Ovens School
1882

The Ovens School known as District # 3 was built in 1882 at the edge of the woods adjacent to the Ovens Family farm. This simple white wooden structure provided a place for area children to be educated until its closing in 1959. It began as a one room school for students ages 5 to 17.  The first class met for a three month Winter School in January, 1883. A woodshed, water pump and outhouses stood on the playground. The teacher instructed the students at wooden desks using chalkboards. Many additions were put on the four sides of the original building over its 75 years of existence. It grew to two classrooms for students Kindergarten through 8th grade until it was consolidated to the Zeeland School System. Teachers and former students fondly remember this little schoolhouse as the heart of the community.

Olive Township Historical Society
2007