Early School Districts
Founding Fathers Caused School District Confusion
by Frank Rathbun
Courtesy of The News Herald (originally published in The Mellus Newspapers)
A LESSON IN HISTORY
When the "founding" fathers of what is now the Downriver area set up boundaries for their school districts, between 75 and 100 years ago, they never dreamed of the confusion they were creating for their descendants of 1954.
Take, for example, the case of persons living in northern Allen Park, whose children attend school in Melvindale, but who must register in the Ecorse Township hall to vote for members of their board of education.
OLD ORIGINS
Such jurisdiction jigsaw puzzles had their origins in the middle of the last century, when the Downriver area, then all a part of Ecorse Township, was a vast wilderness, broken only occasionally by sections of cleared farmland.
As more settlers began to pour into the area, the centuries-old forest gave way to broad acres of corn, wheat and clover, and frame farmhouses appeared at regular intervals along the few narrow roads which bisected the area.
One of the first actions of the early farmers, after they had built their homes, was to join together in building bees to erect schools for their children.
Perhaps as many as a dozen families would aid in the erection of the school, and send their children to the crude, log buildings for instruction in the three R's—readin', writin' and 'rithmetic.
Later, as more children began wending their way to the school-houses, residents around the area of each school petitioned county officials to incorporate their neighborhood into an official school district.
Since the whole area was an unincorporated township, there were no community boundaries for the school districts.
As the Downriver section continued to grow and develop, the school districts were consolidated to form larger ones, and better school buildings were built and maintained.
TWELVE DISTRICTS
By 1900, there were 12 districts in Ecorse Township, serving the area which now includes Lincoln Park, Ecorse, Allen Park, Melvindale, River Rouge, Southwest Detroit, part of Wyandotte, and what still remains as township area. [Add: the last unincorporated area of Ecorse Township was incorporated as the city of Southgate in 1958.]
No records have been discovered to determine the exact boundaries of each district, but Charles E. Brake, deputy supervisor of Wayne County schools, has records to show the location of each district's school and the number of teachers employed in 1900.
DISTRICT ONE was located in what was known as Ford City, with a school located on the southwest corner of Biddle and Goddard, now a part of Wyandotte. The district was annexed to the Wyandotte school system in 1923.
DISTRICT TWO served the northern part of what is now Melvindale, with a one-room school on the south side of Greenfield, at Prospect. The district, known as the Allen District, was merged with the Melvindale school system in 1916.
DISTRICT THREE was, and still is, Ecorse, which then had five teachers in a school located on the west side of Labadie, near High street.
A portion of the district was included within the present boundaries of Lincoln Park, and for many years children living west of Ecorse creek attended school in Ecorse.
When Lincoln Park was incorporated as a city in 1927[add: 1925], all the area within the boudaries of the community was merged into a single school district.
DISTRICT FOUR then and now is River Rouge, which in 1900 was the largest district in the area, with 10 teachers in a school located at the present high school site.
DISTRICT FIVE included the northern part of what is now Lincoln Park, and a portion of Southwest Detroit. Children in the district attended classes at the one-room Strowig School, located on the southwest corner of Fort and Outer Drive.
That part of the district lying in Detroit was annexed by the Detroit school system in May 1922, while the remainder was merged with the new Lincoln Park district in 1927 [add: 1925]. Part of the original Strowig School foundation can still be seen, while the building itself, converted into an ice cream parlor, is now standing across Fort Street, at Outer Drive, in Southwest Detroit.
DISTRICT SIX in 1900 was a closed district which sent its children to schools in Wyandotte. The area, which probably included the western portion of Wyandotte, was officially annexed to the Wyandotte district in April 1924.
DISTRICT SEVEN still survives as the Heintzen District, which includes that part of Ecorse Township north of Superior road, and the southern section of Allen Park below Moore road.
The district, which was named for James Heintzen, an early land-owner, maintained a one-room school on the southeast corner of Brest and Fordline in 1900.
DISTRICT EIGHT, then called the Eureka district, has survived as the McCann District, which covers Ecorse Township south of Superior road.
In 1900, the district boasted a small school, on the southwest corner of Eureka and McCann. The district's name was officially changed to McCann in July 1929, in honor of Alex McCann, from whom the property was purchased.
DISTRICT NINE was the Lapham District, which still exists today as the Allen Park district, covering that portion of the village north of Moore road and south of Anne street.
Students in the district in 1900 attended the Lapham School on the southwest corner of Allen and Ecorse road.
A brick building eventually replaced the original frame structure, and served for many years as a village hall. That brick building still stands, also converted into an ice-cream parlor.
By a strange coincidence, two of the earliest schools in the Downriver area—Lapham and Strowig—have both been converted into dairy bars.
The name of Lapham, according to tradition, was given the school to the memory of a pioneer village family which gave the land for school purposes.
DISTRICT TEN was the Goodell District, which maintained a one-room school on the northwest corner of Fort and Champaign, in present-day Lincoln Park.
The district was consolidated with the remainder of the Lincoln Park when the city incorporated in 1927 [add: 1925].
DISTRICT ELEVEN, which still exists, served children in the northern section of what is now Allen Park, the southern part of Melvindale and the northwestern point of Lincoln Park. The district [add: known as the Dasher district] had a one-room school on the south side of Allen road, near the present crossing of the Wabash railroad.
The part of the district in Lincoln Park was annexed to the Lincoln Park School system in the consolidation of 192 [add: 1925], while the remainder, merged with old District Two, today exists as the Melvindale district. It covers all of Melvindale, plus that part of Allen Park lying north of Anne street.
DISTRICT TWELVE in 1900 served what is today Southwest Detroit, but what was then part of Ecorse Township. Children in the district attended the one-room Oakwood School. Detroit annexed the area in 1922, and the name of the school was changed to Hunter.
So if you sometimes wonder at the great disparity in the boundary lines of school districts and communities, think back to the area's pioneer days, when our great-grandparents set up school districts to suit their own conditions.
School Distric Changes
The following chart shows the original twelve school district of Ecorse Township, as they existed in 1900, together with their status in 1954. In 1900, the entire township had 28 teachers; today there are nearly 10,000.
Districts in 1954
Annexed to Wyandotte, 1954
Annexed to Melvindale, 1916
Ecorse
River Rouge
Merged with Lincoln Park, 1927 [1925]
Annexed to Wyandotte, 1924
Heintzen
McCann
Allen Park
Merged with Lincoln Park, 1927 [1925]
Melvindale
Annexed to Detroit, 1922
Districts in 1900
Ford City
Allen
Ecorse
River Rouge
Strowig
Closed
Heintzen
Eureka
Lapham
Goddell
Dasher
Oakwood
