The origins of this activity go back to 1939, when there were several children in the County House orphaned by the death of their parents in the 1838 Detroit cholera epidemic and the County House was the only place of refuge. This was an obligation provided for in the laws of 1838 whereby the Superintendents of the Poor were obliged to look after the education of all children under their charge between the ages of five and sixteen. It was required that the County wards be taught and educated in the same manner as other children in the primary schools of the State. A room was set apart; the children were assembled for school; and the Keeper or some of his associates looked after the schooling. The duty generally fell to the seamstress, a position dating from the time the Poorhouse was opened. In 1858 the first separate school building was constructed 148 feet northwest of the County House at the edge of the woods.

In 1861 a bill was introduced into the State Legislature which created the Wayne County House as a school district, and the Superintendents of the Poor constituted the District Board. It became known as School District #10 of Nankin and, as such, received primary school money. In 1864 the school house was destroyed by fire; and the schoolroom was moved to the attic of the main building, the County House. In 1880 a brick building was constructed behind the County House as a school building, consisting of an upper floor dormitory and a lower floor dormitory for boys and the schoolroom proper. The school continued to exist until 1887, when it received the last of the primary school money and ceased to exist as a School District. By 1895 only 12 children over five and under sixteen remained in the Institution and schools. The schoolhouse was torn down in 1931.