PHOTOS: A Historical School Bus Pictorial

This 1930s photo shows a bus and students from Little Lake, Michigan. Douglas Zimmerman, transportation director at Gwinn (Mich.) Area Community Schools, submitted the shot, which is from the archives of the Forsyth Township Historical Society.

William L. Roenigk Sr.’s pupil transportation business began when he bought his first bus, a 1948 Ford, and contracted with the Buffalo Township (Pa.) Consolidated School, now known as the Freeport Area School District. Today, W.L. Roenigk Inc., which now has more than 900 school buses, continues to serve the Freeport district. Company President Sue Roenigk sent the photo.

School bus driver Harvell McElroy talks with kindergartners in Waterford, California, in the 1954-55 school year. The photo was submitted by Suzanne Bauer, director of transportation for Waterford Unified School District.

Some buses have horsepower; this one had mule-power! North Carolina pupils packed into the wagon for the ride to school. State pupil transportation director Derek Graham submitted the circa-1910 shot.

This wooden-body school bus was used to transport pupils in Wayne County, North Carolina, in the 1920s and ’30s. This photo was also sent by Graham.

Kenworth is well known today as a truck manufacturer, but the company (a division of PACCAR) also has a history of building school buses. Dale Puhrmann, a national sales manager for TRP Bus Parts (also a division of PACCAR), submitted this shot of circa-1950 Kenworth-Pacific buses.

Students arrive for the opening of Herbert Hoover High School in Clendenin, West Virginia, in September 1963. The photo was sent by Brette Fraley, executive director of transportation at Kanawha County (W.Va.) Schools.

High school shop students work on a Kanawha County (W.Va.) Schools bus in this photo, submitted by Fraley.

This wintry 1960s photo shows a Superior school bus operated by West Aurora (Ill.) School District 129. Lynn Head, the district’s director of transportation, sent the shot.

Here, a 1963 Carpenter school bus on a Chevrolet chassis, operated by Deerfield-Highland Park (Ill.) Transit (now Olson Transportation), prepares to cross railroad tracks. The photo was sent by Ray Olson, who now runs the company with his brothers.

Remember when school bus seats had an exposed metal bar at the top? Seat padding has come a long way since then. Derek Graham sent this photo.

Drivers from Northshore School District in Bothell, Washington, pose for a photo next to Crown school buses in 1974. Transportation Manager Connie Noll notes that the taller woman who is 11th from the right, Carol Crook, is still driving for the district.

This photo, taken in 1980, shows a 1969 Blue Bird school bus on a Dodge chassis. David Farley, shop foreman at Oregon’s Salem-Keizer Public Schools, sent the shot.