Building Chronology
1925
Voters approved construction of a school building at 1401 Cherry St. in the Hillcrest Neighborhood off Oakland Drive. [Board of Education Minutes, 1925-1926]
1925
Architect Milton C. J. Billingham of Billingham and Cobb presented plans for Hillcrest Elementary School. [Board of Education Minutes, 1925-1926]
1925
Builder Henry VanderHorst received the contract for the general construction of Hillcrest Elementary School. [Board of Education Minutes, 1925-1926]
1926
Photograph of building can be found in the supplement “Kalamazoo The Gateway of Educational Opportunity” c.1926. [Kalamazoo Public Library Local History Subject File: Kalamazoo Public Schools - Buildings and Grounds]
1955
Board of Education approved addition to Hillcrest. Architect was M. C. J. Billingham and contractor was Ray Stevens Company. [Board of Education Minutes, 1954-1955, 1955-1956]
1956
Addition was completed. [Board of Education Minutes, 1955-1956]
1970s
Hillcrest Elementary School closed in the early 1970s. [Kalamazoo Gazette, 14 June 1985, page B1, column 1]
1973
Western Michigan University rented Hillcrest Elementary for a day care and tutoring center. [Kalamazoo Gazette, 17 November 1973, page A16, column 5]
1985
Building sold to Kazoo School. [Kalamazoo Gazette, 14 June 1985, page B1, column 1]
Compiled by Lynn Houghton, Kalamazoo Public Library staff, February 2008.