USA > Minnesota > Redwood County > The history of Redwood County, Minnesota, Volume I > Part 28
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In 1905 and 1906 all the schools, but one, in the county had good libraries which were very helpful. The heating and venti- lation questions reported a marked improvement. Twelve rural schools had furnaces and fifty-seven used a Manuel-Smith system with good results, which left twenty-eight districts which still used the stove without any means of ventilation. The teachers employed in Redwood county in 1905 held higher certificates on an average than any other county in the state.
In 1906 there was paid for teachers' salaries for rural school teachers $38,886, who had under their charge 3,093 pupils, while the city and village teachers received in salaries $24,682 for teach- ing 2,112 pupils.
July 13, 1908, the board appropriated $75 to be spent for a Children's Agricultural Contest to be held under the supervision of the county superintendent of schools. On Jan. 5, 1909, an ap- propriation of $150 was made for a Children's Industrial Contest.
H. J. Bebermeyer, county superintendent, says in his report for 1910 that in Redwood county there were 113 school districts com- prising 117 separate schools. The different kinds of schools were : two high schools, six graded schools, eight semi-graded schools, one hundred and three rural schools.
The efficiency of the teachers continued yearly to improve. Teachers' meetings were held on Saturdays in the various parts of the county and these meetings were followed by one meeting for the entire county. In 1910, the percentage of teachers holding first grade certificates was from sixty to 75.
The Redwood county superintendent in his report for 1912 said that about seventy per cent of the teachers in the county held first grade certificates. During the past three years a teach- ers' training department had been in session in the Redwood Falls high school. Thus far all graduated from this department were also graduates from this or some other high school. Nearly all were teaching in the county and were doing excellent work. Thus these departments were supplying the need of professionally trained teachers for the rural schools.
In 1914 the average monthly wages of men teachers in the rural schools in Redwood county were $65, and the average monthly wages of women teachers were $51.
At the present time there are 110 districts in the county, three having recently consolidated with others so that there no longer
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exists Districts Nos. 41, 91 and 93. There are now, in the county eleven graded and high school buildings, thirteen semi-graded buildings which consist of two rooms or more, seven of these being in the open country and the rest in small villages, and ninety-two one-room buildings. The high schools are at Redwood Falls, Lamberton, Belview, Sanborn, Walnut Grove and Morgan. The graded schools not giving full high school work are at Wa- basso, Delhi and Wanda. The four consolidated districts are at Lamberton, Redwood Falls, Wanda and Walnut Grove, a fifth one at Delhi having voted to consolidate will be ready for work in September, 1917. The semi-graded schools are at Clements, Lucan, Milroy, Revere, Seaforth, Vesta, District No. 7 in New Avon township, District No. 19 in North Hero township, District No. 27 in Sundown township, District No. 49 in Brookville town- ship, District No. 67 in Willow Lake township, District No. 70 in Sheridan township and District No. 78 in Waterbury township.
During the year 1915-16 there were 5,552 pupils enrolled in the schools of the county, 2,313 of which were in graded and high schools and the rest in rural and semi-graded schools. The aver- age length of the school term was eight and one-half months, or 170 days, out of which the average days attended by each pupil was 126.9, as compared with 123 for 1914-15, 121 for 1913-14, and 119 for 1912-13. There were in 1915-16, 180 teachers in all the schools of the county, the average monthly salary in graded and high schools being $86 and in rural and semi-graded being $63, making an average for the county of $75. The average monthly wages for men in the high and graded schools was $108.50, for women $63.50; in rural and semi-graded, for men $69, and for women $57.
The qualifications of the teachers employed in the rural schools are improving from year to year. At the present time all the teachers of the rural and semi-graded schools hold a first grade certificate with the exception of four who hold a complete second- grade. Out of the 122 teachers at the present time in the rural and semi-graded schools, seven are state normal school graduates, nineteen have attended a state normal school and seventy-seven are graduated from a high school normal training department, making a total of 102 having had special professional training, only three of which have had their professional work outside of the state of Minnesota. There are no men teachers in the rural schools and only three men are employed in the semi-graded, these being principals. In the high and graded schools there are fifteen men, leaving a total of 180 women teachers in the county.
