Vandercook Lake High School - Reviewer Yearbook (Jackson, MI)

Page 11 text:

There evidently was considerable controversy about the location ofthe school as several attempts were made to place it in various areas, ln 1831 it was decided by a vote of 15 to 7 to locate the new school in the northwest quarter of Section 252, This vague description could be anywhere within a half mile square northwest ofthe present McDevitt School, ' Selecting a site was one thingy building a school house was another, Through the years, several attempts to authorize money for a new building were defeated again and again. The minutes of September 27, 18-BS, record that an effort to raise 5-101+ to build a new school LOSTQ to raise S5300 for a new school LOS'l'g to raise S13 for repairs to school LOSTg motion to ad- Journ CARRIIZD! The impersonal, faded writing in the crumbling record books do not mention the tensions among the citizens but the facts fail to hide them, Less than two weeks later, however, it was voted to raise S50 to purchase one half acre of land from Selah Loomis in the SE corner ofthe Nl? ll!! of Section 2511. A motion to rescind this action lost, lt was then voted to raise S300 for the new school. The above description placed the new school on the site of the IOOF lflall fthe old Draper Schoolj on the corner of McDevitt and Draper Road, The lowest bid for the building was 354120 and was accepted, lnasmuch as only 533011 had been , authorized, it was voted at the next annual meeting to spread S150 on the next year's taxes to make up the difference, The new building was to be Qi' x i3O', The old building was sold to Owen Ellison for S10 to be paid on or before January 1, 1359, The stove and stovepipc was sold for 15 on the same liberal terms - presumably without carrying charges, The new school served the community until the Draper school was built on the same site in 1891, ln the early years, the purchase of firewood was an important matter to be settled at the annual school meeting, along with the election of one of the three board members for a three year term, The cost' of firewood varied from a low of one dollar per cord to well over two dollars as the years passed by, ln many cases the contract for the wood went to a member of the board, The cost of fuel was on a par with teachers' wages and the specifications were often more rigid than those for the teacher, llere is a sample: Voted to raise money to buy fourteen cords of two foot wood for use of the school house, lt was further moved that , , Allen D, Lyons furnish the wood at two dollars 003 per cord the wood to be half seasoned and half green to be delivered and corded at the schoolhouse at or before the first day of November 1865, Until the latter part of the nineteenth century, the cost of operating the school was small in terms of dollars, llowever, the value of a dollar at that time was much greater than at present so it is difficult to make comparisons, ln 18415 it was voted to raise 323, OO for repairs to the school, ln 1868 Owen Ellison painted the school building for 3211, including the cost of the paint. ln 1883 an entry stated that the amount of money on hand at the end of the year was not any, The school patrons kept a collective eagle's eye on board members, ln 1883 it was decreed that the school board , , be instructed NOT to purchase a flag or other appendages without the vote ofthe district,