Old Time School Listings, Berrien County, Michigan

Township/City/Village	School Name	Location	Added Comments & Sources	Organizers & Teachers (Partial list
Bainbridge Township founded 1837 - taken from Berrien	Bainbridge Center Dist. 4	Corner of Territorial Rd. & Bainbridge Center Rd.	Two Room Red Brick school built circa 1888 and school was closed in 1966 Bainbridge district was split into the Coloma and Watervliet districts. School still stands today as of 2009	teachers: Arthur Kent Walter Kendall Emil Stetler Alfred Butzbach Walter Briney Leslie Melville Lowell McMillan Miss Murial Clark Helen Clark Scherer Phyllis Schaus Wilma Schaus Mrs. Francis Holmes Dean Foster
	Boyer	Bainbridge/Coloma twp line	Original school built circa 1859 moved back to make room for new school in 1884. Some of the older students were Edith Pearl & brothers Warren & Jim Adams along with Ruby Guy, now of St. Joseph in 1959\|- the last year of school. 1884 structure replace in 1959 which became an administration building.
	Burg AKA Berg	About 1/2 mile west of County Line Rd. on Daneffel Rd.	---	Miss Mira Olds taught there in 1906
	Byers	1/2 Mile East of M-140 at the Corner of Territorial and Nichols Rds.	Byers school district organized in March 29, 1851 at the John Byers home. School was held only 4 months of the year u ntil 1871 when it was open 6 months of the year. Newer brick school was built in 1902 in 1957 the building was no longer used and sold to Horace Wise.	Organizers:John Byers, Adam Miller, George Wise Charles Kit, M. B. Harrington Some teachers: 1884 - Katherine Sommers 1885 - Maggie Anderson 1890 Ironey Jaqueny 1891 Zuth Scott Some Families that attend: Hiler, Peters, Wise and Olds.
	Center AKA Centre	-	Newspapers 1869 Brick one built in 1885
	Cribbs District No. 2	Between N. Branch Rd. & Hill Rd. Three Miles South on M-140	Structure burned December 5, 1917; replaced w - 2 room brick building still standing built in 1918 Michigan Schools
	Millburg	-Later to be considered part of Benton Twp.	Before 1868 - Wooden structure replaced - brick about 1920.	1928 teacher, Miss Olive Roberts
	Spinks Corner	NW Corner of Napier and South Park	Originally a little red school house existed in 1846 where also various denominations of churches also held their services in. Spinks Corners came into play as a school district in about 1866. In 1880's a newer school was built and then added on to in 1908	George Wright and sister Caroline were early teachers in this school.
Baroda Township divided from Lake Township in 1923	Baroda	Further information being researched	Nov. 13, 1946 Boiler explosion at school Also See - River/Riverside Schools	1905 teacher Clara Prince
	Hills		In operation in 1934continuing to 1949
	Landon		In operation in 1949	1949-50 Eugenia Markert
	Ruggles		Founded abt 1899 Still in operation in 1949	1949-50 Max Bailey & Mrs. Bernice Zehnor
Benton Township Named after Col. Thomas H. Benton - founded in 1837	Bard	Was 7 block East of Fair on East Main Street	Before that a portable wooden structure was being used. Charles Ledyard was commisioned to build the newer school in 1927 to replace the old one. In 1949, school enrollment was abt 650 students per newspaper art.
	Boynton	Britain Avenue	Newspaper & family attended	School history sought
	Fair Plain	Colfax Avenue and Napier Avenue.	In existance in 1896 In the mid 1960's Fair Plain had grown into 4 small schools which consolidated into the School District of the City of Benton Harbor	School history sought Mr. C. D. Jennings was principal for several years circa 1899
	Hull	Territorial Road & Crystal Ave - East of Benton Harbor	-	School history sought
	Johnson	Corner of Benton Center Rd. and Territorial Rd.	Two-room school In existence in 1868
	Lafayette	North Shore Drive, North of Benton Harbor	Principal 1949 Glenn A. Durflinger
	Martindale	One room school house was located East of Benton Harbor on N. Euclid Ave	Principal John Keana - 1949
	Pearl	-	IN existance in 1934 per Newspaper article
	Sorter	On Pipestone Road near Napier Ave	Originally built about 1848 to 1849 Newer one built about 1927 to 1928 Was eventually assigned to the Benton School District	Lawrence Peachey, Supt, 1949
	Stump	Off of Nickerson Avenue on Pipestone Road	School formed before 1855	History of Van Buren and Berrien Counties, MI Teachers - Miss Jerue - 1905 Mrs. Ruth Purdy - 1950's
