Friday, September 12, 2008

Flint Postcards: Walker School



26 comments:

  1. anyone know what street walker school is/was located? it looks familiar to me...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The original Walker School was bounded by Stevens Street, Second Street, Third Street, and Liberty Street (now Caesar Chavez Southbound). The YMCA building presently occupies the same boundaries.

      Delete
  2. This is the o.g. version of Walker. Methinks it was on the corner of Kearsley and Hunt Lane. Hunt Lane? Yeah, Hunt Lane, Ash St., and portions of Manning, Mathews, Forest, and Crapo Pl. were vacated when the Cult. Center was built. The controversial cottages on Mannning St. are all that is left of the neighborhood. Old Walker was demolished and so was much of it's attendance area. The Sloan Museum sits where Walker once stood.

    The "new" smaller Walker was built in the late 50s early 60s on the corner of Kearsley and Avon, next to the Ad. Building.

    When I-475 was excavated even more of Walker's attendance area was lost- Mill St, Albro Pl, Newton Pl, Vine St. Clark and Oak Elementary had the same issues. Walker survived however. Neighborhood kids were moved to Pierce, while Walker recreated itself once again as a haven for nerds. Magnet school. Citywide enrollment. Access to the Cult. Center. ATP program. The school mascot was the "walker". No jokes. You had the Pierce Arrows, Eisenhower Eagles and yup, Walker Walkers. Where is Ogre when you need him?

    Walker's status as a magnet school lasted from about 1975-1989 or so I think. The "gifted" program was moved to Garfield and Doyle-Ryder, and the building sold and used for offices. You'll probably be surprised to hear that its mostly vacant now.
    Oh yeah, more homes were later demolished on Crapo St. and Orchard Pl.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I list myself as a Walker Walker alum. I'd like to think that if the school was around today, the mascot would be changed to Chuck Norris, and be known as the Walker Texas Rangers. Nerds my butt.

    ReplyDelete
  4. My daughter is also one of those nerds, Jim.

    The "new" Walker was sold to a local architectural firm, Tomblinson, Harburn Associates in 1990 and converted to an office condominium. THA had the first floor, and some U of M Flint admin offices were located downstairs. Vacant now? Hardly. THA is still there along with some other entities.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am a Walker Alum….we planted a time capsule while there at the corner of the property on Kearsley. I wonder if it was ever recovered.

      Delete
  5. Jim, don't deny your young nerd status - I was there. Oh yeah, nerd-o-rama. Class trip was an archeological dig? Gym class generally involved nothing more than a game of king of the hill out in the parking lot? Personally, I got no problem with my nerd origins. Triple nerd score!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Nerds? I beg your pardon.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Most assuredly nerds. Label yourself "gifted" if you must but thats just puttin' listick on a pig.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Old Walker School was bounded by Second, Stevens, Third, and Liberty (now Chavez southbound) Streets. The YMCA currently occupies the same property.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Okay, if anonymous is correct on the location, that makes sense. I've seen it in home movies.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I believe I went to Walker for some "special education". I went to S.S. Stewart Elementary but remember many trips to another school to learn about art and current events. Perhaps I was gifted. My parents are deceased so they can't tell me. This article has given a new prespective on my cognitive skills.

    ReplyDelete
  11. "Hello Nellie this is where I am located. Can't"

    OK, great script, I'm hooked. When do we get Episode 2?

    ReplyDelete
  12. I was an Eisenhower Eagle from school years ending 71 thru 76 and was selected for the Academically Talented Program (ATP) from 74 to 76. It was a refreshing change being in an environment free from many of the "distractions" at Eisenhower. We took some cool field trips and got to simulate a business making a product, selling shares of stock and reinvesting profits. Later went to UM Flint then graduated from GMI - true, blue Flintoid. Was reminded of this unique experience as I was telling my daughters of my years in special ed riding the short bus :-). Now they go to Powers and are in walking distance from the street where I grew up (house is gone), Eisenhower and GMI - who'da thunkit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I tried to describe my experience in the ATP at walker to my girlfriend. She said, “Oh, so you went to X-men school”🤣

      Delete
  13. The Walker School in this photo was on Liberty Street near where the current YMCA is.
    The school by the Sloan Museum was Kearsley School- torn down in l949.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The original Walker School was bounded by Stevens Street, Second Street, Third Street, and Liberty Street (now Caesar Chavez Southbound). The YMCA building presently occupies the same boundaries.

      Delete
  14. Not sure what the school nickname was in the early days, but at the end it was the Walker School Walkers. So obvious, yet so great.

