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History of Wash Oak School
Six miles due west of the Mill Race Historical Village in
agricultural Salem Township, a school was begun circa 1840. It was
originally housed in a trading post on the west side of the
present Currie Road. At that time, blazes on trees showed
youngsters the way to and from school through the dense forest.
In 1871, this original home of the Wash Oak School was
destroyed by fire. It was known as the Wash Oak School as it drew
pupils from Washtenaw and Oakland Counties. A new schoolhouse was
built in 1873 on a site immediately north of the burned ruins.
Officially, until 1949, the Wash Oak School District was known
as Salem Township District No.1. Subsequently, it was known as
District No.1 Fractional. Treasurer's records for the periods
1909-41 and 1949-62 have been located, and teachers’ records for
the periods, 1886-88 and 1913-24, have been acquired.
In early years the school was known as the "Deake" School or "Nahlor"
School for early pioneers. According to a history written in 1941
by school students and placed on file with the Washtenaw County
Board of Education, the school opened with 35 students in grades
3-12.
During the winter term when "older boys" attended school, the
record relates that a male teacher was needed to "take care of
them.” Other times in the three-term year, they were out working
on their parents’ farms.
At this early time, recitation seats or benches lined three
sides of the room, while the teacher’s desk was at the front on a
platform facing the box stove in the middle of the floor. The
history further pictured wood for the stove stacked by the fence
on the south side of the school. A church was located next door,
and water was brought from a farm a half-mile away. The school was
lighted with kerosene lamps.
