The history of Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, Part 100

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 1082


USA > Wisconsin > Fond du Lac County > The history of Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin > Part 100


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Witness my hand and seal, the day and year first above written.


JOHN S HORNER, Attorney in fact. for Mary Eleanor Watson.


Signed, sealed and delivered in the presence of Mary Frisbee and J. Wilber.


State of Wisconsin, Fond du Lac County, ss .- On April 28, 1849, came before me John S. Horner and acknowl- edged the foregoing instrument to be his frec act and deed. A. P. MAPES, Notary Public.


EARLY SETTLEMENT OF RIPON.


Under the deed just recited, Mr. Mapes and his two sons struck the first blows for the beginning of Ripon early in the spring of 1849. The transfer of land was burdened with cer- tain conditions, one of which was that Mr. Mapes should build and have in running order a public house and a grist-mill within one year, and that the hotel should be kept open by him personally during the following year.


The buildings called for by Mr. Mapes' contract with Mr. Horner, required an outlay of about $10,000, but was accomplished according to agreement, the mill being located a few rods from the present Ripon Mills, and the hotel. called the Ripon House, where Wood's IIotel now stands.


In order to induce settlers to locate at Ripon, Mr. Mapes gave away lots, upon condition that the recipients should make certain improvements or creet thereon specified buildings before a given time. The first was given to E. L. Northrup, on the east side of Public Square. The terms imposed were that he should keep thereon a stock of goods open for sale one year. This was


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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.


the first store in Ripon. The second was to Mr. Pedrick, on condition that he would erect and paint a two-story building. The third was to Alexander Beardsley, who stipulated that he would erect a blacksmith-shop, which he did, and which is the stone shop now standing just east of Wood's Hotel on Jackson street.


The first building erected in Ripon was a board shanty, by Samuel Pedrick, near where the Sheboygan & Fond du Lac Railway depot now stands. It was 12x24 feet, in one room, and finished April 9, 1849. The lumber was sawed at Strong's Mill, Ceresco. Its occupants. the Pedrick family, consisted of Samuel, his wife and five children-Marcellus, Charles R .. Cyrus, Zebulon and Mary J. They occupied this house until Mr. Pedrick built another, on the corner of Scott street and Public Square, in 1850, when their first house became a schoolhouse. Samnel Pedrick died that year (September. 1850), that being the second death in Ripon.


Ezra Lathrop Northrup, who opened the first store in Ripon, arrived in November. 1849, and had a stock of goods ready for customers in about six weeks. He is still a resident of the city.


In May, 1850. Samuel Sumner and Dana F. Shepard began the mercantile business in Ripon as one firm. Mr. Shepard sold out a year later and built Shepard's Hotel. Mr. Sum- ner has retired from business, still making Ripon his home. Mr. Shepard is in the West.


John P. Taggart arrived in Ripon in September, 1850, and opened a stock of hardware and general merchandise. In 1852, William M. Taggart arrived and became a partner in the business, under the firm name of Taggart Brothers. John P. has retired from business, still living in Ripon. William M. is in Missouri.


Alvan E. Bovay came to Ripon in August, 1850, and was the first lawyer in the place. He is yet a resident of Ripon.


Jehdeiah Bowen came to Ripon in June, 1850, and erected a store for merchandise, on the northwest corner of Public Square, which he occupied in December of that year. Since that time he has erected more buildings than any other man in Ripon, having averaged one a year for the thirty years he has resided in this city. Mr. Bowen has not yet retired from business.


David Greenway came to Ripon in August, 1850, with his wife and three children. He soon engaged in the grocery and drug business, which he followed nearly twenty years. He still resides in Ripon.


After 1850, Ripon, having a mill, hotel. post office, blacksmith-shop and several stores, attracted many settlers, and grew rapidly and constantly.


RIPON'S EARLY PROGRESS.


The Ripon country is one of beauty. The Creator fashioned it in His smiling moments. As it came from His hands, before man had furrowed it with the plow and scratched it with the harrow and divided it off with fences and dotted it with barns and honses, it was one of nature's most perfect landscapes. There is just as much scenery in it as is consistent with the highest degree of agricultural wealth ; if there were more, some of the land must be waste, if there were less, tameness would begin to mar the perfectness of the scene. There is prairie and timber, water and stone, hill and vale, bluff and ravine; and none of them in excess. It is beautiful.


