Brucker School

(1932-1980)

Named for former governor of Michigan, Wilbur Marion Brucker, the Eastwood Neighborhood elementary school began as a Kalamazoo Township School (District No. 19) before its integration within the Kalamazoo Public Schools district after annexation in 1956. Located on five acres of land at 1400 Baker Drive, the Depression-era school was designed by Ernest S. Batterson and built by general contractor Carl Gustafson. Wheeler and Blaney were contracted for the plumbing and heating. The school officially opened in February of 1932 with Ms. Pansy Powers as principal. Originally built with only four classrooms and a community auditorium, the building expanded to curb student congestion in 1937, 1939 and 1958. By the last addition, the school was over 35,000 sq. ft. and contained 15 classrooms.

In 1980, as the school district underwent a process of reorganizing, it was decided to close down the Brucker School. The Board of Education sought out a buyer for the building for the next decade without success. A request for bids to demolish the building was printed in the newspaper in 1991. After the school building was demolished, there was talk of developing the property into a senior housing complex, but the project never materialized. During the 1990s, township officials indicated interest in the vacant property for the use of a park, but a deal with the Board of Education never came to pass. In 2025, KPS announced that they would be using the former Brucker School property as the site to build a Spanish language immersion school (El Sol Elementary School).

Article written by Ryan Gage, Kalamazoo Public Library staff, November 2025