Despite our passionate disdain for summer school, when the Abandoned Structure Squad (known affectionately as ASS among the more studious of our readers) got word of an old boarded-up schoolhouse in Northville Township that is potentially haunted, we had our mothers pack us a lunch and we journeyed to the spot. The slouching structure, which shares the corner of Six Mile and Napier roads with a small cemetery, is a disappointing sight. Where schoolchildren learned their ABCs, now hangs a dirty, dilapidated sign reading “School Dist. No. 1, Plymouth & Salem, 1877.” Piles of bricks replace building blocks. Graffiti replaces finger paint. Wasp nests replace textbooks.
Shari Peters, the executive director of the Northville Community Foundation, says there’s hope, though. According to Peters, the building can be restored, but Onyx Waste Service, whose landfill is kitty-corner to the schoolhouse, owns it and
hasn’t made any moves to fix it up since it was boarded up 17 years ago. “I’ve had both builders and architects in there,” says Peters. “We’ve been trying to work with the owners but they won’t sell it.”
An Onyx spokesman was on vacation and could not be reached for comment.
As for the tales of ghosts and other things that go bump in the night, Peters chuckles. “I’ve been in there … many times and have never seen anything, but it’s funny that these rumors get started.”
Editor’s note: If you know of an abandoned home you would like to see featured in this spot, send a photo and pertinent information to News Hits, c/o Metro Times, 733 St. Antoine, Detroit, MI 48226 (or e-mail [email protected]).
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