School and community an old tradition
Written and Researched by Ruth Ann Montgomery
Evansville’s community-school cooperation and interaction has been the focus of study and discussion
over the past few months. The importance of this relationship has been demonstrated in the Evansville
community from the beginning of the area’s settlement in 1839.
According to Alice E. Smith’s “The History of Wisconsin From Exploration to Statehood”, this was typical
of the Wisconsin’s early settlers. Many of Wisconsin’s pioneers believed that public education would
help each person lead a fuller life.
The first arrivals in the Evansville area were third and fourth generation Yankees who had been
educated in public schools and knew the benefits of a formal education. These Yankee settlers dreamt
of filling their new land with the same institutions that were found in the east, the schools, churches,
singing schools, missionary societies and governing bodies. The new settlers actively participated in the
organization and governing of the newly formed civic and religious groups.
Parents wanted their children to attain positions of status in business, church and government, and they
believed that education was the key to success. Pioneers, by necessity, were also thrifty and it was
common in new settlements to build a schoolhouse that would serve many purposes.
The first settlers came to what is today known as Union Township in the summer of 1839 and the first to
arrive were men. The land seekers were primarily from New England, New York, and Ohio who had
pioneered in the area of La Porte, Indiana and northern Illinois. When the land and taxes in these areas
became too expensive for their tastes, they moved into the Wisconsin Territory.
Before they brought their families into the newly opened territory, the men wanted to make sure they
could make a living on the land. Once the decision was made and the land was theirs, the new settlers
spread the news that northwestern Rock County, with its rich prairie, ample water supply and small
forests of oak for building, was indeed a good place to call home.
By 1840, there were 14 families living in the area and 21 children of school age. The people who
headed Evansville’s pioneer families were described “men of enterprise, intelligence and morality”.
As though to demonstrate the importance of education, the settlers, after building their own simple log
cabins, decided to build a school. The school was so fundamental to their hopes for a new community
that the first settlers built a log schoolhouse, before there were churches, a village hall, or any
commercial buildings.
The first school in northwestern Rock County was built on the Higday property 2 miles northwest of
Evansville in 1840. Two years later, Evansville’s first log schoolhouse was built just north of the
intersection of Main and Madison Streets, near what is today Pete’s Inn.
The construction of the school was in itself a community event. One the day Evansville’s first school was
to be built, men arrived with axes, saws, and willing hands. Although, the women are not mentioned in
the early accounts of the school building, no doubt, they arrived with food and beverages to sustain the
men through the long labor of the day. Children would have accompanied their parents and played or
helped with the construction.
Each family was asked to bring timber that was already hewn and “good solid oak shingles” for the roof.
The school was built facing the east. It took two days work to complete the building. The logs were put
in place one day and on the next scheduled workday the shingles were placed on the roof. To furnish
the building, the men cut logs in half and pegs were driven in at angles to make seats for the students.
A heavy wood hinged door was made and a box stove was placed in the center of the building for heat.
The new school was intended for community use. The building served as a town hall, singing school,
writing school, public hall for community events, and a church.
The builders furnished a pulpit and since most of the early settlers were Methodists, they used the
school as a church for five years. The Baptists organized in 1844, the second congregation in the area,
and they also used the log school as a meeting place. At least one account said that the school could
accommodate a crowd of 125 people.
Levi Leonard was hired as the first teacher. Elizabeth Clark, a member of the first class, wrote a paper
in 1908, recalling her the first day. “Our family sent my sister, a child of five, and I who had reached the
mature age of three and one-half years. It was no misplaced confidence that was felt in the teacher,
and Mr. Leonard soon proved himself a capable instructor and a true friend of every boy and girl in the
settlement.”
“When the rap-rap-rap called the school to order and the little ones were told to come to the front, there
were tears and tremblings. When the grave faced teacher asked a little girl if she knew the name of the
first letter of the alphabet he held before her, she looked straight into his eyes and cried out, ‘Oh! Mr.
Leonard, I can see little girls in your eyes!’ An audible smile went round the room. The grave face of
the teacher relaxed, tears ceased to fall and soon every little one had told his name and all he knew of
the alphabet.”
Mrs. Clark also recalled that the school had sunny windows, a white floor, basswood benches and writing
desks hinged to the wall. According to Elizabeth Clark, the teachers were young men and women,
without much formal training, who “knew nothing of Psychology and Pedagogy as correlated sciences;
had done no practice work in a model class room, under the watchful eye of a ‘critic’ teacher’, but
realized the pressing need there was for some one to teach the little ones and gave them their best.
“All honor to those pioneer teachers. No one can tell how far the circles of influence have reached that
were started in those rude school-rooms by enthusiastic teachers.”
In 1848 there were 74 children between the ages of 4 and 20 in the Evansville school district. There
was a winter and summer session and the school board set aside one third of the school money for the
summer school and two thirds for the winter school.
Each student was to bring one cord of wood, two feet long to the log schoolhouse. Anyone who did not
bring wood was charged seventy-five cents.
By the time the 1850 census was taken, there were five schools in Union township with a total of 161
students. The 1842 log schoolhouse no longer served the educational needs of the community and was
replaced in 1851. The new school was built on the site of today’s Evansville City Hall. A copy of the
contract for the building of the first frame schoolhouse is kept at the Wisconsin State Historical Society
library, among the papers of Dr. John M. Evans.
Evansville’s school board did not have to hire an architect as the State of Wisconsin had established
standards for public school buildings and had ready-made plans for builders to follow.
The contract for Evansville’s second schoolhouse is dated April 1851. The written agreement directs
the Preston brothers, Cyrus and Lorenzo, to “build a school house within the next six months according
to Plan Two as laid down by school law” is signed by Jacob West, clerk of the District and John A.
Griffith, school board treasurer.
The building was to have a good stone foundation, settled in the ground six inches and raised two feet
above the ground. The Prestons were to build a frame building, “all to be of fine lumber”, twenty feet
wide and forty feet long,
The new two-room school was to have a large room, 24 by 20 feet, with six windows. The smaller room
was to be 14 by 20 feet and have four windows. The hall between the rooms was to be 14 by 20 feet.
The state directives for schoolhouses also included specifications for furnishings. According to
Evansville’s contract, Cyrus and Lorenzo Preston were also required to furnish the school with desks
“according to the plan in school law two” and to paint the building outside and in with two coats of paint.
The Prestons were to receive $600 for their work. An additional tax of $45 was raised to pay for stoves,
outhouses and other incidental expenses.
Byron Winston, recalled in his memoirs, his days in the school built by the Prestons. “The desks were
arranged in four rows, two rows on the boys side and the same on the girls side. At recess we all went
out to play. There was a fine grove of trees across the road from the schoolhouse and I remember the
older pupils had a swing hung in a large oak tree.
As with the first log school, this one story, two-room school was also designated for community events as
well as school classrooms. Although information about its use during the eighteen years the building
served as a classroom are scanty.
Public schools also received state aid and the Evansville school district received $413 in 1855 to
support educational activities. The two-room school in Evansville was divided into two sections, “the
higher department” and the “juvenile department”.
The Board hired L. T. Palmer and Miss Henrietta Hume to teach in the school in 1855. Hume taught for
four months and received $25 per month. Miss Hume taught younger children for a term of one week,
or more as the district might ask. Hume received two dollars and seventy-five cents per week.
By 1860, there were ten public schools operating in Union Township. Evansville had one public school
with 2 teachers and 139 pupils. All of the other one-room schools in the township had one teacher.
District enrollment in schools outside Evansville varied from 34 to 80 pupils.
Two other schools also operated in the Evansville area. The Evansville Seminary, a private school
operated by the Methodists and a second public school on what is today North Fourth Street, called
“The Grove School”.
It is rare to find the names of the teachers in these schools. They were generally young women who
had little formal training, with the exception of teachers’ institutes that were held in the spring and fall of
each year. Speakers from the State Normal School, the State Superintendent of Schools and other
prominent educators were invited to lecture at the institutes that were sponsored by the Rock County
Superintendent of Schools.
In 1861, the schoolhouse was used as a recruiting center for volunteers entering the Civil War. A report
in the April 28, 1861, Janesville Gazette told of “short and pithy” speeches given by Major Kelley, Rev.
Mr. Tilton, E. W. Blake, Rev. Mr. Starr and Mr. Gladding” to encourage young men to join the Union
Army.
The district designated $500 to enlarge and repair the school buildings in 1863. The school board also
agreed to charge two dollars per term for non-resident students. The 1863 annual school board
minutes also confirm the community use of the building. The board minutes record that the school
should be open for town meetings, religious meetings, singing schools and war meetings.
Articles in the Evansville Citizen also confirm that the community groups had access to the school
facilities. The Baptist congregation reported to their area association in 1867 that they had been
meeting in schoolhouses for worship. They were making plans to build a church of their own.
Evansville’s newspaper, “The Citizen”, gave a rare glimpse of the organization of the public school in its
November 27, 1867 issue. The winter term of the school year had just begun.
“The District School commenced in this village last Monday morning under the instruction of Miss Anna
Jones for the higher department and Miss Erista Osborn, of the Juvenile.” Miss Jones, a more
experienced teacher than Miss Osborn, had already taught at the school for three terms and was “much
respected” by her students.
By the late 1860s, citizens were encouraging the school board to unite the two schools, the Grove
School, and the public school on South Madison Street. The editor of the Evansville Review, Isaac
Hoxie, was a great promoter of the consolidation of the two public schools and in the January 29, 1868
issue of the Evansville Review he wrote:
“A petition has been in circulation, the past week, among the taxable inhabitants of the two school
districts embraced mostly within this village, to present to the Board of Supervisors, asking for a
consolidation of separate interests. The districts as they have been, and now exist, are formed by a line
running nearly midway of the village, and at either end are two rookeries, that in common parlance,
called school houses. It is a shame that the districts have been suffered to remain in this condition so
long as they have, and the move which is being now made to unite them, is entitled to the greatest
consideration. We cannot see how any voter, having the good reputation of the place in view, and the
social and moral advantages attendant thereto, can for a moment question the propriety of such a
move. When the two districts are once united a respectable house can be erected at a point that will
accommodate both districts nearly as well as what either do now, and be an honor and an ornament to
the place, without drawing heavily upon the tax payers either. The idea that such an arrangement will
work an injury to the Seminary is all sophistry.”
