Manitowoc County WI Archives History - Schools .....Franklin Jt. 6 - Highland ************************************************ 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, 12:24 am FRANKLIN JT. 6 —HIGHLAND Dorothy Hunsader Franklin Jt. 6, is. joint with the towns of Franklin and Kossuth. The district school is built on high land so in 1918 when schools were named the district officers called it the Highland School. Residents of this and surrounding communities call this the Reifs Mills School or sometimes the Polivka Corners School since it is located near these villages. The present Franklin Jt. 6 was organized in 1898. The assessment rolls for the town of Franklin for 1856 show that there was a Franklin No. 6 at that time. The first Franklin No. 6 bordered the township of Maple Grove and consisted of sections 6, 7, 8, 17, and 30. In 1856 this district was set up for taxation purposes only and had no schoolhouse. Today the first Franklin No. 6 is parts of Franklin Jt. 2, Franklin 1, and Franklin Jt. 3. In 1860 the present Franklin Jt. 6 was a part of Franklin 8, Kossuth.2, and Kossuth 3. It now includes land in sections 13, 14, 23, and 24 in Franklin, and parts of sections 7, 18, and 19 in Kossuth. When the present district was organized in 1898, the district land was detached from Franklin Jt. 8, Franklin Jt. 9, Franklin 4, Kossuth 2, and Kossuth 3. It took the designation of Franklin Jt. 6, evidently, because that was the first number which neither township had. No reason for the formation of the district was advanced, but the distance of some of the families from existing and surrounding schools seems to be the logical reason. Only one schoolhouse has been built .in this district. The frame structure was erected in 1899 at a cost of about $800 by Havlicek and Hynek. It is a one story building located at the southeast corner of section 13, township of Franklin. It is one mile south of Polivka Corners and one mile north of Reifs Mills. The schoolhouse has an average-sized schoolroom with two cloakrooms. There are three windows on each side of the school. It still has the old-fashioned double desks, wainscotted sides, and up to 1948 had no modern heating and ventilating system. Electric service was installed about 1935, but thus far only electric lights are used. The walls and ceiling were covered with beaver-board about 1930. The school has always been a one-room rural school. In 1906 the enrollment was 44, but by 1914 the attendance had increased to 60 pupils which was about the largest enrollment in the history of the school. By 1920 the number of pupils had dropped to 45. In 1935 the enrollment was 25. Today the average attendance is about 12 pupils. This decrease has resulted because many pupils now attend the parochial school at Kellnersville and because of other factors common to rural conditions today. Some of the early settlers of tliis area were the Anton Neuser, Joseph Kochan, Geo. Baumann, Mat Havlovitz and the Havlinek families. The Reifs were the most notable of the old community. During the past decade the Krejcarek, Baumann, Hynek, Ledvina, Cisler, Novy, Polivka, and Yanda families have made names for themselves in teaching, business, and farming. John Hynek was the first clerk of the school district. There seems to be no written record of the other district members who served prior to 1906. The first teacher in this school was Mary McKeough who received $20 per month. Other teachers who served up to 1906 with the year in which they taught were: Mayme McMahon 1901; Sophia Jens 1902-03; Mayme Laughlin 1904; Rose Ledvina 1905-06. .Although Reifs Mills is not a part of this district, the history of this village was so well studied by Donna Mae Schuette, a pupil attending the Highland School, that it will be included. Reifs Mills got its name from the fact that the Reif brothers owned and operated grist and saw mills, a coffin factory, and a broom handle manufacturing concern. John Reif manufactured broom handles from about 1875 to 1890 when the factory burned down. It stood on the present John Shimon farm. The grist and saw mills were operated by Anton and Louis Reif. Anton Reif made coffins until about the year 1900. Later on he made butter churns. Peter Reif made sun clocks about the years 1875 to 1880. The first cheese factory was owned by Peter Nicolai and was built on the present property of Stephen Swetlik. Another cheese factory was situated on the corner across from the present Cisler Tavern. Tom Doyle made cheese in it about 1910. This factory burned down, so a few years later the old grist mill was turned into a cheese factory. As the years went by, the old grist mill-factory changed hands several times. In 1942 it was sold to Schallers from St. Nazianz who tore it down and hauled the lumber to that village. The present Cisler Tavern was erected over a half century ago by William Kadow. Later owners were Wm. Svacina, Geo. Baumann, Joseph Vraney, and Joseph Cisler. There were several dance halls in this area. One was built as an addition to the Svacina tavern. Another was located at the present location of the John Reznichek garage, while the third was situated just west of the St. Augustine church. About thirty years ago the old saw mill was torn down by Jos. Frye and the lumber used to build some houses at Francis Creek. The first mills were run by water power. A well-constructed dam on the Branch River was built which lasted until one spring when the spring floods broke it up and washed it away. The Reifs Mills blacksmith shop operated for years by Jacob Hynek was sold about 1938 to Arthur LaFond. About 1901 there was a dam on the Joseph Hynek farm to raise the water in the Branch River so that logs could be floated down to the saw mill. The mill made shingles and flooring and did planing. Other business places which have disappeared are the Reif Tavern where the John Herman home is and a cheese factory at Polivka Corners. The St. Augustine church about a half mile east of Reifs Mills was erected about 76 years ago. A Catholic school was built just east of the church but that was torn down years ago. Today the village of Reifs Mills has gone the way of many other once-prosperous villages of the county, but the district school continues to function. 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/franklin127gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/wifiles/ File size: 6.9 Kb