Second Chance Schools

Four 100-plus-year-old schoolhouses get new lives

By Al Parker | Aug. 26, 2023

It’s estimated that at one time there were some 7,200 one-room schoolhouses in Michigan, with dozens across the northwestern region we all call home. Many of those buildings have been lost to time, but several have been refurbished and are living on with renewed purposes as charming residences, historic businesses, and cherished government buildings.

Here are a few visited recently by Northern Express.

Pleasant Valley Schoolhouse

The newly-opened Lakeview Hill Farm Market is the latest occupant of this 133-year-old former school in Leelanau County.

“We just opened in July,” explains Bailey Samp, who owns the market and its namesake, nearby Lakeview Hill Farm, with John Dindia. The farm is a certified organic produce and cut flower operation specializing in hoophouse and greenhouse production.

And the healthy, nutritious produce and beautiful flowers are now available in the gleaming red and white structure on the corner of East Lakeview Hills Road and County Road 641.

“One customer stopped by and said his mother went to the school,” says Samp, as she adds to a basket of heirloom tomatoes.

Over the past three years or so, the building was lovingly restored by Caleb and Ashley Herrmann who bought the property from the Britton family, whose members lived across the road for well over a century. On a recent workday, Caleb was preparing to re-hang the original school bell that he worked hard to restore. It looks great with a fresh coat of black paint.

The Herrmanns put a lot of elbow grease into rehabbing the building, which last held classes in 1942. It then hosted 4-H meetings and other events until it was finally used to store items. An electrician by trade, Caleb Herrmann was able to save the original schoolhouse globe lights and the push-button electrical switches.

After all that loving care, the Herrmanns put the property on the market in 2022, and it sold quickly.

“We saw the For Sale sign and we jumped on it,” says Samp with a smile. “We bought it in January and opened the market in July. We love the fact that we can use this great building. There’s a lot of history here. If anyone in the area has photos of the building, we’d love to reproduce them and hang them in the market.”

The Fife Lake-Union District No. 1 Schoolhouse

The year was 1882, and President Chester Alan Arthur was presiding over his first term in office. In Hyde Park, New York, a newborn Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the pride of his wealthy family.

In Union Township, local carpenter John Dewey built the Fife Lake-Union District No. 1 schoolhouse, also known at the Cedar Creek School. Children from nearby farms, mostly potato operations, were educated at the school into the early 1950s. Union Township purchased the building in 1955 and converted it into a township hall where monthly meetings are still held.

The historic structure sits at 5020 Fife Lake Road, surrounded by stately sugar maples in the southeast corner of Grand Traverse County. It’s an impressive building with its gleaming gingerbread look.

“It’s been in all kinds of calendars and publications,” says Doug Mansfield, who’s served as township supervisor for some 30 years.

The white, single-story, Victorian balloon-frame structure features two front doors, a gabled roof, and clapboard siding. “It drinks paint,” adds Mansfield. “We paint it every five years or so, and it is not cheap.”

The most distinctive architectural feature is the former school’s triple-bay entry porch with an eye-catching barrel-vault top and an open belfry. Two entrances lead from the porch into coat rooms, which open into the main schoolroom. Behind the building sits a clapboard woodshed with a gabled roof. Out front is a broken hand pump, a remnant of an era before running water.

The school was designated as a Michigan State Historic Site in 1983 and listed on the National Register of Historic Place four years later.

The Joseph Black School

Sitting prominently at the busy corner of Hammond and Three Mile roads in Grand Traverse County, the Joseph Black School was built in 1893 and was used by generations of students until about 1960.

“My two brothers, Bob and Rich, went there,” explains Ben Hentschel, whose family owns the 130-year-old building at 1000 Hammond Road. “Joseph Black was a farmer whose wife passed away. He built the school and brought in a teacher to teach kids from area farms. He ended up marrying the teacher.”

The bright red exterior certainly catches the eye as you drive by, though it could use a fresh coat of paint and some minor repairs. The former school’s tower comes complete with a bell, but not the original, which vanished over the decades.

The historic school was once owned by a couple of retired teachers who sold school supplies and other educational items, according to Hentschel. In recent years, the building has housed three different chiropractic offices, the most recent East Bay Chiropractic which moved out three months ago. It now sits empty and is available for lease.

There have been concerns that a traffic roundabout could be built at the busy intersection and if that happens the school could be endangered, according to Hentschel.

Bingham District No. 5 School

Built in 1877, this single-story wood frame school in Leelanau County replaced a log structure that had served as a school for area children for seven years. Students came from nearby farms and timber operations for rudimentary classes that ranged from the first grade through the eighth grade.

As the timber business in Leelanau County was depleted, Bingham’s population declined rapidly. After World War II, area school districts were consolidated, and the Bingham school was no longer needed.

For some years, the building at 7171 South Center Highway sat empty and later was used as a town hall or community center. Today, it houses the Bingham Township Hall and is shaded by a canopy of towering trees. Outside its door is a Free Little Library offering books to visitors. A state historical marker provides visitors with a brief history of the white-painted structure.

In 1987 the well-preserved former schoolhouse was designated as a Michigan State Historic Site, and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.