This Structure is Just South of Okemos: Did You Ever Wonder What it Was?

WARNING: Under no circumstances should you enter this property. By doing so you risk bodily harm and/or prosecution for trespassing on private property.

Have any of you ever seen this and wondered about it?

Driving between Okemos and Mason on Okemos Road, I usually take notice of a building on the corner of Okemos & Sandhill that looks like it was once a schoolhouse.

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Finally after one of those times passing by, I made a mental note to try and dig up some information on that building and find out what it actually was. All I had to go on was the sign on the front which read: “1900 Wilkins Memorial”. What I discovered.....is that it was never a school at all...it was the Wilkins Memorial Church, built in 1904 by Cynthia Wilkins. She built the church to honor her brother who was killed in an accident on their farm.

The church held Methodist services by a minister from the Okemos-Holt charge. It's very likely that services were held in the afternoon, as the ministers were few and had to space their services from one church to another throughout the day.

The former church is now listed as a residence, sitting among the trees on the corner of Sandhill and Okemos. Below are images of the old building, from the inside to the outside. The interior images were taken when it was listed for sale...it is no longer listed, so do not trespass or invade the property.

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