Spring Creek School History
About l844, the first schoolhouse in the immediate vicinity of Three Oaks was built at Spring Creek on the side of what was then known as the New Buffalo Road. Miss Elizabeth Chamberlain, daughter of Moses Chamberlain, taught that summer and was the first teacher of which there is any record. Previous to this time. A makeshift school had been held at irregular periods in several of the homes of the community.
The Spring Creek school was known for many years as the Cherry School, since the first building was made entirely of cherry wood. The log walls, the puncheon floor, the shades on the roof and the poles that held them in place, the split board door, and even the wooden hinges and the latch-all were cherry wood. The building was fourteen by eighteen feet, and was heated with the usual huge fireplace at one end. To admit light, a log was cut out of each wall for almost its full length, and the space filled wi1h panes of glass. Against the wall, under each window was built the desk for the older pupils. It was a wide, hand-planed board supported at a convenient angle on pegs driven into the wall. The students sat before it, side by side, on backless, benches, which were simply puncheons with long pegs driven into the round underside to form the legs. Behind this group, with their backs to them, sat the smaller children on similar benches, and with similar desks built very much like long, heavy tables.
All the basic studies were taught in these early schools. Since the settlers brought school books with them from their former homes scattered allover the East and South, there was quite a variety of text books. The famous McGuffey Reader and Porter's Rhetorical Reader were favorites. Peter Parley's Geography, with the lessons all in rhyme, was widely used, as well as Webster's Speller and Still's Grammar.
The schoolhouse was the center of community life among the early settlers. Parties, spelling bees, political mass meetings, debates and church services were held at the Spring Creek School, and all were well attended. Sunday school services and prayer meetings were held regularly in every community, and church was called whenever a preacher could be obtained. People attended these meetings attired in whatever clothing they possessed, usually barefoot in the warmer months, and never was there even the slightest hint of distinction made on account of wealth or the lack of it
In 1938 came the consolidation of the schools of Three Oaks township. There remained until that time four district schools, namely the Spring Creek, Basswood, Avery, and West Schools.
Today the Spring Creek School House is owned and maintained by Three Oaks Township.