Manitowoc County WI Archives History - Schools .....Newton District No. 1 - Newtonburg ************************************************ 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 22, 2007, 6:35 pm NEWTON DISTRICT NO. 1 — NEWTONBURG Eunice Wigen District No. 1 Newton is now and has always been called the Newtonburg School. When Manitowoc County was first settled, a little burg sprang up about one-fourth mile south of the present school site. The burg was located on the old Frederick Truettner farm. Mr. Truettner maintained a post office, which has long ago been discontinued. In addition to the post office, (there was a blacksmith shop where the Patrick Kealey home now stands; a tavern, a store, and a dance hall owned by Theodore Teitgen on the place where the John Luebke house now stands; and the school house. As years went by other farm homes, a parochial school, a church, and a cheese factory clustered around this settlement so that it got to be known as a "burg" and later on it was referred to as "Newtonburg". The name Newton was derived from Jasper Newton, a hero of the Revolutionary War. Newton District No. 1 was set up in 1850 and included Sections 3-4-5-6-7-8-9-17 and 18 of Newton township. In 1859 the S 1/2 of Sec. 17 and the S 1/2 of Sec. 18 was attached to Newton 2. In 1869 a part of Section 3 was attached to Newton 8, and a part of Section 10 was taken from Newton 8. In 1882 a part of Section 7 and a part of Section 18 were detached. Still later a part of Section 6 and a part of the N 1/2 of Section 17 were taken out of the district. Today District No. 1 contains all of Sections 4-5-8 and 9 and all of Section 6 except the W 1/2 of NW 1/4, all of Section 3 except S 1/2 of the SE 1/4, the NW 1/4 of Section 10, nearly all of the N 1/2 of Section 17, the NE1/4 and the S 1/2 of NW 1/4 of Section 18, and all of Section 7 except the W 1/2 of SW 1/4 plus the S 1/2 of the SE 1/4 of the SW 1/4. The first school house in the town of Newton was built in this district. It was of logs and located on the section line between Sections 4 and 9 where the old Green Bay Road crossed the section line. The site of 10 square rods was purchased from Peter Kremers who got the land on a patent given by Pres. Taylor on April 1, 1850. The first log school faced the road to the east. It was a one-story building, crudely constructed, and meagerly equipped, as were the homes at that time. In 1864 a volume of reference books, two blackboards, and a set of maps were purchased. A stone foundation under the building was also added in 1864. In 1875 the voters decided to construct a new building by a vote of 26 to 16. It was a one-story brick building 42 x 24 x 12 feet. The same site was used. The old log school was sold to W. Goetke, the highest bidder, for $25.00. The second school cost $1,063.75. In 1882 a frame woodshed 10 x 16 x 8 feet was built. In 1890 a well was drilled, the school grounds graveled, and the south boundary of the site was enclosed with cedar posts and trees planted. In 1892 a tower and bell were added. In 1896 a second story of brick was added to care for the large enrollment and two teachers employed. A new woodshed was built in 1904. From 1904 to 1936 many other improvements and additions were added to keep up with the trend of the times. In 1936 the voters by a vote of 53 to 25 decided to build a new school accommodating fifty pupils. The old school was torn down. The new building was built 50 feet west of the old school and is of red brick and tile with a fireproof roof. The plans were drawn by Percy Brandt, an architect. The school contains a modern classroom, library, teacher's room, kitchen, full basement, indoor toilets, and a modern heating and ventilating system. It is equipped with a stoker, electric service, telephone, radio, piano, water works system, and modern schoolroom furniture. The cornerstone of the school was laid on September 4, 1936 by Co. Supt. E. S. Mueller. The building and equipment cost was $15,500 and is one of the most modern schools in the state. Since the first ten square rods of land was purchased in 1850, other pieces of land have been added to the site. Another 10 square rods was purchased from August Teitgen in 1856. A correction in Vol. 26, p. 425 in the Register of Deeds Office gives an exact description of the site at that time. On April 10, 1906, Theo. Teitgen sold to the district for $100 a piece of land to the south; to the west, and to the north of the present site. On June 11, 1936 Edmund Vogt sold to the district land to the west and north, about one acre, to add to the school site. The grounds now conain [sic] about two acres. In 1896 this district set up a two room school and in 1897 two teachers were hired, with the grammar grades in the upper room. The school remained a two department building until 1920 when it again became a one room school. In 1862 there were 101 pupils in school; in 1884 only 50 attended; while in 1896 the attendance was 87. By 1945 the enrollment was down to 27. The teaching of German for a part of the year's course was common from 1850 to about 1900. In 1887, children from other districts were allowed to enroll if the enrollment was below 60, but that policy was discontinued after 1894. Evening school was taught in some years. Some early texts used were Sanders New Series Spellers, Sanders Readers, Cornell's Geographies, Ray's Arithmetics, Phinneas Grammar, Nelle's Grammar, Goodrich's History of the U. S. and Mitchell's Geography. Swinton's History, Spellers, Readers, Arithmetics and Geographies were popular until the 80's. Among the early settlers of the district we find the names of Frederick Truettner, Shannahan Bros., Herman Meyer, J. Ewald, John D. Lemhuhl, H. Strodhoff, the Teitgens, G. Clausen, C. H. Hamschemeyer, F. Klusmeyer, Sam Ehrenreich, John Roepke, G. Dunekak, John Stuempges, John Gosch, Knuth and G. Frosch, and D. Barnstein who was the father of Dr. Barnstein of Manitowoc. The first white child born in the district was Louis Truettner on October 16, 1848, although some claim that Guenther Mundt was entitled to that distinction. The names of the settlers indicate that this was a German community. Early settlers who became school officers were Daniel Shanahan, John Roepke, Henry Baryenbruch, H. Strodhoff, Joseph Marek, Theo. Prehn, Fred Groh, Aug. Koepsel, and Ernest Kieselhorst. Many of the first teachers boarded around in the district. Teaching to some of them was a job for the slack periods of the year. Teachers who taught in this district from 1862 to 1906 were: Chas. Bjermark, Walter Watermeyer, Henry Meyer, John Molay, John Stephenson, Peter Hartlaub, Edw. Raeuber, Peter Brady, C. Gielow, J. Kirwan, M. F. White, Wm. Stoelting, Louis Falge, Aug. Krause, Frank Kasbaum, Henry Wernecke, Adolph Jones, Thos. J. Walsh, Chas. Groh, Thos. Morris, and Charles Hoefner. The graded school teachers from 1898 up to 1906 were: Prin. Karl Zander, Ida Schneider, Prin. Hugo Mueller, Paula Nielsen, Prin. Chas. Lutze and Robert Rank, Julia Sullivan, Prin. Arthur Heubner, Jennie Norris. Those after 1906 are named in the Annuals. The names of the many of the above teachers are familiar to the people of the county. Two well known graduates of District No. 1 are Dr. Theo. Teitgen, and Dr. F. W. Barnstein. The hundreds of former students have become good substantial citizens and leaders in this and other communities. The district is almost disected by the old military road (Highway 42) which was constructed in the early 1840's along an Indian Trail leading from Milwaukee to Fort Howard at Green Bay. The ruins and remains of the early business places remain. The district has English, Hartlaub, Silver, and Gass Lakes for recreational areas of interest to residents of this and other county communities. 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/newtondi212gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/wifiles/ File size: 8.4 Kb