Fresh Air School

1913-1937

“An open-air school for pupils suffering with incipient tuberculosis seems to be an absolute necessity in Kalamazoo. The local anti-tuberculosis society is deserving of commendation for its activity in this direction. Grand Rapids has one, which has been a fine success, and in every other city where the place has been tried out it has proved to be a grand enterprise and productive of splendid results.”

–Kalamazoo Gazette, 7 March 1913

One of the most serious health challenges in the early 20th century was tuberculosis, a debilitating, airborne disease effecting the body’s respiratory system. The Open-Air school concept had its origins in England in the early 1900s, becoming popular in the United States as part of the Progressive Era social reforms. Beginning around 1912, local educational and health officials urged the community to establish a “fresh” or “open air school” for frail, sickly students who might be susceptible to contracting the disease. The local Anti-tuberculosis Society and a special committee comprised of two board trustees (Stone and Mills) were charged with the formation of a classroom that would provide immune-compromised students with a clean, safe environment. The primary focus was on prevention of the disease rather than treating of those already afflicted.

The board of education was eager to create an open air classroom that would be able to house anemic children, but a lack of funding and space were obstacles toward fully enacting the project. Even so, in the spring of 1913, out of a sense of needing to be responsive, the newest niche classroom opened its doors as a joint “experiment” between the society and the board of education. Twelve to eighteen students were originally targeted to participate when the new school setting opened in a building at 114 E. Lovell Street (the site was chosen because of an existing anti-TB clinic was working out of the same building). Those who attended were often selected by physicians who felt the school would benefit the child, while others were admitted by petitioning parents. The school’s first principal/instructor was Mrs. Pearl M. Soderstrom. The classroom was outfitted with various amenities including cots and a cookstove, and designed in such a way as to provide as much sunlight and the free flow of air as possible. However, from the outset, the school’s lack of resources, a growing number of pupils and limited space forced the board of education and the society to solicit financial donations from the community, as well as in-kind supplies like food and milk, two of the most important parts of a student’s recovery. One of the more prominent donors to the Fresh Air School was Edward B. Desenberg, who in 1916 would establish Pretty Lake Camp in Texas Township, a summer camp for children suffering from respiratory complications or malnutrition.

“Two of the children who started coming to the school, wan and tuberculous looking, have increased in weight by 11 pounds each, look more bright and healthy and have much more vim and vitality than before. The average gain in weight is nearly five pounds, or a pound a week. Fresh country eggs and milk, warm dinners, moderate work, lots of rest and recreation, and fresh air every hour in the school day, are accomplishing their sure work.”

–Kalamazoo Gazette, 23 May 1913

Sometime later, the school classroom was transferred to a residential building near the Lovell Street School on Pine Street. In 1916, the school board took full control over the school from the tuberculosis society, ensuring that funding would be less precarious and donation-based. For the fiscal year of 1916-1917, the board of education budgeted $3,000.00 to the Fresh Air School. By 1925, plans were being drawn up to build a new elementary school at the corner of Lovell and Pine Street, just south of the Lovell Street School. This new elementary school building, named the Harding School, was to house the open-air school, but an article in the Gazette in the spring of 1925 stated, “the elementary open-air school and the large auditorium have been eliminated altogether.” It’s clear that the “residence” in which the school was housed was sold and likely demolished in the spring of 1925 to make room for the construction of the new Harding School. In 1935, an article in the Gazette stated that additions to the Harding School building were to be occupied by several departments, including the Fresh Air School, suggesting that the school was still active and offering specialized services. By 1940, diseases impacting student health and educational outcomes became less prevalent than in the first two decades of the 20th century, leading to the phasing out of the open-air model.

Written by Ryan Gage, Kalamazoo Public Library staff, May 2024.