Built in 1937 by Henry Ford to educate the children of his employees, the mill had been converted into a small factory.
don’t park at the cache location park at Nankin Mills and walk to ground “0”. be careful crossing the road
The Schoolhouse has been moved to Greenmead Historical Park
Article by Karen Smith published in the hometown life section of the December 2nd 2014 Livonia Observer and Eccentric newspaper
Greenmead to acquire one-room schoolhouse built by Ford.
Greenmead Historical Park in Livonia is acquiring another old building, a brick one-room schoolhouse built in 1937 by Henry Ford.
Perrinville School, on Ann Arbor Trail at Farmington Road in Westland, will be sold for a $1 by Livonia Public Schools to the city of Livonia, according to a cooperative agreement being hammered out by the two entities.
The school will be moved to Greenmead, at Eight Mile and Newburgh roads in Livonia, where it will be used for school programs and meetings, said Sue Daniel, chair of the Livonia Historical Commission and a member of the Livonia Historic Preservation Commission.
“This was one of the last schools that Henry Ford built; it was part of his village school system,” Daniel said about the historical significance of the building. “He had a number of one-room schools that were associated with his small plants.
Perrinville School educated the children of his workers at Nankin Mills, where he operated a small factory, Daniel said.
The schoolhouse, formerly named Nankin Mills, was state-of-the-art at the time of its construction, with indirect lighting that reflected off the ceiling, she said: “It was the latest up-to date-school; it was a school he built from scratch.”
The school had plastered walls, pine floors and movable desks and benches, according to a history of Livonia Public Schools written by Martha A. Trafford in cooperation with Daniel. “The kids in these schools (built by Ford) generally did a lot of hands-on work, learning by doing,” Daniel said.
Greenmead already has an older school, a wooden clapboard schoolhouse, Newburg School, which was built in 1861 and moved from Ann Arbor Road, west of Newburgh, in 1987, she said.
The move won’t likely take place until 2016 as the project is still “a work in progress,” with many details that still need to be worked out, including whether the city or Greemead will pay for moving the building, Livonia Mayor Jack Kirksey said.
The agreement, which the school board reviewed Monday night at a committee of the whole meeting, states the school district will not pay for the moving costs.
“We feel lucky it’s going to be salvaged,” LPS Superintendent Randy Liepa said.
History of school Ford sold the school in 1946 for $1 to the Nankin Mills school district. It was added on to several times and was renamed Perrinville in 1959. Livonia Public Schools acquired the building in 1969, when the district’s boundary lines were redrawn by the state to include the northern portion of the Nankin Mills district. Perrinville remained an elementary school until 1982.
After that, it housed several Livonia school district departments until 1998, when it was upgraded and rededicated as an early childhood center. It has been vacant since 2008.
The district tore down the additions to the building in 2011, preserving the historic one-room schoolhouse portion.
Liepa said he doesn’t know how many more seasons the one-room schoolhouse can take at its current location, where water accumulates in the basement. “They’re going to have to put money in it.” He said the district will need to fill in the hole created by the basement.
Daniel said Greenmead will be holding fundraisers and applying for grants to preserve the school and add restrooms and space for archives.
The schoolhouse will be the first building to be moved to Greenmead in about two decades, Daniel said. “I think it’s an exciting addition,” she said
