Historical School Buildings of Rochester and Rochester Hills, Michigan

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Stoney Creek School is a circa 1848 wood frame schoolhouse that was built to serve Fractional School District #1 of Avon and Shelby Townships. The building is closely associated with the adjacent village of Stoney Creek, and served the children of the village until the district was consolidated with Rochester Community Schools in 1952. Today, the school is part of the Rochester Hills Museum at Van Hoosen Farm. The school received a Michigan Historical Marker in 2005.

2. Avon School District #7 - Ross School

Rural Avon Township (now Rochester Hills) was divided for public education purposes into rural school districts under the Territory of Michigan's general school laws. Avon School District #7 served students living west of Rochester Road and north of Tienken. For many years, the land surrounding the District #7 schoolhouse was the farm of James and Charity Hayes, but after Azariah Ross purchased the farm and became the school district's moderator, the school became colloquially known as the "Ross School." The Ross schoolhouse was used until approximately 1946, and the district was consolidated with the Rochester Community Schools in 1949. The former Ross schoolhouse is now a private residence.

3. Rochester Community Schools Administration Complex

The buildings that comprise the Rochester Community Schools Administration Complex were built as individual schools in 1889, 1916 and 1928, and were connected to create one large school campus. The site consists of the 1889 Harrison School building at the corner of Fourth and Wilcox Streets, the 1916 Rochester High School building at the corner of University Drive and Wilcox Street, and the 1928 building, which connects the 1889 and 1916 buildings. The site has been the location of a school building since 1847. The 1889 Harrison School building was placed on the Michigan Register of Historic Sites in 1987.

4. Avon School

The Avon School building was built in 1928 to served Avon Fractional District #2. It was designed by the Detroit architecture firm of Vernor, Wilhelm & Molby. Avon District #2 was consolidated with the Rochester Community Schools in 1949. Today the historic school building forms the Rochester Community Schools' Dr. John H. Schultz Educational Campus, and hosts the Alternative Center for Education high school program.

5. Hamlin School

This one-story brick building was constructed in 1929 to serve the Avon Township #4 rural school district, also known locally as the Hamlin district. The building stands on what was once part of the farm of Avon Township pioneer John Fairchild Hamlin. The original building has been expanded several times to accommodate a growing school population. The Hamlin rural district was consolidated with the Rochester Community Schools in 1949 and the building has served as an elementary school location for RCS since that time.

6. Stiles School

This three-story, Collegiate Gothic-style school building was built in 1929 to serve Avon Fractional School District #11, locally known as the Stiles School District. The building was the design of Royal Oak architect Frederick D. Madison, who made a specialty of school buildings. It served the Stiles District until 1947, when Stiles was consolidated into the new Avondale School District, and thereafter served as an elementary school site for the Avondale district until 1998.

This Tour is a Driving or Biking Tour.

Historical School Buildings of Rochester and Rochester Hills, Michigan

Created by Rochester-Avon Historical Society on November 24th 2020, 4:14:05 pm.

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Description

Today, the Rochester Community School District has many modern school buildings, but in the community's agricultural past, the township map was checkered with small rural school districts, each operating their own buildings. This tour provides a look at some of the surviving buildings from the rural school districts of our past, beginning with the 1848 Stony Creek schoolhouse, and including Rochester's 1889 school building, designed by renowned Michigan architect Claire Allen. The buildings on this tour are all currently used for educational purposes.

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Historical School Buildings of Rochester and Rochester Hills, Michigan

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