Location: 42.6968, -83.1123, at 1051 Washington Rd, Rochester, MI.
The Michigan Historic Site marker adjacent to Stoney Creek School tells that the School Act of 1829 created the Stoney Creek School District. Fractional School No 1 was constructed in 1848 to replace its predecessor which was destroyed by fire in 1843. Like one-room schoolhouses across the country, the building originally housed children of varying ages and grades, elementary through high school. This changed in 1931 when high school students enrolled at nearby Rochester High School. The schoolhouse's northern wing was added in 1940, and in 1952 another addition was built on the school to accommodate a growing population of elementary students. Later that year the school closed permanently when the Stoney Creek School District was annexed to that of Rochester. The schoolhouse was restored in 1976.
But that information is not quite correct, since my friend, Joe Mihalick, attended fifth grade here in 1957, five years after the sign says the school closed. I think Joe really knows with authority where he attended his fifth grade classes, so am quite confident that the sign is wrong.
The school is a wood-frame structure throughout. The original portion, built on a fieldstone foundation, is a rectangular building with a single centered front door and a window on both sides of it, and 3 windows on one side of the building. The other side is covered by an addition. A bell tower is above the front door, but it's enclosed with louvers so I can't determine whether a school bell is inside.
The schoolhouse is located within the very small Stoney Creek Village, settled in 1823. Beside this schoolhouse and some very old buildings on Tienken Road, the main attraction of this village is the Van Hoosen Dairy Farm. Two prominent Michigan women are associated with this modest school. The influential surgeon Bertha Van Hoosen attended school here, as did her niece, Sarah Van Hoosen Jones, an agriculture expert and author.
