Farmington School District history

The German School, located on the east side of Middlebelt Road north of Northwestern Highway, was named after the owner of the land George German, one of an English group who settled in that area in 1835.

The second school in the Township was built in 1847 in Section 19 and was known as Ramsey School.

Built before 1860, this one-room brick schoolhouse was named after the family from which the land for the school was obtained.

A larger school was built some years later, and in 1867, an addition was added when Marie Brinker was hired to teach primary school.

In 1872, Joint District #3a was created as a district with adjoining sections in the Towns of Trenton and Saukville.

A brick school replaced the cabin in 1874 to accommodate the growing population of the District.

Traditionally, however, Farmington High School was said to be established in 1888 with the construction of a new building by a union of a number of one-room school districts in the township.

The Union School provided a four-year curriculum and the first class to graduate was in 1890.

According to the Illustrated Atlas of Oakland County, 1896, William Grace owned the land on which the William Grace School was later built.

The closing night exercises of 1898 shows five graduates.

Old timers can remember a wooden school building on the present-day Wescott Road, but no records prior to 1900 have been found.

In 1915, a new school was built on the site.

Part of the problem of not finding records for this first high school may be that in 1918, the school burned to the ground and many records were lost.

The Noble School, 23450 Middlebelt between Nine and Ten Mile Roads, was a two room school built in 1923.

In 1926 indoor toilets were installed, making Cheeseville School the first school in Washington County to have indoor plumbing.

A split-level brick school was built on the site in 1932.

The newly elected board, with Doctor Z.R. AschenBrenner as its President, met for the first time on December 26, 1944 as the first Board of Education of the Farmington Township School District.

Ten Mile Elementary School at 32789 Ten Mile Road between Power and Farmington Roads was named after the road on which it was built in 1949.

Consolidation of District schools began in 1953.

Because of dwindling attendance, the school closed in 1957.

Cloverdale Elementary School, 33000 Freedom Road, between Farmington and Nine Mile Roads, was opened in 1958.

When it was built in 1961, it took the name of North Farmington after an early Farmington unincorporated village of the same name that had been located in that area.

It remained #3b until 1962 when it became part of Joint District #1 in Farmington.

On June 14, 1966, a special referendum was held that dissolved all the independent districts; attendees voted to create a K-12 District and a new school board of seven members.

The school, when opened in 1967, was located deep in the forested center of Section 4, hence its name.

It became the district's third junior high when it opened in 1968.

Dunckel died September 16, 1970.

The school was built in 1973.

Libby Lamb of the Farmington Area Advisory Council, Inc. informed me that they moved into the building in September, 1975 and have rented the building from the Farmington School Board since that time.

Cheeseville School was sold in 1976, and the new owners refurbished it and converted it into a residence, keeping the original floors and wainscoting.

Ten Mile closed in June, 1978 and that Fall opened as the Adult Education Center.

Shiawassee School closed in June, 1979 and it is now a special education facility.

In the late 1960's and early 1970's, the building was used as headquarters for the Special Education teachers, after which it was used by the school maintenance department for about three years. It was sold to developers in the early 1980's and turned into an office complex.

In September, 1981 it reopened as Alameda Early Childhood Center.

The school was closed in June, 4983 and reopened in August, 1986 as an American House Retirement Residence.

On March 10, 1998, a groundbreaking ceremony took place in FHS, marking the beginning of a three-year renovation/expansion project.