Girls at the WCTS July 4th, 1931

          In 1923 a site was purchased in Northville, ³⁵  and it officially opened September 2, 1926. ³⁶  The county supervisors created the school’s administration as a new, autonomous department within county government apart from the jail, asylum, and poorhouse. Though many training schools existed in America, no other such institution was ever incepted by voter referendum, nor has another county government ever operated its own training school, or even attempted to do so. It was a boldly progressive move on the part of Wayne County, one that arrested the attention of the mental health and educational communities for decades.

          WCTS was also the first training school to limit its admissions to only county residents, and was the first to cater to only the “educable” feebleminded. WCTS was designed to transcend, and bring about the end of, the classic “cradle to grave” institution by maintaining a high turnover rate. Youths would be paroled back into a useful place in society within one to three years. This usually meant some kind of job placement, arranged with the employer by the school while the child was still in training. Once the child demonstrated independence at that job, the parole ended. The key to the WCTS's fast turnover rate would be early diagnosis; it was believed that the earlier “feebleminded” children could be caught the more salvageable they were, and thus an upper age limit for admissions was imposed.

          Another vital difference between the WCTS and the traditional institutions like Lapeer was that many children at WCTS were actually still supported financially by their parents in whole or in part, whereas most other training school residents were full wards. Furthermore, at Lapeer, only about 30% of admissions were intelligent enough to warrant attending school, whereas at WCTS, 80-90% could profit from a full week of academic lessons. For maximum efficiency class sizes were kept small at WCTS; 20 pupils per room was the limit. ³⁷  The teaching staff was highly specialized, and the WCTS was very fortunate in that the Wayne County Supervisors permitted teacher salaries from $1,200 to $2,000 in addition to room and board. The overall financial advantages granted to WCTS by the county were nearly 80% greater than those granted to Lapeer by the state, according to one article. ³⁸

Boys in the WCTS Industrial School 1967

          Among the skills taught at the WCTS were shoe repair, baking, the building trades, furniture making, tailoring, horticulture and farming, music, tool and die making, and grounds keeping. There was even a printing shop with presses and instruction in typesetting, which undoubtedly would have won the approval of Fr. Richard. By 1937, there were 40 trades being taught at the WCTS. ³⁹  It should be noted that in fact much of the school’s own daily operations were conducted by young apprentices from its student body, including several who worked alongside the WCTS's fire department, janitors, and engineers. This helped to make the institution self-supporting and offset the costs of operation to a small degree.

          The Wayne County Supervisors made a visit to WCTS in October of each year to check on the progress of the institution firsthand. In 1931, Dr. Haskell explained before the dinner party that their visit was one of the “big days” of the year at WCTS, and that the meal had been totally prepared by the children of the institution. Mrs. Jeanie Beattie, an original member of the WCTS's administrative board said that “in many ways, the school is the finest thing of its kind in the world and the results secured are amazing.” After dinner, the party saw exhibits and demonstrations ranging from baked goods to flowers and plants from the greenhouse, shoes repaired by the boys, and a plumbing exhibit “that would have done credit to a big shop.” There was “an electrical exhibit that an expert had looked over the wiring and its many complications and said that it was all of the finest possible workmanship and that after hours of study of every minute part, he could not find a single thing to criticize.” The wives of the Supervisors “exclaimed with delight” at the dresses made there by the girls. “Articles of furniture looked as though they came straight from Grand Rapids factories.” There were “fine specimens of basketry, well done tailoring jobs, and a big array of printed matter that was very creditable.” ⁴⁰  The aim was not to give them “busy work,” but to make them masters of a chosen craft, and to spur them on to accomplishments of which they could be proud. ⁴¹

          In its heyday, WCTS graduates were actually said to have been highly sought-after in certain fields of employment, especially those trained as machinists. A plethora of newspaper articles exist describing the occasional craft shows and state fairs that the school would compete in. Often they would set up displays in high profile places in the city to show off and demonstrate their handiwork. One particular such exhibit was set up in March of 1932 in a ballroom of the Statler Hotel. According to the Detroit Times, the display attracted “much attention,” even on a Saturday night in one of the world's ritziest hotels. ⁴²  There was a walnut coffee table with filigree carving and a removable top that served as a tray made by a 16-year-old boy, stated Mildred Ainsworth, WCTS supervisor of parole work. There was also a very impressive sewing cabinet with drop leaves and several compartmented drawers. Ainsworth commented, “When these children leave the school, they are equipped to earn their living. Many of the girls go into domestic service and the boys into factories or farms, under our supervision. One boy graduate of the school is...employed in one of the large city bakeries.” ⁴³  Dr. Haskell spoke of him proudly as an expert baker of fine pastries. ⁴⁴

Detroit Times