One great drawback to the progress which the schools should make is the constant changing of teachers. In the school year 1915-16 there were only forty teachers who had been in the same district three years or more; forty-three who had been in the
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same district two years, and one hundred and fifteen who had been in the same district only one year.
All the districts lend free text books. Every school in the county has a library, and during 1915-16, 20,835 of these were loaned for reading purposes. Every school has a bubbling drink- ing fountain, providing a sanitary method of furnishing water for the school children.
All the schools in 1915-16 received state aid except two, both of which have voted to fit up to meet the requirements and will make application for state aid for 1916-17.
Three things needed for an improvement in the physical sur- roundings of the schoolhouses of the county are : grounds fenced, trees, and concealed entrances to the outhouses. Last year there were 277 trees planted. Thirty-two districts have the grounds fenced and as many more have fences on three sides. A number of school yards are surrounded by shade trees and some have planted groves for protection on the north and west sides.
There are sixty-four of the rural schools that have furnished better facilities for the children washing their hands at school by providing a wash basin, liquid soap, and paper towels; about half of the remaining number use individual linen towels. A few schools use the family linen towels, and the rest use the danger- ous, germ laden, disease spreading common towel.
The superintendents report for the year closing 1915 shows the following facts. The aggregate indebtedness of all districts was $216,193.82; spent for teachers' salaries, $105,105.93; spent for new schoolhouses and sites, $20,674.62; the county as a whole received from the state for apportionment, $28,597.26; for special state aid, $37,227.22; and the total number of voters present at the annual meeting in the entire county was 1,545 persons.
When the state of Minnesota was organized, sections 16 and 36 of every township in the state were set aside as school prop- erty. This land has gradually been sold and the money put into a permanent state school fund. Valuable mineral has been found on much of this land, which makes the school fund limitless and inexhaustible. The interest only from this fund is used, out of which the apportionment maney for each pupil attending school a certain number of days each year is paid. This amounts to about $6, on the average, for every pupil each year. The state aid money to schools is paid out of the annual fund which is appro- priated by the legislature at each session. This money is derived from taxes on all taxable property. The larger percentage of this fund is paid by the three largest cities and the large corpora- tions of the state. There is also a one mill local tax which is collected from and paid back to each individual district. Any other tax paid is the amount that is voted by the patrons at the annual school meeting for the running expenses of their school.
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The school grounds average about one acre in size. In nearly all the districts where new buildings have been erected or old ones remodeled they have provided two acres, a portion of which is used for lawn and landscape garden, some for school gardens and the rest for play grounds, many of which are equipped with teeter boards, swings, turning poles, giant strides, and other playground apparatus. Provision is also made for various games, such as croquet, tennis, basket ball and volley ball.
Redwood county, being one of the older counties of the state, has many old one-room rural schoolhouses, but these are rapidly being replaced by up-to-date modern buildings. Since 1905 there have been thirty-six new buildings erected and ten old ones re- modeled. Of these new one-room buildings nearly all have pro- vided for a full basement, two cloak rooms, a large library room and a store room. In the past three years five two-room rural schools have been erected where before one-room schools existed. These two-teacher, or semi-graded, schools have added much to the opportunities of the pupils living in the country. Most of these two-room school buildings are so constructed that the parti- tion separating the class rooms rolls or folds up, thus providing a large auditorium for neighborhood gatherings. District 27 in Sundown township went further than this when it built its two- room school. This is a two story building with a community room, kitchen and library on the second floor. The schoolhouse has become the center of the township's social life. They have an annual township fair held there, and among other events of the year which take place at the schoolhouse is a farmers' institute.
