In 1874, Redford Township School District No. 9 bought an acre of land from Eugenius and Abigail Hodge and erected Beech School. Named for the Beech Park settlement that sprang up here beside the Detroit, Lansing & Lake Michigan Railroad, the school was built to accommodate sixty children even though only fifty residents lived in the settlement at the time, making it the largest in the township. Classes were held there until 1952. The building later housed meetings of the Masonic lodge and the Boy Scouts of America, served as school offices and storage facilities, and functioned as the headquarters for the Association of Retarded Citizens. In 1988, the South Redford School District sold the property to a private developer.