Farmington and Farmington Hills (Making of America) by Pawlak Debra Ann

Author:Pawlak, Debra Ann [Pawlak, Debra Ann]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Published: 2003-04-10T04:00:00+00:00

Harry McCracken is pictured here at age 17 in 1882. (Courtesy of the Farmington Community Library.)

Locally, that same year brought with it not only the Farmington Players, who performed at the town hall, but an educational accomplishment as well. The new Union School in downtown Farmington held its first graduation ceremony when three tuition-paying pupils finished the 11th grade. Well-wishers who came to witness the event filled town hall, which was lavishly decorated with the class colors of red, white, and blue. An evergreen arch bearing the class motto, “We Shall Reap as We Have Sown,” was draped across the stage. Class valedictorian Maude Edwards gave a moving speech. The celebration ended with ice cream, strawberries, and cake, but not before Fred Cook presented Harry McCracken, Farmington’s first school superintendent, with an Oxford Bible on behalf of the graduates.

Harry McCracken was born on July 14, 1865—the same day as Fred Warner. The two boys grew up together and remained lifelong friends. McCracken’s father Charles came to Michigan from Burlington, Vermont in 1840. His great-grandfather Colonel Joseph McCracken lost an arm in the Revolutionary War while serving with the New York continental line. The McCrackens settled on a farm near Twelve Mile and Drake in Sleepy Hollow. After growing up on the farm and attending local schools, the young McCracken went to Indiana. There, he went to Valparaiso, a school for teachers. He returned to Farmington and took his first teaching job at the age of 17. By 1893, he became not only Farmington’s first superintendent of schools, but the high school principle as well.

Built in 1883, the school itself was heated by stoves with long chimney pipes that allowed smoke to escape outside. When soot clogged the pipes, the ash would sometimes fill the classroom, leaving the teacher no choice but to dismiss the students. Occasionally, a prankster would put something ghastly, like red peppers, in the stove—another reason to send everyone home. Early curriculum consisted of “readers.” When a pupil mastered the first one, they were allowed to go on to the second.

Diplomas were apparently controversial as the board of education felt they were a frivolous expense. When Miss Mercy J. Hayes, who claimed to be the first student to graduate from the Union School, completed her education, the board voted against buying her a diploma. The dilemma was ultimately resolved when a clever board member wrote to a diploma house requesting free samples. The delighted Miss Hayes then had her pick of several styles.

Nathan Power reminisced about his nineteenth-century school years in a speech he gave at the annual banquet of the Farmington High School alumni in 1925:

School days! Who is there that cannot look back with pleasure to them? Filled with the happy memories of life’s morning they are indeed precious to us. . . . Some incidents I well remember. An organ had been purchased for the use of the school. It would be too plain and cheap for the modern schoolroom, but to me it was a wonderful instrument capable of producing the sweetest music.

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