History of Rankin School in Flint, Michigan explained.

This news article will explain and explore some of the history behind Rankin School in Flint, Michigan. Rankin School was a K-9 school where students in grades Kindergarden through 9th grade were educated.


The Rankin School was originally the old Stevenson School (Stevenson School). The building was put back into use as the Rankin School in 1911 and operated as a unit of the Doyle School due to the crowding of schools. Rankin School was located at Second Avenue and Lyon Street. Rankin School was named after Francis H. Rankin. (Ref: https://books.google.com/books?id=pOlyyc17M-oC&pg=PA84&lpg=PA84&dq=%22rankin+school%22+flint&source=bl)

Rankin School was a combined elementary-junior high (elementary school-junior high school) that had the housing advantages of the junior high school system including additional kindergarten and elementary grades up to the 9th grade. Rankin School also was a part of the Flint Community Schools’ “6-3-3 plan” despite offering instruction to students in grads 7 through 9. The school had the number of teachers necessary to instruct these grades. Miss Margaret Jones was principal of Rankin School. Miss Irene Rodrick, Mrs. Boyd Spring, and Miss Opal White were some of the teachers at Rankin School. (Ref: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/micounty/ARX8251.0001.001?rgn=main;view=fulltext)

Hot air steam was how the building was heated yet there was no fire escape. That is what is interesting about this school. (Ref: https://books.google.com/books?id=jQcoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA286&lpg=PA286&dq=%22rankin+school%22+flint&source=bl)

However Flint Community Schools shut down and condemned Rankin School in 1913 as this school was so old, leaky and decrepit. The building’s physical structure was becoming inadequate. Goodwill Industries began using the Rankin School building on a rent lease agreement in 1948. In 1950, Goodwill Industries had been ordered out since it was considered a fire-trap for the visually impaired and elderly. (Ref: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/97595280/)

In 1951, the 65-year-old schoolhouse had been modernized into an office building insured for $150,000 through community enterprise. A big downtown department store, Smith & Bridgeman, not only contributed asphalt tile but installed it. The Consumers Power Co. and the Citizens Bank took care of the modern lighting. They even stripped the fluorescent light fixtures out of the bank to install them in the school. AC Sparkplug provided partitions. Buick gave more partitions, paint and toilet facilities. Standard Cotton Products provided insulation and fire-proofing. A Flint contractor, Frank Burnash, leveled the grounds and put in sidewalks for free. A lot of folks pitched in and gave their labor. (Ref: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/97595280/)

During this time, Philip J. Braun, president of the Child Guidance Clinic, started looking around for headquarters for the Child Guidance Clinic. With building costs $19 a square foot in Flint during that time, a new building was out of consideration. So he had Frank J. Manley, director of the Mott Foundation, made chairman of a committee to get a clinic. Their eyes fell on the old Rankin School that was built in the 1880’s. For a cash expenditure of $25,000 dollars they got a building valued at 6 times that figure.  The restored schoolhouse also houses the Clara Knudsen Fund, a maternal and child care program. This just shows what can be done through public enterprise.

“THEIR EYES fell on the old Rankin school, built in the 1880's, and only a block from the Durant Hotel in the heart of Flint. It was so old, leaky and decrepit that in 1913 it was condemned as a school. Even the last tenants, the Goodwill Industries, had long been ordered out since it was considered a fire-trap for the blind and old.”

The Rankin School was demolished in 1971 to make way for expansion of Hurley Hospital.

Rankin School was located at Second Avenue and Lyon Street, Flint, Michigan, US.