Manitowoc County WI Archives History - Schools .....Liberty Jt. 2 Sunny Crest ************************************************ 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, 9:52 pm LIBERTY JT. 2 - SUNNY CREST Louise S. Nelson Liberty Jt. 2 was officially designated the Sunny Crest school in 1918 because it is situated on a sunny crest of land. In the early days of the district this school was referred to as the Eaton school because the Eaton post office was located in this district. Later on it was known as the Gigstad school because it was situated near the Gigstad home. According to the Eaton asessment roll of 1857 this district was set up for taxation purposes sometime before that date. It was then Eaton District No. 2 and included sections 6, 7, 18 and the west one-half of sections 5, 8, 17 all in the present township of Liberty. From 1857 to 1860 this was the Buchanan township, District No. 1. In 1860-61 the Buchanan township became the township of Liberty and then this district became Liberty District No. 1. The Liberty assessment roll of 1870 shows that at that time a large portion, of section 12 in Eaton was added to Liberty No. 1. Since there was already a Joint District No. 1 in Eaton, joint with Liberty, the old Liberty No. 1 became Liberty Joint No. 2 with Eaton. In 1873 it became joint with Cato by taking in a small area in section 32 in Cato. Thus Liberty Joint No. 2 is joint with Eaton and Cato. In 1852 the district set aside $40 for school purposes. The first school was held in a log cabin which had been a home. This was only a make-shift school which was over-crowded according to enrollment figures of that time. It is located on the northeast corner of the pioneer Ole O. Oppen farm now owned by John Qualley. The next school was built in 1879 for $350. It was a frame building painted red and was located a short distance southwest of the present school at the triangle formed by the junction of two roads on the present Highway 151. The site was purchased from Iver Iverson and is now the farm of Orrin Skatrud. No playground was provided so the children played on the road and on the nearby churchyard. The wooden double seats were made by carpenters living in the district. A long wooden bench was placed in the rear of the schoolroom. No cloakrooms were provided so the pupils hung their wraps on hooks in back of the room. The water supply was placed in an open bucket. The lunch pails were kept under the long wooden bench. Kerosene lights were used for dark days and for evening affairs. Pine boards painted black were used for blackboards while each child had his own slate for seatwork. After this little red schoolhouse was abandoned, it was sold to Otto Aubol who moved it to the Eaton hamlet and used it as a grocery store and the Eaton post office Later on this building was again sold to the Kolweys who continued the post office and store. After serving its usefulness in that capacity, it was torn down and the lumber used to remodel the present Kolwey home. The present white frame schoolhouse was built in 1894 for $1,150 on the present site on the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church hill on Highway 151. The acre site was purchased from Ole Larson on August 18, 1894, for fifty dollars. The building has one large classroom, an entry, two cloakrooms, a teacher's platform, and an attached fuel shed. Outdoor toilets are used. A floor furnace provides heat and ventilation. There is no basement since the rocky ledge is covered with a thin layer of ground. Electric lights were installed in the 1930's. The natural lighting comes from four windows on each of the long sides of the schoolroom. The Sunny Crest School has always been a one-room rural school. The log cabin school had only about a dozen pupils enrolled. The enrollment figures as shown in the town clerks' reports to the superintendent, indicates that the average attendance during the latter 1800's was about seventy-five The highest enrollment was in 1876 when the clerk's report showed 122 pupils attending during that term. Attendance has averaged about twenty-five the last thirty years. Smaller families and higher attendance at high schools account for some of the decrease in attendance. Some of the first texts used were the Sander's series of readers, Swinton's grammar and spellers. Mastering the parsing of verbs, and sentence diagramming were the goals of Kerl's Grammar. The sciences were not taught. Emphasis was on the three "R's". Most of the early settlers came from Norway. Norwegian was spoken in the homes and the teachers usually had to be able to speak both English and Norwegian. Getting children to speak English during school hours was a real task. The early settlers as listed in the assessment book of 1857 were Tollefsons, Throndsons, Olsons, Elefsons, Torrisons, Knudsons, Seversons, Petersons, Ericksons, Evensons, Gundersons, Andersons, Larsons, and Halversons. The settlers were farmers but O. Gigstad had a cheese factory in later years. Some of the former pupils who have made names for themselves were Walter Gigstad, a minister at Clifton, Texas; Dr. Henry Belgum head of Belgum's Sanatorium, at Richmond, California; and Helgeson girls who became county teachers. All who have ever attended the school became substantial citizens of this and other communities. The earliest school officer of whom there is a record was Ole O. Oppen. He was also town superintendent of Buchanan township. Two of the first school officers for the little red school house were Iver Iverson and Elias Halverson. Others serving from 1870 to 1906 were: Chas. Boettcher 1872-76; Ole Gigstad 1876-81; Martin Oppen, T. Flegle, and O. O. Gigstad from 1894-98; and A. O. Berge in 1904-1905. Otis I. Berge served as school officer from 1910 to 1925. One of the first teachers was a Mr. Ramsland who taught in the log cabin. The best known teacher was Walter E. Larson who taught this school from 1896-1898. He served later as county superintendent of schools, as state rural school supervisor, and later became principal of the Door-Kewaunee Normal School at Algoma. As superintendent he advocated school consolidation. While a teacher at this school he organized the still active Memorial Association which cares for the cemeteries in the district. He also organized and led a district singing class, and a night class for those interested in completing their elementary education During the 1860's and 70's summer and winter terms of school were common. Teachers on record were: Mary Boettcher (S) 1872; Anna Burnett (S) 1873; Herman M. Tyler (W) 1873; Aurelia Lawrence (S) 1874; Mathias Norman (W) 1874; Edward Torrison 1876; Guy Aubol 1877-8; Katie Dempsey 1879; M. Boettcher 1880; John Dunbar 1894; Otto T. Dover 1895; David Fitzgerald 1898; P. Max Geimer 1904; and Alma C. Hanson 1905. Others reported as having taught in the district were Belle C. Hammond, Mary Davies, Nora Morris, Christine Ulness, Oscar Delbeck, and John Suse. The school house has always served as the center for community affairs. About 1918 school fairs were held each fall. The school officers set aside prize money for farm products and school exhibits. Programs by the children and district people were featured at these events. Spelling matches were common and when extra money was needed for certain purposes, box socials wer [sic] held. During the summer the church uses the building for a parochial school. A place of historical interest in the district is the site of the hamlet of Eaton which was located on the old Calumet Road a half mile southwest of this Sunny Crest school. The small village served as a mail distributing center for other small post offices nearby. The Eaton post office was first located a half mile west of the old village of Eaton. Later the office was moved to the village and was housed, in the old red schoolhouse which Aubol had moved to this hamlet. The hamlet of Eaton at one time boasted of a post office, a blacksmith shop, a store, and a tavern. Today nothing remains of the old village except the Kolwey residence, and a tumbled down stone building. 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/libertyj167gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/wifiles/ File size: 8.7 Kb