Nevins Lake School

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Nevins Lake School

Sidney Township, Montcalm County, Michigan

Information from the Nevins Lake School Reunion records show a school was started sometime around 1874. Those records indicate the following students attended school in the Nevins Lake area: Charlie Carpenter, E. C. Nevins and Frank Nevins. By 1875 the following students were added: Elmer Ackley, Rosena Brooks, Robert Engersol, Fred Fleck, Freddie Homes, Sadie Homes, Josie Homes and Anna Horn. Those same records list the first teachers for 1875 as: Elvira Hugunin and M. Louise Morse. The 1875 plat map for Sidney Township shows that much of the land surrounding Nevins Lake was owned by Andrew B. Nevins where he operated a saw mill.

The above school house was apparently built in the year1879 according to information found in the reunion minutes and was located in Section 4 of Sidney Township on the NW corner of Nevins Road and Main Road. Minutes from the June 1929 business meeting held at the home of J.C. Petersen to plan the July 25, 1929 reunion stated “This reunion marked the 50th anniversary of the building of the school house.” Information from the Stanton Clipper-Herald also stated the school was used by two different Sunday school groups in 1878; one group held its meetings in the morning and the other in the afternoon. Land records show that in 1884 Joshua and Ruth Noah sold the land the school was on to Montcalm County (1/2 acre in square form, the SE ¼ of the NE ¼ of the SW ¼ of Section 4, T 10 N R 7 W). In May of 1888 C.L. Wicks and Phillip T.H. Pierson, from Stanton organized the Nevins Lake Sunday School and held classes at the school until a permanent church was built just down the road from the school in May of 1903.

Attendance records from the Reunion minutes lists students from 1875-1944. The teacher’s list records those teaching from 1875 to 1937. Classes at the school ended sometime around 1957-1958 when students from Nevins Lake merged with the Stanton school system. The school and property were sold to Nevins Lake Church in 1958 and about 1961 the school was torn down. Material from the school was used to build a church parsonage for the church.

School being torn down

For further information on students and teachers from 1905-1926 please see the binders that hold information on the Montcalm County Schools for those years.

Contributed by Judy Hardy of Stanton, Michigan

If you have additions or corrections please contact Paula Johnson
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