But what makes the city of Ripon? There is nothing, or at least not much, in the spot, or in the surrounding conntry to determine the fact that here shall grow up one of the finest, handsomest and most vigorous cities in the Northwest; bnt here the place is. And what bronght it here ? Well, it is what might be called an accident, or a series of accidents. It was that of those early settlers who first looked upon this beautiful spot, and said to themselves, "This is good; I will plant myself and my family here, and help to make a town and grow up with the country." a large number were men of strongly marked characteristics. They were clear-headed, liberal, brave and persistent men; and this was the secret of the early success of Ripon. Such men were


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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.


not going to stick themselves down here, or any where, and grow up like so many transplanted Eastern basswoods : it was not in their nature to do anything of the kind. They said, " We are going to make the utmost of the capabilities of this spot," and they did. First, they said : " In process of time, all over this beautiful country will be scattered educational institutions of a high order ; the needs of an intelligent people will demand it. What is to hinder us from building a college on this hill, which overlooks one of the most lovely landscapes in the world ? Nothing is to hinder ; let us do it." And it was done. At that time there were fourteen houses and shanties in this little hamlet of Ripon, all told ; and the commencement of anything so pre- tentious as a college, in so small a community. without a penny of foreign aid, would have seemed preposterous to the average mind, but it was done nevertheless, and there stands the college to-day, the chief supporting pillar of Ripon. Considering all the circumstances : the times, the poverty of the county, the sparseness of the population, the infinitesimal size of the village-the erection of the first college building-stone, fifty feet square, three stories high. with observatory, and so on-was a great achievement. It is safe to say that four persons, or four


families, subscribed four-fifths of all the money it cost, and it is also safe to say that three of the four contributed one-tenth of all they were worth in the world to this single enterprise. True, they reckoned that this money (or some of it) would come back to them in after times ; and it did. There the college stands, three noble buildings in a campus, which. when time has produced its results upon the shrubbery and trees, will scarcely be surpassed by any college campus in the country. This is the result of the efforts of those far-sighted, persistent, self- sacrificing men.


After the college came the railroad. Now Ripon was not on any great line. It was a little community away off by itself. The Chicago and North-Western Railway was projected- and begun-to strike a line of cities, north and south, through the center of the State; the Milwaukee & La Crosse was projected to run east and west through the State, but neither was to come here, nor was any line projected to come here or in this direction. What then ? The men of Ripon did not propose to be cut off from the rest of the world merely because they did not happen to be located on one of the world's highways. They forthwith determined to have a railroad, and they got it. They held little informal gatherings among themselves to talk over the matter : they sent committees to Berlin and Waupun to arouse an interest in those places in the matter-a thing quite easy to do. for the railroad fever was beginning to take on tlie epi- demic form throughout the county-Brandon was not then in existence. When the home energies were sufficiently concentrated, they sent a committee to consult the railroad magnates in Milwaukee, as the thing which seemed most feasible to do next. These magnates scarcely knew of such a place as Ripon, and knew nothing of the splendid capabilities of the county. But after the due amount of solicitation, a committee of them came up here to look the ground over. It was good; on that there was no discount. But railroads cost money, in fact, a great deal of money, and would Ripon, Berlin, Waupun and the farming population between. do the handsome thing by a company that would undertake to build a railroad to them ? Ripon thought it would do about $130,000 worth, Berlin thought it would do about as much more, and Waupun half as much ; which the same Ripon and Berlin did, but Waupun did not. The prom- ises, however, were cheering and the road was undertaken. This was in the autumn of 1853 : and, in the autumn of 1856. Ripon had direct communication, by rail, with Milwaukee. a year or more before Fond du Lac had reached the same achievement. $130,000. at that time, for the little community in and about Ripon, was an immense subscription ; $80.000 of it was in cash and mortgage subscriptions, and $50,000 in an issue of town bonds. All the individual subscriptions, of course. were paid years and years ago, and this present year the last of the bonds has been redeemed and canceled, which brought Ripon out of debt.


CITY INCORPORATED.


By an act approved April 2, 1853, the villages of Cereseo and Ripon were consolidated and named Morena. The inhabitants, however, paid little attention to this change. retaining.


