Washtenaw County's Pumpkin College School

Dusty Diary was researching Ann Arbor Township's Popkins School last Friday. I had found an intriguing attendance sheet for said school in the family file of J. R. Mowry, whose diary I'd been reading for possible serialization here...the usual daisy chain of odd connections leading to new things.

In the "Rural Schools" subject file, I found a 1943 copy of "Washtenaw Impressions," the publication of the Washtenaw Historical Society. It offers highlights from a community history project involving students in Washtenaw County's 129 (!) rural schools that culminated in a two-volume, 500-page history. (Wish I knew where THAT is).

One of the Lyndon Township schools summarized in Impressions bears the unlikely moniker of "Pumpkin College School." Even more unlikely are the apocryphal stories offered as explanation for its name.

Pumpkin College School

"The origin of the name of this school is undetermined. The most likely story is that a young pupil drew a picture of a pumpkin on the building. Another story is that in the old log building lived an old man who called on the teacher. His head was bald and the pupils called him "Pumpkin-head." Another is the building is near a pumpkin field, and when two men were shingling the school, one asked who went to this school, and the other answered, "Pumpkins." Still another story says that one summer a pumpkin vine grew in the window and a ripe pumpkin grew on the end of it, and when school started that fall the children called it 'Pumpkin College'."

Let's examine these dubious claims one by one.

1. The most likely story is that a young pupil drew a picture of a pumpkin on the building.

Why would this be the most likely story? It doesn't seem likely at all. Since when are students in the habit of graffiti-ing their schoolhouses? Never heard of that before.

2. Another story is that in the old log building lived an old man who called on the teacher. His head was bald and the pupils called him "Pumpkin-head."

This also seems unlikely. The teacher at Popkins School was an 18 year old woman. I really doubt the community would have taken kindly to a young unmarried teacher sparking with an 'old man.' And I don't see why the school would be named for the teacher's alleged aged beau.

3. Another is the building is near a pumpkin field, and when two men were shingling the school, one asked who went to this school, and the other answered, "Pumpkins."

The possible presence of a nearby pumpkin field as a source for the school's name is certainly more convincing than any other explanation thus far, but the convenient device of two guys shingling the roof seems apocryphal. Presumably they were shingling the school after hours; who would have overheard them?

4. Still another story says that one summer a pumpkin vine grew in the window and a ripe pumpkin grew on the end of it, and when school started that fall the children called it 'Pumpkin College'."

Maybe. Here's another reference to nearby pumpkin fields, which I have to conclude, after shaving away those ridiculous fantasies with Occam's razor, is the most obvious and likely explanation for the name.

School didn't exactly start in the fall, however; but that's a story for another time.