Lakeville High School, 601 N. Michigan — 1931 to 1983

1930 – 1983 · NRIS 91001166

In 1931 Union Township built its first high school: a two-story brick Collegiate Gothic building on an eight-acre parcel at 601 N. Michigan Street, bought from George and Elizabeth Holland on 28 May 1930 for $3,618.45. The facts of the building stand on the National Park Service nomination (prepared by George Myers, 31 August 1990; read whole): blueprints were completed 4 August 1930 by Hubert Miller, an architect of Elkhart, Indiana — the nomination settles Elkhart, not South Bend, as Miller's place; the building rose in 1931, T-plan, concrete foundation, flat roof, brick and stone parapet, the inscription "Lakeville High School" in bas relief above the central entry, an auditorium/gymnasium projecting at the rear; the first class graduated in 1932; and it was the first high school in Union Township. Three interconnected one-story elementary units were built directly south of it in 1956, originally elementary facilities, attached by an enclosed breezeway until shortly before 1990 and excluded from the nomination. The nomination's superlatives print at nomination strength, as the nomination's claims: the building is "the most intact consolidated high school in St. Joseph County"; only seven historic consolidated schools exist in the county and only two public high schools still stand (the other named is North Liberty High School, at a low survey rating); and it is one of only two remaining Collegiate Gothic buildings in rural St. Joseph County (the other, Harris Township Consolidated School in Granger). The National Register listing followed on 29 August 1991 (NRIS 91001166; SHAARD site 141-339-11503; period of significance 1931–1941; Criteria A and C; the nominated boundary takes in only the 1931 building, on less than one acre). The nomination carries no dedication and no enrollment figures; both bank as gaps on 1931 newspaper coverage and corporation reports. The course of use, in the nomination's words: "Classes were held until 1965, when LaVille High School was built; then used as an elementary school until 1983, when closed altogether."