Standing in front of you is a grand red-brick building with a strong rectangular shape, tall double-hung windows, and a central doorway framed by a stone plaque that proudly reads “LINCOLN SCHOOL 1915”-just look for the bold, classical lines and the symmetrical windows.
Here’s a place with more personalities than your average chameleon. Back in 1915, Owosso had so many students that the town decided it was time to give the tired old Union School a break-so along came this beauty, designed by Samuel Dana Butterworth and built by the Rickman Sons Company. The halls buzzed with schoolkids and the scent of chalk until 1980, when Lincoln School finally hung up its coat as an elementary school. After that, it stopped playing host to spelling bees and instead moonlighted as a storage stash and headquarters for the district’s maintenance crew. In 2005, the building switched gears again, transforming into Lincoln Alternative Education High School, where it welcomed students until 2011-then, just to keep things dramatic, it stood silent and empty for several years. But, like any good underdog story, a transformation was brewing. In 2018, the old school reopened its doors, but this time as Lincoln House Apartments, where the echoes of students’ laughter have been replaced by the clatter of coffee cups and microwaves. From classrooms to cozy homes, this building has truly aced every chapter!
