VICKSBURG, MI HISTORY Strong One Room School House Part of the VICKSBURG HISTORY website Property of the Vicksburg Historical Society click on image to enlarge it This page address: https://sites.rootsweb.com/~mivhs/vicksburghistoricstrong.htm
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Historic Village - VICKSBURG COMMERCIAL PRINT SHOP |
Historic Village - STRONG ONE ROOM SCHOOL HOUSE |
One Room Schools and the Standard School |
Acquisition of Strong School |
Restoration of Strong School |
all contemporary photographs take by Dick Branch
this page: https://sites.rootsweb.com/~mivhs/vicksburghistoricstrong.htm
click on image to enlarge it
The Historic Village, now includes the Strong School, a one-room school moved from its original site. The Strong School was one of the rural one-room schools consolidated into the Vicksburg School District in 1947. |
Brief History of the Building
Strong School was originally
located in the northwest corner of section 6, Mendon Township, St.
Joseph County. The building stood on the east side of Silver
street, which is the dividing line between Mendon and Park
Townships. though located in St. Joseph County, Strong School was
one of the 21 rural school districts consolidated with the Vicksburg
district to form Vicksburg Community Schools in 1947.
The history of school buildings on this Mendon Township site is murky, but we can assume there was more than one building at this location over the years, as a school was standing on that site as early as 1858. And, we do know a bit about how the second building, the one now located in the Historic Village, came by its name. Ezekiel Strong was born in Vermont and came to Michigan in 1844. After three years in the Centerville are, he bought a farm situated in the extreme northwestern corner of Mendon Township, right on the line between St. Joseph and Kalamazoo County. the Strong's had three children. An 1873 Mendon Township Map continues to show a schoolhouse on the site, straddling the property line between the E. A. Strong farm and land owned by Henry Holmes. Since the Strong's owned over 200 acres in Section 6, it is understandable that the school was named for the family. The 1877 History of St. Joseph County lists Henry Holmes as a carpenter and joiner. The Historical Society has a photo of Strong School as we know it today, dated 1903. Could a new building have been built about 1900 replacing a deteriorating 50-year old structure? Could neighbor Henry Holmes have built, or work on, the new schoolhouse? We may never know. |
One-Room Schools Served Rural Youth
Prior to the formation of Vicksburg Community Schools as we know it today, there many individual rural school districts in the area, each served bye a building much like Strong School. These one-room schools educated students from kindergarten through the eighth grade. Each school was located with easy walking distance - a mile or two - from the farm homes of those children residing in that particular geographic district. Students in all grades were taught by a single teacher in a single classroom. Many of these unique buildings remained in use long after the rural districts consolidated with Vicksburg in 1947. A few of these buildings can still be seen standing along our rural roads, some turned into residences, but most still recognizable for what they once were. Because Strong School was never remodeled or re-designed for another use, it was the ideal candidate for restoration. see: One Room Schools: Michigan's Educational Legacy
( See the Kalamazoo Public Library's article about the Rural Schools of Kalamazoo County as well as Kalamazoo One Room Schools ) Also see the Schools page on this site)
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Jenny Weinberg, One Room School Teacher
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A tribute to a former teacher, Jenny Weinberg Jenny Weinberg received her teaching certificate in Rural Education from Western State Normal School (now W.M.U.) in 1914. She taught at Strong School from 1913 to 1915. In that day, a teacher could accept a school before her education was completed. Many young girls went directly from the school desk to the teacher's desk with little actual preparation - if you were taking a class or two at "Normal" and intended to get your certificate, that was often enough to get started in a rural school. See: A Day at School (in a one room schoolhouse) See LIST OF TEACHING CERTIFICATES GRANTED IN KALAMAZOO COUNTY IN 1884 - FOR ONE YEAR |
Strong School students 1937
Strong School was given to the Vicksburg Historical Society by Mrs. Wesley Copenhafer and family and Mr. Robert Schroeder in 1996. The building, which had not been used as a school for many years, straddled the line between the Copenhafer and Schroeder properties, and both families wish to see the building preserved rather than torn down. Vicksburg Community Schools provided funds to move the building from its original location on Silver Street to the Historic Village, and contribute money toward its restoration. many volunteers worked long hours to restore and refurbish the building. |
June, 2001 May, 2002
Strong School before and after restoration
One of the first steps in the restoration was recreation ofp the long missing bell tower. The man who constructed the Strong School bell tower was Walter Wesoloski, a descendent of one of the Polish families that were brought here to work in the Lee Paper Mill - see the Lee Paper page. |
click on image to enlarge it
One of the last, but most important steps was restoring the interior.
In 2005 an outhouse was added for authenticity
Also see the SCHOOLS page.
Kalamazoo
County USGenWeb Site