Grass Lake’s historic Old Michigan Avenue School – at 661 East Michigan Avenue – was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984 and is now known as Schoolhouse Square Apartments. Although noted as an historic site, it was not Grass Lake’s original high school.
Grass Lake began in 1842, a village built out of necessity thanks to the railroad line that came through. The original school was constructed in 1863, just south of where the one at 661 Michigan Avenue sits. This first school lasted until the 1920s when the village’s growth was forcing the community to build a larger school.
A new school was quickly designed and construction began in 1927. Two years later, it was finished. It became a grade school while the old 1863 school remained for high school students.
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As the decades went by, another, larger school was needed and a newer high school popped up in the 1950s. Unfortunately for historians, the 1863 school was torn down in 1960…