Chapter One - The Township Years
The early public schools in what would become the City of Grand Rapids began under the Federal authority of the Articles of Confederation, the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. These laws would establish the survey system to be used for the newly acquired land from Britain that would eventually become the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. The township system was established which reserved Section 16 for the financing of the public schools. The authority for the schools was given to the township. As villages were subordinate to townships, the early public schools in the Village of Grand Rapids were township schools.
The Territory of Michigan would pass a law in 1827 affecting public education. In 1837, when Michigan became a state it would adopt a constitution that would include an article on education. This territorial law and state constitution article would be "the legal basis for the founding of the first school district in Grand Rapids. ------- Each district was to have three trustees who were to levy a tax for school support. The township had a board of inspectors who had general supervision over the schools in their township ------ every township containing 50 inhabitants or house-holders -- should employ a school master, of good morals, to teach children to read and write, and to instruct them in the English and French languages, as well as in arithmetic, orthography, and decent behavior, for such terms of time as should be equivalent to six months--in each year ---" (Austin)
IN PROGRESS
This law also provided that the township divide into school districts to be numbered as they were established and that each district board
select within said district some suitable and convenient site for the use of said district,
Debate over the concept of union (graded) schools had begun in 1840 and resulted
in the passage of a state law in 1843 which authorized the unionization of
schools. This allowed schools to combine and to classify the students on the
basis of "proficiency and advancement in learning." (Dunbar, pg 493)
This term union meaning graded would haunt Grand Rapidians who dabbled in
history to confuse a formal name, Grand Rapids Union High School, with the
generic term union schools.
The City of Grand Rapids would begin in 1850 under the authority of the State of
Michigan. The City was created out of Sections 19 and 30 of Grand Rapids
Township and Sections 24 and 25 of Walker Township. The boundary lines were
comparable to Leonard Street on the north, Eastern Avenue on the east, Wealthy
Street on the south and Alpine/Straight Avenues on the west. The City would
begin by annexing three existing schools; two from Grand Rapids Township
(Central and
Coldbrook) one from Walker Township (Union).
Grand Rapids Township
The boundaries are indicated by the following streets; 4 mile on the north, Division avenue on the west, Hall street on the south. No through street exists on the east side boundary line although it would be comparable to an extension of Patterson Avenue. . Although Division Avenue ran along the western boundary line, the Grand River was the practical line. That area of Walker Twp lying east of the Grand River was actually part of the Grand Rapids Township school district. A school district which crossed township lines was called a Fractional School District.
Grand Rapids Township School District #1
No known primary township school records exist any more so the following
information comes from secondary sources.
In 1837, Kent Township hired its first teacher. In 1839, "William I. Blakely --
built the first school house in the district – and, indeed, the first frame
school house within what are now (1891) the limits of the city. It was a small
structure, situated on the north side of East Fulton street, nearly opposite the
end of Jefferson avenue." (Baxter pg 220) However, the reconstructed deed book
shows this land wasn't purchased until 16 April 1845 so it must have only been
rented before.
Junius H. Hatch and wife To School Dist. No. 1
Liber H Pg 369
Commencing 2 rods (33 feet) N of SW corner of SE ¼*
thence N on Section Line 124 feet
thence East 66 feet
thence South 124 feet
thence West 66 feet to beginning
Section 30, T7N R11Wrdb
*There is actually an error in the starting point which should continue on to
end with SE 1/4 "of the NW ¼" which is corrected when this lot is later sold.
There are numerous references to a Hatch Addition in early land records but
there is no known map still in existence. There are two entries in the
Reconstructed Deed Book Liber M, Page 217 Junius H. Hatch To Sephen Cambreleng
for part of Section 30 on 18 April 1849.. Then on Oct 4, 1849 in Liber M Pg 655,
and Liber M Pg 522 Stephen and then Anne Cambreleng, his wife To George Kendall
and F. H. Cuming, for part of Sec 30, T7N, R11W. Therefore, this
evidence indicates that the Hatch Addition was usurped by the Kendall Addition
before publication of the 1853 City of Grand Rapids Map, then the Hatch Addition
map burned in the 1860 fire but was not re-registered since it had been usurped
by the Kendall Addition which was re-registered
after the fire.
In 1842, Kent Township was renamed Grand Rapids Township. In 1848, it divided
into multiple school districts. Two of those township school districts
overlapped the Village of Grand Rapids; District #1 south of Bradford Street,
and District #6 north of Bradford Street. Bradford Street runs along the ¼
section line for Section 19.
Then the lot on Fulton Street was sold on May 24, 1849
School Dist. No. 1
To
David Burnett,
Des. same as in H 369 except starting point.
Liber M page 138rdb
David Burnet subsequently sold the same lot 4 days later to
Margaret Mathison
In 1848, this new District #1 decided to purchase land for a new school near the
corner of Lyon Street and Barclay Avenue.
12 April 1848
Warranty Deed
Junius H Hatch and wife
To
School Dist. No. 1
Recorded November 9, 1848 Liber L Page 357
Consideration: $187 ½
Description
The undivided 15/16 of the following described part of the
E ½ of the N W ¼ of Sec. 30-7-11
Commencing 16 chains, 89 links S of the NW corner
thence E 124 feet
thence S 300 feet
thence W 124 feet
thence N to beginning (CE)
(City Engineers and Baxter both had James but the reconstructed Deed book shows
Junius. Since Junius H Hatch occurs many times as grantor of lots in the Hatch
Addition and James never, I am assuming Junius is correct.)
