Coit Avenue Elementary
SW 1/4 Sec 19 of Grand Rapids Township
Alternate Names: Primary #12
April 19, 1880
George A. Field and wife,
To
The Board of Education
Liber 10 page 439
Consideration, $2500
Description,
Lots 11, 14 and 15 of Block 3, Dexter Fraction except building and foundation
stones on Lot 11.
Dexter's fraction of the Village of Kent recorded 1836 for Samuel Dexter. Street Name Changes: Clinton to Fairview in 1912, Bridge to Michigan in 1909, Bronson to Crescent in 1885.
1880 Primary # 12, 4th Ward, Coit Between Trowbridge and Fairbanks. 150 feet on Coit, 208 feet deep to Alley (Dexter Place). School built.
This photo, copied from the Grand River Valley Review Vol 1, Number 2, Spring/Summer 1980, was given to the magazine by Mrs. Ruth Evans, my Sixth Grade teacher. This photo represents the model used for many schools. See Master Plan
1883 - name change to Coit Avenue School.
The 1885 Collar and Greiner map and the 1907 Ogle map shows the school mostly on lot 14 with overage on lots 11 and 15 of Block 3 of Dexter's Fraction.
1895 Sanborn Fire Map:
1907 - plans for addition Section 19 Ogle GRT
1908 - 4-room addition to front
1913 - The Sanborn map shows the new front addition.
1920 - Also additional ground should be purchased for the Coit school.
1921 Annual Report - old 4th Ward - lots 11, 14, 15, W 1/2 of lot 19 and lot 18 except the S 10 ft of the E 1/2, Block 3 Dexter Fraction.
1921 - additional lots were bought..
1922 - addition built onto rear of building.
Dec 20, 1929 Executor's Deed Lot 9, Block 3, Dexter Fraction. Grantor Estate of Charles W. Merion L765 P245 $3000.
30 Dec 1930 Grantor John Hendrickson and wife Christine to the Bd of Ed $7000 Lot 16, block 3 Dexter Fraction
1953 Sanborn Fire Map has the building dates switched for the 1880 portion with the 1908 addition. I have indicated a correction. It shows the 1922 concrete addition correctly. It shows that the school grounds now extend beyond Dexter Place to Livingston Avenue. The playground equipment was new about 1955. It was divided into upper elementary and lower elementary sides - big slides, big swings and teeter/totters on one side and little slides, little swings and little teeter/totters on the other side. I think there was an empty wading pool (only used in the summer when school was out) that divided the two sides. The upper side had basketball hoops while the lower side had a sandbox and what looked like pieces of left-over cement tunnels we could crawl through and also monkey bars. Before that the playground was very small and just had horizontal bars to swing around. See this photo on Hall School that shows these bars.
.
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Previous playground equipment shown here at Hall Street school existed at Coit.
c. 1965 - I-196 is run parallel to Michigan and Hastings. Many homes are torn down. Bd of Ed decides to tear down all the homes on Coit avenue between Fairbanks and Newberry for a new school but then decides there aren't enough students left to warrant a new school. Duh!
An
undated c. 1970 GRPS map
1973 - GRP 4 Dec 1973 - plans for new Coit school. "Coit parents had opposed replacing predominately white Coit with a lower-elementary unit for grades preK-2 and an upper-elementary unit for grades 3-6 at Eastern Orthopedic School.----- School supt. Phillip E. Runkel told the board he needed another 60 days to negotiate with Coit parents. He was guardly optimistic that differences could be resoled, adding, however, 'We ma not built a school there at all.'"
1980 - Local Historical Landmark designation per GRP
Grand Rapids Press 26 Mar 1998 - bond issue proposal
Coit Elementary
617 Coit Ave NE
246 students, 14 teachers
Built: 1875, renovated in 1993
Existing square feet: 41,000
Square feet of new school: 43,700
cost: $6.5 million
Highlights:
a $4.6 million new school to be built one block north in Coit Park; the existing
school will be used for teacher training and supplies; $80,000 to relocate the
playground, and $175,000 for computers and video equipment.
Grand Rapids Press 26 Mar 1998 - bond issue proposal
Coit Professional Development
617 Coit Ave NE
Built: 1875 (sic 1880)
Cost: $2 million
Highlights: $1.5 million to remodel and upgrade Coit School to accommodate staff
development now at Central High School, and a teacher resource center now
located in the gym at Harrison Park Elementary.
1999 - Coit is saved!
2005 - 607 Coit Ave NE, aerial view: ppn=41-14-19-314-025 Most of lots 6, 7, (not 8), 9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20 of Block 3 of the DEXTER FRACTION. This aerial photo shows starting at the right, the 1908 addition, then the original building, then the 1922 addition then the c.2000 addition onto what had been the playground.
This is the school I and my mother attended. See My neighborhood and Personal for additional photos. The constant information that Coit School was the oldest school in the City which many people mis-interpreted as the first school annoyed me so much that when I retired, I started expanding my earlier history of the public schools. Coit is the oldest public school building still in use as a public school not the oldest school entity. .
2006 K-5
Coit 1908 addition
Coit 1924 addition
Coit save There was a successful effort made to save Coit School from demolition.
From article School History
From Heading History and the City of Grand Rapids
From web site: MyCityofGrandRapids.info