South Manitou Island Schoolhouse

Many windows to light the learning.

NPS credit

Quick Facts

Amenities

2 listed

Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Picnic Table

After its construction in 1899, children of farmers, fishermen, surfmen, and lighthouse keepers attended school together in this one room schoolhouse. Wages were low and teachers were charged room and board, but teaching was one of the few occupations open to women on the island.

The schoolhouse on SMI served as one of the centers of the community. It was here that families gathered for plays, school picnics, and meetings. At Christmas time, the students cut down a tree from the woods nearby and ornamented it with homemade decorations. At recess, they fished in nearby Lake Florence, played ball in the field across from the school house, and had picnics. The schoolhouse was in operation until the early 1940s.

Island Teaching

The young women and men who worked as teachers here were responsible for teaching grades one through eight. Many local teachers, especially women, worked as teachers and lived at home with their parents. Occasionally a teacher from the mainland came to work on the island and boarded with the families of the children that they taught. Teachers had to pump water from the well, split wood, and build a fire in the stove before the students arrived in the morning.
One young teacher, Myrtle Kelderhouse, later wrote of her three years teaching on the island that she acted as a teacher, principal, school nurse, and custodian! Myrtle also wrote: "What a wonderful place to teach, with nature right at your doorstep-the many beautiful trees, the wild flowers, the farmland, all . surrounded by the beauty of Lake Michigan."

Raising the Dickens

Living on a remote island in Lake Michigan posed many challenges for the people that called this place home. But for the children who grew up here, life was something of an adventure! Ronald Rosie, Jr. and John Tobin spent their childhood on South Manitou and were the best of friends. Ron's father served as an Assistant Keeper of the South Manitou Island Lighthouse and Ron lived in the Keeper's Quarters with his parents and his younger brother, Roger. John Tobin's father worked for the United States Coast Guard on the island until World War II began. Ron and John attended school at the island's one-room schoolhouse in the mid-1930s. During their long walks to and from school they picked berries, played games, and stopped at Bertha Peth's house to buy candy from her store. The boys enjoyed fishing in Lake Florence at recess and playing in the wigwam they built across the road from the school. The schoolchildren also had fun putting on school plays at the Coast Guard station; islanders flocked to social events, taking advantage of the opportunity for some entertainment.

The Coast Guard station provided an almost constant source of entertainment for the children, who often showed up to watch the daily and weekly life-saving drills. One time, John, a self-proclaimed "stinker" and "rascal" took a bullet from the Coast Guard station and snuck it to school with him the next day. As he sat at his desk, he looked at the lunch pails lined up on top of the wood-burning stove that kept the school warm, and decided that it might "be kind of interesting" to see what would happen if he put the bullet in the stove. When his teacher's back was turned, John made a dash for the stove and threw in the bullet. After a moment, it exploded, causing the lids of the lunch pails to fly off and soup and left-over supper splattered all over the room! Years later, John spoke of his adventures with his old pal, Ron and said, "...me and him played together...I was up there and run them hallways...all over the place, me and Ronald...we'd go down there and raise the dickens." He also said: "...to me, what I remember is we had a lot of fun." And they certainly did!