Toad Hollow/Lake View/Oakwood School

Rural School in Kalamazoo Township

Location: District No. 2 – Section 32, south side of Parkview Avenue, west of Oakland Drive. Originally near the northwest corner of Section 32. Later relocated a half-mile east near the center of Section 32.

Toad Hollow Schoolhouse

The original District No. 2 schoolhouse known as Toad Hollow was built by Smith Wood about 1835. It was among the first schools in Kalamazoo Township outside of the village. The schoolhouse stood at the northwest corner of Section 32 on T.W. Barnard’s farm along the south side of what was then known as the Prairie Ronde Road (Parkview Avenue), about where Knox Street is today. Between sixteen and twenty students attended the school during its first years of operation. Unconfirmed reports say the original building may have burned about 1854, as there was an extensive $500 repair bill that year, an amount then consistent with rebuilding. 

Lake View School House

To better meet the needs of the growing community, the school district purchased a one-half-acre parcel of land from the Isaac Stevens estate in September 1884 and a new one room schoolhouse was put up. The new building stood a half-mile east of the old site opposite Woods Lake, about where the Public Safety Fire Station 7 is currently located.

With the coming of the electric streetcar line in 1893, the Woods Lake district was christened “Lake View” and subsequently developed as a resort area. The neighboring area and the school took on the Lake View name until 1907 when Oakwood Park was developed. A year after that, the Oakwood Heights and Oakwood Heights Annex suburbs were platted and the schoolhouse became known as the Oakwood School.

“The Stevens children went to school at District Number Two. It was a one room school with one teacher who taught all eight grades. There was a single entrance on one side of the building with a door on the right for the boys and one on the left for the girls. There was a large heating stove in the middle of the room. There were single and double desks, each one with a covered inkwell. In one of the front corners was a water pail and dipper and the blackboards were also located at the front. At recess and noon hour the children played Anti I Over, Round the House or Tag. When time was up, teacher stood on the front steps and rang a hand bell. When choosing sides for a game, Walter Cronkite was the first one called, he had long legs and could run fast. People were amazed that I went to school with Walter Cronkite. I had to tell them that it wasn’t the famous news caster but a neighbor boy who was killed in the First World War.”

—Hazel Stevens Blackketter (1894-1982)

Rural Observation School

In 1908 the Oakwood School became a “Rural Observation School” for the Western Normal School (WMU) teacher training program. This so-called “Ideal” rural school was chosen as a place where student teachers could learn by working directly with faculty and school kids in a more realistic rural school setting. The association with Western continued until 1917.

“According to the contract, Western was to select the teacher. The first teacher was Mary Ensfield, who was later to be for more than a score of years commissioner of the county schools. No practice teaching was done in this school but all prospective one-room rural school teachers were required to observe the highly competent methods of Miss Ensfield.”

—James O. Knauss, The First Fifty Years, 1953

As the Oakwood Neighborhood grew and the need for additional space became more apparent, an adjoining lot directly west of the Oakwood schoolhouse was purchased from Wesley and Jessie (Barnard) French in 1915. A 16’ x 32’ addition to the building was built later that year, which expanded the schoolhouse to two rooms with inside toilets, electric lights, slate blackboards, more modern heating and ventilation systems, and new furniture.

A “Standard” School

According to the Michigan Department of Public Instruction (now the Department of Education), rural schools were classified in three groups. The best schools were designated as “standard” schools, followed by those that “approached standard,” and finally those that were considered “poor” (Thrum). In December 1915 the Oakwood School was designated as a “Standard” school by the State of Michigan. It was the first such school in Kalamazoo County to “conform with the exact requirements and thus win the Standard school honors” (Gazette).

Oakwood School

As the surrounding community continued to grow, a new $27,000 two-story brick building replaced the old wooden structure in 1924. The main portion of the original schoolhouse was sold to the Oakwood Sunday School Association and moved to Amherst Avenue. The smaller 16’ x 32’ addition was moved to Madison Avenue and converted to a residence. Both buildings still stand.

But by the time the new building was opened it had already been outgrown. Two additional rooms were added during the summer of 1926 to accommodate the 268 students who were enrolled for the coming school year, but it seems that still wasn’t enough. Three years later, a $60,000 one story 17,000 square foot addition was completed along the south side of the building, which included six new classrooms, offices, restrooms, and a “general purpose room” for recreation and school gatherings. The new addition was dedicated in May 1930.

The Oakwood School District was finally annexed into the city school system in 1957. After nearly four decades of use, the brick building was replaced in 1963 by the Oakwood Elementary School on Laird Avenue, which continued to serve the community until it closed in 2004.

Teachers

1891-1892 Miss Tuttle
1901 Anna L. French
1902 Etta Ralph
1903 Nina Gooch
1904 Jessie McIlvaine
1905 Nina P. Gooch
1908-1910 Mary Ensfield
1911 Lena Harrington
1913 W.A. Adams
1915-1916 Susie Ellett
1920 Mildred Williams & Florence Wood
1926 Max V. Hill, Candace Peterson, Ruth R. Tazelaar, Grace Stevens, Isabelle Dobson

After this, there were multiple teachers at this school. Consult the county directories listed in the Sources section below for a complete list.

Oakwood School Class Photos (1931-1939)

Written by Keith Howard, Kalamazoo Public Library Staff, July 2020. Updated 11 November 2021.