The public demand was for a new building that would house a new educational system, the graded
school. In larger cities, schools were divided into at least four grades, with the higher grade, usually
taught by the Principal as a preparation class for those who wanted to go to college. The higher grade
has usually been the domain of the private schools, such as the Evansville Seminary.
In 1868, the local school board decided to build a new school that could adapt to this modern system of
education. Again, the community was involved in making preparations for the new school.
Peter F. Spencer, was said to have donated the three acres of land on South First Street, as the site for
the building. The Evasnville School Board paid Spencer $100, a low price for this prime residential
land. A Mr. Nettleton, an architect from Janesville, was hired to design the school. The plans for the
new building were put on display in the local general store of Winston and Bennett. Contractors were
asked to bid on the project, but apparently, there were not sufficient bids to begin the project by the
required date and in September, 1869, the board extended the time for bids to be received.
Evansville’s school board hired Cooksville’s architect-builder, Benjamin S. Hoxie, to build the six-room
structure. The work began in July 1969 and Hoxie was paid monthly as the construction progressed.
The wood frame structure was covered with white Edgerton brick.
Both of the former schools were sold. The building on North Fourth Street brought $125 and was
remodeled into a residence. The schoolhouse on South Madison Street was sold to the Village of
Evansville for $800. The school also took out a loan from the State of Wisconsin for $10,000 and
another from Second National Bank of Chicago for $1947.33 to cover the cost of the new structure.
A reporter for the Janesville Gazette wrote about the new building soon after it was finished. “If the
citizens of Evansville are proud of their school it is no matter of surprise. It is a frame building, brick clad
and ample in accommodations. It contains six large and well furnished school rooms, with ante rooms
and apparel rooms adjacent.”
The school had been built for growth and only four of the six classrooms were needed when the building
was first occupied in 1869. The teaching staff was increased and to three teachers and a principal. Mr.
S. S. Gard, the principal, served as both an administrator and a teacher for the higher grades.
The new graded school built in 1869 made no provisions for community use. Only student desks and
furniture for the teacher were provided, there was no special seating for school or community event.
The school had been built without an auditorium, recreational facilities, or special meeting rooms.
Instead, the community provided the space for large gatherings. With the exception of the annual
school board meeting, the school’s special events were held in churches and public halls.
The school board met once a year in July, unless petitioned for special meetings. The annual meeting
was held in the school and those attending sat in the student desks. Most annual meetings consisted of
financial reports from the Board’s treasurer and a report from the principal.
At the first annual meeting of the graded school board of District No. 6 of the town of Union, the board
presented a financial statement covering the term from July 1869 to July 22, 1870. The reported
included bills for building the school and paying teacher’s salaries, and maintenance, and a statement of
receipts. The treasurer reported total expenses of $19,544.91, including the construction of the school.
The expenses for the following year were to be much less. Those present approved a budget of
$1,425 that included $1,200 for teacher’s salaries, $225 for the janitor, wood, and the school board
clerk’s salary. There were also provisions for repayment of the loans for building the school.
The school was divided into four grade levels, the Grammar Department, First Intermediate Department,
The Second Intermediate Department, and the Primary. Each year, the school board hired the principal
and at least three teachers. The principal taught the Grammar Department, or those headed to college
and the rest of the faculty taught the other students. For the information of parents, children, and the
general public, the slate of educators was published in the local newspaper. Evansville was fortunate to
find teachers who were generally well prepared for their teaching assignments.
The school board always chose a man to serve as the principal. He was usually someone with previous
experience in teaching and administration. In the early years, the principals stayed for one school year.
Gard left in the spring of 1870 and was replaced by Mrs. Green. H. B. Coe replaced Green in 1871.
A. L. Burnham became principal in the fall of 1872 and stayed at that post for five years. The board
generally selected women to serve as the rest of the faculty.
School boards were instructed by the state and the Rock County Superintendent of Schools to take
great care in the selection of teachers. The board was told to hire teachers from a list of those who had
successfully passed an oral and written examination that tested their ability to teach and to discipline.
The Rock County Superintendent of Schools administered the test and issued certificates of completion
to the successful candidates. The teachers were given examinations in mathematics, geography,
spelling, and history. School board members and the public were invited to attend the examinations so
that they could select the best teachers for their schools.
Each fall a two-day examination period was held. The Rock County Superintendent usually scheduled
exams to be held in villages and cities throughout the county to make it convenient for potential teachers
and school board members.
In addition to the yearly examinations, the teachers were also to attend a teachers’ institute. These
were organized by the county superintendent of schools and featured prominent educators from the
University of Wisconsin and the normal school at Whitewater.
Several of the institutes were held in Evansville, some at the school and some at the Methodist Church.
Residents were asked to open their homes to those coming from a distance, as the teachers had to stay
for several days and most could not afford hotel accommodations. Notices were placed in the local
paper asking for volunteers: “all persons who are willing to entertain teachers during the session will
state how many they can provide for and at what rates.”
Sessions included “Economy of Time in Schools”, “Blackboard exercises, singing, and writing on a given
topic”. Topics of teacher’s welfare also were addressed at the institutes. At one institute held in
Evansville in the spring of 1870, there was much discussion about the inequity of pay between women
and men in the teaching profession. The teachers attending the institute proposed a resolution: “ That
Lady Teachers in general do exercise as good a faculty in the government of schools as Gentlemen
Teachers and should receive as high wages.” The resolution was endorsed by the Rock County
Superintendent of Schools, John W. West, and an Evansville school teacher, Orrisa Taggart.
The school building was remodeled in the summer of 1874. A partition in the south room was removed
to make a large hall that could accommodate 100 students. It also gave Mr. Burnham, the school
principal, a better view of the classrooms. The Evansville Review, August 26, 1874, said, “By this
improvement the Principal is enable to have a more direct supervision of a much larger number of pupils.
Late summer preparation for classes included re-slating the black board and having the stoves and
pipes “blacked.” In late summer 1874, a 400 pound bell, made by the Jones company was put in the
tower of the school.
Very few of the graded school students pursued a college education. In the 1860s, students who
intended to go on to school attended the Evansville Seminary, a private school that was a college
preparatory institution. When this private school went out of business in the 1870s, there was an effort
to make the Evansville Graded School meet the requirements for high school graduation.
Many people considered a high school education a luxury. There was great debate about whether
taxpayers should furnish students with the courses required for a high school diploma. By 1875, the
University of Wisconsin required that graded school graduates have courses in physiology, natural
philosophy, botany and German. The Evansville Graded School offered none of these courses.
In the spring of 1876, A. L. Burnham resigned as principal of the school and Prof. A. R. Sprague was
hired to replace him. Just as the fall 1876 the school term was underway, 35 petitioners asked for a
special school board meeting and recommended that the board reorganize the grammar school into a
high school. The board agreed to take on the additional courses required and the first class of the
Evansville High School was scheduled to graduate in 1879.
County Superintendent J. W. West, also visited the school during the fall term of 1876 and praised the
new administrator, Prof. Sprague and his faculty. “Prof. Sprague’s teaching deserves the highest
commendation. He has succeeded in completely eradicating whispering. One of the principal features
of the school is a thoroughness of work. This is the aim and design of the teachers of all departments.
Evansville may well feel proud of her fine school building, her corps of excellent teachers and her
facilities for educating the children and youth of her place.”
Superintendent West did request that the school purchase more equipment to support the curriculum.
When Burnham left his post in the spring of 1876, he told the board that the only equipment at the
school as a gyroscope and an outline map of Wisconsin.
The school did not have a library and did not supply textbooks to students. A local bookstore sold texts
and occasionally provided a rental library.
In 1878, the State Superintendent of Schools was Edward Searing. (Searing was at one time a teacher
at a “select school” in the village of Union and at Milton College. He still holds a place of honor in the
local public library. A sculpture of Searing’s head is on a shelf in the northeast corner of the library. )
Searing ordered public schools to establish a library and open it to the public as well. When Evansville
followed the order that very same year, it was the beginning of a long-term school and community
relationship.
The school board appropriated $100 for the establishment and maintenance of the library and
appointed local bookstore owner, James R. West as the librarian. The library was open to students and
the public on Tuesday and Friday evenings. The library had been furnished with 106 books, and the
catalog was printed as list in the local newspaper. The listed included Ivanhoe, The Little Lame Prince,
English Literature, Coleridge’s Poetical Works, Plutarch’s Lives, and a five volume set on the Life of
Washington.
Students and the public were allowed to checkout just one book at a time and the book could be kept for
two weeks. Fines were levied for overdue books and for books that were damaged.
For forty years, this school-public library was maintained until Evansville built its first public library in
1908. Several times the books were moved out of the school, generally for the convenience of the
board-appointed librarian. Sometimes the books were kept in stores, at other times, the YMCA rooms,
or once, in rented rooms in the Episcopal rectory. The cost of maintaining the library was borne by the
school board until 1898, when the City of Evansville also contributed to its support. Students sometimes
held ice cream socials, musical and dramatic performances, gymnastics, and other fund raising events
to help purchase books for the library.
There seemed to be constant progress with the public school in the 1870s. Under A. R. Sprague’s
administration, the curriculum was improved to allow students to graduate for the first time in 1879.
Since there was no auditorium in the public school, the graduation ceremonies were held in the
Methodist Church. According to the Evansville Review report of the event, “every nook and corner” was
filled with an “expectant, smiling audience.” Many were family members and friends of the graduates,
but there were also community members who wanted to honor the young people for their achievement.
The graduates were John M. Clifford, Cora H. Hunt, Wayland Axtell, Fannie Porter, Conrad M.
Conradson, Frank W. Holt, Leander Hoskins, and Herbert D. Mills. Each had to give an oration.
Leander Hoskins, who later graduated from the University of Wisconsin and taught applied mathematics
at Stanford University, spoke on “The Educational Value of Science.” Others chose topics about
famous people or such topics as liberty and “Opportunities Make the Man.”
The community was proud of its young men and women who were receiving the diplomas and headed
out into the world. Many considered the graduation ceremony and the community’s participation in the
program as a means to set a good example to younger students. “They see the parade, hear the
applause, and a longing takes possession for the day to come when they shall be the center of
attraction in a similar scene,” said one observer who attended the ceremony.
The same year that the first graduates left the Evansville High School, Prof. A. R. Sprague also
resigned. He was replaced in the fall of 1879 with Prof. C. M. Merriman. There were 71 students
registered in the high school, 72 in the Grammar Department, 72 in the Intermediate Department and
102 in the Primary department.
