Trombly Elementary School

The original Robert Trombly School was built at the corner of Jefferson and Beaconsfield in 1903. Its four classrooms, five teachers, and principal served around one hundred students. The school’s namesake, Robert Trombly, was the Grosse Pointe Town-ship justice of the peace beginning in 1884. He was later president of Grosse Pointe Park Village and spent thirty years on the school board. Built to replace the older structure, this school was constructed in two phases in 1927 and 1930 at a cost of $423,301. Unusual for an elementary school of this time period, the building features a sizeable auditorium with a projection room. It was the only elementary school with an auditorium in the Grosse Pointe district as of 2023. The auditorium originally served as the area’s first movie theater. This school was designed in a Tudor-Gothic style by the Detroit-based architectural firm Smith, Hinchman, and Grylls. The roof is full slate, and the ornate steeple is clad in copper. The kindergarten classroom features tiles produced by the Flint Faience and Tile Company, which began making its ceramic tiles in 1921 using the kilns of the Champion Ignition Company. The tile production allowed the kilns to run all night, preventing damage caused by the cooling and heating process of being shut off at the end of each day. Production of the tiles ended in 1933 due to the increased demand for sparkplugs. Storybook tiles in the kindergarten classroom surround the fireplace and depict a variety of animals and scenes from classic fairy tales and children’s stories.