Friends of Brookside School Cranbrook

08/18/2026

07/29/2026

Classic quote from Brookside School's first headmistress, Jessie T. Winter:

"Poor ventilation and overcrowding in small rooms means not only colds but lowered nerve energy."

07/22/2026

The following is a list of additions and alterations at Brookside School from 1946-1959 as noted by Jessie Winter. It exemplifies her attention to detail and how she oversaw the building and grounds in her final decades as Headmistress at Brookside:

• 1946: Kitchen rebuilt
• 1947: New kitchen equipment installed
• 1948: Cyclone fence installed around Junior Kindergarten play area
• 1949: Back steps built on playground, completed enclosed play area with wire fence, drinking fountain erected on playground
• 1950: New oak bookcases were built for the library, 30 oak desks built in school workshop, partition built in art room
• 1951: Vault built for school records, goal posts installed on playing field
• 1952: Basement under Meeting House remodeled for a rest and dressing room for the kitchen staff, costume storage (Edna Booth oversaw this area) and a music office, cement area added to Senior Kindergarten play area
• 1953: Cabinets built for music instruments, disappearing [sic] basketball basket installed in gymnasium
• 1954: Carved figures on east and west sides of the building were repainted, replaced 110 panes of glass in open court area, replaced steel hot water tank with a copper one, remodeled the apartment for the caretaker/custodian, 30 lockers built for 1st grade on lower level, fire alarm system installed
• 1955: Snow tractor [sic] purchased, fan installed for court, replaced oil burner in Brookside House and replaced fire box in school burner, decorated and refurnished rooms for a lower school library on the lower level
• 1956: New oven purchased for kitchen, dining room linoleum replaced, 3 cupboards built in little dining room, all ceiling panels stripped in gymnasium to prevent falling, 30 lockers installed on 3rd floor, boiler room sump pump replaced
• 1957: Enlarged door opening into the Meeting House, kitchen at Brookside House remodeled, south parking area gate in front of school widened, parking area black topped, cage built around lighting switches on stage
• 1958: Fan installed in kitchen, gas unit heater installed in kitchen
• 1959: Building modernized throughout:. Soundroofed [sic] all classrooms and corridors, modern lighting installed, Interphone [sic] and new office and conference room added.

The above listing was included in John Denio’s research about Jessie’s thirty-nine-year career at Brookside, which he carefully chronicled in spiral bound notebooks, labeled by years covered. These informative treasures are housed in the Cranbrook Archives/Center for Collections and Research.

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07/05/2026

Address by Henry Scripps Booth, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Cranbrook Foundation, given in the Meeting House May 15, 1960

“This is an appropriate time to reminisce a bit about the school where we are meeting. It was not the first, but the third so-called private school to be operated in the area. In the early eighteen hundreds, a tuition-supported school was conducted at the Bloomfield Center because in those pioneer days, there was no public education available to local children. That disappeared when a one-room school was built with public funds, the latter being the sole and limited source of education for many years. Then, Bloomfield Hills Seminary was organized by a few of the suburbanites who had been buying out the farmers. It operated under the direction of Mary Eade on property and in a building George and Ellen Booth provided at Lone Pine and Saginaw Road, now Woodward Avenue. Part of that structure still remains. That school closed because of World War I. In the fall of 1921, Geraldine Chrome Tritton, a former Booth governess, started an educational program for a few youngsters. Before the season was over, however, parents concluded it was again time to formally organize a children’s school. As before, the Booths provided the land and building. Jessie Winter was engaged, and Bloomfield Hills School opened in September 1922. The following spring, the school was temporarily closed when the entire student body of seven was in Florida, but from then on, education was taken more seriously. Each summer, additions to the building were made and George Booth was establishing his Children’s School Trust to furnish protective financial support. This made the original stock corporation quite pointless, so it was soon dissolved and the institution reorganized as Brookside School Cranbrook under a revised trust, with increased endowment and facilities. Through all this, and since, Miss Winter has had a loyal crew and held the wheel firmly and with wisdom. The school’s steady course of educational progress has successfully brought annual cargoes of youngsters from the care-free island of Pre-School as far as the rock, teen-age, outer reefs surrounding Adulthood, where other pilots and crews take over. In recognition of this guidance, the Trustees of The Cranbrook Foundation unanimously adopted the following resolution at their meeting held February 4, 1960:

Brookside School Cranbrook has developed in size, quality and stature from the days in 1922 when it opened the doors of the Meeting House to seven neighborhood youngsters under its original name of Bloomfield Hills School and the leadership of the same person who has been Headmistress of the school since that time. Whereas, She has helped set high educational standards at Cranbrook, which recognize the uniqueness of each student and the contribution he or she can make to society if potential qualities are unearthed, facets of a full life polished and inspiration and proper leadership provided, and because she has seen fit to serve our youngsters with such devotion for many years. Be it Resolved That the Founder’s Medal is hereby awarded to Jessie T. Winter, Headmistress of Brookside School Cranbrook, 1922-1960.
Therefore, on behalf of the Trustees of the Cranbrook Foundation, I award the Founders Medal:

IN RECOGNITION OF SERVICE TO YOUTH
JESSIE WINTER HEADMISTRESS
BROOKSIDE SCHOOL CRANBROOK
1922-1960

06/24/2026

On March 6, 1924, the first issue of The Water Wheel was published. This bi-weekly newsletter, created by the students, was listed as selling for "three cents a copy." The first paragraph was entitled "Our School."