The school had been so successful that there were more students coming into the classes. It became
necessary to increase the faculty to five people and an assistant was hired to help Merriman with the
older students. In July 1879, the board announced that L. H. Bushnell was Merriman’s Assistant. Miss
Mary McCoy taught the Grammar Department; Miss Mamie Howe, the intermediate students; and Miss
Fannie Cook, the primary grade.
Merriman’s administration was once again examined by the County Superintendent of Schools, John W.
West and was found to be an excellent principal. The other teachers were also observed in their
classrooms by Superintendent West and praised for their work. Merriman made sure that the report was
published in the Evansville Review so that the community could be assured that the school was in good
hands.
Superintendent West also recommended that parents and other members of the community visit the
school and reinforce the good work the teachers and principal were performing. “Visit your teachers,
giving them words of encouragement; cooperate and sympathize with them; inquire after the welfare of
your children; sustain the teacher in all that is right and reasonable, and required obedience on the part
of your children,” West wrote in his report.
In 1880, the Evansville High School received a high honor from the University of Wisconsin. The
University had established an accreditation system and Evansville was accredited in two areas, the
sciences and modern classical. The local high school was one of four high schools in the state to be
accredited in two areas. The others were Milwaukee, Madison and Beloit.
The accreditation meant that Evansville High School graduates would no longer have to take a test to
enter the University of Wisconsin in the sciences or modern classical. The local principal felt this was a
great advantage, since most of the last semester of school was spent in preparing students to take the
examinations at the University. “Now the graduating class, freed from the anxiety and fear of this
examination, can direct their whole energies to the term’s work and the exercises of graduation,” Prof.
Merriman declared in announcing the school’s success.
Although the school reported 60 students in the high school, the number of students who graduated
each year ranged from four to twelve, with 1881 having the largest class graduated in the 1880s.
The school reputation for providing a good education attracted students from outside the village and
caused some anxiety amount community members. These students paid tuition to go to Evansville High
School but the rumor spread among the townspeople that “foreign scholars” were causing overcrowding
at the school and taking a seat in the school that should be reserved for local boys and girls.
Professor Merriman issued a statement in September 1880 to reassure local taxpayers that there was
room for any Evansville student who wanted an education. Merriman told his critics that there were 39
desks in the high school room and most of the desks would seat two students. Since there were only 53
students enrolled, there was still space for any scholars that wanted to attend, according to the
principal.
Merriman and other principals had used the local newspapers to inform the community about students
who had outstanding achievements. Having their names printed in the local newspaper rewarded those
with good attendance records. Students with high academic standing were also listed. Graduates of the
high school who had achieved success in college were also praised in the Evansville Review.
New state and federal laws sometimes encouraged more community involvement in the schools. In
1885, through the efforts of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), the Wisconsin State
Legislature passed a law requiring all schools to instruct students about the “effects of stimulants and
narcotics upon the human system.” Teachers who wanted to qualify to teach the course were required
to pass an exam.
Evansville’s WCTU organization was especially strong and their lobbying efforts were directed at the
Evansville School Board. The WCTU intended to bring the full force of its efforts and persuaded two
hundred and fifty people to attend the annual school board meeting in July 1885. The crowd wanted to
persuade the board to uphold the law and offer instruction about stimulants and narcotics as required
by the new law. Without hesitation, the school board approved the new course of instruction.
Throughout the 1880s, the Evansville community was also growing at a rapid rate. New homes were
being built and more families were moving into the area. By 1883, there were 362 students registered in
the school and only 37 of these were from outside the village limits. There were so many enrolled in the
primary grade in 1883, that some of the students were promoted into the next higher grade. This
growth pattern continued through the decade and caused such overcrowding that the community began
to look at the possibility of building a new school.
A decade of record-breaking residential building and population growth in the 1880s created the need
for new classrooms. The issue of building another schoolhouse was brought before the citizens in the
spring of 1890.
As with any major expenditure of taxpayers’ money, the community offered their opinions about the need
for more school classrooms. To ease the crowded classrooms, many temporary solutions were
attempted. The pros and cons of various solutions were the topic of heated discussions by the citizens
of Evansville from 1890 until a new school was built in 1897.
The graded school, built in 1869, on South First Street was used for all grades, including high school.
As the curriculum changed, the classes were divided into more grade levels than the school had been
built to accommodate.
In March 1890, the school board announced a special meeting to decide if a new schoolhouse should
be built. A community committee was chosen and given the directive to report to the board with a
solution to the overcrowded school.
It was not the most auspicious time to ask taxpayers for more funding for schools. Evansville citizens
had just voted to build a city hall and the prospect of spending money for a school building was
unsettling to some.
The voters at the July 1890 annual meeting of the school district were asked to consider purchasing
land to build a new school. The citizens’ committee of citizens gave a verbal report to the board. The
committee asked the board to build a new elementary school on the eastside of Evansville. The
committee further recommended that the cost of the new school not exceed $1,000.
After the citizen’s proposal was made, there were several taxpayers who challenged the
recommendation. Those opposing the new school argued that a building on the eastside was a waste of
the taxpayer's money. The school would serve only 60 students and the opposition further estimated
that the money allocated would not cover the cost of the land and a building.
Women played an important role in the school board’s decision-making process. In the 1880s,
Wisconsin granted women the right to vote at school board meetings. Although they were not allowed to
vote in any other elections and none held offices on the school board, women attended and voted at
school board elections and meetings.
When the school board met in July 1890, the majority of those in attendance were women and they were
very vocal in expression their ideas about public education. The Evansville Tribune reporter attended
the meeting and published his view of the proceedings in the next week's paper. "After considerable
sparring by those both in favor and against said improvement, a vote was taken and the motion to build
a second school on the eastside with an appropriation for $1000 for that purpose, passed, with 42 for,
and 38 against the motion."
Some of those attending the board meeting wanted an addition made to the existing building and
improvements made to the heating system. Allen S. Baker, school board clerk, read a lengthy proposal
asking that a loan of $7,000 be obtained to build an addition to the south side of the present school and
remove the steam heating system and install coal stoves. The motion was defeated.
There were other matters to consider besides the building of a new school. Should the students be
issued free textbooks? The majority voted against the proposal and students continued to buy their own
books.
Yet another issue was the community library. There was no longer space in the school for the library
and it had been moved to the store of W. T. Hoxie. When Hoxie sold his business to John Blass, the
school board agreed that the books should remain in Blass’ store.
Although the money had been approved for a second school, no land had been purchased and no site
was proposed. However, the board searched for a location and the following April, proposed a piece of
vacant land on Cemetery Street, 14 rods (231 feet) north of the Main Street intersection.
Women were again in the majority at this special board meeting held in April 1891. They voiced the
opinion that the Cemetery Street site was unacceptable. The citizens turned down the purchase of the
land on Cemetery Street by a vote of 74 against and 56 for. A newspaper reporter noted that the
women who cast their ballots were about equally divided on the issue.
By the spring of 1891, there were 355 students enrolled in the five classrooms, First Primary, Second
Primary, Intermediate, Grammar, and High School. The elementary school age children in the two
primary sections had a total of 146 students. There were not enough seats in the Grammar room to
accommodate the 67 students expected to enroll in the fall of 1891.
The problem of crowded conditions did not go away, despite the reluctance of citizens to approve a
building project. At the annual meeting in July 1891, school principal, L. E. Gettle, gave statistics about
the growth of the student population.
Gettle explained that there was crowding in the high school and in the next lower level, the Grammar
“The Grammar room has only 56 seats which must be made to accommodate 67 pupils next year, ” he
told the board. “It is absolutely necessary that more school room should be furnished, if all the children
are to enjoy equal school privileges, as they have an undoubted legal right to do.”
Although the voters would not accept the proposed land purchase and new elementary school, the
money was appropriated for an addition to the First Street school. Gettle’s pleas for more classroom
space were heeded.
At the annual meeting in 1891, the school board voted to make a two-story addition on the south side of
the First Street school. Following the approval of the addition, Board members Allen Baker and Alonzo
C. Gray went to Janesville to look at schools and get ideas for the design of the Evansville project.
After approving plans, the board advertised for bids on the addition in the August issues of the local
newspapers. The bid proposal gave the dimensions of the two-story addition as 34 feet east and west
and 35 feet north and south. There was to be a basement, the same depth as the old building.
Local carpenter-builder, William Libby received the contract with his bid of $2,500 for the entire project.
The local newspaper editors approved the hiring of a local contractor for the project. William Libby was
a man who could be trusted to do a good job on the project. "Mr. Libby goes to work at once," the
Evansville Review announced in its September 15, 1891 issue.
By November 189l, the walls of the addition were built and a tin roof was put on by local hardware
merchant and sheet metal worker, F. A. Baker. The two new classrooms were completed and the board
was able to install the furnishings in April 1892. Miss Mabel Snashall was hired as a new teacher but the
school was still crowded. The addition proved to be only a temporary solution.
Changes were taking place in the operation of the school. With the additional room, came new
separation of classes. By the spring of 1892, the Grammar department had been divided into two
grades,, including the sixth and seventh grades. Eleven students graduated from the school at the
commencement ceremonies.
There were 464 pupils in the Evansville school district, according to the census report given to the
school board in July 1892. In addition to the large number of students, school resources were also
strained by the increased need for broadening the curriculum.
There were some who thought the public schools should concentrate on the 3 r's, reading, writing and
arithmetic. The Evansville Review editor chided the critics. “Thoughtless people often criticize the
manner in which the schools are conducted, and thus do great injustice to the teachers and no little
injury to the cause of education.”
To demonstrate their scholastic achievements, teachers and pupils found many creative ways to bring
the classroom before the public. “Entertainments” that included musical and dramatic programs were
presented at the Magee Theater. Some of these programs were fundraisers to earn money to purchase
pianos or other equipment for the school that was not supplied with taxpayer’s money. Others programs
were given by the high school seniors to demonstrate their speaking and writing skills. These programs
were generally well attended by parents and friends of the students.
A high school band was formed in the summer of 1894, under the leadership of Elmer Libby. The band
performed at ice cream socials and other community activities in the summer. Since the leader was an
adult volunteer, the musical program was dependent on Libby’s willingness to keep the program going.
There is no mention of a high school band for several years after the summer of 1894.
The community also enjoyed the new sports programs at the high school. Football and track teams
were organized under L. E. Gettles’ administration. Many of the events were held at the “Driving Park”,
a horse racing track that was later used as the Evansville Fair Grounds and eventually became the site
of the Evansville High School. The games and track events pitted Evansville’s team against opponents
from neighboring cities and villages and brought many spectators from the community, as well as the
school children.