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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.


as they have sinee done, the original name ; and when incorporated it was as the city of Ripon. The first charter was for a city government, and was secured by E. L. Runals, a member of the Assembly, in 1858. The measure met with strong opposition from some of the Fond du Lac County members of the Legislature, who were backed by quite a number of the citizens of Ripon, who did not want the city incorporated on account of adding the expense of building side- walks and making other improvements. The members of the Legislature opposed the charter because it provided for three wards, each with a Supervisor, which would give Ripon, they thought, too large a representation in the County Board. Although the charter had been adopted in a large mass meeting at Ripon, section by section, and was entirely satisfactory, it had to be amended so that it should provide for but two wards before its passage could be secured.


The city contains, ponds and waterways included, 2,560 acres, described as follows: The west half of the southwest quarter of Section 15; the south half of Section 16; the south half of Section 17; the whole of Sections 20 and 21; the west quarter of Section 22; the west half of the northwest quarter of Section 27 and the north half of Section 28.


Ripon is governed by the Mayor and two Aldermen from each ward, called the Common Council, who are aided by a City Clerk, Treasurer, Marshal, and one Constable and one Jus- tice of the Peace in each ward. These are all elected annually except the Justices of the Peace and the Clerk, whose terms extend over two years. The latter was elected annually until 1863, when the charter was amended as just mentioned.


The Council has power to open streets, appoint special policemen, elect a Street Commis- sioner and a City Attorney.


The City Clerk receives $1 per day, and fees : the Marshal, $1 per day, and fees for serv- ing papers ; the Treasurer, a percentage on the taxes collected; Assessor, a per diem during actual service, and the Street Commissioner $1.50 per day for actual service. The Mayor and Aldermen receive no pay for their official labors.


By a special act of the Legislature, in 1863, the City Clerk was made ex officio Clerk of the Municipal Court. Ilis compensation consists of the usual court fees, and $3 per day while the court is in session.


In January, 1880, the city of Ripon paid the last of its bonded debt, thereby freeing itself from all debt burdens whatsoever.


During the ten years ending with 1879, there have been levied and collected in the city of Ripon, $257.122.54 of taxes. The lightest tax was $20,306.88, in 1870, and the next lightest $23,284.38, in 1879. Why the village was named Ripon has already been explained. Natur- ally the city, which was but the development of the village, received the same name. It is popularly known as the " Prairie City."


CITY OFFICERS-1858 To 1880.


Mayor .- Harvey Grant, 1858; J. Bowen, 1859; H. S. Town, 1860; Philo England, 1861; Ceylon North, 1862; C. F. Hammond, 1863; Bertine Pinkney, 1864; H. T. Henton, 1865; A. M. Skeels, 1866; Samuel Sumner, 1867 ; J. Bowen, 1868; William Workman, 1869; George L. Field, 1870; Aaron Everhard, 1871; O. U. Akin, 1872; O. J. Wolcott, 1873; A. Everhard. 1874-77 (at the election of 1877, A. Everhard and S. Sumner each received 368 votes. They agreed to cast lots for the office, the lot falling upon Mr. Everhard) : A. Everhard, 1878 ; Samuel Sumner, 1879.


Treasurer .- Solon G. Dodge, 1858; D. F. Shepard, 1859-60; Jaeob Woodruff, 1861 ; N. IF. Wyckoff, 1862-65; C. E. Bennett, 1866; George W. Peck, 1867; C. E. Bennett, 1868; Edward Wood, 1869; Charles E. Bennett, 1870; J. H. Wyckoff. 1871-73; P. II. Jussen, 1874 ; John Irving, 1875; P. H. Jussen, 1876; N. H. Wyckoff, 1877; D. W. Akin, 1878; G. E. Bushnell, 1879.


City Clerk .- Alfred W. Hewitt, 1858; W. K. Wyckoff, 1859; J. J. Foote, 1860-61; George Perkins, 1862; J. J. Foote, 1863-66; H. B. Baker, 1867-69 ; A. T. Glaze, 1870-72; G. F. Horner, 1873-78; I. M. Dakin, 1879-80.


J. NoBL.


RIPON .


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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.


