Manitowoc County WI Archives History - Schools .....Kossuth 5 Maedow Brook ************************************************ 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 November 2, 2007, 6:27 pm KOSSUTH 5-MEADOW BROOK Evelyn W. Kliment Kossuth school district No. 5 was given the name of Meadow Brook district because of the small brook which meanders through the district north of the school. It was formerly called the Spencer school because the first school was built on the Henry Spencer farm. Today it is commonly called the Kappelman school because it is located near the Wm. Kappelman home. Kossuth No. 5 was organized in the early 1850's. The original district was a large one before Gibson Jt. 7, organized in 1914, detached much land to the north. Other pieces of property have been added to Kossuth 4, Mishicot Jt. 4, and Two Rivers 4 from time to time. Because sections 18, 19, and 31 in Range 24 east, township 20 north are separated from the rest of the sections in that township by the West Twin river, and because the town east of that river objected to building bridges for the convenience and safety of the children west of the river in those sections, the township of Two Rivers in the early 1850's, relinquished its claim to sections 18, 19, 30, and 31 in R. 23 E., T. 20 N. Those sections were then attached to Kossouth [sic] and the children attended Kossuth 4 and 5. Sections 18, 19, and 30 became a part of the present Meadow Brook district. The first settlers brought with them the family Bible, medical books, and European textbooks. Among these settlers there was young George Powel of London, England. George, who was more educated than the rest, held school during the winters in a combined church and school made of logs and located at the S.E. corner of section 13 which is now the junction of county trunk Q and the highway to Francis Creek. This building was purchased by Wm. Spencer and used as a shed on what is now the Jos. Staudinger farm, the old Wm. Spencer homestead. The first public school was erected about 1853 and was the fifth schoolhouse for Kossuth. It was built of logs and was located a few rods south across the road at what is now the road leading to the Louis Cootway farm. That farm now owned by Wm. Kappelman was the homestead of Henry Spencer. This building was soon abandoned, for in the early 1860's, the district purchased one-half acre from John Spencer for $50. The site was the present one. The second school building was used until 1885 when it was sold to Peter Kornely who moved it to the present site of the Kornely Dairy. There it was remodeled into a cheese factory, now known as the Meadow Brook Cheese Factory. That school had meager equipment consisting of two wall maps, a globe, and two blackboards. The teacher's desk stood on a platform two feet high. Classes were held at the front of the room with the pupils sitting on a long bench, the girls on one side and the boys on the other side of the room. A cast iron box stove stood in the center of the room and toasted those who sat near it, but gave little or no heat to those near the walls. Fuel was furnished by the lowest bidder. Each year the interior of the school was whitewashed, in 1876, the voters decided to add more windows, plaster the room, and fix the desks and seats. A new well was dug and lined with brick. Yearly purchases of a pail, a dipper, and tin cups are recorded in the treasurer's book dating back to 1870. The clerk's record books for the early years of this school were destroyed when the home of one of the clerks was destroyed by fire. At the annual meeting July 1, 1884, the voters decided to build a new school. An additional half-acre of land was purchased from Henry Spencer. No contract was let as all district residents agreed to help build and to haul supplies. The schoolboard acted as the building committee. They hired Thomas Cross, a carpenter, to direct them. The completed building, the one now in use except for the porch and bell tower, cost $791. The bell tower and attached woodshed were added in 1903 at a total cost of $50. The open porch facing the south gives access to two entrance doors leading into two separate cloakrooms. A door from each leads into a large classroom about 32x40 feet with four windows On each long side. The cloakrooms are lit by a windw [sic] facing the front of the building. Until 1946, a large floor furnace in the northwest corner of the classroom was used as the heating and ventilation system. A door in the rear wall lead into a combination fuel and storage shed until 1946. The classroom now has modern single desks, library shelving, blackboards, steel filing case, piano, radio, bulletin boards, and recitation and work tables. Beginning with the fall of 1946, the district has undertaken a modernization program by remodeling the old woodshed into a combination kitchen and furnace room. A large automatic oil-burning furnace heats and ventilates the class and cloakrooms through a system of pipes. The kitchen is equipped with a Skelgas stove, sink, and cupboards. Many more improvements are being planned in order that a modern rural school will result. The district records have many interesting entries. The children at first were not provided with free texts, but had to buy them from the school officers who purchased them direct from book companies. A first reader cost 18 cents while a second reader was valued at 25 cents. The school supplies were ordered by the officers and not by the teachers In 1898, pictures of Washington and Lincoln and three additional blackboards were, purchased. Report cards were first recorded for 1912. Frank Jindra of Mishicot Jt. 4 was paid a sum of money at one time for teaching three children residing in this district but attending the Mishicot Jt. 4 school. In 1924, a row boat was ordered for the children of this district who lived east of the West Twin river so that they could attend the Meadow Brook school. In this way the district was able to avoid paying tuition to the Shoto district. The town clerks' reports to the superintendents from 1870 to 1911 show that this was one of the medium-sized schools of Manitowoc county. The highest enrollment occurred about 1880 when about 70 children attended out of a school census of 121. The nearness of the parochial school at Francis Creek affects the attendance. The present enrollment averages around 30 yearly out of 70 school age children. Some of the early settlers were the Cross, Fulton, Croft, Birringer, Staudt, Stadler, Kornely, Spencer, Worthington, Grobe, Powel, Koch, Cootway, Bleser, Zander, Krueger, Kettenhoffen, Jost, Whittaker, and King families. Clemens Worthington was a dyemaker and minister; John and Wm. Spencer were often called on to minister to the sick; Jos. Krueger was a blacksmith; George King operated a grist mill at the north end of the bridge at Kings Bridge, a hamlet named in his honor; Wm. Zander operated a store and tavern and post office at the south end of the bridge. These buildings have been razed by fire. Tuft Cootway brought the mail once per week from Manitowoc. The descendants of these early settlers have became prominent in this and other localities. Arthur Bleser, the present town chairman, is a resident of this district. Peter Kries, George Powel and Thos. Croft were members of an early schoolboard. Other district residents on the Board before 1906 were Thos. Worthington, John Entringer, Mathias Koch, Henry Spencer, Henry Grobe, William Spencer, Wm. Bolzenthal, Peter Kornely, Peter Bleser, and Chas. Tills. The schoolboard members attended their first schoolboard convention in 1905. There is no indication that the school term was ever divided into two sessions. The list of teachers for this school is incomplete but those names on record seem to indicate a preference for male teachers. The following are on record as having taught Kossuth No .5: F. Lonsdorf 1872, Nancy Darling 1873, Chas. Tift 1874-6, T. W. Byrnes 1877, C. F. Canright 1878-9, Mary Short 1885, Rosa Miller 1894, John Shambeau 1895-7, Hugh Westgate 1898, Wm. Spencer 1903, and Christ Wuellner 1904-05. The wages of teachers have gone from about $20 per month in the 1870's up to nearly $250 by 1948. Will Spencer in 1903-04 conducted the first spelling contest for schools in this area. The contest was won by a pupil from Kossuth No. 5. At a county contest held at Manitowoc in the old Turner Hall a few years later, Wm. Tills of this school was acclaimed champion speller of Manitowoc county. School fairs and debating societies were common activities the first 30 years of the 1900's. School societies were organized yearly from 1909 to 1927 according to a society record book. The Meadow Brook Community Club was an active organization in the 1920's. Today the Kossuth Hustlers, a 4-H club, use the school as a meeting place. All of these organization and clubs have made the Meadow Brook school a real community center for community-minded residents. 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/kossuth5164gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/wifiles/ File size: 9.6 Kb