1 October 1848
John Ball
To
School Dist. No. 1
recorded November 29, 1848 - Liber L Page 356
Consideration: $12 ½
Description
The undivided 1/16 part of the E ½ of the NW ¼ of Sec. 30-7-11,
commencing 16.89 chains S of the NW corner
thence E 124 feet
thence S 300 feet
thence W 124 feet
N to the place of beginning. (CE)
Before building the new school, the district decided to purchase adjacent land
on Ransom Avenue.
8 Jan 1849
Deed
George C Nelson and wife
To
School Dist. No. 1
Recorded Jan 18, 1849 Liber L, page 509
Consideration $325
Description
Lots 4, 5 and 6, Block 8, of the Dexter Fraction (CE)
1 Feb 1849
Quit Claim
Edward L. Stevens and wife
To
School Dist. No. 1
Recorded Mar. 10, 1849 Liber M Page 89
Consideration, $110
Description
Lots 1 and 2, of Block 8 of the Dexter Fraction(CE)
.
At the January 8, 1849 school district meeting "proposals for the erection of a
stone school house two stories in height upon the same plan as drawn by Stephen
Wood, and as may be seen at the store of Sinclair & King." (Scrapbook)
This proved timely, because the school on Fulton Street opposite of Jefferson
Avenue burned on 22 February1849 (Baxter pg 220) This new school,
commonly called the Stone School on the Hill was built between Barclay and
Ransom Avenues south of Lyon Street and was made from stones taken from the
river bed. It was 44 by 64 feet and had three large study rooms, six recitation
rooms, a dressing room for girls, and a room for the library and school
apparatus. There was an octagonal dome, covered with a tin roof which held the
school bell.(Baxter p 221) It was two stories with a low basement but it soon became
necessary to use the basement and the earth around it was dug away and scattered
over the school grounds.
Central union (graded) school on Ransom Avenue (GRPL)
In 1849, Grand Rapids Township School District No. 1 adopted the union principle
(graded classes). (Austin) The first term under the new union system that had been
adopted was begun in the new stone school in November 1849.
The 1853 map shows this school, simply called "union school".
This school exists today as Central High School. Central
Grand Rapids Township School District #6 (Coldbrook)
Although this district's primary records were still available in 1891 to Baxter,
these aren't available anymore. This school was known to overlook Coldbrook Creek
on the Jewitt Fraction but I have been unable to locate specifically where that
was. If a plat map was registered, probably after 1853, it was burned in the
1860 fire. In Baxter's History of Grand Rapids he states "a motion was made ---
to purchase of C. W. Taylor one quarter of one acre of land for a site for a
school house for the sum of ten dollars on the north west corner of a pease of
land comonly cald the Jewitt fracton on the east side of the road. --- to build
- a school house -- 18 feet by 24 feet -- with a stove".
The 1853 map shows an unidentified school just north of Coldbrook creek west of
Taylor Avenue and south of not-shown Leonard Street. Since this land was
located east of the Grand River, it fell into the jurisdiction of Grand Rapids
Twp although the land was actually in geographic Walker Township, NE ¼ of
Section 24. The land patent was issued to Lucius Lyons and Euratus Hastings. The
school is shown in what would become Block 1 of Tanner Taylor's Addition platted
in August 1857. I have been unable to find any Kent County land records to
support this land purchase for a school or the purchase between Lucius Lyons and
C. W. Taylor either.
.
After this township school was annexed by the City, another lot farther to
the east on Leonard street was purchased on 1 March 1859. It is not clear
if this purchase was for an additional school or as a replacement.
This school exists today as East Leonard. East Leonard
Walker Township
The early township records burned. The early Kent County land records burned.
The first school was located near the west bank of the Grand River. The school
was later described as south of Bridge Street and east of Court (Scribner) which
would put it near the west bank of the Grand River. The 1853 map shows a
courthouse just south of Bridge on the west bank of the Grand River and I wonder
if the school may have been nearby.
Then the school was re-located to the corner of First and Turner now the
location of St. Mary's German Catholic Church. The 1853 map shows an
unidentified rectangular building on lots 12 and 13 of Block 16 of Scribner and
Turner's Addition which was platted in 1847, part of the SE ¼ SW ¼ Sec 24. I
have been unable to find any Kent County land record to support the purchase of
any land for a school in this area so it may have been on rented land.
Walker Twp began its first public school about 1837 in a log house "not far from the (west) bank of the (Grand) River. The furnishings of this school house were neither expensive nor elaborate. Two desks for writing extended the length of the sides of the room; slabs flat side up, with pegs for legs, served in lieu of patent seats. A huge sheet-iron box stove, the wood for which was furnished by the patrons of the school and cut by the boys in attendance, furnished superabundant warmth in the room to those near it, and left the unfortunates seated far off in the corners where the chinking was defective, a prey to the winter's cold."Baxter
"About 1840 this building was succeed by "a small frame building situated a little south of Bridge and east of what is now Court Street (Scribner Avenue)."Baxter Then "a larger, one-story frame building, spacious enough, it was supposed, to shelter the entire school population of the district for a hundred years, was erected on First street, on the site where St. Mary's Catholic church now stands."Baxter
This school exists today as Union High School.
Union
These were the three schools that the City annexed in 1850;
Central, Union and Coldbrook.
For further information on City schools, see .Chapter
Two
for further information on TOWNSHIPS
Article: Public Schools
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