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

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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.

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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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The Commillee raised lhree hundred lhousand dollars wilhin six monlhs which enabled lhem lo purchase lhe land and lo slarl lhe building. They had hoped lo raise an addilional one hundred and lilly lhousand dollars lo complele lhe paymenls on lhe land and lhe presenl building and lo planl and beaulily lhe lands. The Board de- sired lo raise a lolal ol seven hundred lhousand dollars ol which lhe remaining lwo hundred and lilly lhousand was lo serve as a proleclion lo lhe inveslmenl. lvlr. Edsel B. Ford paid up lhe balance ol lhe land conlracl ol Sl25.000 which was owing on lhe properly. This was in addilion lo his original gill ol SI25,000 lo lhis fund. The mainlenance lund was never achieved. Thus in lhe lall ol I929 lhe school opened ils new, modern quarlers. ll was lo conlinue as a Counlry Day School lor 200 boys. Every ellorl was made lo mainlain ils repulalion as a Prep school. The educalional policies which can be lraced back lo ils very beginnings were slill lo be pursued in lhese new and much more adequale surroundings. ln l939 Mr. Flelcher, aller lwenly-lhree years ol service. relired as l-leadmasler ol D.U.S. l-le was succeeded by Clillon Orville Page, who had been l-leadmasler ol lhe Park School, Indianapolis, lndiana. ln l94l Mr. Fries relired wilh lhirly-six years ol conlinuous service al D.U.S. The nexl year Mr. Page resigned as l-leadmasler. The Board Ol Truslees was looking lor a new l-leadmasler. ln I939 lhe Board ol lhe Grosse Poinle Counlry Day School, a co-educalional school which had been organized in l9l5 by a group ol civic leaders in Grosse Poinle had ap- proached lhe Board ol D.U.S. wilh a merger proposilion, bul al lhal lime D.U.S. lurned il down. Therelore, in l94l. Edsel Ford, as Presidenl ol D.U.S. Board, wenl lo Dr. Maleer, Presidenl ol Grosse Poinle Counlry Day School Board wilh lhe suggeslion lhal lhe schools merge. Aller much discussion il was decided lo merge lhe lwo schools lor grealer elliciency under a single adminislralive and linancial managemenl. ll was decided lhal each school would relain ils own name and idenlily under lhe merger. A new corporalion was lormed under lhe laws ol lhe Slale ol Michigan lo be operaled nol lor prolil by a sell-perpelualing board ol lruslees. The adminislralive corporalion which owns lhe school properlies is known as lhe Delroil Universily School and Grosse Poinle Counlry Day School Corporalion. Boards ol Trus- lees ol bolh inslilulions became unilied by lhe merger. The direclion ol bolh schools was placed in lhe hands ol Mr. Lamberl F. Whelslone, who had been l-leadmasler ol Grosse Poinle Counlry Day School lrom l936 lo l942. Delroil Universily School was lo conlinue as a prep school for boys lrom lourlh grade lhrough high school. Grosse Poinle Counlry Day School ceased lo be co-educalional and became lhe girls' school lrom lourlh lhrough lwelllh grades. The Kinder- garlen and lirsl lhree grades included bolh boys and girls and are localed al lhe Counlry Day School. The Nursery School was silualed in a ranch-lype building across Cook Road lrom D.U.S. 9