Mason District Number 5 Schoolhouse

Mason District Number 5 Schoolhouse
U.S. National Historic Site
Location	Michigan, Cass County, Michigan, USA
Built	1874
Architectural style	late-Victorian schoolhouse
NRHP reference No.	284319
Added to NRHP	September 12, 1985

Mason District Number 5 Schoolhouse is a a former two room rural schoolhouse that was a head of its time at the end of the nineteenth-century, the school could hold up to 110 students. The schoolhouse ran as a school until 1959, when the service area became part of the Constantine School District. The building was transformed in to the Mason Township Hall in 1964. In 1973 the building also became home to the Mason-Union Branch of the Cass District Library.

The school house is listed on both the National Register of Historic Sites and the Michigan registry of Historic Sites.

History

The school house was built between 1874-1875 at the cost of about $3,000. It has been known as the Sailor School and the Kessington School house. In 1964 Mason Township board bought the building for a uses as the township hall. In 1973 the Cass County Library founded and established a branch library in the township hall to services the members of the South-East corner of the county. The building in 1987 went through a restoration project to restore the building.

The bell that was untop of the school house was built by the Gould Mrf. Co of Seneca Falls, New York. The bell weights about 290 pounds and was shipped from New York to Mason.

Information from Michigan Registry

The narative description on file with the Michigan registry reads:

The Mason District Number 5 Schoolhouse is a one-story, T-plan, yellow brick structure resting on a fieldstone foundation. Raised dark red brick trim forms Italianate-inspired hood molds over the arched windows and door frame and trims the cornice, forming triangle-shaped downward projections which mimic the appearance of brackets. In the raking eaves, the red brick trim is inset with yellow brick crosses. A double row of red brick also forms a belt course marking the separation between the first floor and foundation on the exterior. A gable-roofed, single-story addition, constructed c. 1988, extends off of the rear of the building.

The text that is listed about the schoolhouse on the Michigan Register of sites for the Statement of Significance reads:

In size and architectural distinction, the District Number 5 Schoolhouse is far in advance of the typical late nineteenth-century rural Michigan school building. Constructed in 1875, the structure served Mason Township as a school for up to 110 students until 1959. In 1964, the schoolhouse was reopened as the township hall. Since 1972, the former District Number 5 Schoolhouse has accommodated the Mason-Union Branch of the Cass County Library as well as the township hall.

The marker text that has been placed on the site reads as follows:

DISTRICT SCHOOLHOUSE This late-Victorian schoolhouse was built in 1874-1875. Constructed at a cost of $3,000, it is made of locally manufactured yellow and red brick. The 1882 Cass County History described it as "the best rural schoolhouse in the State." Its two classrooms could accommodate 110 pupils. The school was used until the local district was absorbed into the Constantine School District in 1959. In 1964 the building became the township hall; and in 1972, the Mason Union Branch of the Cass County Library.