temple elected for Assessor for
one year- carried
Voted that David Harris acts as Moderator for
three years- carried
Voted to hier R. Moran to teach 4 monts winter
if he can be got on reasonable terms-carried
Voted to have 4 monts summer school carried
Voted to raise 25 dollars for incidental expenses and to repare the school house.
Voted to send a committee of three to search
the township record to ascertain the indebtness of
the district – carried
Voted that Mr. Orr receive the libra for one
year
Voted to have seven coards of hard wood half
seasoned and half green maple beach and white
ash at 125 cents per cord to Mr. David Harris
carried
Voted to move the school site- carried
Voted to adjourn till Saturday 12 afternoon
6:00 Clock carried
Sifting through more research I uncovered another ledger from the mid-1800's and ascertained
that the unnamed ledger and contents recorded
therein truly belong to the Hayti One Room
School House in Romulus, Mi. There are plenty
of entries in it that contain information on payments to various teachers, and other incidental
expenses that were incurred there to support the
The Michigan One-Room Schoolhouse Association Newsletter
school and those who were involved with the running of the school.
Here is a brief excerpt from this historic ledger:
James M. Orr- Assessor In account with Teachers Fund
8th Grade Final Exam:
Salina, KS—
KS—1895
Cr
U.S. History (Time: 45 minutes)
March 11, 1870 Paid to Jenette Hepburn
Order No 14
given for teaching winter school
$56.00
May 30, 1870 Paid to Matthus Swegles order No 15
$42.00
given to Emma Miller for teaching summer school
May 31, 1870 Paid to Charles Ganong Interest on Board
$20.00
*My Notes from the Past is now available in limited edition and
will be compiled in book form later on. For information on ordering a copy, please contact me at: peroinc5@comcast.net or
via regular mail.
(For more information on Cheryl’s book and Facebook page, see
Schoolhouse Bulletin Board on page 5 of this newsletter)
Nottawa Stone School
St. Joseph Co., MI
“After operating for 90
years, Nottawa School was
slated to be razed in 1968.
Luckily, local historians were
able to buy the building for
$1.” During the 2013, Richard Cripe will describe the
restoration of this school.
1. Give the epochs into which
U.S. History is divided.
2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus
3. Relate the causes and results
of the Revolutionary War.
4. Show the territorial growth of
the United States.
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas.
6. Describe three of the most
prominent battles of the Rebellion.
7. Who were the following:
Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell,
Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?
8. Name events connected with
the following dates: 1607,
1620, 1800, 1849, 1865.
~ Taken from the original document on
file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical
Society and Library in Salina, and reprinted by the Salina Journal.
Photo & text courtesy of Mary Keithan
(from Michigan One-Room Schoolhouses) Michigan One-Room Schoolhouse Association
Michigan One-Room
Schoolhouse Association
2012/2013
Officers:
Dr. Tom M. Johnson, Chair
Rochelle Balkam Vice-Chair
Larry Schlack, Treasurer
Hannah Geddes Wright, Secretary
Board Members:
Rochelle Balkam
Suzanne Daniel
Dana Deimel
Tamara Gady
Myrna Grove
Dr. Thomas Gwaltney
Yvonne Hafner
Judy Shehigian
Cheryl Vatcher-Martin
The Slate Newsletter:
Hannah Geddes Wright
“The Slate” Editor and board member
Membership Dues:
$10 Senior (age 62+) or Student
$15 Individual. $25 Organizations. $100
Life
web site address:
<http://www.one-roomschool.org
c/o Greenmead
20501 Newburgh Road, Livonia, MI 48152-1098
Attention: Suzanne Daniel
“...fostering understanding and appreciation for one-room schoolhouses in Michigan
8