    ReplyDelete
  15. The first six of my family graduated from the old Walker - the last three attended the new Walker. I have done consultant work in 47 states and have found few schools that rival the old Walker for its setting, style, and traditional grandeur. It was a monument set upon a "giant" hill. At least it seemed that way to a little tyke. I remember when it was torn down - I still have a brick from the old school. At 70, I have no idea why I cannot bear to toss it. It sits, firmly settled in our Texas brick path, as a warm reminder of yesterdays. This photo brings back playing marbles in the worn dirt at recess, playing kick-ball on the "new" blacktop playground, and sitting with friends on on walls supporting the steps, waiting for the doors to open after lunch. In sixth grade, my friend Merrily and I entered a contest to write a school song. We won and performed our great song in Mrs. Madden's music room - on that huge stage. (Was it one or two feet higher than the classroom?) Hum the tune to "Heart and Soul" and sing along: "Walker School, you are a jewel among other schools. It's you we're thinking of with your colors of gold and blue - oooo, ooooo." Nothing was ever done with our song - I wonder why. I also remember a terrifying day in the fall of 1953. It was the school year following that devastating tornado that flattened Beecher and killed over 100 people. On a normal school day, when I was in 3rd grade, the principal appeared in our doorway and shouted, "A tornado is coming. Everyone run home!" Everyone ran from the school - picture children running out of those four doors and scattering for their homes. My friend, Francie, and I ran all the way to our 7th and 9th street homes, terrified. No storm came - not even rain. As an educator, I look back and chuckle at the naivete of the old "safety" procedures: run from the tornado, duck under the desks, cover your head - sure safety from an atom bomb, and Sgt. Legree's safety rules for children. Safety rules withstanding, the teachers at Walker actually inspired me to become a teacher. Thank you Miss Walker, Mrs. Ferguson, Mrs. Madden, and, especially, Mrs. Hofeinz who guided me through 3rd and 5th grade - and was my supervising teacher when I did my student teaching. Forty-odd years later, I am still teaching at Lone Star College, in Texas, and she continues to pop into my mind as a shining example of what an educator should be. She was the master teacher of all time. The old school may be gone but what happened there is part of us. Days gone by, but memories still remain of a kinder, more gentle time spent at Walker School.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ms. Durkee, Ms. Wrockledge, Ms. Slaughter, Ms. Hoffine, Ms. Latimore, Mr. Revis

      Delete
    2. Not a reply - a clarification. I wrote this. I have no idea why I have no signature. Contributed by Philanthy Phyllis Paraschos Garcia. I hope someone recognizes at least one of possible combinations of my identity.

      Delete
  16. I attended Walker's "Academically Talented Program" from grades 3 thru 6 (1978-79, 1979-80, 1980-81, 1981-1982). I attended Gundry (K-4th) and Cook (5-6th) Elementary schools 4 out of 5 days every week. Ahhh, but those glorious days that I went to Walker were pure gold. I remember Mrs. Runyon who taught Art and we would walk over to the Art Institute where we got to do ceramics and painting. Mr. VanHorn (?) who taught Michigan History (?) and spent a lot of time at Sloan Museum. The coup-de-grace was Mr. Debevec, who taught rocketry, astronomy and nature-type classes. I remember having 1st, 2nd and 3rd choices for your class. ALWAYS got my 1st choice, except for the very last semester I was there when I had to take my 3rd choice:( I missed going on a weekend camping excursion that several of my friends got to go on with "Mr. D." Great experience that I'll NEVER forget to the end of my days.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mike: I was at Walker around approximately the same time as you were. Mrs. Runyon was great but soooo flaky. Remember the blow up aquarium bubble we all had class in to learn about sea creatures? Mr. Debevec took us on weekend field trips to For-Mar and taught us survival skills. It was fantastic! The first Atari Computers the school received and you would spend all week programming old DOS just to make the falling bomb sound that you were so excited for you almost wet yourself. People always talk down about Flint, but those days growing up there in the 70's and 80's were unforgettable.

      Delete
    2. I just took my son camping recently and taught him how to light a camp fire with one match. Thank you, Mr. Debevec. I've also been teaching him some Spanish. Thank you, Señora Lopez. I remember that I didn't like Mr. Horn, but don't exactly know why . . . "mean" comes to mind, and the words "class clown" directed at me. Mrs. Smith used to climb up on the desks and smack her yard stick, freaking out. I definitely remember Mini Society, which was the trade show we set up in the gym. I'm pretty sure we thank Mrs. Oglesbee for that one. It influenced me greatly. I still do conventions selling my art. Oglesbee told us at the beginning of the year that she wasn't going to yell at us, she had a quiet voice (some kind of laryngitis) so we better listen, and we'd all get quiet and line up when she put her finger in the air. I was there from 1st grade through 5th grade, then got bussed to Garfield in the 6th when they shut us down. Walker had the reputation of a nerd school; I remember a kid who came in the later years and he said the kids at his old school had been razzing him, chanting "goin to the nerd school, goin to the nerd school", but I also remember him being an athlete. Walker was more like Professor X's school. The Art Institute, Ford Museum, Sloan Museum, Waley House, the Planetarium . . . I'm surprised we didn't have Cerebro. We were athletic superheroes. Bonus points if anyone can tell me the name of the game we would play on the outside wall of the school with raquette and/or tennis balls? And does anyone have pics of the paper mache Yellow Submarine project that we did? I never showed my mom that when we showed it and I've always regretted it. Walker was truly amazing.

      Delete
  17. Back in 1973-74, i went to "Walker Open School", which was located in something other than the building shown here. This was just before the freeway was dug out. I recall a building being torn down across the street which had a very old-style phone (the crank-up kind!). There's a song i associate that time with by a group called "My Friends" called "Concrete and Clay" on the Mowtown/Rare Earth label. i had Mr.Elmore and Mrs.Petersen as teachers and very much loved going there. It was somewhat of an experimental school then. Had a close friend by the name of David Brown. Wonder what he's up to now-a-days.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was on Kearsley Street. I started there in 2nd grade when it first opened. I went to old one for kindergarten and 1st

      Delete

Thanks for commenting. I moderate comments, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. You might enjoy my book about Flint called "Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City," a Michigan Notable Book for 2014 and a finalist for the 33rd Annual Northern California Book Award for Creative NonFiction. Filmmaker Michael Moore described Teardown as "a brilliant chronicle of the Mad Maxization of a once-great American city." More information about Teardown is available at www.teardownbook.com.