Trombly Elementary School

The original Robert Trombly School was built at the corner of Jefferson and Beaconsfield in 1903, with four classrooms, five teachers, and a principal serving around one hundred students. Its namesake, Robert Trombly, became Grosse Pointe Township justice of the peace in 1884, later served as president of Grosse Pointe Park Village, and spent thirty years on the school board. Built to replace the older structure, the present school was constructed in two phases in 1927 and 1930 at a cost of $423,301. Unusual for an elementary school of its period, it includes a sizeable auditorium with a projection room and, as of 2023, remained the only elementary school in the Grosse Pointe district with an auditorium. The auditorium originally served as the area’s first movie theater. The building was designed in a Tudor-Gothic style by the Detroit-based architectural firm Smith, Hinchman, and Grylls, with a full slate roof and an ornate copper-clad steeple. Its kindergarten classroom contains tiles made by the Flint Faience and Tile Company, which began producing ceramic tiles in 1921 using the kilns of the Champion Ignition Company so the kilns could run all night and avoid damage from daily cooling and reheating. Tile production ended in 1933 because of increased demand for sparkplugs. Storybook tiles around the kindergarten fireplace depict animals and scenes from classic fairy tales and children’s stories.

Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan · United States