Drake School / Lindbergh School
Kalamazoo Township
Location: District #9 Fractional – Section 19, north side of Michigan Avenue, east of Drake Road (near the intersection of Michigan Ave and KL Ave).
Kalamazoo County 1890, Published by Wm. C. Sauer. Local History Room
“School in district No. 9, fl., closed last Friday with pleasing exercises. Many of the patrons of the school were present not withstanding the unpleasant weather. Mrs. A. McMartin made a few remarks in which she thanked the teacher in behalf of the district for the unfailing interest she has kept up for the two years spent in the school. The children remembered the teacher, Mrs. Marian BonFoey, with many little gifts and all joined in wishing her success for the coming year.”
—Kalamazoo Gazette , 30 May 1901
Michigan Avenue School, c.1924. The 1924 Brown and Gold . Local History Room Original building during demolition. Kalamazoo Gazette , 11 October 1955
Drake School was renamed Lindbergh School, presumably after aviator Charles Lindbergh, sometime after 1928 (probably October 1931). At least informally, it was also sometimes referred to as Miller’s Point School (KG 1/7/1937). In October 1952 the county board of education voted to transfer a portion of the district to the Oshtemo village school district, but the Lindbergh school district filed suit to block the transfer. After passage of a $45,000 bond issue, the one-room school was replaced by a new building one half mile west of the original building “near the US-131 bridge” in the mid-1950s. The new $52,000 three-room building opened in September 1955 with an enrollment of 47 students.
The old building, built in 1880, was razed a month later. The Lindbergh district was annexed to the Kalamazoo Public Schools in 1957. Because of its hazardous ‘blind’ entrance and close proximity to the newly constructed US-131, the building was vacated in 1964 when the nearby Arcadia School opened. In 1980, the building was sold to the Whitman Saddle Manufacturing Company.
Kalamazoo Gazette , 26 January 1955Kalamazoo Gazette , 11 March 1956
Teachers
1899-1900 Mrs. Marian BonFoey
1925-26 Bertha Smith
Compiled by Catherine Larson, Local History Specialist, Kalamazoo Public Library, 1999. Mapped October 2008. Last updated 4 November 2021
Sources
Books
”Twenty years of Western Normal — 1904-1924″
Articles
“With pleasing exercises” Kalamazoo Gazette , 30 May 1901, page 3, column 4
“Adopted a new method” Kalamazoo Gazette , 11 March 1902, page 8, column 3
“4-H Clubs organized at Lindbergh School” Kalamazoo Gazette, 30 October 1931, page 30, column 1
“Fully protect public, demand of death jury” Kalamazoo Gazette, 7 January 1937, page 1, column 7
“Transfer of Lindbergh School District voted” Kalamazoo Gazette, 16 October 1952, page 23, column 5
“Ban Lindbergh School shift” Kalamazoo Gazette, 1 December 1952, page 1, column 4
“Answers filed to Lindbergh School suit” Kalamazoo Gazette, 6 January 1953, page 5, column 2
“Lindbergh School poll set Friday” Kalamazoo Gazette, 2 6 January 1955, page 10, column 1
“Lindbergh School O.K.’d” Kalamazoo Gazette, 2 9 January 1955, page 3, column 6
“Enroll 47 at new Lindbergh School” Kalamazoo Gazette, 13 September 1955, page 9, column 7
“Off comes the roof” Kalamazoo Gazette, 11 October 1955, page 11, column 6
“Public invited to Lindbergh open house” Kalamazoo Gazette, 11 March 1956, page 19, column 2,5
“City schools invite 2 areas to annex” Kalamazoo Gazette, 13 November 1956, page 1, column 6
“Lindbergh area votes to annex” Kalamazoo Gazette, 14 August 1957, page 1, column 5
“‘Blind’ entrance hazard at Lindbergh School” Kalamazoo Gazette, 21 September 1958, page 12, column 1
“Training classes to be moved” Kalamazoo Gazette, 20 October 1964, page 16, column 3
“School board lists buildings for sale” Kalamazoo Gazette, 8 January 1980, page 1, column 2
Maps and Atlases
USGS topographic maps for Kalamazoo County, 1918 (Kalamazoo Quadrangle) History Room topographic map case, drawer 7A, folder 21A
Plat book of Kalamazoo County, Michigan
Local History Room Files
Subject File: Kalamazoo Public Schools: Lindbergh School
Teachers’ and School Officers’ Directory, Kalamazoo County, Michigan, 1925-1957 (title varies)