In the fall of 1895, there was a change in the school’s administration. E. E. DeCou was hired to replace
L. E. Gettle. Professor Gettle became the State Librarian and moved to Madison. DeCou also faced
the challenges of finding enough classrooms for the enrolled pupils.
DeCou also faced the challenge of finding space for classrooms. By the beginning of the school year in
September 1895, the school board had to rent rooms in a vacant store building in the business district.
The board moved the first primary department of the school into the rented space. Fifty-five students
were enrolled in Mae Johnson's classroom in the old store building in the business district on West Main
Street.
Blackboards, desks, and new seats were added to the building owned by Benjamin and Isaac Hoxie.
The walls were papered in light wallpaper. The building also housed the school library. The Enterprise
reported, "The room is not so large as it should be, but will accommodate Miss Johnson's department
quite comfortable until the district may build better hence."
The school principal, E. E. DeCou did not find the rented room arrangement acceptable and when he
gave his annual report at the annual meeting of the school board in 1895, DeCou recommended the
board build a new high school. The board took no action and continued to rent space in vacant store
buildings. Despite the removal of classes from the building, the school was still crowded.
Perhaps frustrated by the lack of cooperation in getting more classrooms, DeCou did not stay long.
When the school year started in 1896, Evansville had a new principal, H. F. Kling. The new school
leader was an educator who believed in the reforms of the day. Kling persuaded the school board to
expand the curriculum and include a wider variety of cultural, physical and mental activities in the
classroom.
Kling encouraged teachers to take students out of their classrooms and given them field experience
whenever possible. Geography classes were held in stone quarries and at mill races, so that students
could see rock formations and the affects of water and weathering.
H. F. Kling also persuaded the board to hire an art teacher, as a start to adding more depth to the
classes offered at the school. In September 1896, Lelia Dow was hired as the school’s first art teacher.
Miss Dow was a part-time employee and only came to school on Tuesdays. During her scheduled time,
she was expected to instruct students in all of the classrooms and was allowed one-half hour for each
session with a class. Miss Dow taught the Prangs system of drawing to her young students.
Music was also introduced into the curriculum in 1896. The new subject emphasized singing. However,
some of the teachers were inexperienced at teaching music and a new teacher, Cora Morgan, was hired
to teach singing for a few hours each week.
Principal H. F. Kling pressured the board to put even more emphasis on new areas of the curriculum
and recommended that athletics, music and art be supported by a full-time staff member. An orchestra
was started in February 1897.
Kling was convinced that in addition to their academic courses, students needed athletic programs that
were organized, supervised, and supported by adults. He took an active role in the student’s athletic
instruction and coached football, baseball and track. He also helped organize a bicycle club that
included both boys and girls.
The principal also believed that teachers should continue their education. Kling required that the
teachers attend teacher’s institutes and also provided classes at the school. He convinced the Board to
close school so that teachers could attend institutes at Whitewater Normal School. He encouraged his
staff to attend programs to make them better educators.
Kling also took an active part in community activities. He served as a teacher in the Methodist Church
Sunday School and he and his wife often entertained in their home.
In 1896, the school was so crowded that the school board began to look for alternative classrooms.
There were 85 students enrolled in the high school classes and 278 enrolled in grades 1 through 8.
The largest class was the first grade with 55 pupils and the smallest was the senior class with 17 pupils.
"In spite of the fact that the two primary grades have been removed from the High School building, the
rooms are still full," the school officials told the Evansville Review in September 1896.
The basement of the school was remodeled into classrooms. Physics and botany classes were held in
the new rooms where laboratory equipment was set up so the students could do experiments. To
alleviate crowding, Principal Kling, who taught high school physics, divided the class into three sections,
one before school, one after school and one during lunch.
The board continued to rent space in the store on West Main Street owned by Isaac and Benjamin
Hoxie. This situation may have continued for several more years had it not been for a fire that
destroyed many of the buildings on the south side of West Main Street in the fall of 1896. The fire also
consumed the space the school had rented for classrooms.
When the Hoxie building burned to the ground in what Evansville citizen's called the Great Fire, the
school district leased the Episcopal rectory at 20 South First Street. Nearly 100 elementary school
students attended classes in the rectory.
When the lease on the Episcopal Rectory expired, the church did not renew the school's rental
agreement. This forced the school district to once again consider building a new school. There was
limited classroom space and an antiquated heating system churning into the mix of decisions to be made
by Evansville citizens. Then another unexpected emergency brought the project once again into sharp
focus.
In January 1897, the pupils were given a week's vacation when the defective boiler quit working and
there was no heat in the building. Then, from January to June, the enrollment increased from 354
students to 406 students. The increased attendance put even more pressure on the school board to
ask the voters for money to build.
Although there were eleven teachers hired, there were not enough to cover all of the classes. Members
of the senior class were put in charge of one classroom for one period of each day, according to the
school report in January 1897.
There was also an increase in the extra curricular activities at the school. Sports programs in
basketball, football, track and baseball were organized under the leadership of the principal H. F. Kling.
There were also debating teams and an orchestra.
The principal, H. F. Kling, undoubtedly with the school boards approval, began a campaign for a new
school through the local newspapers. He listed seven reasons that the community needed a new
school. The first and greatest need was because the present building could hold only 70% of the
enrolled students.
Kling noted that renting classrooms was expensive and the vacant store space was not built as
classrooms, so the rented rooms provided poor accommodations. The principal also noted that moving
classrooms into temporary space was disruptive.
In a March 13, 1897 edition of the Evansville Review, Kling presented a solution to the problems. By this
time, the school board had already hired an architect to design a building.
The architectural firm of Chandler and Park from Racine prepared a plan for a two-story building to be
used as a high school. There were three classrooms on the first floor designed for the intermediate
grades and the second floor was devoted to high school classes.
The 1869 building would continue to be used for the primary grades. Kling and the school board felt
this would solve the crowded classroom situation for a number of years.
In March 1897, the school board had called a special meeting of the high school district, which included
the towns of Union, Magnolia and City of Evansville. Citizens were asked to approve a loan of $8,000 to
build a new school.
Kling took every opportunity to speak to groups about the need for a new school. At a high school
banquet organized by the juniors in honor of the senior class in early April 1897, the Board of
Education, teachers and high school students gathered. Kling spoke to the group about the proposal
for the new high school building.
There was as much controversy over the site for the new school as there had been during the 1890
fiasco. Marilla Andrews, editor of the Badger newspaper, favored two small schools, one on the
eastside and one on the west. The smaller schools would house the elementary school students and
the school on South First Street would be used for the intermediate and high school classes. She
offered this as a cheaper solution than building a new high school. However, the high school option on
the land already owned by the school district was the most popular solution.
To get the new building program underway, Clerk of the school district, Perry C. Wilder called a special
meeting for the 22nd day of March 1897 in the City Hall. The purpose of the meeting was to vote on a
loan of $8,000 to build a new school building. The voters approved the board's plans to move ahead
with the building and ask for bids for the construction of the new high school.
Believing that the issue was settled, the school board went ahead with the building plans.
Advertisements were placed in each of the local newspapers asking for bids on the building. The
contractor's bids for the new high school were due to the school board by June 5, 1897.
The board again called a special school meeting in early June 1897 to approve the bids and an
increase to $10,000 in funding, $8,000 for the new building and $2,000 for a heating system.
The meeting was scheduled to be held in the city hall auditorium but the could not accommodate the
crowd of more than 200 people that gathered to vote on the new building. The meeting was moved to
the Magee Theater.
Dr. John M. Evans opened the meeting and the first order of business was to elect a chairman. Frank
Crow was chosen to act as chairman of the meeting. There were several voters who wanted to disrupt
the meeting and a squabble erupted about whether previous meetings were legal and whether the
voters at the March meeting had actually approved a new building.
When order was restored, the board decided to once again consider the questions proposed at the
March meeting. A new vote was taken to determine if a loan should be obtained and a new building
constructed.
School principal H. F. Kling used his persuasive voice to tell the crowd about the need for the new
school. Kling explained that if a new school was not built, the district would have to rent space and
provide equipment for classes in some other building in the community.
After Kling's talk, school board member Perry C. Wilder presented a resolution authorizing the school
board to borrow money and build a new building. The votes were cast and 120 favored the levy for the
school and 87 voted against the levy. After the first vote a number of people left the meeting.
The remaining voters considered a second question on whether to spend an additional $2,000 for a
heating and ventilating system for the school. This expenditure was approved by a 116 to 46 vote.
The voters also decided that the site for the new school was to be on the southeast corner of the school
grounds near the first school so that no additional property needed to be purchased.
The Bank of Evansville purchased the school bonds and construction began almost immediately, based
on the Chandler and Park drawing. J. G. Chandler was listed as the principal architect. By July 6, less
than a month after the voters approved the expenditure, the stonework for the new school was
underway.
A drawing in the June 29, 1897 issue of the Tribune described the building. "It will be a very imposing,
handsome structure, covering a space of ground 63 x 66 feet, with walls about 43 feet high, including
basement".
Contracts for the new school were awarded to William Libby and R. R. Hankinson for $8,848. The
contract for the heating system went to a Chicago firm for $1,350. The new heating and ventilating
system was the Smead system.
Other workmen hired for the building project were J. W. Blanchard, carpenter and Isaac Brink, mason,
for the stonework and the brick of the new building. The lumber was purchased from a local lumberyard,
N. C. Foster Lumber Company.
Since the new school was not completed by the time classes began in the fall of 1897, the high school
classes were held in the assembly room and in the firemen's room in the basement floor of the City Hall.
In allowing the school to use the rooms, the City Council required that all equipment, cleaning and
heating of the rooms be charged to the school.
The public-school library was moved to the Adam's block on South Madison Street. Eighty-nine
"carefully selected new books" were added to the collection in November 1897. Mrs. Amelia Wilder was
hired to be the librarian with part of her salary paid by the city and part by the school board.
Although the school was to be completed by November, there were delays in the construction and it was
not ready for occupancy until January. After eight years of controversy, the new school was finally in
place.
The building was dedicated in January 1898 and 500 people attended the ceremony. William Libby,
general contractor for the building, presented the keys to Perry C. Wilder, chairman of the school
board.
The primary grades continued to use the old school building. With older children in the new building,
the school board and administrators believed the 1869 building could accommodate many more
students. The new high school was designed for an expanded curriculum and had space to house the
community library.