Only twenty-two schools in the county still have double seats, while twenty-three other schools are still using some double seats, but these are rapidly being replaced by single ones. If the two schools that are planning to secure state aid for 1916-17 for the first time succeed in their efforts, every school building in the county will have an approved system of ventilation. These sys- tems consist of steam heat and forced air ventilation, or hot air furnace and a gravity system of ventilation, or patented room heaters. A number of the latter have been in use for many years and more modern systems are gradually being installed in their place.
The oldest schoolhouse in the county is in District 9, in Morgan township, erected in 1876. The schoolhouses erected or remodeled since 1905 are: No. 1 (remodeled), No. 2, No. 4, No. 5, No. 7, No. 8, No. 13, No. 14 (remodeled), No. 19, No. 21, No. 23, No. 24. No. 27, No. 28 (two buildings), No. 30, No. 31 (one building and one remodeled), No. 33, No. 39, No. 42, No. 44, No. 47, No. 48, No. 49 (remodeled), No. 50, No. 51, No. 56 (remodeled), No. 67 (remodeled), No. 69 (remodeled), No. 70 (remodeled), No. 74 (remodeled), No. 77 (remodeled), No. 78, No. 81, No. 82, No. 86,
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No. 94, No. 95, No. 97, No. 101, No. 106, No. 110, No. 111, No. 112 and No. 113.
There are two teachers in the schools of Districts 7, 15, 19, 26, 27, 49, 67, 70, 78, 104 and 108. There are three teachers in the schools of Districts 95 and 102.
During the past year there were nine districts which, at public expense, transported all or part of its pupils. Nearly half of the schools have barns on the school grounds, for the accommodation of the pupils who drive to school.
No county examinations are given in Redwood county. Pro- motion from the eighth grade depends upon the results of the state board examinations which are held twice a year in each township in the county. The state requirements for eighth grade graduation are rigidly inforced, no pupil being granted a diploma without four of the required state board certificates.
Nearly all the rural and semi-graded schools do something along the lines of elementary agriculture, sewing and manual training.
Redwood conducts an annual acre corn contest, an annual pig contest, a bread-making contest and a spelling contest, the winners of which represent the county at the state contests. In addition to this contest work, Redwood county has an annual township school day. On this day all of the schools of each town- ship meet at some central schoolhouse with the school officers and patrons of the township. Half of the day is devoted to school contest work, the other half to a joint program. At noon a town- ship picnic dinner is served. This day has grown to be the red letter day of the school year in every township. Each school puts up, at the meeting place, an exhibit of the pupils' work, thus affording the patrons an opportunity to make a comparative study of the work done in the various schools. The schools of the county have erected a school exhibit building at the county fair grounds at Redwood Falls. In this building at the time of the county fair all the schools of the county are given an opportunity to exhibit work which has been done during the previous school year. This county school exhibit affords an excellent opportunity for the patrons from the different parts of the county to study and compare the work which is being done by the schools.
Education is no longer thought to consist only of the work done in the schoolroom with the children. A broader view is being universally accepted and rapidly adopted in Redwood county. The people of various sections are forming themselves into clubs, the aim and purpose of which is general improvement of its mem- bers, together with civic and farm improvement. There were thirteen active adult club organizations, aside from churches and lodges, in the county during 1915-16. The majority of these club meetings were held at the schoolhouses.
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The supervising of the rural and semi-graded schools is done by a county superintendent of schools, elected at large by the people. The graded and high schools, unless consolidated, are not directly under the supervision of the county superintendent of schools, but are supervised by local principals or city superin- tendents. The consolidated schools are under joint supervision of the county and city superintendent. The supervision of rural and semi-graded schools is very inadequate, as this work in Red- wood county is done by one individual, the county superintendent, who, besides, performs the many other duties connected with that office. This means that there are 111 schools, most of which are at least three miles apart, left to the care and responsibility of one person. From this it will be readily seen that there can be no real supervision in these schools. The city and graded schools employ teachers with better qualifications and usually more ma- ture than the rural and semi-graded ones. Yet each of these same high and graded schools employ a well trained superintendent who devotes his entire time and attention to his own individual school. It seems an injustice to the boys and girls who happen to live in the rural district that they should be taught, oftentimes, by immature teachers having little training, without more direct supervision than is possible under the present system. Many of the states have already adopted plans to provide for several super- visors for each county in that state. During the school year 1915- 1916 the superintendent of Redwood county made 240 visits, an average of between two and three visits to each school. If some plan could be adopted whereby the rural schools could have as much supervision as the village schools, what wonders might be accomplished with the children in the country !
