Grosse Pointe University School - Pericon Yearbook (Grosse Pointe, MI)

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Boys, a school incorporaTed in I89O and purchased by D. U. S. in l9OI. The boarding school sTudenTs were primarily Trom smaller Michigan communiTies whose local schools offered inadequaTe college preparaTion. This gave The new school a large number of pupils of all grades and ages. The firsT graduaTing class, The class of l900, had ThirTeen members. By l9l4, in an eTforT To mainTain The high sTandards which The school had seT for iTself and because of iTs expansions. The school found iTself in a poor financial posiTion. Mr. Bliss, who had proved himself as an able educaTor, felT unable To cope wiTh This siTuaTion and decided To resign To assume The principalship of The Jackson High school. The direcTion of The school was Taken over by Mr. Frederick Searle, who was assissTed by Mrs. Florence Milner and Mr. William H. Fries. Financial condiTions did noT improve, and in February, l9l6, The new gymnasium and dining room burned in a fire which also damaged The home DeparTmenT and The school buildings. This proved To be The final blow To The school. The Board of TrusTees decided To dissolve The corpora- Tion and disconTinue The school. However, Mrs. CharloTTe B. Sherrard was so inTeresTed in The conTinuaTion of The school ThaT she inviTed Mr. Daniel H. FleTcher, Senior Masfer of Loomis School. Winsor, ConnecTicuT, To be- come HeadmasTer. Thus aT a Time when The planT was sTill in ruins and The financial posiTion forced reorganizaTion, Mrs. Sherrard and Mr. Charles B. Warren guaranTeed The expense of The school for One yea F. ln I9I8 The Elmwood buildings were sold To The DeTroiT Park Commission. The school was able To obTain The properTy of The Park View AThleTic Club on Parkview Avenue. Mrs. Sherrard pur- chased This building and a playing field adiacenT To The building. LaTer she made available The frame house nexl' door, which was called Sherrard Hall in honor of her husband. one of The Two founders of The school. AlThough Mrs. Sherrard purchased The Two buildings and The playing field. she made Them all available To The school rem' free. BuT for This The school never would have survived Those Trying years. For The nexT Ten years The school grew unTil iT had reached The capaciTy of The Two buildings. When The school moved down To Parkview, The auThoriTies adopTed The program and organi- zaTion of a CounTry Day School. ThaT movemenT was a relaTively new one which aimed To incorpo- raTe The all day program of The boarding school wiTh The advanTage of allowing The boys To be in Their own homes. The program was cal- T culaTed To Take care ' of The ciTy boy all day j long in The counTry. The school made liTTle change in iTs academic seT-up. buT iT did Tend To become more of a purely col- lege Training school. However, The empha- sis in aThleTics did change. AlThough The school conTinued To have inTramural and inTerscholasTic Teams, 7

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D. U. Sfs Fil1y Years N THE SPRING OF I899 Mr. Henry Gray Sherrard and Mr. Fredericlc Leroy Bliss, who were respecTively head of The Classical DepT. and Principal oT The DeTroiT CenTral High School, decided To organize a boys' privaTe school. They TelT The need since The DeTroiT public schools were involved in a local poliTical squabble which lcepT Them Trom being able To mainTain educa- Tional sTandards which meT easTern college reguiremenTs. ATTer receiving encouragemenT and assisTance from numerous civic leaders, These men Tinally locaTed The old building of The Michigan AThleTic AssociaTion on Elmwood Avenue beTween Congress and Larned STreeTs. This building, oTTering adequaTe educa- Tional and aThleTic TaciliTies. was purchased and repaired. By Fall suTTicienT funds had been raised Through The sale oT sToclc aT TiTTy dollars a share so ThaT The school was opened on SepTember 25. I899, wiTh Mr. Bliss as Principal and Mr. Sherrard as AssociaTe Principal. All grades were covered from primary Through college preparaTion. The school oTTered a good general course Tor The non- college sTudenT as well as courses Tor The college 6 preparaTory sTudenT. ln boTh cases The school sTressed more Than iusT The scholasTic Training by including an ArT DeparTmenT and Manual Training DeparTmenT, and by requiring Physical Trainingvas well. The TirsT Two pupils To be enrolled in The school were C. Henry Haberlcorn. Jr.. and Joseph Berry Sherrard. The TaculTy consisTed oT eighTeen members. In The TirsT year There were I55 sTudenTs enrolled in The school. Many of These sTudenTs had been aTTracTed To The new school Trom DeTroiT CenTral High School because oT Their admiraTion of boTh Mr. Bliss and Mr. Sherrard. Also a num- ber had been sTudenTs of The DeTroiT School Tor

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The aim was To geT all boys inTeresTed in some acTiviTy, recognizing ThaT one cannoT be eTl'icienT if he does noT have a well-Trained body in which a well-Trained mind may TuncTion. The school was reorganized as a TrusTee ln- sTiTuTion in l92O, Thus puTTing iT on a non-proTiT basis. Mr. Charles B. Warren was made The TirsT PresidenT of The Board of TrusTees of The reor- ganized D.U.S. and conTinued To serve as Presi- oT TrusTees. Among Them were Mr. Edsel B. Ford, Mr. Edgar Bowen. and Mr. C. Henry l-laberlcorn. Jr. Mr. Roscoe B. Jackson, Mr. Ford BallanTyne, and Mr. Allan Shelden were also added To The Board aT This Time. AT a meeTing of The Board. held March 2I, l927, iT was voTed ThaT Mr. Ford. Mr. l-laberlcorn, and Mr. Shelden be appoinTed a CommiTTee To consider The possible siTe for a new school and To denT un+iI his deafh. lTs affairs have since been managed by a clisTinguished group of ciTizens. By l926. The eTTecTs of The World War and The ensuing depression over, iT was evidenT ThaT The school musT have room Tor growTh in more adequaTe surroundings. By This Time several of The old boys. now TaThers, had ioinecl The Board 8 propose To The Board a meThod Tor raising The money To pay Tor iT. IT was decided To purchase an eighTeen acre siTe on Cook Road in Grosse PoinTe Woods Tor The new home oT The school. Through The generosiTy of The Alumni and friends The CommiTTee was To raise abouT a half million dollars Tor The new school which was To be ready for use in The school year of l928-l929.