History of Oakland County Michigan a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, its principal interests / compiled from the official records of the county, the newspapers and data of personal interviews, under the editorial supervision of Thaddeus D. Seeley.

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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY

might be of some real advantage to the school fund-the ordinance by
which it became a state declaring that "section No. I6 in every township
of the public lands (and where such section has been sold or otherwise
disposed of, other lands equivalent thereto, and as contiguous as may
be) shall be granted to the state for the use of schools." This provision also greatly simplified the work of managing the school lands
and the accruing fund. One great advantage of this plan has been that
all sections of the state shared equally and at once in the benefits of this
general fund. The loss in consequence of poor sections was shared by
the whole state.
CENTRAL UNIVERSITY AND BRANCHES
The act of congress of I804 for the disposal of the public lands of
the northwest territory reserved three townships for the use of seminaries of learning, and one of these townships was for that part of the
territory now constituting the state of Michigan. In 1817 three sections
were granted to the College of Detroit. The proceeds of this last grant
were afterward added to the university fund, which was established by
legislative act in 1837. This not only provided for the founding of the
State University, but for the establishment of several branches, one
of which was at Pontiac. This branch was opened on the I5th of September, I837, under the principalship of Professor George P. Williams.
The magnificent plan of Judge Woodward for a grand central university, with branches at various localities throughout the state, was
tested and found wanting. Its principal drawback was that which incumbered most of his plans; they were too large for the times and the
available funds. The last appropriation for the maintenance of the
branches was made by the legislature of I846.
FIRST ACADEMIES IN OAKLAND COUNTY
Two academies were incorporated in Oakland county in territorial
times-the first at Auburn village, under an act approved March 2,
I83I, with Benjamin Phelps, S. V. R. Trowbridge, Elizur Goodrich,
Ezra S. Park, Reuben Woodford, Seth Beach and George Hornell as
trustees.
The Pontiac Academy, the second institution of the kind, was incorporated by territorial act of April 23, 1833, and its original trustees
were Samuel Sherwood, Hervey Parke, Olmstead Chamberlin, Amasa
Andrews and William Thompson.
With the advent of the state public school system these academies
and various private and select schools disappeared, since which the
people of Oakland county, in common with those of the entire commonwealth, have depended with ever increasing appreciation upon the
system provided by the state.
HEADS OF THE COUNTY SYSTEM
The county superintendency of schools was established by legislative
act of I866-7, and continued until it was abolished in I875. In April,
1867, -Charles Hurd was elected and served until September of that