Cooper Center School

Rural Schools of Kalamazoo County > Cooper Township

 

schools-cooper-center-598

Photo by Sarah Hultmark, c. 1981, History Room Photo File P-1265.

Location: (District #2) - Section 17, west side of Douglas, north of D Avenue (not right at the intersection).

 

The 1880 Kalamazoo County history says: "As early as 1836 a school was organized at Cooper Centre. Its sessions were held in a log house of very primitive construction, and presided over by Miss Adeline Hicks, now Mrs. George Hart, who had about 20 pupils." At some point it was replaced by a brick building which was demolished in the fall of 1878 and  replaced by a new one on the same site. It appears to have been replaced at least once more.

Teachers

1836      Adeline Hicks
1883      Charles H. Barber
1895      John A. Hurlburt
1900      Gertrude Squires
1902      Harold Blair
              Mr. Reebs
1903      Mr. Davis
1925-26 Harriett Farnsworth
1927-28 Kittie Korstange
              Mable Webster
1929-30 Mable Webster
              Helen Anderson
1930-32 Rachel Randall
              Helen Anderson
1932-34 Louise Oliver
              Mae Edgerton
1934-35 Howard F. Bargwell
              Ruth Whelan
1935-36 Howard F. Bargwell
              Carrie Barney
1936-37 Carrie Barney
              Jeanette Lancaster
1937-39 Viola Musson
              Jeanette Lancaster
1939-40 Viola Musson
              Marian Knoblock
1940-41 Viola Musson
              Eva Hayse
1941-42 Viola Musson
              Jeanette Lancaster Barnes
1942-43 Helen King
              Florence Carpenter
1943-44 Jeanette Barnes
              Mildred Kreider
1944-45 Jeanette Barnes
              Isobel Dobson
1945-46 Clara Adams
              Mary Ruth Amey
1946-47 Clara Adams
              Ruth Early
1947-48 Clara Adams
              Laura Ferris
1948-50 Raymond Jones
              Laura Ferris  
1951-52 George Moran 
              Eva Day 
              Bernice Kruizinga 
1952-53 Eva Burns
              Eva D. Day
              Roberta Reiley
1953-54 Roland Miller
              Roberta Reiley
              Janice Barr

 

Compiled by Catherine Larson, Local History Specialist, Kalamazoo Public Library, 1999. Mapped October 2008. Last updated 18 October 2012.

Sources

Manuscripts

List of one-room schools still standing in Kalamazoo County in 1982

  • Hultmark, Sarah.
  • Manuscript, Local History Collection, Kalamazoo Public Library

Records of School District #2 Cooper Township

  • Cabinet #1, miscellaneous box #1, History Room Storage
  • These are early business records and do not name teachers or students.

Books

History of Kalamazoo County, Michigan..., 1880

  • Durant, Samuel W.
  • Evansville, IN: Unigraphic, 1976
  • H 977.417 H67u (oversize), page 401

Articles

"West Cooper"

  • Kalamazoo Gazette, 22 October 1878, page 1.

"Looking Back: They made things lively at Cooper Center School in 1930"

  • Kalamazoo Gazette, 26 March 1995, page D2, column 2. Identified photograph of students.

"Looking Back: These students filled Cooper Center's two schoolrooms"

  • Kalamazoo Gazette, 22 September 1996, page C2, column 2. Photograph of students in 1936. All are identified.

Files

History Room Subject File: Cooper Center School

Teachers' and school officers' directory, Kalamazoo County, Michigan, 1925-1954
  • Shelved in a pamphlet box with H 379.774 K149 (History Room Storage) 

    • Maps and atlases

    USGS topographic map for Kalamazoo County, 1918 (Kalamazoo Quadrangle)

    • History Room map case, left drawer #1