The Clarenceville School District began as Fractional School District No. 5 in 1837 and served children in present-day Livonia, Farmington Hills, and Redford. The village of Clarenceville, the last stagecoach stop on the Lansing to Detroit plank road, was named for Postmaster Thomas Clarency, who owned what became the Botsford Inn. Although the post office closed in 1907, the school district, the inn, and the cemetery remained. Built in 1968, the Louis E. Schmidt Auditorium was named for Louis E. Schmidt, who served as school superintendent from 1948 to 1966 and in the Michigan House of Representatives from 1967 to 1968. From 1969 to 1982, the auditorium was home to the Clarenceville Jazz Series, where performers including Buddy Rich, Stan Kenton, Woody Herman, Harry James, Gene Krupa, Lionel Hampton, and Maynard Ferguson appeared and held workshops for middle and high school students.