The first class to graduate from the new school included eighteen students. It was the largest
graduation class in the history of the school. Since the new school did not have space for all of the
graduates’ friends and relatives, the ceremonies continued to be held in the city’s largest community
hall, the Magee Theater.
Though the school building had been the most pressing issue for many years, there were other
controversies at annual school board meetings. A new state law required that the school board and
voters decide on the question of free textbooks at each annual school district meeting. Enterprise and
Tribune newspaper editor, C. A. Libby and others spoke in favor of the expenditure every year when the
expenditure was brought before the board. However, a majority of the voters always turned down the
request to pay for students’ books.
At the annual meeting in 1898, the school board did make a concession and agreed to act as the
booksellers and purchase a set of books for each student. The school board knew some parents would
not be able to pay for the books at the time school began. By advancing the money for the textbooks,
the students would have a complete set of books on the first day of school. This arrangement allowed
all students to begin studies at the same time while giving parents a chance to pay for the books after
classes began.
In 1899, the number of members serving on the school board was changed from three to seven. The
number was determined by state law and the size of the community served. Some suggested that the
board should consist of one man and one woman from each of the city’s three wards and a chairman,
elected at large from the city. The first seven-member board was chosen in just this way. O. S.
Shepard and Mary Coleman represented the first ward; Perry Wilder, Rev. M. C. Miner, and A. S. Baker,
the second ward; and Mrs. J. W. Morgan and Mrs. Theodore F. Stair, the third ward.
Over the next few years, with the exception of the school textbook question, there was very little
opposition to school district funding requests. The greatest expansion occurred in classroom offerings
and extracurricular activities and the newly organized alumni association supported many of these
activities.
One major change was in the management of the school-public library. In the 1899 a new public library
board was appointed by the City Council and management of the library was taken away from the school
board. However the school did continue to support the library financially, along with the city council and
private donations. The new library board agreed to keep the books in the school library, but to work
diligently to build a new structure as soon as possible. The library was advertised as the “Free Public
Library”.
Two new curriculum areas were added in 1900. At the annual meeting, the citizens voted to add a
kindergarten and girl’s athletic programs. The total budget for school purposes had risen to $8,800 and
the new programs appeared to be costly, nearly five percent of the school district budget. However, the
citizens were willing to pay the bill. Despite their willingest to spend money on the new programs, the
majority of voters at the meeting followed past voting practices and opposed free textbooks.
Psychology, biology, and physics were added to the high school curriculum. When the physics class
studied sound, one of the students brought in the family graphaphone. The machine allowed the
students to perform sound experiments.
At the turn of the century, the Evansville High School also started public speaking and debate
programs. Local students competed against contestants from their own school at a public contest held
at the Magee Theater. The winners went on to regional meets to compete against other area schools.
Regional winners went to Madison for the state declamation contest.
Evansville athletes competed against teams in the Rock County Athletic Association in the early 1900s.
Winners in track events went on to compete in district and state championships. Local football teams
played against Madison, Fort Atkinson, Janesville, Beloit, and other larger schools in the area. The
Evansville High School teams held their own against schools with larger enrollment.
The diversity of classes, recreation, and other extracurricular activities had increased dramatically under
the administration of Professor H. F. Kling. When he accepted an offer from the Chicago Board of
Education in December 1903, many Evansville students and parents regretted the loss. Kling was given
several farewell banquets by athletes and other community members who appreciated his work in
Evansville.
Before leaving for his new post, Kling helped his successor, Prof. Arthur Sholtz, a former principal at the
Stoughton schools, get acquainted with the Evansville school system. Sholtz was familiar to many
Evansville Civil War veterans as he had been the featured speaker at Memorial Day services.
Arthur Sholtz continued the commitment to improve the offerings at high school. Classes in chemistry,
German, and Latin were added and several clubs were started to encourage study of various subjects.
English clubs and science clubs joined the lengthening list of after-school activities offered by the school.
Athletics, music programs, debates and public performances brought the school and community
together. Evansville citizens seemed to appreciate the programs and when school events were held, the
fans filled the Magee Theater and the grandstand at the Evansville fairgrounds to watch Evansville
students demonstrate the skills taught in the public schools.
A typical school year in the early 1900s began with the annual board meeting held in the early part of
July. In 1905, the meeting included the perennial question of “free textbooks” and voters decided that
the school board would not provide them. This question was considered at each annual meeting, well
into the 1920s, with the same result. The answer from voters was loud and clear: “No free textbooks.”
The vote against free text books did not mean that taxpayers were not willing to support school
programs they thought were important. Voters did not hesitate to add new classes to the curriculum,
when school principals requested them. In July 1905, the voters agreed to cooking and sewing classes
for girls and woodworking and use of tools classes for boys.
The approval of the slate of teachers and election of School Board members was also on the agenda of
each annual meeting. The principal generally presented the names of teachers for the next school year
and gained immediate board approval.
Board members were always chosen from the voters attending the annual meeting and since there were
staggering member terms, only two or three were elected each year. Rarely was there controversy
about who should serve on the school board.
Teachers were required to attend the Rock County Teachers Institute in August in order to receive a
valid teaching certificate for the school year. The three day-programs of the late 1800s had been
extended to two-week session, followed by three days of tests to determine whether a teaching
certificate would be granted.
While many neighboring communities began their school year the first week in September, Evansville’s
classes did not begin until the second Monday in September. The Rock County Fair was held in
Evansville during the first week and since many children and their parents wanted to attend the
festivities, school began the following week.
The “Educational” department was a new attraction at the 1905 fair. Teachers prepared exhibits of
students’ drawings and the local newspaper, The Badger, urged parents to attend the exhibit to see the
“excellence of the work that was certainly of a very high order.”
The Badger editor, Marilla Andrews, also urged local residents to praise the local school. “Bear in mind
our schools offer one of the strongest attractions we have and never forget to speak a good word for
them.”
When classes began, each of the four weekly papers, the Badger, the Enterprise, the Tribune, and the
Evansville Review published a list of teachers. By 1905, the listed included a kindergarten teacher, a
teacher for each of the eight grades, with class sizes ranging from 43 to 20 students, and four high
school teachers, with classes of from 34 to 16 students each. The only classroom with an assistant was
the kindergarten.
In 1899, the Wisconsin legislature had established teacher training schools, known as Normal Schools,
and throughout the early 1900s the state and counties established Normal schools with one and two
year programs. Most teachers in the Evansville schools had attended colleges or Normal Schools and
had several more years of training than teachers hired in the late 1800s. The rate for teachers in the
early 1900s was $40 a month. This pay scale included teachers with a college degree and a few years
of experience. Only two teachers were paid $45 a month and the kindergarten assistant received $15
per month.
Class sizes varied. The senior class was always the smallest, since many students dropped out of
school before entering their senior year. State law required that children aged 4 to 14 attend school but
many students reached the eighth grade or the early years of high school by the age of 14 and left
school to work or marry.
A few weeks after classes began, the football team began to practice for its round of games with other
schools. Rev. E. A. Ralph, a local minister, was the coach for the 1905 season. Whether the season
was a success or failure, the football team was feted with a banquet when the season ended. Boys and
girls representing the different classes gave toasts to the team and the team presented their coach with
a watch fob, “as a mark of respect and appreciation for his generous advice through the games.”
The school principal, A. H. Sholtz, who enjoyed sports, but was not as active in coaching as his
predecessor, Kling, had his own talents to share with the community. In the fall of 1905, Sholtz began a
series of lectures, and invited public school students, students from the Evansville Seminary and the
public to hear him speak. Since the high school had no auditorium, the lectures were held in local
churches or the Magee theater.
Students were given several days vacation while teachers and the principal attended the fall teacher’s
conference. Thanksgiving and Christmas vacations also gave students a break from their studies. If
the weather was cold enough, the school grounds were flooded and ice skaters could be seen enjoying
this winter sport.
Nearly every year, in the month of January, school was cancelled for several days, or sometimes weeks
because of infectious diseases. Small pox, diphtheria, mumps, measles and influenza were prevalent
among students in the first month of each year. Because of the large gatherings at the holiday season,
January was the most likely time for diseases to reach epidemic proportions. In the 1905-6 school year,
the Christmas vacation lasted a week longer than expected and classes did not begin until the 8th of
January.
After the delayed beginning of the new term, the high school students were introduced to new classes in
English history, algebra, arithmetic, and history of the constitution. Class trips were also part of the
curriculum and since there was excellent train service between Evansville and neighboring cities, there
was great opportunity for students and teachers to take field trips.
The high school science teacher, Mr. Clark, took his chemistry class to visit the Janesville high school
chemistry lab and the sugar beet factory located in Janesville. Clark also organized a science club to
encourage students’ interest in science outside of the classroom.
For sports enthusiasts, the early months of the year were devoted to basketball practice. Evansville
players competed against school in Rockford, Beloit, Freeport, and Janesville. Since the school did not
have a gymnasium, the home games for the Evansville team were played at the YMCA gymnasium in the
old Grange Store building (currently home to the Night Owl).
In March 1905, Evansville had won the Silver Cup given to the winner of the annual basketball
tournament. The Evansville High School team lost the treasured trophy to the Rockford team at the
annual contest in March 1906.
Another early winter community activity was held each February. Evansville hosted the Farmers’
Institute, an educational program for farmers to learn about new agricultural practices from University of
Wisconsin-Extension specialists and other experts. The program generally included entertainment by
local high school students. Musicians and orators were invited to perform at the Farmer’s Institute.
February activities in the grade school classroom included the celebration of the birthdays of George
Washington and Abraham Lincoln with appropriate “patriotic exercises”. Parents and friends were often
invited into the classroom for the festivities.
The Rock County Superintendent of Schools paid his annual visit to the schools in late February 1906.
Superintendent Charles Hemmingway inspected both the grade school and the high school and offered
recommendations for improvement. The Superintendent always found the Evansville school in
compliance with regulations and approved the educational practices in the school.
As spring approached, there were new activities in the high school. The principal, Arthur H. Scholtz,
encouraged boys and girls to join debate teams and participate in declamatory contests. For debates,
there were separate teams for boys and girls and this was a frequent point of controversy.
One of the debate questions which seemed to appear annually was whether boys and girls could
compete on the same debate team, the girls team always argued the affirmative and the boys, the
negative. Other debate questions were whether schools should be co-educational, whether rifle
practice should be held in the schools, or if “reformed spelling” should be adopted.