	Stanley School	End of Kerlikowske Rd.	St. Joseph Herald 1868 Merged with other schools in the 1960's	Histories sought
Berrien Township founded in June, 1832 taken from Niles	Evans	NE corner of Marquette Woods Rd. & Washington Ave.	consolidated with Eau Claire about 1914.	1905 Miss Naomi Klachel 1903 teachers Miss Anna Scott and Miss Bernice Jeffries
	Franklin	N end of Pucker St.	-	1959 - Miss Patricia McClain
	Liberty	NE corner of Smith Rd. & M-140	Newspaper mention
	Maple Grove	-	One room schools house replaced with two-room cement block building circa 1950. Web & newspaper source	teacher in 1898 was Miss Elsie Michael
	National No. 5	9950 Pucker St.	School discontinued in 1964. Students sent to Berrien Springs school
	Oak Grove	-	Newspaper Est. 1868
	Painter	-	Existed in 1869 - One of the teachers was a Miss Preston in 1906
	St. Joseph Valley	Near corner of Daniel Boone Trail & Pokagon Rd.	-
Bertrand Township founded 1837 - taken from Niles twp.	Bakertown	-	Mrs. Ted Seikman was reelected as treasurer of Bakertown school board in 1949
	Bertrand	-	Several newspapers
	Bronson	-	Newspaper
Paw-Paw Township founded 1834 Redistributed into Watervliet and Hagar	-	-	-	-
Buchanan Township founded 1837	Broceus	Clear Lake area, near Buchanan	Began around 1855	Miss Anna Thorburn taught there circa 1910
	Buchanan	-	various sources
	Colvin	Corner of Garr and Glendora Roads	A Great site - Michigan Schools Originally known as Ingleright School. Organized July 15, 1848.
	Coveney (Coveny)	NE corner of Coveney Rd. & E. Glendora Rd.	Web Source Organized March 1, 1845.
	Gardner	corner of Wagner Rd. & Gardner Rd.	Circas 1860
	Miller	Corner of Miller Rd. & N. Main St.	Originally known as Sherwood School.
	Sherwood	" "	See Miller School.
	Wagner	Near Wagner Rd. & Clear Lake Rd.	Web Source - Organized March 2, 1845.
Chikaming Township established 1856 taken from New Buffalo	Browntown	Browntown Road	Built circa 1867 closed mid 1950's when Chikaming school opened
	Greenbush	It was located on Birchwood - Beach Road.	In existance before 1869. Edmund Glavin owned original property school was placed on. Was also used for church services. Was then moved to location and would take on new name of Harbert School. Greenbush building was moved across the tracks from Harbert school and was turned into a Harbert Community Church about 1928.
	Harbert	By Railroad tracks in Harbert.	As was Harbert so was the school name. Named after a Chicago Attorney, Mr. William Harbert who owned about 200 acres in the area. When the new Harbert school was built,	George N.Otwell circa 1896 also taught school at Three Oaks Mrs. Dunham taught there in 1906
	Lakeside	-	friends attended school before consolidation of River Valley School system.	School consilidations of Lakeside, Harbert, Sawyer combined in abt 1957 to 1958 and Chikaming School was built.
	Riverside	3 miles N of Three Oaks	Newspaper
	Sawyer	Sawyer next to Lutheran school	Closed when Chikaming School opened. mid 1950's
Coloma City in Watervliet twp	Coloma	-	St. Joseph Herald newspaper speaks of it in 1868
Coloma City in Watervliet twp	Ingraham	As of 2003, still standing on Hagar Shore Road and Coloma Road.	Coloma #4. Built before 1879.
	Gray	Coloma/Riverside Road	built before 1880
Eau Claire Village lies partially within Pipestone Township and Berrien Charter Township.	Collins	-	-
	North Maple Grove	-	-
Galien Township founded in 1844	Center	2509 Buffalo Rd.	School existed in 1885 - Ceased operating - 1936
Hagar Township founded in 1846	Curtis	Kerlikowski Road	Original school burned - replaced - Circa 1860's
	Hagar School No. 6	-	Teacher - Mary Daly Theisen; Tri City Record, October 31, 2001
	Bundy aka Bunday	Near intersections of Bundy and Riverside roads	Oldest school in Hagar James Bunday built the building abt 1832 and was later used as a school house - log cabin originally in 1843 - burned in 1849 and replaced with a framed structure. - 3rd structure replaced the others in about 1884	First teacher was Matilda Irwin who taught there circa 1844
	Eaman	-	Built in 1854, log web source	Histories sought
	Pier	Pier Rd.	log school; In existance in 1908	1908 Miss Una Hower teacher
	Gray	Riverside Road	circa 1868 - before 1880 - Eli Rice agreed to a 75 year land option in Hagar and Watervliet twp in 1880.