City Marshal .- Gilbert Lane, 1858; E. B. Pride, 1859; L. Grant, 1860; E. B. Pride, 1861; N. C. Strong, 1862; C. V. N. Brundage, 1863; O. R. Ellis, 1864-67 ; H. J. Good- all. 1868 ; O. R. Ellis, 1869 ; O. C. Stickle, 1870; O. R. Ellis, 1871; E. T. Efner, 1872-75; George L. Riggs, 1876; I. F. Stickle, 1877; George II. Jussen, 1878-79.


Superintendent of Schools .- G. B. Cooley, 1858; George Perkins, 1859 ; L. H. D. Crane, 1860; C. J. Allen, 1861. After 1861, the system was changed and the city was placed under the jurisdiction of the County Superintendent.


Aldermen, First Ward .- William Starr and William M. Taggart, 1858; H. S. Town, G. W. Dellinger and W. B. Kingsbury, 1859; W. B. Kingsbury, L. Turner and G. W. Dellinger, 1860 : H. S. Town, R. D. Mason and Benjamin Pratt, 1861 ; O. J. Clark, C. N. MeLane and S. R. Patton, 1862; W. B. Kingsbury, J. Hitchcock and W. H. Deming, 1863; A. B. Pratt, N. Mason and B. G. Webster, 1864; B. Pratt, W. Workman and O. P. Reed, 1865; T. G. Luther, W. Workman and Asa Kinney, 1866 ; B. Pratt, C. Pedrick and S. B. Clark, 1867 ; O. P. Reed, O. U. Akin and Norman Mason, 1868; C. B. Seward, II. B. Bateman and O. U. Akin, 1869; J. J. Foote, P. M. Potter and Samuel Sumner, 1870; S. Sumner, N. Hunter and S. A. Coe, 1871 ; H. S. Town, S. Sumner and R. D. Mason, 1872; George E. Sutherland, W. B. Kingsbury and B. P. Mason, 1873; J. Bowen, C. T. Shepard and R. D. Mason, 1874; E. L. Northrup, J. Hitchcock and Matt Limbert, 1875; John P. Taggart, N. Mason and W. M. Treanore, 1876; E. L. Northrup, A. Osborn and R. D. Mason, 1877; W. B. Kingsbury, E. Manville and D. P. Parkhurst, 1878; J. M. Geery, O. U. Akin and C. B. Hart, 1879.


Aldermen, Second Ward .- Lyman Turner and E. L. Runals, 1858; G. W. Mitchell, H. T. IIenton and J. S. Barnes, 1859; H. T. Henton, J. L. McCord and D. L. Harkness, 1860; J. L. McCord, H. Pierce and E. L. Northrup, 1861; M. W. Seeley, A. M. Skeels and I. S. White, 1862; E. L. Runals, T. J. Olmsted and J. S. Barnes, 1863; H. T. Henton, W. W. Robinson and G. W. Dellinger, 1864; T. J. Olmsted, C. F. Dodge and G. W. Dellinger, 1865 ; H. S. Town, C. F. Dodge and A. C. Nye, 1866 : A. Cook, N. G. Hurlbut and C. M. Cooley, 1867; George L. Field, A. B. M. Lindsley and A. Cook, 1868; C. P. Dunning, A. Zinth and A. W. Pettibone, 1869; William Workman, J. N. Foster and J. S. Barnes, 1870; J. Dobbs, C. E. Bennett, and H. D. Phelps, 1871 ; William Workman, C. F. Dodge and John Bush, 1872; J. Dobbs, J. M. De Frees and William Ralston, 1873; J. Dobbs. H. D. Phelps and C. A. Shepard, 1874 ; J. Dobbs, Charles Cowan and G. W. Dellinger, 1875; J. Dobbs. S. W. Dodge and August Zinth, 1876 ; J. Dobbs, C. M. Cooley and A. Wood, 1877 : J. Dobbs, W. M. Treanore and F. S. Wilson, 1878; E. L. Runals, N. Mason and T. R. Freeman, 1879. (Mr. Freeman moved into the First Ward after his election, thereby losing his office, to which C. E. Bennett was elected by the Council.)


Justices of the Peace, First Ward .- O. J. Clark, 1858 and 1859; L. Hazen, 1860, 1861, 1862 and 1863.


Justices of the Peace, Second Ward .- L. Hazen, 1858 and 1859; P. B. Kissam, 1860 and 1861; E. B. Pride, 1862 and 1863.