The high school debate teams competed against Madison high school teams
However, all students were encouraged to develop individual speeches for the forensics contest. A local
contest was held at the Magee Theater and judges were two local pastors, Rev. Ralph and Rev. Harlan,
and a local businessman, M. J. Fisher. The winners in 1906 were Erwin Meyers, first place; Amy
Richardson, second place; Fred Slightam, third place. The first place winner went on to compete at the
regional contest in Whitewater.
A week-long spring vacation occurred in late March or early April, depending on the date of Easter in a
particular year. When classes resumed, a baseball team was organized for the spring contests.
Because of the lack of athletic facilities at the school, the games were played at the Evansville fair
grounds. By early May, the track team began to compete against other schools. Home track events
were also held at the racetrack at the fair grounds.
Another early spring activity was the review of the work of the school principal by the school board. The
principal served under an annual contract and by April, the school board usually made the decision
about whether to renew the agreement. Arthur Scholtz had proven himself an able administrator, an
excellent history and civics teacher, as well as a debate and declamatory coach. At the April 1906
meeting of the board, Scholtz was given a renewal of his contract.
In renewing the principal’s contract, the school board also considered the community’s satisfaction with
the school administration. In its April 19, 1906 issue, the Review reported: “The school work done by
this gentleman is of the highest grade and entirely satisfactory to the members of the school board, as
well as to the patrons of the school. The public is satisfied and pleased to learn that he will continue to
act as principal.”
The first week in May, the entire school body began preparing for graduation ceremonies and the
annual end-of-school entertainment. A special music teacher from Madison was hired to prepare the
high school chorus for its part in the graduation ceremony. Grade and high school teachers began
preparing their students for the program to be held at the Magee Theater. A separate program was
held at the school for the kindergarten pupils.
Most classes had a picnic during the last week of May or early June to celebrate the end of school and
the beginning of the summer vacation. However, it was the graduation activities that took center stage
at the end of May and beginning of June. Three days of activities were held, including Class Day when
the class prophecy and the class will were read. The prophecy told what was expected of each
graduate in the future, and the will designated the passing of talents and good wishes to the
underclassmen.
An admission fee of 10 cents was charged to help cover the cost of the graduation class. Forty-nine
dollars were taken in as receipts. Students were offered the opportunity to purchase class pins, sterling
silver spoons with an image of the high school engraved into the bowl, and other novelties to
commemorate their graduation.
The alumni organization gave a banquet for the graduates and a Baccalaureate service was held at a
local church. The religious services were considered an important activity for graduating seniors and
their families and there was no question as to whether they were appropriate for a public school.
Thirty students graduated in 1906, the largest graduating class in the history of the school. The Magee
Theater was filled to overflowing for the graduation ceremony which was held on a Thursday evening in
early June. A few of the students gave speeches, the school choir and a sextette performed musical
numbers and two students presented a piano duet. The graduates received their diplomas and the
school year ended.
Over the next few years there were several changes in the school district. Principal Sholtz resigned and
was replaced by Frank J. Lowth. Sholtz and a previous principal, Gettle, who were both recognized for
their public speaking ability, were elected to serve in the Wisconsin State Legislature after leaving their
posts at the school,
Many of the students began doing public service work in the community. When the public library
opened in 1908, the school closed for several days so that the public library books and other equipment
could be moved to the new public library. Public school students carried the books the two blocks.
Students also took part in a “clean-up” day at the school. Activities included washing walls, raking the
school yard and other janitorial work.
In 1909, the high school was accredited by the North Central Association of College and Secondary
Schools for the first time. The accreditation meant that the school had met the high standards required
by the North Central inspection and local graduates would be admitted to colleges in Wisconsin and
other states where the high school’s North Central was accepted as a requirement.
That same year, the school board also was challenged for placing its funds in a bank that did not offer
enough interest on the money. The voters at the annual meeting decided to elect a banker to the post
of school board treasurer and chose J. P. Porter, cashier of the Grange Bank in Evansville. Porter
satisfied the wishes of the electors and maintained the post for a number of years.
Parents took a more organized approach to community-school relationships in the fall of 1909. Several
women formed a Mothers Club for the “mutual self-improvement of mothers by the study and discussion
of mothers’ problems.” The group met monthly in the school and offered babysitting services for
mothers during the programs.
The mothers, with teachers as their guides, studied nutrition, schoolroom activities, teaching children
good habits, and the “opportunities for moral training in the schools.” The Mothers used a magazine
called “The Mother’s Magazine as a resource for their studies .
The Mothers also recommended turning the schools into clubhouses for children. There were similar
programs in Philadelphia where the city paid the expenses and the teachers volunteered their time to
supervise. Former principal Sholtz introduced a bill in the state legislature to allow schools in rural
communities to serve as meeting places for public gathers.
However, the school board had little time or money to start new programs and instead focused its
attention on solutions for overcrowding, outdated heating and sewage systems at the First Street
schools. By the end of the decade, the two buildings at the First Street site were filled to capacity and
once again there was a call for building a school on the east side of Evansville.
Proponents of the east side school noted the dangerous conditions near the railroad tracks where
children from the east side crossed in order to get to school. Eastsiders also told the school board that
52 children could be taken out of the school buildings on South First Street if the new school was built.
The board also had to deal with changes in the school leadership. F. J. Lowth resigned in March of
1911 to accept the position of principal of the Rock County Teachers Training School in Janesville. The
Board seemed to have an easy time choosing his successor, F. J. Waddell, a science teacher in the
Evansville high school.
Waddell told the school board that his goal was to have every pupil who left the Evansville schools
prepared for life’s many activities. In one of his first presentations to the board, Waddell stressed
preparing students for college and also for business, homemaking, and other work.
Waddell noted that less than 50% of the public school pupils went to college. He also believed that
schools should teach students to be physically fit, instruct students in good citizenship and as well as
provide courses to prepare every student for his life’s work.
“Everyone cannot be doctors, lawyers, preachers, or teachers and are crying out for equal opportunities
at the hand of the public school. If it be true then that the public demands a new kind of service from the
graduates of our public school it is for the school and school patrons to broaden their courses and
modernize their methods,” Waddell said.
While Waddell was stressing a broader curriculum, a University professor at Madison complained that
freshmen entering college needed more preparation in some basic courses. Many did not know
geography. The professor said that most students took a course in geography in the early years of
grammar school, then did not study the subject again until they reached college. “The pupil goes out
from his school life with a deplorably meager fund of geographical knowledge,” Prof. R. H. Whitbeck was
quoted as saying.
In addition to improving the curriculum, Waddell also helped the board meet the challenges of increasing
enrollment. By July 1911 there were 530 students in the city schools. The oldest building was in use as
a grade school and the 1896 building served as the high school. State inspectors had visited the
buildings and called the sanitary conditions deplorable. The “water closets” were not sanitary. Odors
were so bad that some classes had to be dismissed and ventilation in both buildings was bad. There
were also poor heating and ventilation systems in both buildings. The overcrowding aggravated these
conditions.
Even though Waddell had reported that a state sanitary inspector had said the schools were not safe,
voters at the annual meetings continued to vote against a new building.
At the 1912 annual meeting three plans for buildings were presented. They ranged in price from
$28,000 to $50,000. Voters rejected all three plans.
By 1914, the schools’ building problems could not be delayed. A new heating plant was built and a new
furnace installed. A new sanitary sewer system, connecting the school to the city sewer system was also
installed in the buildings.
In 1912, the school board had approved a domestic science department and a new home economics
room was remodeled in the old grade school building. Some of the walls were moved in the high school
building to make larger rooms to accommodate the increased enrollment. The first classes in Domestic
Science were taught in the fall of 1914, with Miss Annette Maxwell, teacher.
The board had also approved agriculture and manual training in 1912. However, there was no space in
the building for the classes and so the classes were not added until after the new high school was built
in 1939.
By 1917, the school was still short of classroom space and the school board hired Roy Gavey to build
temporary buildings for more classroom space. These were finished by the start of the 1917-18 school
year.
The crowded conditions at the elementary school just prior to and during World War I were temporarily
handled by renting rooms in the City Hall and building temporary classrooms. Although the school
board realized the crowded conditions, it did not bring the matter of building a new school before the
voters until after the war ended.
At the 1919 annual meeting, the school board was given permission to confer with architects and have
plans drawn for a new building. However, almost immediately there was competition for taxpayer’s
dollars as 394 citizens had signed petitions for the restoration of Lake Leota. The City Council, acting
on the wishes of the petitioners voted to sell bonds for the project at their July 1919 meeting.
Despite the City Council vote, the school board proceeded with its plans for construction of a new
building. One of the first considerations was the purchase of land as the school did not own enough
land to accommodate three buildings.
The voters were asked to approve the purchase of the Gibbs’ property. The price was $1,400, which
included a house that had to be removed. Some wanted the owner to remove the house, but this idea
was so unpopular that no vote was taken and the house and property were not purchased.
The following year, at the July 1920 annual meeting, the school approved the purpose of the Minnie
Leader property, just south of the high school building. In September 1920, the school asked for bids
on the house. W. F. Biglow purchased the house and had it moved to a lot of Second Street. The site
was readied for the new school that would be built directly south of the 1896 high school building.
The final vote for funding the building of the new school was also taken at the July 1920 annual
meeting. There were 212 votes cast, with the majority in favor of the new building plans as presented by
the architects. One hundred twenty-five voted in favor of the building and 87 voted against.
The voters approved funding for the new building at $115,000. The loans were to be repaid in fifteen
years, at a rate to begin at $6,500 and decreasing each year as the interest decreased.
One of the attractions for many voters was the new gymnasium. The recreational facility was to have a
regulation basketball court, 70 x 44, and a stage at the north end of the room. Lockers and dressing
rooms for both boys and girls were to be located near the stage.
The floor of the gymnasium could be filled with chairs, with a seating capacity of 400. According to the
plan, the school would no longer need to rent local theaters because it would be possible to hold plays,
musical events, lectures, graduation, and sports events in the new gym.
Although the approval for building was in place, the school board could not get contractors to present
bids. Wartime prices for building materials and labor were still in place and contractors did not expected
the inflated prices to be lifted until April 15, 1921.
When the contracts for the new building were approved in April 1921, J. P.Cullen of Janesville was the
lowest bidder. The project began immediately, as the work was to be completed by January 1, 1922.
