Empire School | |
Location | 10017 W. Front St., Empire, Michigan |
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Coordinates | 44°48′39″N 86°3′32″W / 44.81083°N 86.05889°W |
Area | 1.1 acres (0.45 ha) |
Built | 1900 | 1905
Built by | George Snell |
Architectural style | Late Victorian |
NRHP reference No. | 08000222 [1] |
Added to NRHP | March 27, 2008 |
The Empire School is a school building located at 10017 West Front Street in Empire, Michigan.
The first school in Empire was the schooner "The Empire," from which the town derives its name. [2] The schooner was icebound in the Empire harbor during the winter of 1865. In 1867, a permanent school building was constructed on Brotherton Road. A new two-story school was constructed in 1891. This school, however, was destroyed by fire in 1899. [3] As a stopgap, classes were held in the Maccabees Hall until a replacement school could be built. [2]
The district decided their new school should be a top-quality, four-room schoolhouse. [3] A new site was purchased, and construction began in 1900, [2] with an initial payment to contractor George Snell. [4] The new Empire School was completed in 1901. [5] A gymnasium was added in 1932, using funds available from the Works Progress Administration. [3] An old machinery storage shed was moved to the school property to house shop classes. In 1941, a small school building, the Boynton school, was moved from its original location to the Empire School to provide space for kindergarten classes.
However, school enrollment was declining. [3] In 1958, several local school districts, including Empire, consolidated to form Glen Lake Community Schools. [5] By 1968, the Empire School shut its doors. A series of owners purchased the property for speculative ventures, and it was re-roofed in 2004, but the ventures did not pan out. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. [1] As of 2017, a local group was attempting to convert the school into a community center. [6] [7]
The Empire School is a 10,000 sq ft (930 m2) L-plan single story structure, [3] and includes four classrooms and a gymnasium. [8] It clad in clapboard. The school contains two sections: the original section is a square-plan building containing the four classrooms. This section has a hipped roof with a smaller gable at each end and square cupola in the center. The main entrance to the building is off-center in the north facade. The second section, containing the gymnasium, is a rectangular, gable-roof addition to the original building. [4]