Manitowoc County WI Archives History - Schools .....Franklin Jt. - Clearview ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/wi/wifiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com October 31, 2007, 12:03 am FRANKLIN JT. —CLEARVIEW Betty Fenlon Franklin joint district No. 2 was given the name Clearview because a clear view of the district lands can be obtained from the school. People in this section of the county often refer to it as the Gallagher school because the school site was purchased from the Gallaghers. It is now often called the Fenlon school because of the close association that the Fenlons have had with the school. This district was originally a part of the old Franklin school district number 6 located along the western tier of sections in Franklin. Town superintendent of schools, Michael Keehan, on March 10, 1860, ordered the organization of Franklin No. 2 and called a meeting of all legal voters in this area. At the time of its organization an area of land in the township of Maple Grove was added to this district and this became Franklin joint district No. 2, joint with Franklin and Maple Grove. Many changes have occurred in its boundary lines so that at present the district lines are most irregular. The site of the school was purchased from Douglas Gallagher for $50 and is located on the town line between Maple Grove and Franklin at the northwest corner of the N. W. 1/4 of the S. W. 1/4 of section 6. The first school was a log building of unknown size as the early district records are unavailable. It was crudely furnished with homemade benches and heated with a cast iron stove in the middle of the room. By 1872, it had served its usefulness and it was torn down. The second schoolhouse was built in 1872 according to county records and cost the sum of $250. It was a small frame structure painted red. There were two or three windows on three sides with the front of the room used to hang the "black" boards. The old homemade desks were used until double desks were purchased in the 1890's. The building was about 20 x 26 -feet and had no cloakroom. When it was abandoned in 1913, it was sold to John O'Hearn who moved it a short distance south across the road. Mr. O'Hearn used it for years as a storage and animal shed until it fell to ruins and was finally leveled in the early 1940's. At a special meeting called on November 23, 1912, at 2 P. M. the question of building a new school was brought up for consideration. The vote to build was favorable as was a proposition that the district residents do the hauling of the sand and stones for the foundation before December 15, 1912. Evidently the old school was condemned for the hurry in erecting the foundation was to show the educational leaders of the county and state that the district intended to build and that the district intended to build [sic] and that the district was entitled to state and county aid. At the special meeting the sum of $1600 was voted to pay for the consruction [sic] of the school building. The third school, the present one, was built in the spring and summer of 1913. It was a modern building for that time, being 34 x 38 feet, with a schoolroom 27 x 27 1/2 feet. The classroom is lighted by large windows at the left and rear. A small entrance shed is located at the front of the building facing west. The door opens into a hallway leading up several steps to the cloakrooms at the northwest corner of the building. The hallway and cloakrooms have natural lighting from two windows facing west and two from the north. Two doors from the combination cloakroom open into the classroom. Between the two cloakroom doors, a built-in library houses the text and library books. The northeast corner of the building has a small storage room from which a door leads directly out to the toilets located at the rear of the schoolyard. The southwest corner of the building is a combination teachers' and storage room which is lit by three windows — two from the west and one from the south. The classroom was heated by a round heater without a ventilation system. Single seats and desks have replaced the old double desks. Good slate blackboards line the west wall of the classroom. Franklin Jt. No. 2 has always been a one-room school. It never has been a very large school according to enrollment records on file in the county superintendent's office. The largest attendance occurred in the 1870's and 1880's when over 50 pupils attended. By 1913 when the school was built, the enrollment was still over 40 although the average daily attendance was below 30 pupils. With the opening of the parochial school at Maple Grove, the attendance dropped to a low of 14 with an A. D. A. of only 3 in 1922, so the voters suspended school for the year 1923-24. It was reopened in the fall of 1924, but again suspended in the fall of 1925 when an average of 4 pupils attended daily. This school then remained closed until the fall of 1930 when 8 children were to be enrolled. By 1944, the cost of operating the school for six pupils had risen so high that the voters again voted to suspend school and transport the pupils to the Wayside school. The school is still suspended although 10 children are transported to a public school out of a school census of about 40 children of school age. Early settlers in the Franklin Jt. 2 school district, according to old assessment records, were John Touhey, John Flanagan, Theo. Morrissey, James Mullane, James Long, Martin Fenlon, John Gallagher, Dan Haggerty, and Patrick Hogan. County records show that Pat Hogan was clerk of the school from 1870 to sometime in the 1880's. Other residents serving as clerk before 1906 were: Henry Maas, M. J. Gallagher, and Tom Morrissey. Other board members before the county school annuals were issued were August Gaedke, Tom Sullivan, and Martin Fenlon. School sessions were for fewer months than the average county school. There are no records that two terms were held yearly, but in 1875 a teacher was hired to teach a one-month summer term. The average term in the 1870's and 80's was for four to six months. Even as late as 1906, a seven month term was common, and it was not until 1936, when nine month terms were required to qualify for state aid, that nine months of school were held. Good Irish teachers were in demand in this Irish community, according to the names of teachers on file in the county office. Since the list is very incomplete and district records are limited, it is possible to report only a few of the many outstanding teachers who taught in this district before 1906. Those on record were Margaret Reed 1872, Jere Falvey 1873, Thos. Burke 1874-8, Martin McMahon 1878, James Burke 1879, John E. Sullivan 1880, Mary McKeough 1895-6, Eleanore Mullins 1897, Anna Cavanaugh 1898, and Mabel Smith 1904-5. Many of the former students became prominent in their chosen field. Among the more prominent pupils of this school is Goff Morrissey who served as principal of the Reedsville and Chilton high schools for many years. Branch river which meanders through the eastern part of the district has some recreational value but the low marshy land along it makes much of this part of the community worthless for farming. The whole district is assessed at less than $200,000, not enough to maintain a modern school system without excessive taxation. Additional Comments: Extracted from: 1848 - 1948 CENTENNIAL HISTORY of the Manitowoc County School Districts and Public School System EDITED BY JOS. J. RAPPEL, COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS 1948 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/wi/manitowoc/history/schools/franklin124gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/wifiles/ File size: 7.9 Kb