	Wisner		Built before 1859
Lake Township founded in 1846 - taken from Oronoko	Baroda	-	-
	Hathaway
	California
Lincoln Township established 1867 taken from Royalton	South Lincoln	Lincoln Ave., S. of John Beers Rd.	-
	Nash		School started in 1866 - Mentioned in St. Joseph Herald, October 17, 1868	History of Van Buren and Berrien Counties, MI
	Spears	Southeastern part of county.	Initiated by the Methodist Episcopal in 1847 later became known as Spears School	History of Van Buren and Berrien Counties, MI
	Stevensville	.	Consolidated with Lakeshore; merged into Lakeshore school system about 1963
	Stewart (Old Stewart School)	Lake Shore Drive and Glenlord Rd.	Est. abt 1881 - closed about 1957 when New Stewart school was built.
New Buffalo Township 1836 - taken from Niles first schoolhouse built in 1836	Spring	New Buffalo	-	research needed
	first school in New Buffalo		established in 1836	-
Niles Township Original & Oldest township founded in 1829	Barnhardt ???	-	-	research needed
	Bell	-	-
	Bertrand	-	-
	Brick	-	-
	Carey Mission	One mile West of Niles	1823	Founded by: Rev. Isaac McCoy- Baptist clergyman
	DeMott	SE corner of Rangeline Rd. & Matthew Rd.	-
	Electric Light	Pucker Street - Niles	-	Got its name from being situated closely to the Niles Power plant. Did not get electricity until 1931. Mabel Andrews taught here and at various other schools in the region.
	Fairland	Stafford Rd.	Niles/Berrien Springs area
	Hatfield	NW corner of Hatfield Rd. & M-140	Niles/Berrien Springs area
	Lacey	Phoenix Street, Niles	-
	Range Line	Rangeline Rd. & Matthew Rd.	originally named DeMott School
	St. Joseph Valley	Corner of US 31 N. & Matthew Rd.	-	Early twentieth century Mrs. Mary Pauline (Graham) Winn teacher
	Thompson
	Union		Building completed in 1856	First principal was E. W. Spaulding
Oronoko Township founded 1837	Bedinger	SW of Berrien Springs	-
	Burke	Corner of Snow and Garr Roads	-
	Grange	between Snow Rd. & Grange Rd.	-
	Hinchman	Corner of Hinchman Rd. & Scottsdale Rd.	-
Pipestone Township established 1842 taken from Bainbridge & Royalton	Burke	Union Road	-
	Columbia	Columbia Road, off M-140 Highway	-
	Eau Claire	Five Corners	A Great site - Michigan Schools
	First
	Pipestone	On the corner of Preston and Old Pipestone Rd.	-
	Red school house		1855	History of Van Buren and Berrien Counties, MI
	Shanghai	Corner of Shanghai Rd. and Pipestone Rd.	Original school - Constructed before circa 1841 - School replace shanty in 1847 Closed in the 1960's.	started in a log shanty History of Van Buren and Berrien Counties, MI
	original school			George Lundy was the first teacher in this township.
Royalton Township founded in 1835	Bacon	Miners & Bacon School Rds.	Bacon school built in 1893 and originally located on the Bacon farm. closed in November, 1958	One of the teachers was S. B. Miners who taught circa 1880 thru 1887.
	Buckhorn	Between Rockey Weed & Linco Rds.	See Tryon School; built 1869, converted into a church
	Dickinson	Corner of Marquette Woods Rd. & U.S. 31	See Tryon School
	Hollywood	N. Hollywood Rd.	Source: March 1946 Newspaper
	Royal School		Built circa 1918 closed in November 1958
	Tryon	Corner of John Beers & Scottdale Rds.	built in 1840; later used as Township Hall.
Sodus is considered to be a part of the Benton Harbor/St. Joseph urban	Stumps	-	family knowlege
	Tabor		In existance in 1858
	Rector		In existance in 1860
	River
	Mt. Pleasant	Hillendale Rd area
Sodus Township areaestablished 1860 taken from taken from Pipestone	Arden	-	AKA Royalton Township
	Chadwick Elementary	4100 Watson Road	A Great site - Michigan Schools
	Cowles	Yore Avenue	A Great site - Michigan Schools
	Mt. Pleasant			History of Van Buren and Berrien Counties, MI
	River	4439 River Rd.	-
	Tabor			History of Van Buren and Berrien Counties, MI
St. Joseph Village grew into a City	Brown	Was located off of Lake Shore Drive S at St. Joseph	Consolidated with St. Joseph School District
	Gard	Hilltop Rd. & Cleveland Ave.		additional information needed
	Log	1 mile west of Dickerville on Riverside Rd.	Note, in the 1830's there was more than one log building erected that school was taught in until other buildings were constructed to replace them.
