Douglas Union School

In 1866, as the separate villages of Douglas and Dudleyville grew, Saugatauk Township Districts No. 3 and 4 merged to form Union District No. 3, and the Douglas Union School opened for classes in September 1866. One male and one female teacher taught 129 pupils that year. Early newspapers reported church services, concerts, and social events in the building's second-floor hall. Opened in 1866, the school is one of Michigan's oldest surviving multi-classroom school buildings, and with its bracketed eaves and belfry it reflects Italian Villa architecture. Two years after it opened, the state superintendent of education reported that Douglas had a new building and a good one for a small place. Incorporated in 1870, by 1873 the village had four general stores, a hotel, several flour and lumber mills, and between 700 and 800 inhabitants. The school served the village and surrounding area until it closed in 1957, by which time it had four classrooms. The classrooms were converted to apartments during the 1960s, and the bell, made by the Buckeye Bell Foundry of Cincinnati, Ohio, was removed and relocated at the new elementary school. The Douglas Union School is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Douglas, Michigan · United States