Bates School No. 7, also known as the Rogers School, in a photograph by "Jack Cozzuol, phone 1518". Carl Holm and his children Albert, Carl, and Terri attended this school. Greta Holm did too.

Rogers School in Bates Township

This school opened in 1914 and was replaced at the end of the school year in the spring of 1959. In the 1940s and 1950s, it was covered with dark green siding. On the first floor were three classrooms and a library that doubled as the kindergarten classroom. The lunchroom was in the basement directly opposite the furnace room. Two other classrooms and the entrance to the gymnasium were also in the basement. The principal’s office and four more classrooms were on the second floor. In the 1950s, the principal was Miss Alma Anderson. The back section, where few windows are visible in this photograph, contained the gymnasium and, directly above it, the auditorium.

When school was not in session, kids would climb up inside the tubular fire escape, visible here on the corner, and slide down. This was a lot more fun than the playground equipment at the back of the school yard. While climbing up inside the fire escape, you had to be careful not to be creamed by someone sliding down. Another fire escape was located on the other side in the middle of the building. In spring, boys played marbles along the back wall of the school.