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There were no public schools in 1840. In the beginning, school lessons were conducted in a home in the area. Old memories say that lessons were conducted in an old house which stood just near the spring on Uncle Jake's field, near Mrs. Yule's house. We know the first log church, on the north side of Grass Lake Road just west of Highway 45, in Millburn, was used for a school.
We have no date for the start of Hockaday School. The school building was located on the south side of Millburn Road 1/8 mile east of Crawford Road just to the east of Millburn Cemetery and to the north of the wash. (Part of North 1/2, SE 1/4, T46N, R 11E.) The land reverted back to the owner when the school was no longer in use. Hockaday District 24 consolidated in 1919 with Dodge District 49 to form Millburn District 24.
We have no exact date for the start of Dodge School, District 49. One source indicates that Dodge was started in 1838 as the first school in Warren Township. The school was located near the Southeast corner of Sand Lake Road and Route 45. (Part of NW 1/4 , SW 1/4, S6, T45N. R11E.) Land reverted back to the owner when the school was no longer in use. Dodge consolidated in 1919 to form Millburn District 24. The old school house was moved and served as a garage on property just west of Highway 45 on the south side of Sand Lake Road. It has since been demolished.
Old timers wrote that Grubb School District 26 was organized in 1848 and many of the students were from the Millburn area. The building was located 1/2 mile north of Grass Lake Road on the west side of Beck Road just north of now existing boundary of Lindenhurst. (Part of Southeast 1/4, NE 1/4, T46N, R10E.) The land reverted to owner when the school ceased operation. Part of the Grubb district was combined with Millburn District 24 in 1920.
Grubb School continued operation until 1935 when the district was combined with Oakland. The building was moved to a small farm one mile north on Beck Road and is still (in 1996) used as a storage building.
Mrs. Anne Stewart Hughes writes that she remembers that the most important piece of furniture in the school was a bed in one corner, and on occasion of a thunder storm, the teacher and the more frightened children climbed on that bed, 'till it was covered. Those of us who could not get a perch on it, stood by and shivered with fright, feathers being considered a non-conductor of lightning.
Mrs. M. Spafford wrote, "That I have no recollection of a log school house built at the Grub" in 1848 when I was six years old. I went to Grub School and it was a frame building. The seats were made of rough board or planks that were put around the room.
There was no money in those days so teachers were paid in eggs, butter, potatoes and salt pork.
We don't know when Waterbury District 22 was started. Mr. Thompson's records indicated that the building was located at the southwest corner of Route 173 and Route 45. We think that it was really on the south side of Kelley Road just east of Crawford. The land reverted to the land owner when the school closed. Waterbury annexed to Millburn District 24 in 1920.
We know more about how the Millburn Community Consolidated School District 24 was formed. The schools mentioned above consolidated. In March of 1916 Hockaday, Dodge, and Grubb residents petitioned the Trustees of Township 45 and 46 in Range 10 to allow these three districts to consolidate. No action was taken.
On September 10, 1919, a petition was filed by Hockaday and Dodge residents (23 men and 19 women) calling for an election to create a community consolidated school district. On October 11, 1919, the election was held and the proposition carried. Eleven men and eight women voted for the establishment of the district. At this time women and men voted on separate ballots. There were no votes against the proposition. Millburn District 24 became a consolidated school district.
Local residents thought that this was the first successful school consolidation in the state. That myth persisted until only recently, when newly found newspaper accounts revealed that a downstate district holds that distinction.
On November 8, 1919, a president and six members were elected to the school board. These were: Charles Denman, John Chope, J. Gordon Bonner, George Jamieson, Clarence Bonner, Pres. Leslie Bonner, and David White.
On December 8, 1919 a petition was filed requesting an election to annex parts of Grubb District 26 and Waterbury District 22 to Millburn District 24. On January 9, 1920, the election was held on the proposition and carried, 14 to zero.
Old Millburn School was located 1/4 mile south of Grass Lake Road on Route 45. (Part of the SW 1/4, S31, T46N, R11E). It was a dark redish-brown brick building with lower and upper floors (photo).
Another area school, Browe, was in existence in 1867. On July 11, 1960, the County Board of School Trustees annexed all of Browe School District 16 to Millburn District 24. Browe School was located 1/4 mile West of Dilley's Road on Mill Creek Road. (Part of SW 1/4 of NE 1/4 S28, T 46N, R11E.) The school was sold off as two parcels one of about one acre for $190.00 and the other with the brick building on 1/2 acre for $11,800.00. The building was converted to a single family residence.
A new Millburn School building was built on the current site at the northwest corner of Crawford and Millburn Roads. The old school property was sold on May 5, 1962 for $16,000. to Tempel Smith, Wadsworth. The building was razed and the site grassed over
In 1965, Millburn School had about 100 students and a graduating class of nine. In 1999, Millburn has a population of over 725 students. The Millburn area is developing rapidly and the student population is expected to double over the next few years.
In the fall of 2005, Millburn opened a new, second campus, known as Millburn West, north of Grass Lake Road and west of Highway 45.