HomeOne Room Schoolhouses

One Room Schoolhouses

In 1881, the first log cabin schoolhouse was built in the Village of Mecosta. The same year, however, a frame school building was built. In the 1930's the present school building in Mecosta was built. Even though there has been a section added, the structure is basically the same. At the time the school first opened, there were four rooms--two upstairs and two downstairs. Statistics for the Mecosta School District n 1883 were:

Number of children between five and 20 years of age - 172
Estimated value of school property - $2,100
Amount paid for superintendent and instruction. $356.50
Average monthly wages for male teachers - $49.06.
Average monthly wages for female teachers - $35.75
Expenditures - $1,285.59

Cross School - School Year 1906-1907 School Souvenir Lists the following children:

Grade 1: Roy & Guy Edward Thomas
Grade 3: Lizzie Yost & Howard Myers
Grade 4: Lena Myers, Gladys Sleet, Nettie Sleet, Flossie Sleet
Grade 5: Arthur Cross, Unknown
Grade 6: Homer Cross, M. Yost, Laurence Yost, Gneray Sleet
Grade 8: Willie Stump

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School days didn't start until after harvest season and ended at the first severe cold snap. Spring brought another few days of schooling until planting time when the students returned to the fields. Isabella County District I, Rolland Township recorded three women teachers listed a total of nine months teaching in the year 1902 for $232. Sixty-four children in the district were eligible to attend the school; however, only 39 of those children attended.

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Old Settlers

The "Old Settler" families arrived in Michigan from different places. They came from Canada through "The Underground Railroad," and from Payne's Crossing in Ohio as "free" people. The draw was to homestead land made available through the Homestead Act of 1862 which allotted homesteaders 160 acres. The Underground Railroad was the most dramatic nonviolent protest against slavery in the United States beginning in the Colonial Era and reaching its peak between 1830 and 1865. An estimated 30,000 to 100,000 slaves used the "railroad" to get to Canada and eventually came back to the states and Mexico. A large settlement stayed in Ontario, Canada.

Doraville Whitney was the first Black settler to Isabella County in 1860, and in Mecosta County, Michigan was James Guy. His deed was signed by Abraham Lincoln. He obtained 160 acres in Wheatland Township on May 30, 1861. Lloyd & Margaret Guy were the first Black settlers in Montcalm County in 1860. The Homestead Act of 1862 allowed each settler up to 160 acres in Michigan. By 1873, African-Americans owned 1,392 acres in the three counties of Isabella, Mecosta, and Montcalm. In the 1860's most of the land in Remus was owned by the Old Settlers.

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Old Settler Dedication

Instead of disappearing into the dust that swallowed many other Black rural areas, the old settlers of Mecosta, Isabella, and Montcalm Counties prevailed. They came there in 1860 and they're still here. Some have moved to the larger cities of Lansing, Grand Rapids, Flint, and Detroit. There is compiled data and drawn maps of Black households in nine townships in Mecosta and Isabella Counties. In 1870, the nine-township area had 41 Black households; 86 in 1975, and 106 in 1994. The website was created to remember our ancestors who were the trailblazers making us who we are. We have become enriched, enabled, and elevated because of the ample regard and gratitude for the work of our ancestors. This site is dedicated to the Old Settlers.