Copyright 2024 by Humpty Dumpty Cooperative Preschool, Est 1967
Humpty Dumpty Preschool began as an idea in the minds of three amazing women - Jan Doxtader, Emma Gibson and Dorothy Dickenson in 1967. Together they visited other area nursery schools to get help in establishing a cooperative nursery school in Eaton Rapids. After a short-term trial in the spring of 1968, the doors of Humpty Dumpty Preschool were formally opened in October of 1968. At that time classes were held in the Methodist Church
Nearly five years later, Jean Warner and Judy Allswede saw an opportunity with the Bay Window School, a one-room schoolhouse built around 1863.
By 1973, the historical building had fallen into disrepair. Jean and Judy helped negotiate terms with the Eaton Rapids School District to rent it for $1 a year. They then led a restoration and refurbishment project and co-ordinated the move from the church to the Bay Window School, where classes are still being held today.
The building remains one of the nation's few one-room schoolhouses still operating as an educational institution. In 1990, it was registered as a historical site in the state of Michigan and a grant from the Michigan State Housing Authority was used to restore and renovate the building to almost its original appearance.
Humpty Dumpty Preschool continues to be the only cooperative preschool in Eaton Rapids and offers a program that gives parents and their children an opportunity to share, learn and explore together. The preschool promotes a teacher/parent team approach to education and is financed, administered and maintained by the parents.