The parochial schools of the county are located as follows: Norwegian Lutheran, in the village of Belview, District 74; Swedish Lutheran, in the village of Belview, District 74; Nor- wegian Lutheran, in District 10 in Swedes Forest township; Nor- wegian Lutheran, in District 52 in Swedes Forest township; Nor- wegian Lutheran, in District 5 in Swedes Forest township; German Lutheran, in Section 5, Sheridan township; German Lutheran, in the village of Redwood Falls, District 1; German Lutheran, in the village of Morgan, District 56; Catholic, in the village of Mor- gan, District 56; Norwegian Lutheran, in section 28 of Sundown township, District 27; German Lutheran, in the village of San- born, District 17; German Lutheran, in the village of Wanda, District 30; German Lutheran, in section 10 in Waterbury town- ship in the church; German Lutheran, in Willow Lake township, section 10; German Lutheran, in section 9 in Johnsonville town- ship; German Lutheran, in the village of Vesta, District 102.
District 1. This district embraces the village of Redwood Falls, and some surrounding territory. It was originally organ-
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ized in 1866, and later made an independent district. The first school was taught in the winter of 1864-65 in the stockade. Con- ditions gradually developed until 1882, when the first high school class was formed under Supt. F. V. Hubbard with an enrollment of sixty-four pupils. In 1884 and 1885 it became necessary to have a larger building, and the west portion of the present build- ing was built. In 1886 the first class, consisting of five members, was graduated from the high school. In 1892 the east portion of the building was built. In 1900 there was a substantial brick building consisting of ten rooms. In 1916 the building is being remodelled and enlarged, and when opened in the fall will be the equal of any high school in any town of this size in the state. In addition to the regular high school course, courses are given in manual training, domestic science, normal training, music and agriculture.
District 2. The Crow Creek district, originally organized in 1866, is in the southern part of Honner and the north central part of Paxton townships. The schoolhouse, erected in 1911 in a grove on the banks of Crow Creek, is in the eastern part of sec- tion 4, Paxton township. The people of the district are very progressive and the school is well supported. An eight or nine- months' term has been maintained for many years.
District 3. Originally organized in 1866, is in the northern part of Vesta township. There are three schoolhouses in this district. The building in 3 East was erected in 1892 and is lo- cated in the southern part of section 11; the one in 3 West was erected in 1901 and is located in the central part of section 18; and the one in 3 North was erected in 1916 and is located in the northeast corner of section 8. There are no trees around these schoolhouses and the sites are small. The people of this district have recently awakened to the advantages of better education and now have nine months of school.
District 4. Originally organized in 1868, is in the north central part of Redwood Falls township. The schoolhouse, erected in 1915, is located in the western part of section 10. The site is large and well fenced and this is one of the most modern school- houses in the county. The people are very progressive and awake to every opportunity along educational lines and for many years have had nine months' terms of school.
District 5. The Rock Valley district, originally organized in 1868, is in the northwest corner of Swedes Forest township. The schoolhouse, erected in 1908, is located in the southwest corner of section 17, and is a substantial building, the windows of which are screened. The site is low and needs a fence. This was the last district in the county to vote seven or more months of school and it maintains a month of Norwegian parochial school at the close of the public school term. The attendance is good. (Note.
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HISTORY OF REDWOOD COUNTY
In 1872 district 5 was located in the southern part of Redwood county, being in Charlestown and Lamberton townships, but this was later changed to district 16.)
