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

As near as can be ascertained the following items hold good regarding the Pontiac schools: High School-Location, West Huron; completed in 1871; number of pupils in attendance, four hundred.
Florence Avenue School-Built in the eighties; two hundred pupils.
Bagley School-Built in 1895; cost, $7,ooo; two hundred pupils.
Central School-Location, East Pike; built in I893; cost, $I2,ooo;
four hundred pupils.
Baldwin School-Location, Baldwin street; built in I902; cost, $30,ooo; four hundred pupils.
McConnell School-Location, Paddock street; built in go90; cost,
$30,000; four hundred pupils.
Crofoot School-Location, West Huron, near high school; built in
I906; cost, $35,000; five hundred and fifty pupils.
Wilson School-Location, corner Foote and Sanford streets; built
in I9II; cost, $40,000; three hundred and fifty pupils.
Wisner School-Location, Oakland avenue; built in 1911; cost,
$40,000; three hundred and fifty pupils.
M/ICHIGAN MILITARY ACADEMY
This once-famous institution has nothing whatever to do with the
public schools of Pontiac and was never located in the city, but several
of its prominent citizens were interested in it financially and all took a
pride in it as long as it had a "fighting chance" to survive. It was
founded at Orchard lake in September, 1877, by Col. J. Sumner Rogers,
then a United States officer stationed at Detroit. Assisted by leading
citizens both of that city and Pontiac he established the institution at
the latter place, mainly as a finishing school for colleges and to provide
also a business training for its students. Commencing with thirty-two
students, within the succeeding eleven years its attendance had increased
to one hundred and eighty-four, divided between twenty-four states.
But, in time, Colonel Rogers and such men who came to his assistance
as Gen. Charles King and Capt. F. A. Smith, brought the military
feature more and more into the foreground.
Notwithstanding the faithful and continuous efforts of Colonel Rogers
and his co-workers, among the most efficient of whom was his wife, the
enterprise became much involved in financial difficulties and, under the
strain, the founder's health gradually declined. In I892 it became so
broken that General King acted for some time as superintendent.
The final decline and death of the Michigan Military Academy is
told concisely by the last president of its board, Gen. Harris A. Wheeler,
who was connected also with its financial management in 1878-80, during the first years of its struggles. General Wheeler was most prominent
in connection with the Illinois National Guard previous to assuming the
presidency of the academy and was also well known in Chicago (where
he still resides) as a manufacturer; but neither his standing nor activities
were sufficient to revive the failing enterprise and it went under, a~ thus
narrated by him: "If my memory serves me correctly, a strike or
mutiny occurred at the Michigan Military Academy during the school
year I900o-o, which was participated in by members of the faculty, as