Kalamazoo County MI Archives Photo Place.....Gordneck Prairie School March 23, 2000 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/mi/mifiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Richard Branch mikalama@yahoo.com August 18, 2005, 2:53 pm Source: Gordneck Prairie School Photo can be seen at: http://www.usgwarchives.net/mi/kalamazoo/photos/gordneck16597gph.jpg Image file size: 250.7 Kb On the north side of the cemetery is an old one room schoolhouse - buried behind the school are up to 20 runaway slaves presumably related to the Dr. Nathan Thomas UnderGround Railroad station of pre civil war times. The sign indicates that the same people who donated the cemetery land, Robert & Margaret Frakes, donated the school land: Gourdneck Prairie School Dist. No. 6 Log Cabin School Site Conveyed to School Dist. No. 6 Schoolcraft Township by Robert & Margaret Frakes Jan 25, 1845 Adjn Site Conveyed to School Dist No. 6 by Joseph & Osiller Frakes Dec 23, 1870 Schoolcraft Township ------- http://kpl.gov/collections/LocalHistory/AllAbout/education/rural_schools/Schoolcraft Twp/SchoolcraftTwp.aspx Gourdneck Prairie School District #6 - Section 2, northeast corner of U Avenue and Portage Road. This building was constructed in 1870, just north of Gourdneck Prairie Cemetery on land donated by Joseph Frakes, who is buried in the adjacent cemetery, along with other members of this pioneer family. It was later called Webber School, after members of the Webber family who owned adjoining land for many years. The school became part of the Vicksburg Community School District in the 1947 consolidation, and was last used for regular classes in 1957-58 A cemetery transcript can be found at http://www.rootsweb.com/~mivhs/gourdeneckcemetery.htm File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mi/kalamazoo/photos/gordneck16597gph.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/mifiles/ File size: 2.1 Kb