By Hannah Haviland

Kentwood Public School’s fifth graduating class came together recently to celebrate their 50th anniversary. The year: 1967, when Aretha Franklin was singing for respect, the first Boeing 737 rolled out, and Paris township became the City of Kentwood.

“They incorporated all the schools that were connected and became part of Kentwood Public Schools which eventually lead into the City of Kentwood,” said Clare Harrington.

The old classmates were eager to recount stories from their time at Kentwood schools. These memories backtrack to a time before Kentwood was even a city.

“The high school was actually in the Townline building at the same time we were in the middle school before the actual high school was built on 44th Street,” Russ Bullis said.

Later, the students would move from the Townline Elementary School to the new high school, today’s Crestwood Middle School located on 44th Street near Walma Avenue. Crestwood, which opened in 1960, housed students in grades 7th – 12th grade. The first Kentwood Public Schools graduating class was in 1963. East Kentwood High School, located on Kalamazoo Avenue, was built in 1969 and even through the Class of 1967 had graduated by the time the high school was built, many of the students could recall special events that took place at East Kentwood High School.

“I remember when the football field went in and the track, and they named it after Patterson,” said Steve Barnes, whose mother is credited in naming the City of Kentwood and whose father, Clifford, was on the Kentwood Public Schools Board of Education. Clifford Barnes served as the first board president. “And that was something big because we didn’t even have that.”

“We were a country school, bottom line,” Harrington said. “It was because of the country setting that we had there for Kentwood High School, they used to call us ‘silo high.'”

But nobody would call Kentwood Schools “silo high” now. The population of this city is 50,000 and growing. And much of that growth can be credited to former Kentwood students who chose to stay and build their lives in their home city.

“I’m just glad that I was a part of it because it’s kinda unique to see it happen,” Harrington said. “Now look at Kentwood today, it’s one of the industrial giants that we have around the whole Grand Rapids area.”