The first school began in Pickford in the year 1880 when Miss Emma Pickford, later Mrs. Pascoe, taught a group of children in a log building on the corner lot where the former County Garage now stands.  This, however, was not an organized school.  About 1882 a School Board was organized and a building erected on the northwest corner of the farm now owned by John Stirling, Jr.  Some of the earliest Board Members were William Best, Richard Rye, C. W. Pickford, and William Gough.  The first teacher in the organized school was Miss Millie Earl, later Mrs. A. W. Taylor.  About 1886 that building was moved to the site where the garage owned by Morrell Thompson is now located.

About this same time many schools were started in the surrounding area:  the Kennedy School, Roe, Roosevelt or Lindberg, and Blairville Schools were some of the earliest outlying schools.

About 1900 there were more children than the one- room building would accommodate and plans were made for a four-room school.  In 1903 a fraction of Marquette Township was added and the four-room frame building erected.  Then in 1909 the Ninth and Tenth grades were added.  In the year 1917, the frame building burned to the ground and the students were moved into buildings around town for the remainder of the year.

In the spring of 1917 a bond issue for building a new two-story brick building was turned down.  The upstairs of Fred Taylor’s Hardware was rented and divided into four classrooms.  Mr. McCullough was the first man to organize a basketball team and Harold Taylor was captain.

In the spring of 1920 a bond issue passed and a one-story four-room building was erected on the site of the present elementary building.  This building was destroyed by fire February 19, 1922.  Fortunately, there were enough public-spirited citizens to roll up their sleeves and start out again on a drive for another $20,000.  When the issue passed the present two-story elementary building was erected on the same foundation on which the burned building had been standing.

In 1921, Pickford became a 12 grade school and a class of six students graduated in 1922.

In 1923, Pickford High School was put on the University of Michigan approved list.

Schools in the outlying areas were gradually closed and the students bussed to the town school.

In 1936 Pickford became a Rural Agricultural School District.  The present high school building was built in 1938 and the Morrison Gymnasium, locker rooms, offices and heating system were built in 1956.