Manitowoc County WI Archives History - Schools .....History Of Two Rivers City School System ************************************************ 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 January 15, 2008, 4:29 pm HISTORY OF TWO RIVERS CITY SCHOOL SYSTEM By History Committee On September 28, 1844, three school districts were formed to include the entire area of Manitowoc county. School district No. 1 was to be known as the Two Rivers school district composed of the original Two Rivers township and conformed with the Two Rivers assessment district of that time. The first school in the present city of Two Rivers was opened in a private frame building that stood between River and 15th street at the present 1414 Sixteenth Street site. This first school opened in 1845 and had 18 pupils enrolled. In 1849 the district erected a school on the site where the former Frank Wolf residence stands at 2307 • Jefferson Street. Evidently that structure was unsatisfactory, for in 1850 a larger and better schoolhouse was built where the present Ben Miles home stands at 1416 Eighteenth street. The building was a one-story structure of two class rooms. For the first few years only one of the classrooms was used. In 1862, another public school was set up in the upper room of a building at the corner of Washington and River streets. A German school was in session on the first floor of that building. In 1864, a primary school was organized in a building that stood on the site of the present Two Rivers Transfer Co. at 1407 Sixteenth Street. Later that year, another school was opened in a building at the present Washington street near River street. Still another schoolroom was located in the Berger building on the southwest corner of Jefferson and Sixteenth Street. The inconvenience of having schoolrooms in several buildings and at several different locations was remedied in 1865 when a two-story frame school house with two rooms on each floor was erected on the property between the present location of the H. P. Hamilton school and Jefferson Street — the present H. P. Hamilton playground. The erection of this school centralized public education in Two Rivers school district No. 1 in one building. It is known that three school buildings were on this property until the erection of the present H. P. Hamilton building in 1903. See history of H. P. Hamilton school. In 1876, a kindergarten was added. Two Rivers has the distinction of being the second school system in Wisconsin to establish a kindergarten. The Two Rivers high school was organized in 1877 and the first high school report submitted to the county superintendent in August 1878. At that time the high school course consisted of the 9th, 10th, and 11th grades with one teacher employed to teach the high school classes. The year's work was divided into 2 1/2 terms totaling 33 weeks. The first year there were 31 pupils enrolled in the high school classes. According to the Two Rivers "Students Handbook" published in 1945, it was not until 1893 that a four-year high school course was offered. More of the high school facts will be related in the article dealing with the history of the Washington high school in Two Rivers. The steady growth of Two Rivers is revealed in analyzing the city clerk's reports made annually to the county superintendent of schools from 1878 to 1906. Two Rivers became an incorporated city in 1878, but the schools in the city remained under the jurisdiction of the county superintendent of schools until 1906 when a city superintendent was employed. In 1878, there were 792 children of school age (4-20) with 448 of them enrolled in the public school. By 1890, there were 1061 children of school age but only 498 of them attending the public school. Even at that early date the parochial schools were affecting the public school attendance for there were then at least two parochial schools in operation. By 1903, there were 1,578 children of school age and only 553 attending the public schools. Private and parochial schools were established early hi this community. A German school was conducted as early as 1862. The city clerk's report of i878 indicates that, two parochial or private schools with 75 pupils enrolled were in operation. By 1890, there were still only two parochial or private schools in operation, but by that time 257 children between 7-13 years of age were in attendance and in charge of five teachers. A third parochial school was set up in 1898. By 1905, 617 children of school age were attending the three parochial schools for the entire school year. Today there are four parochial schools in the city enrolling a large number of the school age children. The city clerk's reports to the county superintendent from 1878 to 1906 list among the statistics the valuation of the school property. In 1878, the highest value of the one school house and site then being maintained by the district was $10,000. In 1891 and'1892, when the old Roosevelt school was erected for $6,800, the value of sites and building rose to $16,800. After the new Hamilton School was built in 1903 for about $54,000 the value of the school property was given as $90,000. The erection of the new Washington high and the Jos. Koenig schools has increased the investment in school buildings and sites to a sum many times that of 1905. The Two Rivers school system remained under the jurisdiction of the county superintendent of schools until 1905. The schools were in charge of grade and high school principals until 1903 when a supervising principal was employed. Records list the following as principals of the Two Rivers schools: John Faville 1872, G. A. Williams 1873, A. R. Ames 1874, John Nagle 1875, C. L. Powers 1876-7, J. M. Roit 1878, Alfred Thomas 1879-1881, Arthur Burch 1881-6, C. O. Marsh 1886-93, A. W. Dassler 1893-4, E. R. Smith 1894-6, E. E. Carr 1896-9, A. B. O'Neil 1899-1900, and C. W. Vande Walker 1900-03. The supervising principal from 1903-1905 was A. A. Thompson and S. E. Pearson 1905-06. The city superintendents who served since Two Rivers had its own school system were S. E. Pearson 1906-1907, W. J. Hamilton 1907-1917, W. T. Darling 1917-1920, F. G. Bishop 1920-1943, and Geo. M. O'Brien 1943. Several of the former principals who became county superintendents were John Nagle, A. W. Dassler, and E. R. Smith Former city superintendent Fred G. Bishop became assistant state superintendent of public instruction at Madison under Supt. John Callahan. County records show that four grade teachers and a principal made up the teaching corps of the Two Rivers public school in 1873. The term of school was for ten months. By 1894, there were two high school teachers and nine grade teachers, including the principal J. F. Magee. When Two Rivers set up its city school system in 1905, there were three high school teachers including the principal, nine grade teachers, four kindergarten teachers and assistants, one music teacher, and one manual arts teacher. Leading citizens of Two Rivers have served on the school board. Until 1880, the board consisted of three members elected at the annual school meeting for three year terms. County records show that the following men served as clerk of this district: J. M. Conine 1872-4, B. Richter 1874-7, Felix Walsh 1878-, Wm. Hurst 1894-6, Fred Althen 1896, L. Leyse 1897-, and Jos. Klein 1904-5. The first city board of education elected in 1906 was composed of H. P. Hamilton, J. F. Magee, G. C. Kirst, Frank Kaufmann, Silas VanNostrand, and Herman Bartz. 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/historyo252gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/wifiles/ File size: 8.1 Kb