Manitowoc County WI Archives History - Schools .....Manitowoc Rapids 2 Silver Lake 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, 7:37 pm MANITOWOC RAPIDS 2 -SILVER LAKE Madonna Hunsader Manitowoc Bapids district number 2 was officially designated the Silver Lake school in 1918, although it was always known by that name. The school site is located on highway 151, about one-fourth mile east of Silver Lake. The site is on the N. E. corner of the W 1/2 of the SE 1/4 of section 34. It extends west one chain (66 feet), then south 2 1/4 chains, then east one chain, and then north to the starting point. The grounds contain about 1/4 of an acre. The tract of land on which the school is built was sold to Oliver Clausen by the government in 1837. He in turn sold it to August Wahle, from whom District No. 2 bought the school site in 1860. Evidently the site was leased for school purposes from 1849 to 1860. In 1849, R. B. Mupon, town superintendent of schools of Manitowoc Rapids, called a meeting of the qualified electors of this area for the purpose of organizing a school district. The first school meeting was held June 25, 1849, at 5 P. M. at the home of Albert Wheeler. At this meeting, the voters decided in favor of a new district and elected the schoolboard composed of a clerk, treasurer, and director. In 1850, the sum of $120 was raised to pay for the building of a school and for maintaining school for a 2 1/2 month term. Records show that the little schoolhouse, built of logs, no doubt, cost the sum of $88. The schoolhouse, seemingly, was not built on the present site, for in 1852 the little school was moved, but from where to where is not stated. The school consisted of a dingy little room which was heated by a wobbly old box stove which toppled over at convenient times, strewing stove pipes about the room. Each family having children attending school, had to contribute one-half cord of firewood, split for use. The dingy walls were bare of pictures and decorations. The smoked up interior was annually whitewashed. The first school was abandoned and sold for $4.50 in 1860. The second school, a frame building about 18 x 24 feet, was built in 1860. It had windows on three sides according to the custom of the times. Each window was provided with shutters which could be opened and closed. The furniture consisted of crude, home-made benches on which the pupils left their initials for later students to gouge and deepen, for the jack-knife was the prized possession of every boy. After this building was abandoned as a school, it served as the school's woodshed until 1934 when a new combination fuel shed and garage was erected, from remnants of the old schoolhouse. In 1884 or i885 the sum of $736 was raised by the district to build a brick school-house, the one in use today. The building is about 24 x 32 feet and houses a good-sized classroom, two cloakrooms, and a hall-entry. The front of the room had the floor raised to make a teacher's platform. The school has windows on the two long sides and on the entrance side. The school has been heated by various types of stoves and floor furnaces. In 1947 a Smith oil heater system was installed. At first the furniture consisted of patented double desks and seats, several of which are still in use as recitation benches. In 1936, the district purchased single chair-type desks with the book storage drawer under the seat. Slate blackboards replaced the painted boards in 1927. This school was one of the first in the county to install electric lights. Running water is piped to the school from the Wm. Fessler home west of the school. The school was almost destroyed by fire just before Christmas in 1941. All preparations were complete for the presentation of the Christmas program, when a short circuit of an extension cord caused a fire which damaged the interior of the school-house. Following the fire the walls and ceiling were covered with Nuwood, the teacher's platform removed, a part of the floor relaid, and open library shelving added along the west wall. There was some sentiment to modernize the school through approved window lighting, but that plan failed to materialize. The Silver Lake public school has never had a large enrollment, nor has the district had a very large school census. The greatest number of children of school age (4-20) occurred in 1895 when there were about 125. For 1946, there were 182 children of school age residing in the district. The highest enrollment for this school was 69 in 1870 when the attendance for the two separate terms was totaled. The average attendance from 1870 to 1920 was from 30 to 45 yearly. Only 8 pupils were enrolled in the winter of 1927. About a decade ago "Kadow's-Addition" west of Manitowoc, which is partly in this school district, began developing with the result that the enrollment of this school has again gone up to about 30 pupils yearly. Parochial school attendance at Silver Lake and at Manitowoc has affected the size of this school. In December of 1947, the Kadow Addition was annexed to the city of Manitowoc cutting the enrollment from about 30 to 15 pupils. The Silver Lake area was one of the earliest to develop and become settled because of its nearness to Manitowoc. A very early settler of this district was Capt. A. G. Fulton. He is said to have captained the first lake schooner out of Manitowoc port. Other early settlers of this community were Henry Backhaus, Henry Wills, George and Fred Drumm, Isaac Ellner, Henry Achenbach, Dan Tills, Geo. Hammel, Martin Schmidt, Philip Poh, C. H. Vogelsang, Wm. Wicke, Mark Williams, Aug. Wahl, Geo. Bartels, E. A. Bennett, S. A. Wood, and Jos. Le Compt. Thousands of former pupils have gone forth from the district school to become prominent in their chosen communities. The school district has always elected outstanding community citizens on the schoolboard. Among the first officers, back in the 1850's, were Paul Champton, clerk; Albert Wheeler, director; and Mark Williams, treasurer. A later family prominently connected with the school was the Hackmanns. Emil Hackmann served as treasurer for 24 years, while his father served on the board before him for 30 years. Some other residents serving up to 1906 were Christ Vogt, Henry Wills, H. Backhaus, Herman Roepke, and Ernest Pleuss. During the first years of the school, the district raised from 21 to 50 dollars yearly for the teachers' wages. The length of the term depended upon the wages which the teacher demanded. When the sum raised was used up, the term was over. In the 1860's and 1870's two terms of school yearly were common. Usually a female teacher was employed in the summer when the older pupils were kept at home for farm work. Records reveal that Sunday school was taught in the building in the summer of 1861. The list of teachers as reported to the superintendent was incomplete. Those on record were C. J. Shove 1872; Josie Murphy 1872 S.; John Lyon 1873; J. W. Flagg 1874; M. Sullivan 1876-7; C. C. Barnes 1878-9; Henry Wernecke 1880; Fred Vetting 1894; John F. Walter 1895-98; E. C. Brick 1904; and Harriet Wernecke 1905. Two other prominent educators before 1906 were Fred Christiansen and a Miss Richter. The Silver Lake area has many interesting and historical places. The first cheese factory in this district was located at Silver Lake and was owned by Fred. Slintz. Brown's Corners at the junction of highways 151 and 42 was named after a Mr. Brown who owned much of the land at that location. It one time boasted of several taverns and a bowling alley. A mile south of Brown's Corner on highway 42, the ruins of Kuene's Mill are to be found. Across the road from these ruins are areas of rich gravel deposits. The first Alverno post office was located at Silver Lake in a store owned by Anton Fessler. Alverno once was a station for the Soo Line Railway. A mile west of this crossroad hamlet, the Holy Family Convent is located. This religious institution was begun in 1870, partly destroyed by fire in 1881, and since that time rebuilt and enlarged as the years have passed. Beautiful Silver Lake is a recreational spot for Manitowoc residents. Today Manitowoc Rapids district No. 2 is an area one section wide and four sections long with prosperous farms and potential suburban areas beginning here and there. A large part of sections 35 and 36 is being developed as county asylum property and as a part of the Kadow Addition. 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/manitowo177gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/wifiles/ File size: 9.1 Kb