"We. the children of the Bloomfield Hills School [as Brookside was named then], are happy in issuing our first copy of The Water Wheel. This paper will appear bi-weekly until the end of school. We also are very happy to have our new building to work in. There are eight new rooms, two of which are used for work rooms. Here we do our carpenter work, painting, dyeing, and some cooking. There are twenty-seven students enrolled and twenty-three are attending. Several have left for California and other resorts. They will return in the spring to attend the last part of the form. We learn things without knowing we are studying them and thoroughly enjoy it. For instance, our arithmetic consists in buying and selling in our new store. We each have a checking account."

I love the line, "We learn things without knowing we are studying them..." How true of life in general!

Photo courtesy of Cranbrook Archives and Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research

As you must realize by now, I have enjoyed the deep dive into Brookside's history during my research for my book, especially the very early years! I hope that the Brookside aficionados among you are enjoying these "teasers." If you are interested in helping to bring this labor of love to book form, please message me here on Facebook for details.

06/17/2026

September 1927 marked the opening of Cranbrook School for Boys, designed by Eliel Saarinen and built on the site of several original farm structures. Meanwhile, six older girls who remained at the Bloomfield Hills School, as Brookside was now called (also referred to as the Children’s School): Frances Dodge, Catherine Bell, Jeanne Macdonald, Ellen Milotte, Alice Osterman, and Barbara Spalding, comprised the newly designated Girls’ Unit. Financial support from Ellen Booth, using funds from her independent income from her father’s estate, provided some important momentum to begin construction on a school for the girls. The site chosen was an acreage beside the lake. However, due to other areas of expansion on the estate encouraged by her husband, George, including the Institute of Science, construction did not begin immediately.
With the increase in the school’s popularity and the population growth in the area, the attendance once again began to strain the school’s facilities. In the meantime, the Cranbrook Foundation had been organized and the vision for the development of the Cranbrook Community was taking shape.
Enrollment:

1922-1923: Kindergarten-Grade 2: 8
1923-1924: Kindergarten-Grade 6: 25 (no 4th graders)
1924-1925: Kindergarten-Grade 6: 31 (no 4th or 6th graders)
1925-1926: Kindergarten-Grade 7: 39
1926-1927: Kindergarten-Grade 8: 39 (no 6th graders)
1927-1928: Kindergarten-Grade 8: 74
1928-1929: Kindergarten-Grade 9: 91
1929-1930: Kindergarten-Grade 10: 122

In September 1928, The Girls’ Unit began its second year at what was called the Children’s School (Brookside). Josephine H. Waldo was hired with the express purpose to be the teacher for the older girls. Their classrooms were on the second floor of the 1923-1924 addition to the Meeting House.

(Data courtesy of John P. Denio's files)

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06/10/2026

I want to thank ALL of the wonderful people who helped me share the news on Saturday at Kingswood School about OUR - not my - book in progress featuring the cradle of Cranbrook, Brookside School. Many hands helped to set up the display in the Green Lobby and dear friends/former colleagues, Marcy DeCraene, Harriet Hunt, and Nancy Bryant were on hand with me to answer questions and gather lists of those who wish to be notified when the book is finished and ready for purchase. I also want to acknowledge my appreciation for all of those who came by and stopped to listen and learn about what I have been doing for the last three years. The fantastic poster created by Bonnie Detloff Zielinski was the perfect, eye catching centerpiece for our "show and tell." The smiling faces of wonderful friends, former students and faculty members, Cranbrook Schools retired and current faculty, etc., etc., re-energized me for the road still ahead to bring this book to life. Last but NOT least, thank you to the Cranbrook Kingswood Alumni Association for giving me the opportunity to be part of the action!

The 1919 poster below is courtesy of the Cranbrook Archives and Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research

06/04/2026

1935 image Courtesy of Cranbrook Archives, Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research

05/31/2026

Quote from the 1940s section of my book. It's an excerpt from the Spring Summer Edition of the Cranbrook Bulletin 1946. It was written by the senior kindergarten teacher, Miss Irene Crofoot.

"Through experience and adult guidance, children learn to accept certain types of behavior as desirable for group living. Children respect honesty and fair play. A train crew of several boys left their work one morning to build a jail for a playfellow who had deliberately destroyed their coal car. It required tactful guidance to convince them that permitting the offender to repair the damage might make him a better person to live with than putting him in jail.
Brookside believes in a well-rounded development of young children, not as preparation for better living tomorrow but for happier and more vital living today.”

Courtesy of papers found in former Headmaster John P. Denio's files at the Cranbrook Archives, Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research.

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05/30/2026

Projected Table of Contents for Brookside: The Cradle of Cranbrook

Table of Contents

Copyright page
Table of Contents
Frontispiece with Cranbrook Educational Community Timeline
Foreword
Dedication
Introduction
Prologue (late 1800s-1917)

Brookside: The Cradle of Cranbrook

1918-1929
1930s
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s

Appendices:
• A: Adopted Grandparent Program
• B: Authors and Illustrators
• C: Brookside Retiree-Stained Glass Windows
• D: Chapels, Fifth Grade Programs, Spring Festival themes
• E: Daffodil Hill
• F: Empty Bowls Program
• G: Fifth Grade Graduation Dinner Example 2007
• H: FORWARD (Free Opportunity to Read, Write, Act, React, Discover)
• I: Greenfield Village field trips
• J: Halloween at Brookside
• K: Henry S. Booth
• L: Kaleidoscope Themes
• M: Kaleidoscope Watercolor
• N: Learning Experiences
• O: Memories by the Decade
• P: Mother Goose Barge Board and Oriel Window
• Q: Music: Selected Favorites (PDFs)
• R: Namtenga Project
• S: Playground Images Over the Years
• T: Snake Rock

Afterword
Acknowledgements
Bibliography
Brookside Owl
Index (needs to be created)

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