Wells School
The Wells school stood on the south side of Kinsel Highway just east of where Nashville Highway ends. The original schoolhouse was situated on the line between Sections 1 and 2 of Kalamo Township. This building was constructed by a Mr. Grant of Kalamo. After a time, for some now-obscure reason, the schoolhouse was moved just east of the Faust and Wells farms on the north side of the road, which put it in Vermontville Township.
Years later the Wells district decided a new schoolhouse was needed. Notices of a public meeting on the matter were posted. There was a good deal of controversy over selection of a site: some wanted it where the old school had stood, others wanted it built farther to the east, and some wanted it to the west. A location about a quarter-mile west of the old site finally was chosen.
A contract was drawn with Mr. E. E. Ellis of Carlisle to build the new brick school for $854. Everything was to be furnished by Mr. Ellis, and the building was to be completed by October 1, 1876. If the contractor failed to meet the deadline he was to reimburse the school district $100.
W. A. Farr, B. F. Wells and Clark Foote were a committee appointed to act as judges of material and workmanship in the new schoolhouse, and to accept the final job. Ellis was to be paid in three installments at 10 percent interest, with the final payment due in 1877.
The school director at the time was D. L. Thayer. Other board members were Alexander Boyd and Robert Muir.
The first teacher in the new school was Eliza Boyd. Other early teachers there were Lyda Tichnor, Abbie Sutten and Myra Lute.
Sometimes during the noon hour recess a friend would come to take Miss Sutten for a ride. Occasionally while she was gone, some of the schoolboys would climb atop the heating stove in the school and from there clamber up into the attic. The teacher had quite a time getting them to come back down.
The Wells district was consolidated with Vermontville schools in the 1950s and the old schoolhouse was torn down.
This school was located on Benjamin F. Wells property. Section #3 Kalamo Twp.
Source: A History Of Kalamo Twp., Eaton Co., MI, 1969
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