Schools
No matter how small the community, the school is one of the first public facilities to be established. Boyne Falls was no exception. In 1884, Boyne Valley contained five school districts, 156 school children, and five frame school buildings.
The first Boyne Falls School was located on the hill on South Center Street. These pictures were taken in 1892.
On March 5, 1919, the town school burned. A special meeting was called for a proposition of bonding the district for $15,000 for the erection of a new school and also for the authority to confer with outlying districts regarding consolidation.
The second school was built down the hill from the
school pictured above. It burned on March 5, 1919.
On March 17, 1919, another special meeting was called, and the bonding proposition was called. The bonding proposition lost in a tie vote. A new proposal for $14,000 was made, and passed.
A.E. Munger, and architect from Bay City, was hired to erect a new building. The 1919-1920 school session was continued at the Town Hall and other public places with 3 teachers. On May 4, 1920, the new building was completed. Following the completion, a proposal for consolidation was formalized. The proposal passed, and arrangements were made to transport the rural children to the central school in Boyne Falls. The bus driver’s day started at 5:00 a.m., using lumber wagons and in the winter logging sleighs. The busses were built with single board floors and heated with round oil stoves. The smoke from the stoves would often make the children sick.
The voters of Boyne Falls voted to bond the construction
of the Boyne Valley Consolidated Rural Agricultural School
in 1919. The school was completed and openned on May 4, 1920.
On January 23, 1946, Boyne Valley’s first consolidated school burned, and it was time to start again. With much deliberation, the amount of $85,000 was proposed and passed. A new school was planned and built on north side of town. The gymnasium was built first, and school was held there for nine months. The main building was started in the spring of 1947. the 1948-49 school year started with 9 teachers, a janitor, 247 students, a 17-piece band, driver’s training, a hot lunch program and a basketball team.
The Boyne Falls Consolidated School burned on January 23, 1946.
The school can be seen burning in the background.
This picture was taken from the railroad depot looking up Elm Street.
More School Pictures
Boyne Falls Intermediate School 1909
Boyne Falls High School 1909
Boyne Falls Primary School 1911.
Boyne Falls Intermediate School 1911.
This picture was taken on the steps of the Boyne Falls Catholic School.
St. Augustines Catholic School was located next to the church on
Grove Street. It was built in 1914 and burned in 1945.
The 1932 Girl's Basketball Team
Boyne Falls Intermediate School students in 1935
Boyne Falls High School students in 1940.
In 1967 an addition was built onto the school to accommodate the growing enrollment of elementary students.
In May of 1999, the voters of Boyne Falls passed a bonding proposal for $7,000,000 dollars to build a new school. The building was completed in less than a year, and the 2000-01 school was sold to the Charlevoix-Emmet Intermediate School District, and houses several alternative schools for the ISD.
