Cultivating Heritage of Bowers Farm
Timeline of Bowers School Farm
A learning farm, how Bowers Farm came to be . .
The Outdoor Education Committee of the Bloomfield Hills Schools Board of Education started the education curriculums in the 1960’s. In 1967, John Bartley, a construction supervisor from Mt. Clemens, Michigan, became the first farm manager, or “school farmer,” living on the property with his wife and children. He was paid $3 an hour, and in exchange, he restored the barn, managed the land, and welcomed school groups.
From 1967 to 1970, Bartley lived rent-free in a small cottage, often working with students to teach them about cows, farming, and nature. He’d even joke with the children, telling them that brown cows produced brown milk. To support his family, Bartley rented out stalls in the barn for people who boarded horses.
Over the years, Bowers School Farm became an integral part of the curriculum, where students learned everything from identifying plants and animals to tending gardens.
Today, the farm still serves as an outdoor classroom for generations of students, community gardeners, and summer camp participants. Jill Ludington, Bartley’s daughter, reflects with pride on her father’s dream, saying, “He had a vision for this land, and it came true. His dream is still alive today.”
Why is the farm named Bowers School Farm?
Dr. Charles L. Bowers, M.D., a local resident, served on the Bloomfield Hills Board of Education from 1960 to 1979, including three terms as President. He played a key role in creating the School Farm, Nature Center, and Radio Station, and chaired the Outdoor Education Committee, which helped establish the BHS agriculture curriculum. Superintendent Dr. Fred Thorin praised him as the driving force behind these initiatives. Following his death in 1984, the Board of Education renamed the School Farm in his honor in 1985.
More information about Charles Bowers:
Dr. Charles L. Bowers grew up in Pontiac, Michigan, spending much of his youth on his grandfather’s farm near New Hudson. His grandmother was a full-blooded Chippewa Indian. A high school athlete, he attended the University of Michigan on a football scholarship before serving in World War II. As a Major, he received the Bronze Star for his service as a medical administrator with the 35th Evacuation Hospital in England, France, Belgium, and Germany. After the war, he returned to the University of Michigan, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in 1947, then graduated from Wayne State University School of Medicine in 1951.
Dr. Bowers established his private medical practice in 1954, practicing as a general practitioner in the Pontiac area for 30 years. He married Charlotte Tiffany in 1942, and together they had three sons—Jim, Tom, and Pete—who continue to visit and support Bowers Farm today. On the school board, Dr. Bowers created the Youth Leadership Conference and was awarded the Distinguished Service Award in 1980 for his dedicated service to the school district. In 1975, he received the Birmingham-Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce’s “First Citizen Award” for his community service.
In 1986, the Bloomfield Hills Rotary Club, of which Dr. Bowers was a Charter Member, built a gazebo at the School Farm in his honor. The gazebo was dedicated to his memory as a gift to the students and residents of the Bloomfield Hills School District.
Summary of land acquisition:
The Bowers School Farm was developed over more than 50 years through four acquisitions, spanning from the original Dowling and Beardslee properties in 1857, to the present 90-acre site.
First Acquisition (1967): In January 1967, Sydney G. Dowling sold 47.9 acres to Wm. Pulte, who planned to develop it into a residential subdivision. However, due to high development costs, Pulte sold nearly 47 acres to the Bloomfield Hills School District (BHS), including the barn and outbuildings. The sale price was not listed.
Second Acquisition (1975): In 1975, BHS purchased 7.04 acres from the Michigan State Highway Commission for $80,000. This land had been used during I-75 construction and provided frontage on Square Lake Road. It was here that BHS built the Bowers Academy building.
Third Acquisition (1981-1992): BHS acquired 33.48 acres from the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) through a land contract in 1981, with the deed finalized in 1992 for $243,900. This expanded the farm’s eastern boundary.
Fourth Acquisition (2020): The final purchase involved the remainder of the MDOT property, a small triangular parcel near the highway.
Find out details of the history of Michigan and Bloomfield with the Bloomfield Historical Society here.
Bowers Academy for at-risk students
The district later added a high school to the property without disturbing the farmland. Bowers Academy, an alternative high school, was established on the site of a former cow milking shed and graduated its first senior class in 1998.
Bowers Academy serves at-risk students with a focus on place-based learning, as explained by Teaching Administrator Aileen Myer. “We’re deeply rooted in the community,” says Myer. “Place-based learning encourages students to engage with their surroundings and learn from them, which is especially unique because we’re on a farm.”
In 2020, the school had 24 students, 16 of whom were seniors who graduated. "We offer non-traditional learning experiences to help students who don’t fit the typical mold build a sense of community while earning credits to finish high school," Myer said.
The Academy occupies a small portion of the farm, leaving the majority of the land intact. Students attend Bowers Academy for one to three years, completing their high school education in a supportive, rural setting with small class sizes.
Fond Memories from a student:
One of the many district graduates who has fond memories of the farm is Adam Krauss, who is now 35 years old, was graduated from Bloomfield Lahser High School in 2003, and now lives in Akron, Ohio, where he is a defense contractor. Krauss said the farm is where he learned to milk a cow and learn about the miracle of birth by seeing newborn piglets. His first visit to the farm was in kindergarten, and he said he loved it. He gladly went back many times over his 13 years in the district to attend teen dances, cross country ski, and even earn his Eagle Scout Badge in 2002 for clearing brush away from the fence along Square Lake Road for a better view of the farm.
“I’m thrilled they have that farm,” Krauss says. Unless you’re in 4H or grow up in farm country, you don’t get that opportunity” to experience farm life as part of a school curriculum.
Ludington says she is delighted the property is used as both a learning center by the entire district for class trips and camps, but also as a high school for at-risk students, for she herself earned a GED (general equivalency degree) and raised an at-risk son.
“We lived here for three years,” says Ludington of the farm. “It was an adventure.” But her father’s dream job as school farmer ended in December of 1970 when the district decided, Ludington says, to replace him with a more educated person.
The pitchfork has been passed to a handful of farm managers over the years who had better credentials but shared Bartley’s same vision for farm-based education.
The farm is bustling with life, home to goats, horses, turkeys, rabbits, and other livestock. Students from all grade levels visit for field trips with their teachers, while high school students engage in agriscience and animal science programs. In addition, students participate in special events such as fall festivals and winter park activities. Occasionally, farm educators visit local schools to assist with garden projects. Summer farm camps offer hands-on experiences for area children, teaching them about animal care and agriculture.
In the broader community, master gardeners design and maintain the farm’s gardens, and other local gardeners rent plots to cultivate their own crops. The community stops by to purchase fresh eggs and produce and other local farm stand items, while others rent the activity barn for meetings, teen dances, weddings, or reunions. The farm's gazebo is also a popular spot for children’s birthday parties.
The Educational Building and Facility Today
The current classroom building, constructed in 2010 and geothermal heating, a year-round greenhouse, and indoor learning spaces, including a kitchen and meeting areas. The design aims to provide a calming, open space that fosters a relaxed, yet effective, learning environment.
Jim Bowers, son of Dr. Charles L. Bowers—after whom the farm is named—was one of the architects for the project. Dr. Bowers chaired the district's Outdoor Education Committee in 1969 and was on the School Board when John Bartley was hired to run the farm. The committee envisioned the farm as an outdoor classroom where students could engage with nature, catch polliwogs, ride horses, grow plants, and use all five senses to explore agriculture. It was designed as a space for archery, land surveying, and hiking, encouraging hands-on learning in the great outdoors.
Find out details of the history of the relocated houses on the property here.