By Diane Blevins
If you have visited the Iosco County Fair, you may have noticed the log cabin next to the Dooley Building. Questions have been raised about the history of this building. Former Curator Gary Stemen worked on learning more about the log cabin. Recently, he asked me to do some more research.
The building in question is the former Londo Lake School located on the Jess Shellenbarger property. This log cabin was located on Riley Road in Section 30. Later a new Londo School was built on the NE corner of Curtis Road and Mill Station Road in Section 20. The second school is still located there today. Lucille Brindley gave the exact locations of these two schools in the “Hale Schools” book.
According to the Stemen article in 2014, when Robert Watson purchased the property, he decided to tear down the old house located there. While tearing down the old house, a fairly intact log cabin was discovered in the center of the building. This was about 1988. The log cabin part of the building seemed to be in good repair. Funds were obtained through the help of Morley Nunn of the Iosco County Historical Society to dismantle, cleanup, transport, restoration, and reassembly of the structure at the Plainfield Township Park near the Senior Citizens complex.
At that time, it was intended to be a satellite complex of the Iosco County Historical Society Museum. It was to house traveling displays with a resident collection of Native American artifacts in honor of Chief Sodney Mukkukoosh, a Hale resident. Sadly, the satellite complex idea was abandoned. Eventually the log cabin was moved to the Iosco County Fair grounds where it is used as an administrative office.
In the Brindley article she talks about going to school there from kindergarten to fifth grade. The Londo School had a potbelly stove in which coal and wood were burned for heat. Kids sitting next to the stove were hot and those next to the wall were cold in the winter. Water had to be carried in a pail from a well outside the schoolhouse. They drank from a dipper. The teacher did all the janitor work. At Christmas time they had a special program for the parents and every child received a gift from under the Christmas tree.
Also, in the Londo School article, Lena Ballard remembers the school being erected in 1903.
It is estimated the log cabin dates from the 1870’s according to people who were involved disassembling it and reassembling the cabin, mainly based on the type of construction.
In “Hale and Up the Tracks II” Gola Hendrickson talks about going to the Londo School when Mrs. Dorcey was the teacher. Perry and Alice Shellenbarger went to school there too. Gola also mentions having a picture of the Londo School with her brother Roy, the Denstedts, Rehils, Shellenbargers, Aldertons, Tremains, and Runyans. A consolidated school was built in Hale in 1942. The kids in these outlying small schools transferred into Hale. Another interesting memory concerns Jesse Shellenbarger’s property. Gola remembers a booth-like store in front of his house. She also thinks there was a post office down there. Some of her mother’s post cards dated 1910,1911, and 1913 are post marked Canfield. Gola said Canfield was on Riley Road and there was a post office there.
The more I researched this property and looked for information, the more interesting items popped up. My research began in Ogemaw County, Hill Township. In a 1903 plat map it shows Camfield (Canfield) Post Office in section 25. The property in question was owned by William Reilly on the southwest side of Londo Lake.
What makes this research more interesting is trying to figure out exactly how the property runs. Reading the deeds carefully beginning in 1919, it looks like the property in question extends into Plainfield Township Section 30. There are several deeds back and forth between William Reilly and Jess Shellenbarger showing their close association. Jess Shellenbarger married William Reilly’s daughter. One deed from Reilly grants the property to Shellenbarger for one dollar to support Reilly for life.
By 1922 whatever was going on, the property goes back to Reilly again for one dollar. In 1924 Reilly was a widower and this time he sells part of the property for $1500 to Shellenbarger. Sometimes the property description extends into Plainfield Township where I suspect the Log cabin stood. Some people have questioned if the log cabin was in Ogemaw County and was moved across the county line. We know many houses were moved in the area from their original locations.
Some continuing questions are when exactly did the log cabin become a school, was it really built in 1903 or much earlier, could the log cabin have been a post office at one time, what happened to the Londo School photo, and finally are there any more stories about this interesting building. I hope some of our Facebook followers may be able to add to this story.
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