Monday, December 14, 2009

Everything old is new again

With the on going financial trouble of Michigan school districts, talk of consolidations and the announced cuts and building closings in Grand Ledge, it is interesting to look back at some of the history of our district. As you can see, some ideas are not new after all. It reminds me of the old song, “everything old is new again”.

After the end WWII, the district started to plan for expected enrollment growth, and they began to acquire land for future expansion. They purchased the 80 acre Kent Farm on Jenne Street.  Twelve acres off Jones street was purchased as well as a large parcel across Jenne Street, now called Marsh Field. An 80-acre farm was also purchased on Willow Highway in Delta Township.

The Kent farm came along with the brick Kent farmhouse which stood at the corner of Jenne and Lovell Streets, where the Neff playground is now. Union and Old Greenwood schools were always short of space, so the house was used as the Kent Kindergarten for all the children in the district for several years.

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By the 1950's the Grand Ledge Schools served not only local students but also 39 Affiliated Rural Districts. A 1954 study recommended consolidation of most of the 40 districts into one regional School District. Superintendent Kenneth T. Beagle oversaw this expansion of the district and closing of the country school buildings.

Parents wanted to keep younger children as close to their homes as possible instead of sending children to a few centralized schools. A new Greenwood School was built in 1950 next to Old Greenwood, which was later torn down. In 1953 West Elementary was built on the Jones Street parcel. This was later renamed for T. Carl Holbrook, a long-time school board president. In 1954 Clarence W. Neff School was built on Jenne Street next to the Kent Kindergarten and named in honor of the benefactor who gave $160,000 to the schools. Mulliken came into the school district in 1956 with their school which had been built in 1951. In 1958 the Delta Mills School was built. In 1959 Delta Center School was completed.

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During this time a new high school was also needed. Originally Marsh Field was the proposed site for the school, but instead the larger parcel behind Neff at the corner of Spring and Kent was chosen. The new Grand Ledge High School was dedicated in 1959. The old high school was renamed in honor of Jonas Sawdon as the Sawdon Junior High School.

In 1967 the Hayes School was built on the Willow Highway property. Nixon Road was extended from the corner of Saginaw Road through to Willow Highway at this time. The Hayes School housed both a middle school and an elementary school and was named in honor of Leon Hayes, a school board member for many years.

In 1975 two new schools, a new Wacousta Elementary and the Beagle Middle School, were completed. Beagle School was also built on the old Kent farm at the end of South Street. It was named in honor of Kenneth Beagle who had recently retired as Superintendent.