Old Mission Peninsula One Room Schoolhouses

Old Mission Peninsula One Room Schoolhouses

Old Mission Peninsula (Mich.)

In 1839, the Reverend Peter Dougherty was sent to the area now known as Old Mission to establish a church and school for the Native Americans who inhabited the area. As treaties were signed, the Old Mission land was not on the market for settlement by the Native Americans and they moved to Omena in 1852. As word spread of the excellent growing conditions in the area, white settlers moved to the area. Soon it became obvious that schoolhouses were necessary to provide education to the children. In all, in the late 1800’s, eight one room schoolhouses were built on Old Mission Peninsula (note that the term one room schoolhouse is a bit of a misnomer as many of these buildings contained at least two rooms). The schoolhouses were located in such a fashion that no child would need to walk more than 1 ½ miles to attend school. In 1955 the Old Mission Elementary School was opened and the era of one room schoolhouses on the Peninsula was no longer.

The eight schoolhouse names were: Old Mission School, Stony Beach School, McKinley School, Bowers Harbor School, Mapleton School, Archie School, Ogdensburg School, Maple Grove School.

Peninsula Community Library, Traverse City (Mich.)

Old Mission Peninsula School, Peninsula Community Library, Traverse City (Mich.)

Peninsula Community Library

Early to mid 1900’s

Mary T. Morgan

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LHC 002

Traverse City, Peninsula Township, Grand Traverse County, Michigan