Justices of the Peace elected at large .- H. Williams and Thomas Harris, 1866 and 1867 ; Thomas Harris and W. Workman, 1868 and 1869; Thomas Harris and N. H. Wyckoff, 1870 and 1871; W. W. Robinson and Thomas Harris, 1872 and 1873; Thomas Harris and A. Cooley, 1874 and 1875; A. Cooley and J. W. Ifall, 1876 and 1877 ; A. Cooley and J. W. Hall, 1878 and 1879.


Sealer of Weights and Measures .- S. Valentine, 1867 ; only one ever elected.


Assessor, First Ward .- Norman Mason, 1859; G. W. P. Pew. 1860; W. B. Kingsbury, 1861; B. Pratt, 1862, 1863 and 1864: Jacob Woodruff. 1865, 1866, 1867 and 1868; S. R. Patton, 1869, 1870 and 1871; N. H. Wyckoff, 1872, 1873 and 1874; D. W. Akin, 1875 and 1876: W. B. Kingsbury, 1877 : L. M. Carlisle, 1878 and 1879.


Assessor, Second Ward .- S. Hazen, 1859 and 1860 ; Darius Phelps, 1861; L. P. Riven- burg. 1862; W. W. Robinson, 1863; C. P. Dunning, 1864; J. S. Barnes, 1865; W. W. Robinson, 1866 and 1867; Thomas Harris, 1868 and 1869; W. T. Whiting, 1870; D. Y.


U


670


HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.


Sabin, 1871; W. T. Whiting, 1872 and 1873; L. M. Carlisle, 1874, 1875 and 1876; E. Wil- son, 1877 and 1878; J. P. Stone, 1879.


NOTE .- For the year 1858, Daniel V. Sabin served as Assessor for the whole city.


Constable, First Ward .- C. Linkfield, 1858; N. C. Strong, 1859; H. Rivenburg, 1860; N. C. Strong, 1861; J. Landon, 1862, 1863, 1864 and 1865; N. C. Strong, 1866; Frank Woodward, 1867; T. P. Smith, 1868; S. Valentine, 1869, 1870 and 1871; W. R. Pearson, 1872; L. Martin, 1873; B. Cheeny, 1874; S. Valentine, 1875; T. Lambert, 1876; T. R. Freeman, 1877; W. H. Lambert, 1878: C. J. Derby, 1879.


Constable, Second Ward .- I. A. Norton, 1858; E. B. Pride, 1859, 1860 and 1861; J. P. Smith, 1862; T. Parmalee, 1863; O. R. Ellis, 1864; Spencer Whiting, 1865, 1866 and 1867; A. Wood, 1868 ; Spencer Whiting, 1869: O. R. Ellis, 1870; S. Whiting, 1871; J. E. Cook, 1872; A. P. Matteson. 1873 ; E. C. Mayham, 1874 and 1875; George Jussen, 1876; J. E. Cook, 1877; W. S. Howe, 1878 and 1879.


POST OFFICE.


