NEWS

128-year-old schoolhouse turned home for sale

Rachel Greco
Lansing State Journal

ONEIDA TWP. — The long braided rope that dangles just above your head when you walk through the front door of Holly Way’s house is hard to ignore.

Most people who visit can’t help but stand underneath it, face turned upward, tracking its length with their eyes. More than a story above is a large metal bell that hangs from a high, white tower.

“Anybody that comes in says, ‘Oh wow. This is really cool,’” Way said. “I guess they don’t know what to expect inside.”

Then they usually ask for permission to pull the knot at the rope’s end. A clanging chime will sound, loud and clear.

It harkens back to the building’s roots 128 years ago, when it was still one of Eaton County’s 200 one-room schoolhouses.

From the exterior, the red brick building at the corner of M-100 and Strange Highway looks like the piece of history that it is.

Named after the Canadian settlers who founded Oneida Township, the Canada Settlement School was built in 1887, and was the final and sturdiest of four schools that have stood there since 1836.

What you’ll find inside is Way’s labor of love.

Twelve years ago, she bought it and spent more than two years renovating it, turning the schoolhouse into a unique four-bedroom home that is now back on the market.

‘They don’t build them like this anymore’

The mother of three was newly divorced in 2002 when she found the school and took a chance on it. She had been renting a home in Lansing for a year and searching for a home in Grand Ledge that she could afford.

Her kids went to school there. Their father was there too and Way wanted to move back to the community.

Every home she could afford, small ranches mostly, came with serious space limitations and needed costly renovations. Then she saw a listing for the schoolhouse. It had been used as a craft shop since 1995.

“I had a tight budget,” Way said. “Every morning I’d get up and look at the new listings and I remember the day that I saw this place. I fell in love with it instantly.”

A friend, who worked as a contractor, went with her to take a closer look.

“He said, ‘The foundation’s strong. They don’t build homes like this anymore. You have four walls and a roof and an empty shell inside. What do you want to do with it?’”

Way bought it for $68,000 and got to work.

It took her nine months to turn the school into a two-bedroom house. She didn’t change the exterior and kept much of the interior woodwork, including window frames and a door that now opens to a first-floor bathroom.

The wood floors dated back to the 1920s. Those she sanded but you can still see where five rows of nails held desks in place.

The airy but dusty classroom still contained a few chalk boards hanging on the walls when Way took ownership. That space became a cozy living room, kitchen and bathroom.

Way lowered the ceiling, right to the top of the school’s tall windows, and put in a second floor with two rooms and a bathroom, doubling the home’s 728-square-feet of space.

She never thought about not keeping the bell, opening up the tower shaft so everyone could see it hanging above.

A year and a half later she added an addition to the back of the former school. Without knocking down its red brick back wall, Way opened it up, putting in two windows and a door that leads into the new space — containing a basement and two extra bedrooms. It puts the home at just over 1,900 square feet.

Flipping through photos she took that first year, Way said the renovation never intimidated her.

“It was fun,” she said. “I had so many different drawings of things I wanted to do. As much as I could do on my own, I did.”

A piece of history for sale

Her children were ages 5 to 10 when she bought the property. Now they’re grown and Way has remarried.

She’s moved into her husband’s Mason home and recently placed the home on the market, setting the price at $158,000.

“It’s going to be so hard to leave this place,” she said. “But the kids are gone and it’s just time to move on.”

A ‘For Sale’ sign has been placed in the yard but Way hasn’t listed the house with a realtor. She plans to advertise it online but hasn’t done that yet.

Nonetheless, there are already three potential buyers who’ve expressed interest in the property.

Jan Sedore, a member of the Eaton County Historical Commission, who helped write a book that outlines the history behind the county’s one-room schoolhouses, isn’t surprised.

“This was a busy place,” she said, of the former school. She said it ceased being used as a schoolhouse in 1954 and is one of about 100 that became a home or a business later.

Sedore said people like living in places with a rich history and one-room schoolhouses are a meaningful reminder for many people of a time long gone.

“It’s unique and people want to own them, to live in them,” she said. “Nobody wants to see them go away. It’s something that, in people’s minds, shouldn’t be gotten rid of.”

Pieces of the building’s story still linger — a child’s name carved into the brick on the exterior, an old water pump out front that no longer works, a teacher’s ledger with notes scrolled on its pages.

Way will gift the ledger and a few other items to the new owner because “they belong here,” she said.

“Some people want a home with a lot of character,” she said. “This home has got a ton of character. I think it will tug at people’s heart strings just knowing its history.”