THE STATE PUBLIC SCHOOL AT COLDWATER, MI by David McDonald
I recently received an interesting article from a member of the Clinton, MI Historical Society. It was interesting in that it was a summary of a visit made to the Coldwater, MI institution by a one, G. W. Stephenson, Superintendent of the Poor, in Michigan.
It provides some insight into the organization that once occupied a large section of land on the northeast corner of Marshall Road (Old US-27) and State Street in this city. It, of course, would later be named the Coldwater State Home & Training School, among other variations of description as its purpose evolved over the decades. The article was written in November 1883 and published in the Clinton Independent newspaper. I would gladly give credit to the author of the article, but he is only described to me as a prominent businessman of his time from St. Johns, MI. I would also hasten to state that this article is the observations of one person over a very limited time period of exposure to a very unique environment.
Following is the description of the Coldwater institution through the eyes of G. W. Stephenson:
“Our townsman, G.W. Stephenson, having recently visited the above institution, in his capacity as Superintendent of the Poor, we gather a few items from an interview with him, which may be of interest.
The institution consists of ten cottages and a main building. There is room for 300 children, and there were present about 275. The object of the institution is to care for and provide homes for children whose parents are unable to provide for them, or whose associations render them unfit to be entrusted with their care.
The main building is a large structure, consisting of three stories and a basement, standing on a sightly eminence. In this building are the offices of the superintendent, clerk, matron, etc. The family of the superintendent also domiciles here. The school and recitation rooms and dining room are in the building.
The other buildings consist of them cottages, six about 40×30 with a wing about 14 feet long, three 40×40, and a large one of the girls about 50×60, all two stories and basement. These are properly the homes of the children – the upper floors constituting the bedrooms and the lower the living rooms. There is an air of comfort and cleanliness, and homelike surroundings, which cannot fail to impress favorably the visitor, more particularly one who has an interest in the institution. The cottages are set on spacious grounds, having beautiful trees, shrubbery, flower beds, lawns and the accessories of an elegant home. The inmates of the institution are divided into eight classes, graded on the proficiency of the children, and paced under charge of willing, capable, and conscientious teachers, whose duty it is to attend not only to the mental but the temporal welfare of their charge – manners, morals, cleanliness, a due regard for the rights of others, and a proper discipline in obedience and industry, being among the most noticeable efforts.
On the first day of my arrival, I witnessed the entire school and teachers, gathered in the large and neat recitation room, where various exercises were held. I heard the singing and can say that I heard that day music that came from the heart. The children sang freely, and with the same zest and earnestness that characterized the children of a juvenile exhibition, and seemed to enjoy themselves as well as if they had but a few hours since left happy homes, and still carried with them the recollection of the motherly love that watched them as they turned their steps from the home gate.
Although I had an invitation to the celebrated Lewis Gallery in Coldwater, I was anxious to learn as much as possible about this institution, its objects and degree of success, and therefore decided to remain over at the public school. I found that the superintendents of the poor have an important duty to perform, in the assisting the superintendent of the state school to find homes for those who have arrived at that stage when it will be safe to bind them out.
The object of the public school is to provide for the care of indigent and neglected children. The institution is fundamentally charitable in all its workings, its founder, the late Gov. Bagley, having in view the intention to lessen crime and criminals by striki9ng at the very fountain, and by training those who, if left to themselves, would in nine-tenths of the cases take the road to prison or the poorhouse, to all opportunities for a start in the right direction, thus lessening the criminal classes and materially improving the condition of society.
The moral training is good, and the teachers are, so long as the children remain in the institution, mothers to whom they can appeal to settle their petty grievances, and give them sensible and discreet advice and encouragement. There is no definite time allotted for children to be kept in the institution, but as long as they do remain the educational influences are brought to bear upon them, and when suitable homes are found for them the beneficial influence of the public school is sure to be manifested. Homes are found for the children as soon as possible. Healthy children only, of the class mentioned, can be admitted, and only between the ages of three and twelve years.
The buildings are all lighted with gas, made on the premises by a new process, the material used being crude petroleum, giving light superior to ordinary gas, and costing only about 5 cents per 1,000 feet. The gas is believed to be superior to the coal gas. The gas works were put in three years ago, and while the gas bill previous to that time was nearly $1,000 per year, the present apparatus and method costs only about $200 per annum.
The superintendent, Mr. Foster, and assistants, took great pains to explain the workings of the institution, and much information was gained that is not generally known by the poor commissioners of the state. I have only to say that the objects and methods of this school should be more generally known, and the laws pertaining to it should be more carefully studies and explained to the people, and thus bring about a better knowledge of its needs, capacities, and objects, and thereby increase the number o homes that can be opened to the numerous children who are only waiting to take their places in the world, and to dispute with fate and adversity the order of things that has placed them where they are.”
D. L. McDonald, October 27, 2025