CACHE: If you've done my ORS caches before, this one should be easy. Due to homes, again my spaces available were limited. Great for a CAD grab. Be sure log is in baggie, and 2nd container is closed as well.
HISTORY: Davenport School, now long gone, is named for the Davenport family that settled here. Oliver Davenport was born in Monroe, NY, in 1804, and married Permelia Crosson in 1827. She was born in 1808 in Orange Co, NY, and died in 1846 in Michigan. They moved to New York City where Oliver worked at a barilla factory (soap making). Around 1837, the settled in Hadley Township. Standing at ground zero, you are surrounded by 500+ acres of land that was wild and untouched, cleared by the Davenports for a farm. Oliver had help from 2 brothers, one being Robert Davenport, who were living at Troy, MI, and they built 2 cabins here as the first structures. The land remained in the Davenport family for several generations. Oliver and Permelia had 6 known children: Catherine, Susan, Jesse, George, William Henry, and Theodore. Oliver married his second wife Mrs. Eliza Richards in 1849. She died in 1869. Jesse and George served in the Civil War. Robert Davenport was born in Orange County, NY, in 1808. He married in 1835 Margaret Earl. Both died in 1885. Robert was a blacksmith by trade. They had 6 known children: Elizabeth, Louisa, Hannah, Sarah, Ella, and Permelia. A few descendants still live in the Hadley area.
Davenport School was built in 1849. The contract to build it was $50 down and $130 upon completion, including two coats of paint. The school closed in 1955. Elizabeth Bates Snook wrote for the Lapeer County Clarion in 11 July 1907 read "One of the earliest schools was taught by a Sarah A. Davenport (Mrs. Charles Hubbard) in a little shanty in a now deserted village, 1 mile south of Robert Davenport's farm. On the northeast corner of the Oliver Davenport farm was one of the first schoolhouses built of logs with even wooden hinges and a latch for the door." I find the structure construction ironic since Robert Davenport was a blacksmith. One would think he would have provided hardware, free or otherwise. The demise of the building is unknown. I suppose it finally fell in and was cleaned up, since what I've been told it was in bad shape and started sagging really bad. Also seems that once the school closed, it wasn't used for much, if anything. It was open for 106 years.