The school board issued a construction progress report in August. The board’s report printed in the
Evansville Review told readers that Contractor Cullen was making rapid progress on the new grade
school building and was expected to finish the project and have it ready for furniture and fixtures by
January First.
The project was completed on time and the Review called it a “splendid building”. The reporter praised
the spirit of the local taxpayers for having the “nerve, despite wartime prices of material and labor to
building the school and cheerfully accept the burden of increased taxation it would bring every taxpayer
in the district.” The reporter called the building “one of the finest grade buildings in Southern
Wisconsin”.
The architects had designed a T-shaped building with the gymnasium forming the leg of the T on the
west side of the building. There were two floors in the main part of the building and a half-basement.
The two-story portion of the building housed eight classrooms, four on the second floor for grades 5-8
and four on the first floor for grades 1-4. A nurse’s office and other offices were located in the
basement. The building would accommodate 320 pupils and was “modern in every respect”.
The second floor of the building also had the office of the grade school principal and the school library.
The administrative room with clocks and a teacher’s rest room were also located on the second floor.
The architects had designed wide corridors and stair landings with plenty of room to prevent crowding
and jams when students were moving through the school. There were also public and private phones
in the corridors.
The gym was equipped for basketball, volleyball and indoor baseball. There was a balcony surrounding
three sides of the gymnasium for viewing activities on the floor. The community athletic clubs were
allowed to use the new gymnasium, when it was not in use by school sports groups.
As earlier schools had poor heating and ventilations systems, the new school was designed with
improvements to these systems. A second boiler was installed in the heating plant just west of the new
school and the high school. “The whole building has both direct and indirect ventilation. A large fan
draws the pure air from the outside across a system of hot air pipes which heat it before it passes on its
way through the building, so that there is no danger of there being a cold draft anywhere in the
building.”
There were ten toilets and locker rooms with a separate ventilating system. The entire electrical and
ventilating apparatus was controlled from one room. This made it easier for the janitor or other school
personnel to trace any trouble in the mechanics of the building operation.
The architects and school board had also planned for future increases in enrollment and the heating
and plumbing systems were designed for expansion. The Review reporter noted: “all the ventilation,
drain and steam pipes have been laid with a capacity one-third larger than the present building calls
for.” The steam radiators were fitted with stubs so that the heating and plumbing system could be
extended to additions that might be built in the future.
The building was opened for sports events before the furniture arrived, as the furnishings for the new
building were not purchased until January 1922. The furniture manufacturers were expected to drop
their prices at that time. The dedication of the building was delayed twice before the chairs and lights
finally arrived.
The dedication of the building was held in February 1922 and more than 300 people attended. The Girl’
s Glee Club led the audience in singing “America” and State Superintendent of Schools, John Callahan,
was the featured speaker. J. P. Cullen formally presented the Board of Education with the keys to the
building.
Once the new school was occupied, classrooms in the 1869 grade school and 1897 high school were
also rearranged. The English room was moved from the second floor of the high school to the
basement and the science laboratory that had previously been in the basement of the high school
building was moved into the 1869 building.
When the school was finished, there was an immediate call for it to be used by the entire community.
One speaker at the Evansville Women’s Literary Club in January 1922, told her audience: “This building
should be used not just six hours a day, five days of the week during the school year, but be available
as a social center for the benefit of the entire community and should be the rallying place of a great
welfare movement.”
The speaker told the Literary Club that the Wisconsin legislature had passed a law that required all
school buildings to be lighted and heated free of charge for “recreational and educational purposes”.
She also told the women that the University of Wisconsin-Extension was also promoting the use of
school buildings for community use by providing consultants to help communities develop social
centers.
Because of the new facilities there was a dramatic increase in drama, music, sports and social activities,
over the next decade. By 1922, when the first high school annual was issued, the school organizations
included boys and girls glee clubs organized with the music teacher Miss Ula; a commercial club
organized by the business teacher, Mr. Bannister; a Triple K Club devoted to the prevention note writing
and the use of slang in school; and the Hi-Y club, an after-school sports and Bible study group
associated with the YMCA.
The high school band was organized in 1923 with Eugene Ballard as President; Ronald Jones, Vice
President; Guinevere Hubbard, secretary; and Gordon Baker, treasurer. The band played concerts
throughout the summer, both to improve their playing and to provide entertainment for the townspeople.
The band also performed for club meetings, local churches, and country school play days.
While the community enjoyed the benefits of having a new round of activities for teenagers, they were
also asked to provide funding for school projects. The first school annual, The Flaming Arrow,
highlighted the events of the 1921-22 school year. The students sought the support of the community
in publishing the book. Local businessmen advertised in the book, to help students pay for the
publishing.
The community also participated in school fundraisers for equipment. In the mid-1920s, the school
wanted to purchase a movie projector and the community was asked to help purchase this new
equipment for the school. The Lion’s Club and other organizations used the equipment, with the
assistance of school personnel.
The Mother’s Club that had been active in the schools since 1910 became the Parent-Teacher
Association. The focus of this group during the 1920s was the health of students. In 1923, the Rock
County school nurse had examined school children in Evansville and found that “78% of the children
had health problems that required medical, dental or sanitation attention.”
The nurse found that children had cavities in their teeth, eye problems, throat and ear infections,
swollen glands and goiters. She also noted that some children were coming to school “habitually dirty
and were not doing good school work”. The county school nurse further speculated that the children
with poor health habits were costing the school money, because sickly students often had to repeat
grades, increasing the cost of their education.
Protecting the health of children soon became a community project. In 1928, the Evansville City Council
agreed to pay half of the school nurse’s salary and the Parent Teacher Association agreed to pay the
other half. Florence Spicer was hired as the first city school nurse. In 1929, Spicer resigned and Grace
Connors succeeded her.
It was the responsibility of the nurse to help protect children against contagious diseases by providing
vaccination clinics, doing home visits to sick children, examining preschoolers and babies. The nurse
also offered parents advice on preventive measures to stop epidemics. She also worked with the
Wisconsin Anti-Tuberculosis Association to bring chest clinics to the city.
Local doctors also attended school board meetings and made suggestions for better health services. In
1924, Dr. C. M. Smith, the public health officer, suggested the school start providing iodine tablets, twice
a day, for a two-week period during each school year. Dr. Smith explained that this had been successful
in other parts of the United States in preventing goiters in children.
A dental program was first offered in 1926. Several local dentists, including Dr. Ames, Dr. Denison and
Dr. Cain donated their time to give students examinations. The dentists also offered to give free dental
care to children whose parents could not afford to pay.
The improved health conditions had a marked effect on the number of days school was in session. In
1919, the school closed for several days in January 1919 because of the flu epidemic. Throughout the
1920s, with the improved health measures promoted by the school nurse and doctors, Evansville
schools did not shut down due to epidemics.
In addition to promoting good community health habits, the schools also began teaching students about
thrift. Saving money was considered a virtue and students were encouraged in their classrooms and by
local banks to open savings accounts and purchase saving stamps. Students learned money
management, as well as a bit of history, as Benjamin Franklin served as a model for those desiring to
be thrifty. Grade school students studied the man and his witting sayings during the annual “thrift week”.
E. O. Evans, superintendent during the early 1920s, resigned in 1927 to take a position with the Monroe
School District. Throughout the summer months of 1927, the school board took applications and
interviewed candidates for Superintendent of the Evansville Schools. Four candidates were selected for
the final interviews and the school board selected J. P. Mann of Hillsboro as Dr. Evans’ successor.
August 18, 1927, Evansville Review
Communication between the school and community was enhanced by newspaper coverage. The
community began receiving more up-to-date news about school events in the 1920s. To keep parents
and others informed, the Evansville Review offered the schools a weekly column called “Evansville Hi-
Nuz”.
The school used the column as a device to teach newspaper reporting and editing. Each year an editor-
in-chief, assistant editors, and reporters were chosen to write articles for each grade, athletics, and
special events. The column sometimes had original poems or essays by students.
In addition to the student work, the Evansville Review devoted much of the newspaper space to school
activities, including the academic, social and sports events. Football, basketball, and baseball games
were reported as front-page stories. Junior proms, class plays and graduation articles also made the
front page, indicating the importance of these events to community members.
Evansville’s school population continued to grow and the school board was faced with providing quality
education, while tax levies were decreased during most of the 1920s. The decade started with a levy of
$36,000, increased to $55,000 during 1921 when the new grade school was built, then declined
annually until 1929 when the tax levy was $35,000.
The enrollment in the Evansville public schools continued to increase, though the school tax levies
declined. By September 1931, there were 252 enrolled in the high school. “Schools crowded beyond
capacity” was the banner headline of the September 10, 1931 issue of the Evansville Review.
Voters and the school board had extensive discussions about the crowded conditions of the 1897 high
school, but delayed any decision. Many of the citizens of Evansville were feeling the affects of the Great
Depression.
Local businesses were cutting the hours of their employees and holding or lowering wages. The railroad
and a few local employers fired workers. Some were desperate for work and when contractors
advertised for men to work on the largest public works project of the year, the viaduct, there were more
applicants than jobs.
Though enrollments had increased, the school district had to find ways to reduce spending to
accommodate the financial instability of the local economy and the hard times experienced by local
taxpayers. At the annual meeting in July 1931, the board proposed a tax levy of $33,000, the lowest in
ten years.
There were a few additional sources of income to supplement the local taxes. The school board
anticipated receiving $19,100 from state and county taxes, Magnolia and Union township taxes, tuition
for non-resident students, the state school aid fund and other sources, making the total budget for the
year $52,150.
Only a few people attended at the annual meeting in July 1931 to vote on the tax levy and school
budget. Since the school board was already making budget cuts, there was no radical change of heart
on the part of the taxpayer when it came time to vote for free textbooks for students. The voters
rejected the expenditure by a vote of eighteen to five vote.
Curriculum changes were often the result of pressure from the community. Speakers at local
organizations often focused on new ideas for educating children and most well informed people where
pleased that the teaching of just the “three r’s”, reading ‘riting and ‘rithmetic had been supplemented by
new courses in biology, typing, and physical education.
Some were looking for even greater enhancement to the courses offered by the Evansville public
schools. In the fall of 1931, the local businessmen’s club, the Men’s Community Club, invited Louis C.
Sassman of the Department of Public Instruction, to talk to them about an agricultural vocational course
for high school boys.
Though the high school was already overcrowded, the men were intrigued by the idea that a new
vocational program would keep many of the farm boys in school. The speaker and many of the men
listening knew that many of the boys became drop-outs after the eighth grade.
