The desire to move away from urban centers such as Detroit toward quiet, peaceful communities that helped families recapture some of the innocence of pre-war living prompted a flood of persons to take up residence in West Bloomfield Township. Indeed, the population of the township more than doubled in the years between 1940 and 1960. The township's boom led to many changes in the community's educational offerings. Because of overlapping boundaries, West Bloomfield Township residents found their children attending any one of seven separate school districts: the Farmington Schools to the south; the Walled Lake district to the west; the Bloomfield Hills and Birmingham school districts to the east; Pontiac and Waterford to the north; and the West Bloomfield School system, serving a majority of the residents' school-age children.