Manitowoc County WI Archives History - Schools .....Manitowoc Jt. 6 - Silver Creek 1948 ************************************************ 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 3, 2007, 6:47 pm MANITOWOC JT. 6 - SILVER CREEK Jeanette B. Holschbach Manitowoc school district joint No .6 has been known as the Silver Creek school almost from the time of its formation. It was officially designated by that name in 1918 because Silver Creek meanders past the schoolhouse. County records show that this area first belonged to Manitowoc school district No. Jt. 4 which is today known as the Division Street school or the Jefferson school area in the city of Manitowoc. It was not until October 8, 1862, that Henry Koch, clerk of district No. Jt. 4 of the town of Manitowoc and the town supervisors, Louis Scherman, Chas. Canright, and F. Thierman, met at Anton Schloeder's home to detach the south one-half of district Jt. 4 and to form a new school district to be known as Manitowoc district No. 6. The original District No. 6 consisted of all of Manitowoc township south of the southern section line of sections 31 and 32. On August 20, 1865, Manitowoc district No. 6 became joint with Newton when some land in sections 12 and 13 in Newton and then a part of Newton district No. 7 was attached to the Manitowoc No. 6. That attachment was brought about through the joint action of E. D. Beardsley, H. Truman, and R. Thiermann, supervisors of Manitowoc township and C. Wernecke, Kunze, and Neumann, supervisors for the town of Newton. In 1893, Manitowoc Jt. 6 became Newton No. 5, because a Mr. Pautz, a resident of this area, petitioned the County Board that all of the territory outside of the city of Manitowoc and south of sections 31 and 32 in Manitowoc township be detached from Manitowoc township and added to Newton. The County Board granted this request, but the Circuit Court in June 1896 rescinded the order and this area once more became Manitowoc joint district No. 6. (See "Development of Town Boundaries in Wisconsin", No. 36, pp. 35-39 for the official records of these proceedings.) At the first meeting of the voters of this new district at the home of Anton Schloeder, Bernard Stieden was elected chairman of the meeting and Henry Koch elected secretary. The voters then elected Anton Schloeder director, for three years, Edward Goeters treasurer for two years, and Henry Koch clerk for one year. For their services, Mr. Goeters and Mr. Koch were freed of all school taxes. The voters raised $200 to build a log schoolhouse on the present site. The school was built on land donated by Herman Goeters. In 1871, a half acre was added to the schoolyard, making a total of one acre for the schoolyard. No information is available as to the size of the school and the equipment used, but no doubt conformed to the building and equipment of that time. When the new school was built, the structure was sold to Mr. Schloeder who tore it down. On July 1, 1876, a special meeting was called to vote on the question of a new schoolhouse. The vote was to erect a brick building with F. Vetting, Henry Wilhelmy, and a Mr. Krieser on the building committee. Notices for bids were placed in the two German newspapers with the result that five bids were submitted. Johann George was the successful bidder on a bid of $665. The building is 34 r 24x10 feet. It has no basement so the classroom, about 24 x 26, has a large floor furnace in addition to such equipment as single seats, teacher's desk, library shelving in the southeast corner, a piano, chairs, and a table. In addition to a classroom, the main floor has two cloakrooms which the pupils enter by first walking into the classroom through the entry door and then entering the cloakrooms by doors from the main room. The cloakrooms are to the front of the building and. are lighted by one window. At present one of the cloakrooms is used as a storage place while the other one serves as a place to store wraps and dinner pails and is also used as a washroom. The crowded conditions, the cross-lighting, and the lack of a playroom, indoor toilets, and a basement are a few of the undesirable conditions existing. The schoolyard has some playground equipment. Other buildings on the yard are a fuel shed and two outdoor toilets - one built of fieldstones and one of lumber. During the first years of the brick school, the pupils sat in hand carved double seats. The aisles were narrow except for a wide middle aisle. Since the children could not eat at their desks, benches for this purpose were placed along the walls in the two cloakrooms. There was only one "black" board, a map of Europe, and one dictionary. The children were called to their classes by ringing a cowbell. German was taught for one or two classes daily until 1919. The first toilet built was one of three compartments--one for the boys, one for the girls, and one for the teacher. At first there was no school well, so the water was carried from the Goeter's place across the road. No playground equipment was purchased until 1930 when a merry-go-round was obtained. Electric lights were installed in 1929 after the voters at a special meeting on November 4, 1929 voted for such services. Manitowoc district No. 6 never had a large enrollment. The greatest number attending was in 1875 when about 70 pupils attended In 1867, a total of 57 children were enrolled and they were taught spelling, reading, arithmetic, U. S. history, geography, grammar. The teacher received 40 dollars monthly for a 22 day school month. In 1863, the term consisted of five winter and three summer months. Children living outside the district and attending Silver Creek school were charged the sum of 38 cents tuition per month. The texts used in the 1870's weroe Sander's Primer, Speller, and Union Series Readers; Robinson's Series Arithmetic; Swinton's History of the United States; Mitchell's Geography; and Kerl's Community School Short Course Grammar. In 1905, after a lengthy discussion, the question of a nine month term was voted down by a 17 to 16 vote. It wasn't until 1920 that a nine month term was common. In 1926, free text books were adopted, but that provision was rescinded in 1927, and again adopted in the 1930's. During the last half of the 19th century, the average yearly attendance was between 30 and 60 pupils. The lowest enrollment occurred in 1938 when only 17 pupils attended. At present the yearly attendance averages between 20 and 30, although the 1946 census report listed 110 children of school age residing in the district. Many of the children now attend the Catholic and Lutheran parochial schools in Manitowoc. Early settlers, as noted in school records because they were schoolboard members, were as follows: Henry Wilhelmy who served as clerk for many years and kept neat, legible, minutes of meetings, Herman Goeters, Paul Ackermann, Nic Trossen, Henry Pautz, B. Stieden, John Braun, and Frank Schmelzle. The list of teachers for this school is quite complete due to the fine records kept by the school clerks. Those on record up-to 1906 were: John O'Hara 1872, Chas. Boehmer 1873, Hattie Richter 1874-5, Ferd Lonsdorf 1876, Jos. Koelzer 1877-8, C. A. Gielow 1879-84, Thos. Windiate 1884-5, Victor Roeck 1885 and 1887, William Guetzloe 1886, John Goldie 1888, Fred Sachse 1889-90, Walter Stocker 1892-3, Ferdinand Fish 1894, Henry Detjen 1895-99, Henry Ewald 1899, Walter Teitgen 1900, John Arends 1901, Kurt Voelker 1902-3, Edgar Jonas 1903-06. Three former, teachers who became well-known were Henry Detjen, now Vice-president of the Manitowoc Savings Bank; Edgar Jonas, who became a judge in Chicago, and John Arends, who became a prominent teacher in Illinois. Clara Lallensack, a teacher in the 1930's, became Manitowoc County supervising teacher. Today the Silver Creek district is slowly becoming an urban community as the city residents of Manitowoc are seeking new homesites. The meandering Silver Creek offers favorable locations for those interested in developing such an area into a fine suburban community. With the coming of more home owners, the little brick school erected in 1876 will soon be modernized or abandoned in favor of a new and modern structure which will give the children the same educational and physical advantages as are enjoyed by the neighboring children who live in the city. 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/manitowo174gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/wifiles/ File size: 8.9 Kb