Often called “the education city” today, Kalamazoo has created learning spaces in our community almost since the village of Bronson was founded in 1831 — renamed Kalamazoo in 1836. Since then, there have been schools small and large housed in everything from simple one-room wooden buildings to multi-story brick structures seen for miles. Many still stand, but for those that closed, their histories exist now in documents and photographs. Here are five of my favorite former schools.
The Kalamazoo Branch
By the time Michigan became a state in 1837, plans for a statewide education system were in place, which included establishing branches that would prepare male students for the University of Michigan, train teachers, provide agricultural education for farmers and education for women. Eight communities were chosen for these branches, including Kalamazoo, which opened a school in 1838 in this wooden building on the east side of what is now Bronson Park. Eventually the state withdrew support for the branches, and the local school merged with the Kalamazoo Literary Institute, which had opened as the Michigan and Huron Institute in 1833. Renamed Kalamazoo College in 1855, the building continued to be used until 1856, when it was moved to another site and continued to serve as a school.
Gregory’s College
Due to the growth of industry during the early 19th century, commercial colleges opened in the United States to meet the demand for trained office workers. Uriah Gregory opened his first school in Michigan in 1850. Eight years later a large group of Kalamazoo businessmen encouraged him to come to the village, which he did, opening Gregory’s College. The college offered classes on bookkeeping, commercial law, calculations and penmanship. This Italianate structure, which was located on what is now West Michigan Avenue east of Michikal Street, housed the college beginning in 1860. It is not known how long this institution operated. Gregory left a few years later to open another school in Jackson. The college he started was the first but not the last business college in the community.
Michigan Female Seminary
In 1857 the Kalamazoo Gazette published an announcement that the village would be the location of the Michigan Female Seminary, to be established by the Presbyterian Synod of Michigan, offering a private secondary education for girls ages 15 and above. Chosen for the brick structure were 32 acres on the east side of the Kalamazoo River, atop a hill south of Gull Road and east of Riverview Drive. The school opened in 1867 with 54 students. Along with classes, the girls had domestic duties and regular exercise. Closing in 1907 due to low enrollment, the building remained until the mid-1930s, when it was sold to St. Mary Roman Catholic Church, which took down the structure and used the materials to build its first church on the same site, completed in 1938.
Barbour Hall
Arriving in 1889, the Sisters of St. Joseph came to take charge of the newly created Borgess Hospital. Eight years later, they opened an elementary boarding school for girls called Nazareth Academy along Gull Road, in northeastern Kalamazoo on the future site of Nazareth College. Soon after, in 1902, they opened a similar boarding school for boys ages 6 to 12, called Barbour Hall after the mother of a principal donor. The original two-story brick structure gained two additions over the years. By the 1940s, it was a junior military academy with uniforms, drills and arms. Enrollment declined, and the school closed in 1979, with the building coming down in 1980.
Fresh Air School
Health concerns about students led many school districts, including Kalamazoo, to open a “fresh air school” for individuals with symptoms of tuberculosis, a highly contagious and sometimes deadly disease. The school opened in 1913 in a house on East Lovell Street, later moving to this house on Pine Street. Fifteen children attended, receiving instruction, food, and monitoring by a nurse. The local Anti-Tuberculosis Society provided food and clothing while what would become the Kalamazoo Public Schools handled the curriculum. The school’s windows were open no matter the season, with students wearing heavy clothing in cold weather. The school remained in operation until the mid-1920s, when Harding Elementary School opened on the site. Pretty Lake Camp, established in 1916 in Mattawan, was also a result of the Fresh Air Movement.
