CLPS is 125 years old!

The first school in Center Line Public Schools, previously known as District No. 2 of Warren Township, was built some time before 1875 on the corner of Sherwood and Ten Mile Road. The land was purchased in 1869 from the William Kaltz family for $200  as evidenced by Land Indenture records. According to local historian Professor Wesley Arnold, formal education in the area began when the township school district was formed in 1837, and local farmers sent their children to whatever building was available, where the first teachers were often parents or older children, usually girls as the boys were needed to work on their farms. Occasionally the more wealthy, such as the Groesbecks, had private live-in tutors.

Official written school records didn’t begin until 1899 including but not limited to anecdotal records, land deeds, minutes of district meetings, acceptances of office, dated descriptions of school district boundaries, teacher contracts, and school censuses.  Because the district cannot determine exactly when it began informally educating students due to the lack of written records before that time, the district passed a resolution in 2023 declaring the official start date of School District No. 2 of the Township of Warren as 1899. In 1959 the name of the district was changed from District No. 2 of Warren Township to Center Line Public Schools.

That makes Center Line Public Schools (CLPS) 125 years old this school year - and that is cause for celebration!