The Centennial rural school was built in 1876 on the southwest corner
of Miller Lake and Hodunk Roads in Coldwater Township, Branch County,
Michigan. The red brick building is believed to have replaced an earlier
building on the northeast corner of that junction on land that had been
donated in 1861 by Anton and Wenzel Gruner. It remained in use as a
school until 1963, when the district was consolidated with Coldwater
City schools. At that time it was sold and, with some modifications,
became a private residence.
Quite a good many Gruner children attended Centennial in those one
hundred years. Gerry Sherburne, who attended the school from 1931
to 1936, wrote a vivid description about the school in her 1993 memoir
and a portion of that is presented as Centennial School 1936.
Below are comments from former Centennial students as they remember
their days in the school that closed 44 years ago.
I remember the bookshelves in the back that housed our library, including
a set of World Books. I loved to browse through that as well as the
unabridged dictionary that set on a pedestal. I liked to look up the spelling
and meaning of words and once made it to County level in a spelling
bee. --- Marian S.
Reading over Gerry’s memories of the school brought back a lot back.
It hadn’t changed a whole lot when I went there from 1954 to 1957.
I think we even sag most of the same songs.
There was an indoor sandbox sort of thing that someone’s father built
for us to play with when we couldn’t go outside. I think we used modeling
clay more than sand, as I seem to recall some elaborate scenes done
in clay. I remember the smell from the boy’s bathroom when the door
was opened was sometimes pretty bad. I think the desks [that Gerry
wrote about] were probably the same, but the benches I don’t recall.
The corner cupboards were there and held books mainly. We had a
nice swing set and teeter-totter out back of the school and, of course,
our imaginations made up a lot of our play. I feel sorry for the kids who
are stuck with so many gizmos, as we had great fun making things up!
--- Sylvia H.
Sylvia came along after the brick outhouses back by the fence had been
replaced by the fancy indoor facilities, courtesy of a Kellogg Foundation
grant. This came after electricity came in 1938 or 1939, mid 1940s,
I think. They replaced the pump with a big concrete vault whose top
was even with the surface. It housed the pump and kept it from freezing.
They split the girl’s cloakroom into a boys and girls with 1 toilet stool for
each. One sink outside the two rooms was for hand washing and the
teacher had to remember to remember to release the water pressure
lever when leaving for the night so the pipes could drain and not
freeze. --- Charley G.
One weekend during my freshman year of college, I went to Coldwater
to visit and wandered down the road to the school. This was 1966 or
67 and the school had been converted to a residence. The owner saw
me staring at the school and invited me in to see what he had done.
I don’t recall his name, but he had been in one of the last classes. He
had gutted the old restrooms and put in a nice bathroom (stink free)
and had refinished those lovely maple floors. He put in a balcony all
the way around for sleeping quarters. It was quite nice as I recall. I
have no idea who owns it now or what else may have been done.
Anyone else know? --- Sylvia H.,
The man who bought the old schoolhouse was Bob Milliman. He was
a high school classmate of Charley’s -- a good guy. He was “Mayor”
of Coldwater High School 1946-47. --- Frank G.
Bob Milliman, who was in my high school class, owned the Centennial
school for a long time and lived there a long time, He died a few years
ago and I don’t know who lives there now. --- Charley G.
“No child left behind” has its roots in early rural school like Centennial.
Classes were small enough that children were given all the special
help they needed to progress through the eight grades and pass
the eighth grade examination that was given in town under the
supervision of the County Board of Education.
Submitted by Marian G-75-42
Music Playing - Distant Shore
©copyright NCG/MSZ 2007
