Innovative education has been connected to this site ever since the Union School opened in 1856 as a school for all grades. Ann Arbor’s Argus newspaper reported people “moving here to take advantage of our model Union School.” After the elementary grades moved out in the 1860s, it became Ann Arbor High School. A preparatory school for the university, it had dedicated teachers, challenging classes, and advanced equipment and books. Science teacher Horatio Chute designed comprehensive courses in physics, astronomy, and chemistry that were copied all over the country.
After the old building burned in 1904, the 1907 building featured cutting-edge Chute-designed laboratories, a gymnasium, expanded vocational courses, and an attached public Carnegie Library that was shared with the school. The Daily Times proudly declared it “the finest public school building in Michigan, if not in the United States.”
In 1956 Ann Arbor High School moved to its new building on West Stadium, later renamed Pioneer High School. UM had bought the old school and library buildings and named them to honor former Professor Henry Simmons Frieze. Classrooms were used mainly for theater, social work, and languages. Trueblood Auditorium and the Arena Theater provided space for training and performances. The buildings were demolished in 2007 to erect “North Quad,” combined dorm and academic buildings mixing students’ living and learning spaces. The facade of the Carnegie Library on Huron Street and architectural elements from the old high school were integrated into the new buildings.