District 6. Originally organized in 1869, is in the northeastern part of Paxton township and the northwestern part of Sherman township. The schoolhouse in 6 East, known as the "Edison School," and erected in 1889, is located in the southwest corner of section 9 in Sherman township and the one in 6 West, called the "Eberhart School," erected the same year as the "Edison School," is located in the northwest corner of section 13 in Pax- ton township. The enrollment in each school is small and the schools are well equipped. Both schools have new modern out- houses, some of the best in the county. The sites are large and well fenced. The people of the community are very progressive in school matters.
District 7. Originally organized in 1869, is in the southwest quarter of New Avon township. The schoolhouse, named the James Whitcomb Riley school and erected in 1915, is located in the northeast corner of section 32. It is a fine modern two-room building, with a full basement which is divided off, allowing for rooms where industrial work may be done and also a large dining room. The community has provided a cookstove, table and benches for use in this room. The two class rooms are separated by a rolling door which at times of community gatherings is opened, making a large auditorium. The site is large and well drained, but needs fencing. This is one of the most beautiful rural buildings in the county.
District 8. Originally organized in 1869, is in the southeast part of New Avon township. The schoolhouse, erected in 1908, is located in the village of Rowena. This is a very good school, having a well equipped schoolroom and a good barn.
District 9. Originally organized in 1870, is in the southeastern part of Morgan township. The schoolhouse, called the "Wabasha School," and erected in 1876, is located in a natural woods in the eastern part of section 22. The site is small and needs leveling. The school has fine modern outhouses.
District 10. Originally organized in 1870, is in the central part of Swedes Forest. The schoolhouse, named "Open View" and erected in 1891, is located in the southeast corner of section 28. The building is well equipped and in a fairly good condition, although the enrollment is small. The people are very progressive.
District 11. Originally organized in 1870, is in the central part of Sheridan township. The schoolhouse, a poor building, having been erected in 1898, is located in the southern part of section 16. This is a good school with good equipment. The dis- trict is narrow and nearly six miles long, and it should be re- adjusted.
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District 12. Originally organized in 1870, is in the southwest part of Sheridan and the northwest part of Vail townships. The schoolhouse, known as the "Sheridan" school and erected in 1890, is located in the eastern part of section 32 of Sheridan township. The building is in fair shape and is well equipped. The people of this community are progressive.
District 13. Originally organized in 1879, is in the southeast part of Sundown township. The schoolhouse, called "East Sun- down" and erected in 1915, is located in the northern part of section 26. The building is new and situated on a beautiful site which is well fenced. This is a fairly well equipped school.
District 14. Originally organized in 1871, is in the northwest part of New Avon township. The schoolhouse, remodeled in 1912, is located in eastern part of section 8. The school is well equipped and was a large school but at present has a small en- rollment.
District 15. Originally organized in 1871, is in the south- western part of Three Lakes township. The schoolhouse, a two- room building, erected in 1905, is located in village of Clements. The schoolhouse is well equipped and has steam heat, situated on a beautiful site with trees and surrounded by a good fence.
District 16. Originally organized in 1874, is in the southwest part of Charlestown township. The schoolhouse, called "Pleasant View" and erected in 1892, is located in the southwest corner of section 28 and is in fairly good shape and well equipped. It is situated on a fine, high site, surrounded by trees.
District 17. Organized in 1871, is in the southeast part of Charlestown township. The schoolhouse is located in village of Sanborn. Sewing is given in the grades.
District 18. Originally organized in 1871, is in the western part of Delhi township. The schoolhouse is located in the village of Delhi. This has voted to be a consolidated district, with a fine modern building ready for use in September, 1917. Sewing is a special course offered in the grades.
District 19. Originally organized in 1871, is in the southern part of Johnsonville township, and the northern part of North Hero. The schoolhouse, a two-room building, known as the "Race" school, was erected in 1909. It is located in the west central part of section 4. The school is very well equipped and has a large play ground with play ground apparatus. The school also has a good barn.
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