The name of the first place for the reception and delivery of mail in Ripon was Ceresco. The office was located in Ceresco-for there was not even one house on " the hill" where Ripon now is-and Lester Rounds was Postmaster, receiving his commission in 1844. The mail was carried during the winter of 1844-45, from Ceresco to Fond du Lac by John Limbert once a week. Ile went on foot, and had one of Nathan Hunter's pillow-cases for a mail pouch. Sometimes he was well laden. The second Postmaster was William Starr (now deceased), and the office still remained in Ceresco. In 1849, D. P. Mapes made an exertion to remove the post office from Ceresco to " the hill," which had been named Ripon. The Whigs were then in power, and, as the members of the Wisconsin Phalanx were mostly Democrats, the task was accomplished, and E. L. Northrup was given the appointment. Mr. Northrup did not secure possession of the office until March 30, 1850, although appointed the latter part of 1849. In 1853, Mr. Starr made an effort to secure the appointment of Postmaster again, and to move the office back to Ceresco. His competitor was David P. Mapes, who, of course, desired to retain the office at Ripon. The contest was a spirited one, both candidates making the journey to Washington to plead their cause. Mr. Mapes was successful, however, and that ended all efforts to get the post office at Ceresco. When the members of the Wisconsin Phalanx first lost the post office, they formed themselves into a funeral procession and turned their loss, which was really a serious one, into a joke. In January, 1854, in order to induce A. M. Skeels (now deceased) to settle his business at Ripon, Mr. Mapes resigned the office of Postmaster to him. The name of the office was changed from Ceresco to Ripon in 1855. Mr. Skeels was succeeded in May, 1861, by Jehdeiah Bowen, who erected a stone building on the east side of Public Square especially for the post office. During the month of February, 1864, Mr. Bowen received the mail but once on time, owing to the snow blockade. He therefore employed a man and team to fetch the mail from the cars wherever they might be blockaded. This he deemed necessary, as the war of the rebellion was at its height and people were anxious to receive intel- ligence from their soldier friends. Many times during that winter the post office was kept open all night, the lobby being crowded until 3 o'clock in the morning by men and women who had friends in the army. Mr. Bowen resigned and was succeeded in September, 1866, by David Mc Kercher, who had just become a resident of Ripon at the time of his appointment. Mr. McKercher was succeeded in 1870 by Hiram S. Town, the present incumbent. In the spring of 1879, the post office building burned, together with a quantity of mail matter and valuable- records. A room on the ground floor of Greenway's Block was then arranged for the post office, which is the most commodious and convenient Ripon ever had. The post office at Ripon is second-class, with a salary of $2,000 per year to the Postmaster, and an allowance of $450 for clerk hire. When the office was first removed from Ceresco, the revenues were $1.60 for the first quarter. Now the receipts are $1,000 per quarter, aside from the money-order fees, which amount to $150 per year.


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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.


PUBLIC SCHOOLS.


The first school taught in Ripon was in the fall of 1844. Lester Rounds was teacher, and the schoolroom was in the Wisconsin Phalanx building in Ceresco. The next year, the Pha- lanx people erected a stone schoolhouse on Lot 1, Block 5, corner of Church and Liberty streets, in which Mr. Rounds was also a teacher. This was not at first a public school, for it was maintained by the citizens of Ceresco for the benefit of their own children, there being no others in the vicinity. As the surrounding country became settled soon after, they took advan- tage of the law which allowed ten families to erect themselves into a school district, and it became a public school.


District No. 5 .- The following contract shows that the schools of this district were organ- ized in 1849 :


It is agreed between School District No. 5, in the town of Ceresco, and Edward Daniels, a qualified teacher of Green Lake, that the said Edward Daniels is to teach the common school of said district for the term of five mouths. for the sum of $26 per month; and for such services, properly rendercd, the said district is to pay to the said Edward Daniels the amount that may be due according to this contract by the Ist day of May, 1850.


Dated November, 1849.


[Signed ] M. E. MORSE, District Clerk.


[signed] EDWARD DANIELS.


Mr. Daniels taught this " terin of five months " in the stone schoolhouse erected by the Wisconsin Phalanx, which was afterward, February 27, 1852, deeded by them to School Dis- trict No. 5, for the sum of $225.


The deed is a quaint document. The Phalanx seal, a piece of yellow linen cloth about one-half an inch wide and three times as long as wide, appears next to the names of the grant- ors, which are signed in a small hand. The grantors are Warren Chase, R. D. Mason, Russell Smith, Jacob Woodruff, Jacob Beckwith, James Clarkson, J. M. Boutelle, Carlton Lane and John Irving. The old school building here deeded has disappeared.


In March, 1857, Hiram S. Town and his wife, for the sum of $200, deeded Lot 5 in Block 1, Ceresco, to District No. 5 for a schoolhouse site, and that same spring, Gilbert Lane and Seth G. Strong gave bond to build for $2,000, and furnish all material, the octagon-shaped building of mortar and gravel, now called the Ceresco Schoolhouse. When first finished, it con- tained but two rooms, one above and one below. These have since been partitioned so as to furnish rooms above and below for study and for recitations. Up to 1879, the building had been sadly neglected, having gone without repairs, paint, sidewalk and proper outbuildings. It was surrounded by gullies or mud, and was a dreary place. During the year mentioned, several hundred dollars were expended in repairs. The scholars have laid out tasty flower-beds and gardens; purchased through their own efforts an encyclopedia, and now contemplate erect- ing a fountain, for which abundant water is near.




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