Greenwood School has long tradition

Due to budget cuts, school reorganization will take effect this fall. It seemed academic to me, until I heard that my young cousin, Janae Imell, will not be returning to Greenwood. The idea of Greenwood closing and what they meant in the long view of history finally sunk in to me.

Can you imagine a dark, dense forest with a river cutting its way through? Smoke is rising from a handful of clearings where brave settlers are literally carving out a settlement. In the spring of 1851 some of these settlers were hard at work in one of the few clearings on the northside, building a small shack- not a home for themselves, but a home for education. The Red School was completed in May 1851 and had one room with six benches. There were nine children in the first class, taught by Mary Ann Sanders.

This was two years before any type of bridge spanned The Grand, so children had to take boats across to school, cross walking on the dam or on the frozen river in winter. Once they got to the north bank, only a winding wooded footpath lead up to the school grounds.

As the town grew, so did the number of children. In 1862 a larger building, the Stone School, was built next to the Red School. This boasted two classrooms and together the Schools served over 200 pupils.

This site on Mill Street (as it was then called) was the scholastic heart of Grand Ledge for nearly twenty years. All students attended school here until 1870 when the southside got its own small building, The White School, near where Sawdon is today.

In the 1880s big plans were made to modernize the school. Local builder George Brown was hired to design and build a new Northside School to replace the old pioneer school houses. Brown built a lovely two-storey brick Romanesque style building that opened in 1887. This housed all the northside pupils. Twelveth grade graduations were held here until the last class graduated in 1903. After that time, both sides of the river re-merged into one school district and the high school was moved to the Southside.

In the 1920s Northside School became Greenwood School and over time additions were made to enlarge the building. In 1950 the present school was built right in front of the old building. Both schools were used until 1959 when the old building was torn down and new additions were made to the new school.

This site on the Northside has been the home to our students for 159 years. I sincerely hope a new educational use can be found for Greenwood. We all understand budget cuts, but surely tradition and history must count for something too!