	North Lincoln	School under St. Joseph twp in 1934	Closed in November 1958
	North Shore	-	Newspaper 1946 also see above
	Trinity Lutheran	-	Newspaper 1946

	Washington	-	-
St. Joseph Township founded in 1832	Old White School House	Corner of Ship & Main Sts.	constructed around 1834 to 1837
St. Joseph Township founded in 1832	Witheral (Witherell)	Corner of Hollywood and Hollywood Road.	Served as a church for the Methodist Congregation. School commenced circa 1871 with Nicholas Miller building it and was named after the Witheral family, but not built on their land. School moved in 1904 to its persent location of 1958. closed in November, 1958	Teacher - 1896 Joe Collier
Stevensville incorporated in 1893 lies within Lincoln Township	Stewart	-	Teachers in the 1940's were: Miss Elsie Prillwitz, Miss Alma Tinkham, Mrs. Lavinia Kamrad?
	Hill Top	Exact location sought	In existance in 1905	1905 teacher Miss Grace Shearer 1908 teacher Miss Margaret Jeffries
Three Oaks Township - established 1856 first schoolhouse built in 1836	Avery	-	School discontiued in 1938	information sought
	Basswood	Corner of US 12 & Basswood Rd., north side, 8075 U.S. 12 West, Three Oaks 3 miles SW of Three Oaks	Established abt. 1865 - School discontiued in 1938 Building still standing as of 2009
	Cherry aka Spring Creek School	.	Built of cherry wood in 1844. Located across the road from Spring Lake School. also see Spring Creek below
	Three Oaks	Elm and Ash Street	circa 1852 to 1854 Newer school built and then added to in 1877 and 1896 High School building built in 1906 - Its high school burned January 3, 1919 Newer school built in 1921 and additions made in subsequent years. s	Might have been in the home of W. H. Hinkley First teacher was Miss Goodrich Lottie Heard of Niles 1854-1855
	Spring Creek (named after the community that was the predessor of Three Oaks)	Intersection of Donner Road & Three Oaks Rd. Two miles South of Three Oaks	In existance on or before 1842 closed in 1938 and students sent to Three Oaks school	Mrs. Elizabeth Chamberland first teacher on record Mrs. Cornelia Crosby taught at the school in 1866
Weesaw Township founded in 1837	Elm Valley	Elm Valley Road 5 mile North East of Three Oaks.	Founded in 1880. Student were sent to consolidated schools of Galien and New Troy at the time of its closing. School was in use until about 1944 and building sold in September of 1949. This was the 3rd building since 1880's that was erected for the school. The Stoner family sold original 1 acre of land school sat on.	1880's teacher - Herman Austin 1929 - teacher Miss Agnes Spaulding
Weesaw Township founded in 1837	Hills Corner	Corner of Glendora Rd. & Gardner Rd.	No longer standing Ref: Michigan Schools	Histories sought
	New Troy		Built about 1871
Watervliet founded in 1846	Clymer	NW of Coloma and Hartford	Ref: Newspaper 15 May 1886 - also 1st school built in 1880 replaced by red brick school 1917 - original land donated by Arthur Clymer First teacher was Albert Jackson
Watervliet founded in 1846	Select	Web Source	Opened about 1849 to 1851	Charles Bostwick started the school and then sold it. Later it was turned into a tavern by Moses Sargent. Tavern named "The Osgood House"
	Shingle Diggings aka Shingle Diggin's	Watervliet area source - A Twentieth Century History of Berrien County - page 229	Opened 1837 materials ran out and closed in 1838	Mary Youngs


Famous Berrien County Teachers	Area taught in	Additional Comments	-	Teacher's/Educators names
	Niles area	Niles area	circa 1830	Titus B. Willard
	Niles area schools			Caroline Bond daughter of Henry Bond
	Niles Area schools			Henry Mansfield
	Niles Area schools			Mrs. Asa Hamilton - daughter of Joseph and sister of Henry Mansfield
	"			Laura Chipman daughter of Joseph N. Chipman
	Buchanan area	Old log house - school taught in		Angeline Bird 1841 to 1842
	Bainbridge Twp			Miss Ella Martin circa 1880
	Hagar twp			Mrs. Charlotte (Barrett) Alden
	Berrien County	various schools		William E. Hollinrake
	Watervliet	high school teacher		Jessie V. Randall
	Berrien County	various		Lennie B. Hill died at only twenty five years of age
	"	"		George D. Hill
	St. Joseph area	grade school teacher		Minda Belle McKindley
	Niles Public schools			Winifred Atkinson
	Various Berrien Cty Schools			C. M. King
	Buchanan High School	7th grade teacher		Grace Mutchler circa 1905
	Three Oaks teacher			Ethel Maude Watson circa 1905
	Lincoln School /St. Joe twp			Winifred Wright - Principal circa 1905
	Various			Lewis Sutherland

References:
Various Newspapers
A Twentieth Century History of Berrien County by: Judge Orville W. Coolridge - published in 1907
Histories of Berrien and Van Buren County, Published 1880
The Region of Three Oaks published 1939 - The Edward K. Warren Foundation

This page was last modified <15 February 2008>

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