At a meeting of the school inspectors of the old township of Aurelius, held Aug. 12, 1837, at the house of William Page, the south half of town 1 north, range 1 west (now Leslie), was set off and organized as School District No. 1, and the first district meeting therein was directed to be held at the house of Henry Fiske. The north half of the same township was organized as District No. 2 at the same date, and the first district meeting ordered to be held at the house of William Page. Nathan Rolfe and James Royston were the school inspectors for the township at the time. District No. 1 was altered Oct. 8, 1838, so as to contain sections 20, 21, 22, 23, 27, 28, 29, 32, and 33, and December 22d, same year, District No. 2 was reorganized so as to include sections 6, 7, 8, 17, 18, 19, 29, and the northwest quarter and the west hslf of the northeast quarter of section 20. Other changes were made in years immediately following.

July 4, 1842, the money received from the county treasurer for school purposes was $31.08, divided amont the several districts as follows:

The first school-house in the township was built at what is now Leslie village, in the fall of 1837, and is now used as a dwelling by S. O. Russell. It is a framed building. The name of the first teacher is not now recollected. The secons, in the summer of 1837, was Mrs. F. Butler, sister to Mrs. E. K. Grout, who had come to the township that year with her husband, Flavel J. Butler, at the same time with Dr. Valorous Meeker. Miss Messinger taught, probably, next after Mrs. Butler. In 1843, Elizabeth Bugbee tautht in District No. 1, and Elizabeth S. Godfrey in No. 4, the latter district having been formed in 1842, in the southwest part of the township. Other early teachers in the township were:

1843. --- Loryette Smith, John Smith, Stephen Weeks.
1844. --- Sarah Whitman, Salina Whitman, Ada Whittemore, W. R. Harrison, Lois Reynolds, Jane Robinson, Luther B. Huntoon, Phebe Holmes, F. Joshua Whitney, Jane Clark.
1845. --- Hannah Miller, Lucy Dewey, Ezra Shearman, Betsy Hurd.
1846. --- Mercy Atwood, Joshua Whitney, Geroge Phelps.
1847. --- Bradley F. Freeman, Sarah Miller, Sarah Lamb, Laura A. Rice, Richard H. Davis, Elizabeth A. Miller, Sarah J. Brakeman.
1848. --- Harriet E. Sanders, Ansel Covert, Martha A. Rolfe, Mrs. Mary J. Housel, Miranda Spaulding, Daniel H. Balke, Elisha Smith, J. B. Freeman, Louisa A. Sprague, Susan Miller.
1849. --- Sally Edwards, Sarah L. Searl, Margamine Dubois, Amos Hall, George F. Rice, Louisa Bert. *

In 1843 the books in use in District No. 1 were Webster's Speller, Testament, Hale's History, Smith's and Adams Arithmetic, Olney's Geography, Kirkland's Grammer; in No. 2, the English Reader, Spelling, Geography, and Arithmetic. A school-house was built that year in No. 3, partly by subscription, partly by tax on property.

The first building in Districe No. 1 was used for a time, and gave place to the brick structure which is now used as a chaple by the First Congregational Church. Sept. 9, 1871, this district was organized as "Union" district, and it was voted to raise $1500 by tax to apply on a new school building. The contract for building the house, which is a fine structure of brick, was awarded to Woodhouse & Rice for something over $10,000 and it was erected in 1867-68. About five years later a wing was added, on the south side, at an expense of about $3000. The entire cost of the building, including furniture, etc., was $15,000. The old brick edifice had been in use fifteen or twenty years before the new one was built. The school has six departments, in which teachers for the school year of 1880-81 are: Principal, Henry C. Rankin; Grammer Department, Miss Della Hutchings; First Intermediate, Miss D. Godfrey; Second Intermediate, Miss Maggie Angevine; First Primary, Mrs. Elsie Hall; Second Primary, Miss May Rice.

The school census of the district in the first week of September, 1880, was 376, and the fall term opened with an attendance of about 300. Mr. Rankin, the principal of the school, is a teacher of much experience. He was engaged four years at Cassopolis, and comes this year to Leslie for the first time. His predecessor, C. A. Cook, held the reigns of government in this school for eight years, a nd is now at Dexter, Washtenaw, Co.

From the report of the school inspectors for the eyar ending Sept. 1, 1879, are taken the following items:

*Dr. J. B. Hull, now of the city of Lansing, was also an early teacher in Leslie.

Taken from:
"History of Ingham and Eaton Counties Michigan, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Their Prominent Men and Pioneers", by Samuel W. Durant. Published by D. W. Ensign & Co., 1880.
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