Island Schoolhouse
After the expiration of the annuity schedule laid out in the 1836 treaty, Native Americans stopped coming to Mackinac Island in large numbers. The Indian Dormitory ceased to be of service in its original function.
In 1867, the building was adapted as a public school for the children of Mackinac Island of all ethnic groups. Serving as a schoolhouse from 1867–1960, the Thomas W. Ferry School provided classroom space to one of the most ethnically diverse populations in Michigan.
By 1960, the wooden building could not meet the standards of school safety required by law. The school building, with its Schoolcraft heritage, had long been surrounded by Mackinac Island State Park property, and in 1963 it was purchased by the Park Commission.
Read more about this topic: Indian Dormitory Art Museum
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“We saw one schoolhouse in our walk, and listened to the sounds which issued from it; but it appeared like a place where the process, not of enlightening, but of obfuscating the mind was going on, and the pupils received only so much light as could penetrate the shadow of the Catholic Church.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)