TWO Historic Bloomfield
 Buildings are AT RISK!

Wing Lake School c1910

Some Questions and Answers

What’s going on? 
There are two historic structures at risk: one is Historic Wing Lake School itself; the second is its first single classroom addition immediately behind it. The Bloomfield Hills School District Board intends to tear down all of the classroom additions to the original stone school, which together currently comprise a County-wide Developmental Center, and replace them with a much larger building serving the same purpose. In the process, the original 1859 stone school will be detached and left to stand alone, without adequate funds to maintain its failing slate roof or to repair its infrastructure.While the destruction of the addition will be immediate, that of the stone school will be slow and painful.

That doesn’t sound good. Is there more?
The corner lot at Maple and Wing Lake Roads was originally farmland donated to the local school district 150 years ago by our pioneering settlers so that a “proper school” could be built there out of stone.

After eighty-nine years the one room stone school finally needed an additional classroom to handle the first of the baby boomers. The noted local architectural firm of O’Dell, Hewlett and Luckenbach designed one that complemented the original stone school while creating a room where light soared with the spirit of post-War America – and in 1949 the American Institute of Architects gave it their first-ever National Award of Merit. Since then fewer than 30 buildings have been so recognized in all of Michigan.
That’s a Big Deal!

Now the school board and administration want to tear that addition down with all the others. Their plan is to squeeze the new building onto a site that once held only a one-room school.

Why save the addition? Just because it won an award?

Certainly the AIA honor should be reason enough, but there’s even more. In 1976 the Michigan Bi-Centennial Commission designated the original stone school the Wing Lake School Historical Centre. Since then the addition and the stone school have been serving as a unit, allowing thousands of school kids to experience the past, not just read about it, by spending a day in the Nineteenth Century.

While the addition currently is a part of the Developmental Center, it could again be used as a community resource. It could be an interpretative center, showing how a school has been the supportive core of the local community for nearly 150 years. It could be a meeting room for local organizations. It could provide a setting for sharing the common history that links the communities – Franklin, Birmingham, Bingham Farms – that once were a part of Bloomfield. All in addition to being a reminder of a typical classroom for thousands of baby boomers in the area. (Note to those baby boomers: The National Trust for the Preservation of Historic Places considers the 1948 addition to be Historic. Feeling old yet?)

Can anything be done to save that addition? 

We think so! Current plans call for a linear, “modular” building. It appears possible to move one module to form an “L” shaped building, saving the addition and the Historical Centre. There might be other possibilities if the Bloomfield Schools’ administration and board would be willing to think creatively.
If they, working with their architectural firm, cannot come up with a solution that would allow for saving the stone school and its award-winning addition, then we would ask:

Is this genuinely the best site?
Ideally, the new building could be built on other, larger, property owned by Bloomfield Hills Schools that has become under-utilized.

What can I do?

Contact the Bloomfield Hills Schools administration and the School Board. Tell them you’re concerned that an important part of Bloomfield history will be lost. Ask them to think creatively. (248.341.5405)

Contact the Bloomfield Township administration. Tell them you support their idea to buy the property and turn it into a historic park. (248.433.7700. admin@bloomfieldtwp.org)

Our role, as your Historical Society, is to bring this issue to you, the residents of Bloomfield and its neighboring communities. We want to serve as a catalyst, enabling organizations and citizens to understand the importance of this potential loss – and that there are potential solutions to saving it. You could even get more actively involved by joining the Bloomfield Historical Society. Email us at bloomfieldhistory@sbcglobal.net

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“The Bloomfield Historical Society is dedicated to fostering an appreciation of the rich history of the Bloomfield area by identifying, promoting and conserving our heritage. We encourage research to educate and engage all generations.”                                 February 2007