Sassman stressed that because of the agricultural program, many young men had been encouraged to
stay in school and were able to increase their knowledge of new practices in agriculture, making the
family farm become more economically viable. Although new ideas often took several years to
implement, often at meetings such as this the seeds were planted for a new direction to Evansville’s high
school curriculum.
However, the introduction of new classes had to be weighed against the ability of local taxpayers to fund
school programs. When the annual meeting was held in July 1932, the school budget was once again
reduced. The band and orchestra program were dropped and the elementary school principal’s position
was combined with the superintendent’s. The teaching staff was reduced by ?
The Evansville School Board and citizens had every reason to worry about costs. The Evansville
Review headlines told the abbreviated version of the concerns of those living through the Great
Depression: “People are uneasy all over the country,” and “Chevrolet Plant Ordered closed: Janesville
plant to be closed soon”.
At the tourist camp at Lake Leota park people from all over the United States were spending a day or
two at the camp. Their cars were loaded with their families and household goods were tied to the roof,
so that they could set up housekeeping wherever they could find work. Many were almost out of money,
but had to keep moving in order to find jobs.
The Evansville school staff also saw the affects of unemployment and reduced work opportunities to
families with school-aged children. Some could not afford clothing or the small fees for milk. Acting as
an unofficial social service agency, the school nurse asked for the community to show their generosity
toward those children in need.
A plea for winter clothing went out to the people of Evansville from the school nurse, Mary Stam. “Many
children between the ages of 6 and 12 are badly in need of rubbers, galoshes, and other winter
clothing. Those wising to donated have been requested to leave the clothing in Miss Stam’s office
located in the grade school building.”
For several years, the school had offered students “milk lunches”, that were half-pints of milk for a few
cents. When the first physical exams of students were performed by the school nurse in the 1920s, she
had found students suffering from mal-nutrition and lower than normal body weight. After the “milk
lunch” program was started, subsequent school physical examination programs had revealed that the
weights of public school children had increased considerably over a short period of time.
The school nutrition program was a success. However, as the Depression continued, the school nurse
realized that some students could not afford the few pennies each day to purchase the milk. She called
for some public-spirited citizen to purchase the milk for the needy students.
During the Depression, Miss Stam also took on the role of social worker and arranged for Christmas
food baskets and used toys to be distributed to more than 100 families with school-aged children.
Community organizations and businesses, including the Woman’s Relief Corp, the Wisconsin Petroleum
Company, and the Magee Theater also contributed towards the relief baskets.
However, in March 1933, there were a number of citizens who wanted to decrease their tax burden and
even the school nurses’ post was threatened. A petition was circulated to abolish the city nurse.
Since 1928, the school nurse had been provided at no cost to the school, through funding from the City
of Evansville and the Parent Teachers Association. Both the City and the school had benefited by a
decrease in epidemics and improved health of children. The school nurse had offered clinics for early
intervention and prevention of disease; home visits to sick children; immunizations; preschool and
prenatal clinics; and chest clinics for the prevention and detection of tuberculosis.
When the City Council and local citizens debated the issue and could not agree on a solution, the matter
was put before the voters at the April 1933 general election. The Evansville Review, local doctors, the
school superintendent and other prominent businessmen in the community supported the retention of
the nurse’s office.
Eighty women from the Women’s Literary Club, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, the Parent
Teachers Association, and the Afternoon Club held a mass meeting to support keeping the city and
school nurse. At their March 1933 meeting, the Lion’s Club also endorsed the nurse’s office. Their
wishes were granted by a vote 595 to 193.
Classroom teachers also were forced to economize and be creative with their lesson plans. The home
economics teacher, Adena Haberkorn, taught her students to make skirts, blouses and dresses from old
fabric.
Beginning with the 1931 graduation program, the school also rented robes for graduates to wear at all
three commencement exercises, the Baccalaureate service, class day and commencement. Many
graduates could not afford new clothing and the robes provided a uniform appearance for each student,
without regard to their family’s financial situation.
There seemed to be no end in sight to the drastic measures the school board took as the Depression
deepened. To reduce the tax levy, the board decided that the teachers would take a 17 to 24 percent
cut in pay for the 1931-32 school year. In light of the staff salary reductions, the school superintendent,
J. P. Mann also accepted a 15 percent salary cut.
The budget cuts continued each year. By the beginning of the 1933-34 school year the budget had
been reduced from $54,500 to $43,980. As the local tax levy, state aid, and other sources of income
declined, the largest cuts to the local budget were made in teacher’s salaries. The total salaries paid to
teachers had gone from a high of $29,600 in 1920 to $25,600, thirteen years later.
Cuts to the school budget also meant that the cost to educate each student had dropped. From 1927 to
1932, the cost per pupil was reduced from $111 to $94. Class sizes became larger and some programs
were reduced or cut completely.
When further reductions in the tax levy were proposed in 1933-34, the board recommended dropping
the band and orchestra program. No funds were budgeted for these programs. “The budget provides
only for the minimum school requirements.” The Evansville Review noted in announcing the budget
cuts. The vote to pass the budget was a unanimous decision of those attending the annual school
board meeting.
When school opened in September 1933, there were 625 students registered and only 21 teachers on
the staff. It was the largest enrollment in the history of the school and it was well understood that the
high school was overcrowded. Because of the Depression no action could be taken to build a larger
school.
High school enrollment increased slightly in the fall of 1933. There were 255 pupils, with 55 in the senior
class and seventy-five in the freshman class. The enrollment exceeded the capacity of the high school
building by 50 students. Approximately 45 of the high school students were from the rural areas and
more expected to register after the harvest season was ended. The grade school had 325 pupils, with
an additional 45 students in the kindergarten class.
All of the instructors at the high school had bachelor’s degrees and many in the grade school also had
four-year degrees. There were no married women on the staff and each grade had only one teacher.
With reduced funds for operating the school, there was an even greater need for the community to
support school programs. There is ample evidence of school/community cooperation throughout the
1930s.
In sports, music and drama, health and safety, the Evansville community offered financial support for
school projects. Funds for the music program were reinstated due to parental pressure and Russell L.
Moberly was hired to come to Evansville one day a week to teach band and orchestra. Moberly was
studying for his Master’s degree at the University of Wisconsin and the job provided him with extra
income to support his education.
The band, under Moberly’s direction, made its first appearance at a February 1934 basketball game.
The orchestra performed for the high school operetta in the spring.
Within a few months, a Parents’ Music Association was formed and the needed funds for the music
program were assured. The following year, Moberly was hired for two days a week and the chorus and
glee clubs were added to his course load.
Some new programs came from the ingenuity of the school staff. In February 1934, the home
economics teacher introduced a hot lunch program. The lunches provided a teaching tool for her
students and a nutritious meal for students. Soup, hot cocoa, and casseroles were prepared in home
economics classes by the boys and girls cooking classes.
Students paid fifty cents a month for the hot lunch. Parents and other community members helped
reduce the cost of the program by providing food from their gardens. If students brought food or garden
produce from home, the cost of the meals was reduced or free. During the first few weeks, the program
served more than 50 students.
Another community organization helped support a new safety program in the mid-1930s. When the
American Automobile Association contacted the American Legion about the school safety patrol
program, the Legion members immediately took on the responsibility of the safety patrol in the 1934-35
school year.
The school also received unexpected financial assistance to maintain its buildings. Federal grant
programs were offered to communities. The funds were used to hire unemployed men to work on
projects in public buildings, parks and other recreational areas.
Evansville’s CWA grant provided the school with the means to keep maintenance costs down. During
the summer of 1934, a public works program known as the CWA (Civil Works Authority) used $5,533 to
pay workers to make furniture for classrooms, paint walls, varnish desks and landscape the school
grounds.
The1930s was a decade of changing attitudes about education and preparing young people for the
workplace. In his July 1933 report to the Board of Education, Superintendent of Schools J. P. Mann said
there were three areas of importance for board members to consider: instruction, maintenance of the
buildings and grounds, and finance.
The annual report expressed Mann’s frustration with the four years of a depressed economy that had
cut earning power of millions of workers and the government seemed unable to cope with the number of
people who required government aid and services. Mann was hopeful that the answers to some of
society’s problems rested with the education system.
“There is evidence now that social change is necessary in school work to meet the changing social
needs of its students,” Mann was quoted as saying. Many high school graduates were having difficulty
finding work and only a few could afford to attend colleges and Mann’s report showed his concern that
many would be idle and their idleness would lead to anti-social behavior.
Mann worried that the graduates who did not find work or attend school would be tempted to engage in
“illegal and unsocial activities.” According to Mann, if the high school graduates could not find work and
could not afford to go to school, “Mental keenness will disappear, ambition will leave, and a philosophy
of life will come to them that whispers thoughts that the world owes them a living,” Mann told the Board.
He recommended several changes to the school curriculum to improve social conditions and the
opportunities for high school graduates. The first was that the public school help its graduates by
offering post-graduate courses. Mann had taught a post-graduate course in Social Psychology and he
recommended that the Board expand the curriculum beyond this one course so that those who could not
attend college or did not find work could return to school. He suggested the Board consider offering
night classes in English, commercial subjects, psychology and other subjects that would interest recent
graduates and other adults.
Mann also recommended giving students aptitude tests and career counseling so that they would seek
goals that were appropriate for their knowledge and skills. He felt that too many parents pushed their
children into mathematics and sciences classes that were geared towards degrees in engineering or
medicine, even if the student did not have skills in those areas.
Colleges and universities were beginning to use aptitude test to predict student success and Mann
believed that public schools could also use standardized to individualize student instruction. Evansville
schools first used the standardized tests in 1933. The tests were given to students in the third grade
and above and Mann believed the first results had clearly demonstrated the need for individualized
instruction in the classroom.
Mann said that when the senior class took the test, there was a nine-year range in the reading ability of
individuals in the class. He predicted that by using the tests to counsel students to take courses that
were in line with their abilities, there would also be a savings to taxpayers. “Failure of students has cost
the taxpayers of school districts much money merely because those students were directed into courses
where they showed neither interest or talent,” Mann said.
In addition to improving the curriculum and individualizing instruction, Mann also told the board that it
was important to maintain and improve the school buildings. The Board had discussed plans to replace
the 65 year-old graded school building, but the debt for the 1921 school was still costing taxpayers over
$8,000 each year.
Adding the cost of a new school when the school budget had to be kept as low as possible was out of
the question. The board was willing to suppo