Top: The old (old) McAdoo Hancock Street Grade School. This is not the school once located at the top of the Hancock Street hill near the Heights. That newer school was built in the late 1930s and burned down in 1956. The photo of this old school classroom was found in our attic collection with no notations. Thoroughly discussed by John Contrady, (MHS, 1945), of Muskegon Michigan, and Dan Bavolack, (MMI, 1951), of New York City, it was determined that the picture was (1) The old School, and (2) Taken near the turn of the 20th Century. The school was located where the McAdoo 'playground' exists today, near the IGA store.

Center Picture: Date 1937-1938, via John Contrady. He got the picture from Mr.Sanford Kline, owner of Kline's clothing store at the corner of Kennedy Drive and Blaine Street in McAdoo. He is the third boy from the left (white shirt) in the front row. Mr. Andrew Jupina is at far left. The Misses Pearl McGready and Sallie Ferry are at the far right, front row. Those two were iron disciplinarians! Miss McGready established order with a heavy ruler and a frigid basilisk glare. Miss Ferry, Supervising Principal, of towering stature and necklaced pince-nez ranked up there with the Heavenly Host in order of respect demanded..

John Contrady notes that: "Tending the stove was a labor of love for the boys. The boys fetched coal in a scuttle from the school basement and carried out the ashes. Pounding chalk out of blackboard erasers was another job done by boys. Now that I think about it, the girls did not have 'jobs'. Such activities took a boy out of the classroom and were considered to be almost the equivalent of an extra recess. We did have recess. There was no playground equipment. As I recall,'the facilities' were separated from the school and were outdoors."

Bottom: John Contrady and his wife, Edna. September, 2000.